The Cruisers: Nine people consisting of two families of 40 somethings with two 9 year olds and two 13 year olds, plus grandma, from WI, NC, and MI. Previous cruising experiences of the adults include 3 to 8 prior cruises each on Carnival, Disney, Royal Caribbean, and NCL. This was one family's first Carnival experience after multiple experiences with Royal Caribbean, and Disney.

Summary: All participants thought this was their best cruise experience to date, and equally attribute this fact to two different factors. 1) We thought we had more fun as a group bigger than one family. 2) All involved thought that the Carnival Valor offered the best combination of food, entertainment, service, itinerary and ship amenities for our money than we have ever experienced before.

Flights: All parties purchased airline tickets online in advance, and all ended up on Delta. The Wednesday before our departure, I called Delta to confirm our flights and was given the usual sales pitch to sign up for a Delta credit card. I was tuning it out, when they said "free baggage". I applied on the phone on Wednesday, and received my card on Thursday. We left home on Friday, and each member of my family received a free checked bag round trip, saving us over $200. I also received 20,000 bonus miles, which bumped me into the free ticket range for my next trip. All flights for all parties were incident free until my brother's return leg Atlanta to Wilmington, NC. They had engine trouble, were delayed half a day, and lost a piece of luggage. Read more