Excited for our 7th cruise and our 11 year old son's 3rd. Decided to travel with friends who have 11 year old twin boys, figured that would cure the boredom on the ship-boy were we wrong! Anyways, 3rd time going out of New Orleans but the first since 2004. I have to tell you I hated the port of New Orleans then, it was such a hassle to park and get your luggage picked up, then wait in countless lines just to check in. The parking situation has definitely changed for the better. They have built a whole new port building with a parking garage on top. You pull in, pay to park, drive up to the 3rd floor where all the porters are to help you unload all your luggage and then you proceed up to park your car. This was all very convenient and a big positive change. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. First you wait in a line to get into the building, then up an escalator and another line to get through security. Both these lines moved rather quickly so no big deal. Then, you are herded into the most unorganized situation I have encountered during embarkation. You are given a number and sent to a huge area with chairs and told to wait for your # to be called. After 30 minutes, you are called and get into another long line to check in & pick up sail & sign cards. Then yet another long line to get on the ship. I have cruised out of Canaveral & Jacksonville and they are a breeze compared to New Orleans! It was just so unorganized and very little help explaining what was going on. Unfortunately this port is only 3 hr drive for us so we will most likely cruise from there again.

The Carnival Triumph was one of my favorite ships. The size was just perfect and I really like how the lido deck pools were set up with the stadium seating in front of the large movie screen. Very relaxing for everyone to sit out there at night & enjoy the movies. Really don't have any complaints regarding the ship at all. The service was very good and the food also. Us parents were hoping the boys would take a liking to Camp Carnival so we went to the orientation on the first day & signed them up. They went the next day to a 45 minute Father's Day craft making class and never went back. These boys are starting middle school this year & were grouped in with 6 year olds so you know the activities are probably nothing they would be interested in and they weren't. They did have an hour everyday where the kids can go play WII or Xbox but like my son said "why do I want to do that if I am on a cruise ship?". We just didn't feel there was a lot for their age and they got bored quickly with the pools & slide. We were very much looking forward to our 3 port days!

Enjoyed Belize but were super excited about Roatan. You can imagine our disappointment when they came on the intercom at 8am saying we couldn't dock due to it being too windy and we would have another day at sea! My problem with this is 1)you get no money back just cause you miss a port and 2)this left us with 3 bored 11 year olds for another day at sea. Carnival made a big deal about adding activities and got out a new itinerary for the day. All they had added was some more trivia games and bingo. Nothing new for the kids, no movies playing on the big screen, nothing. That was the most upsetting thing. They should have a much better plan for these things if they are the leader in the industry! We just felt a little cheated on this one, the whole reason we chose this cruise for for the ports.