Our crew: My parents (80 years old); My sister (56), her husband (63) and their daughter (21); Me and my husband (44), and our kids---daughter (15) and sons (13 & 11). Ten people total. VERY happy vacationers and group. We love to travel, do it often, and don't dwell on things that aren't perfect.
Background: My parents have done at least 30 cruises. My sister and her husband are on their fifth, and my family has done nine. As a group, we've done four Carnival cruises.
Arrival/embarkation: We all flew into Ft. Lauderdale [Southwest from Las Vegas (me), Tampa (parents) and Philadelphia (sister)]. Stayed overnight at Holiday inn Doral ($70 priceline). Decent hotel---no breakfast, though. Shuttle from Ft. Lauderdale was $80. We rented a minivan for one day for $60 total. Sunday, we returned the minivan, and Dollar shuttled us to the Port of Miami. My sister took a taxi for $65. Embarkation was quick and painless. At the terminal at 11:30, eating on the Lido at 12:15.
8266/68/70 - a bit too close to the atrium elevators. We could hear the elevators "ding" when they arrived all night, and some loud conversations in the atrium area. Below other cabins, but very close to Lido pool and buffet.