This cruise was my family's 5th cruise, all with Carnival. Each of our previous cruises had been on 'new' ships, so I was a little worried about the condition of the ship. However, it had been re-furbished in April 2006 and was absolutely fantastic. Very clean and beautiful!

GETTING TO THE SHIP: We flew in to Houston Hobby on Saturday at noon. One problem I found after booking this cruise was in how to get from the airport to Galveston. There were 5 of us traveling together (including a 2 year old) and we had a lot of luggage. After reading the boards, I decided to pre-arrange a taxi service (24-Hour Airport Taxi) from Hobby Airport. The cost was $90 each way for all of us and they provided a vehicle big enough for our party and luggage. Our driver, Oscar, was great and even though we hit terrible traffic on the way to the port, we had a good time. We finally arrived at 3pm (we should have been there by 1:30pm). Next time, I would would plan on getting there a little earlier to account for the traffic into Galveston.

EMBARKATION: Our taxi dropped us off at the luggage drop off point. Because we got there later than planned, there were really no lines to speak of. We did have our passports, so check-in went smoothly. Read more