Prelude: We are 58 and 55 years old and this was our seventh cruise, second one on Carnival. We always arrive a day early to avoid any flight problems and to rest but we didn't realize it was SuperBowl weekend in Miami when we booked the cruise several months ago. We were unable to find a room for under $300 in Miami so we rented a car through All American Agency and drove 45 minutes south to Florida City and stayed at a nice Comfort Inn at a reasonable price.

Embarkation: On Sunday we drove in the rain back to Miami and returned the rental car. Got a taxi to the port and got there about 11:00 a.m. Took about an hour to board and that was a little longer than we expected but still not bad. Had a nice lunch at Rosie's, the buffet, while we waited for our bags which arrived soon after we had finished eating lunch.

The ship was pretty although I liked the theme and layout of the Carnival Pride better. It was somewhat difficult getting around as some of the other reviews had indicated, but we adjusted. The ship was very clean and all the workers on board were extremely friendly and helpful. I did use the internet cafe every day and had to go through Winston's Cigar Bar. That is a poor location for the internet cafe, which was usually very smokey as a result to the close proximity to the cigar bar. Read more