Background Information: We are a couple in our early 50's who are loyal Carnival Cruisers. This is our 10th cruise on Carnival, 12th cruise overall and now we are Platinum!!! We have taken our last 2 cruises with my DH's sister and her husband and they sailed with us on this one as well. We were also joining my DH's high school buddy and his wife on this cruise as their adult daughter is now a dancer for Carnival and they were spending the week visiting with her.

Embarkation: We flew in the day of the cruise (as we always do) and had no problems at all. We hired Executive VIP Limo to transport us by personal car (mini-van) from the Orlando airport to the port. It cost $100 for the four of us and went very smoothly. I read about them on Cruise Critic and thank my fellow cruise critic members for offering this advice. Michael and his wife Maureen were wonderful. Since we arrived at the airport at noon, when we arrived at the port (it was after 2 pm I think) we basically walked right on the ship. We had VIP check in -- no problems there. This was our first cruise out of Port Canaveral and I have to say it was a very smooth process. We hope to sail again out of this port-maybe on the Dream!

Stateroom: Our Jr. Suite cabins were ready when we boarded and we loved the space they provided over the regular balcony cabins. We did have an obstructed view and a very small balcony. The obstructed view was a rescue boat and a set of stairs leading up to it. Not a problem. We could see around the obstruction. The size of the balcony was a problem. We could barely both sit on the balcony together. We still enjoyed being able to go out there, but it was really too small to be comfortable and we could not open the partition between the 2 balconies which would have been nice. Our room steward was so sweet. I think her name was Prapada or something like that. I am sorry I am not too good with names. But she was very attentive and took care of everything perfectly. We discovered that there are no hairdryer's in the bathrooms on this class of ship, so we just requested on from Prapada and it was delivered promptly to our cabin. The towel animals were present every night and we could not have asked for better service. I took advantage of our free laundry service and that was a very nice perk. Read more