Us: My husband and myself. Also, my brother-in-law and his fiancee came with us. It was our third cruise, their first.
This was our third cruise - second with Carnival (other on RCCL). I realized quickly why I love Carnival so much - great service, great food! Definitely like Carnival better than RCCl. Now, my husband, however, would disagree, but let him write his own review, haha.
All four of us decided to be cheap, lol, and drive down to Port Canaveral from NH. Took us about 23 hours. Not bad with all four of us taking turns driving. We arrived in Florida on Friday, the day before. We stayed at, once again, the Country Inn and Suites. This place is terrific. I love them! Very clean, quiet, great service, good food, etc. Their shuttle also leaves early - we got the 10:30am shuttle - call a week ahead to put your name on the shuttle list!
We were lucky enough to have a cove balcony - our first balcony ever! I'm now officially hooked and would never cruise without a balcony! We were so close to the water too, it was awesome! Didn't get to see any dolphins though, sadly. The cabin was on deck 2, right under the galley - which meant it was pretty noisy at times! You could hear things falling, banging, etc. But oh well, didn't bother me, I was on vacation, noise is the last thing I'm worried about! The cabin was big, the balcony was perfect. Cabin service was great. They did literally kick us out on the last morning though, haha, so be prepared!