This is my fourth cruise, second with Carnival. Previously I have been on Royal and NCL so at least I have others to compare too.

We decided in late July to book this cruise for a sailing on 10/02/05 with my DH, DD(7), and DS(3) to celebrate our 10th anniversary and renew our vows.

Embarkation process wasn't complicated, and it was in Long Beach not LA, but there was no selection for Long Beach on the drop down list. After arriving a day early and staying at the Coast we took the free shuttle over to the terminal, arrived at 10:30am didn't think it was too hard, found a porter with the blue jacket, confirmed we were bordering, he loaded up our suitcases, asked us to watch him go into the Carnival security holding area with them and then we could move on, we did, all was good and walked right up the Queen Mary to the front and registered since there was no line. They told us boarding would be between 12:00-1:00pm. Since we booked a suite we went to the Skipper's Club to go wait in line. We watched people pour out of the dome coming of the ship and then they came in little spurts. Seeing as that Carnival doesn't have control over US Customs we just patiently waited until they were ready for us. Weddings obviously were first priority and then we were called at about 12:45pm. Getting on took us a total of maybe 10 minutes, it was easy and painless, smiled twice (once for your Sail & Sign the other for the welcome aboard pic you can buy later). That's the only perk with Skipper's Club, priority boarding! But it was nice! Once on the ship we found our cabin and oh boy, we were spoiled. Read more