Background Information: This was my first ever cruise. I took along a friend who had cruised before, my 5 year old son and about 20 more of my closest relatives. My mom and cousin planned this trip and it was through one of their travel agents, so all I had to do was pay my money and hope for the best, as nothing else was really up to me. My part of our group drove down, so I don't have relevant flight or hotel info. to add.

Embarkation: Getting to the port was pretty easy, although we did get a little turned around there are signs all over, so we made our way back pretty easily. It was a hot day and we were anxious to begin our vacation, so we paid the extra $12 for valet parking. It was VERY worth it. One of my other relatives who arrived at the same time opted to self park and it took her a while to get back to the terminal. Once inside, check in was very quick and easy. Word to the wise, don't mistakenly take liquor in your carryon bag. We started our cruise on the second leg of our vacation so to speak and I mistakenly packed alcohol into a bag that ended up coming with us while we meant to leave it in the car. Slightly embarrassing when the guy asked if I had a bottle in my bag, I said no, and he pulls out a bottle of Scotch. Hmmm...but it wasn't a big deal at all. I explained it was not intentional, he was very understanding and then he kept the bottle as they have to dump it and sent me along with no problems. Due to familial delays, we didn't actually get aboard the ship till after 3:00, so I missed the buffet that was being served. However, that had nothing to do with Carnival. Their part of embarkation was super smooth. I'm sure it helped that we did the online check in prior.

Stateroom: When we got to our cabin, our luggage was already there. I was rather impressed with that. Our cabin steward Bambang was really nice and did a great job. The first evening out, I must have returned to the room more frequently than most because every time I came back he and his assistant were trying to freshen up and I had to kick them out. We had a 3 person room, with a pull down bed for the littlest member of our party. We had ample space for our things, our luggage fit underneath the bed nicely, and the beds were incredibly comfortable! My only complaint was that the rail for the upper bunk was not substantial enough. It was a small bar in the middle of the bed and I was a little worried about my son rolling out. Thankfully strategically placed pillows and pushing him way over to the wall helped that. Otherwise, I was very pleased with our room and our view. Dining: This was the part that I was most curious about, as that's the part that everyone tells you about. Food, food and more food is pretty much what they say. Well, I guess they were right but it wasn't quite the fest of gluttony that I had imagined. The Lido deck had the buffets, pizza place and sandwich place. They were all incredibly average and I can't imagine intentionally stuffing myself with anything there. Nothing was bad, but nothing was spectacular there either. It worked well if you missed the dining room meal. But the dining room meals were AMAZING and not to be missed, as far as I'm concerned. I was to slow a mover to get up in time for breakfast in the dining room until close to the end. Then I was kicking myself for waiting so long. It was so much better. I had eggs Benedict, a Belgian waffle, a cheese omelet, bacon and sausage (not all together mind you) and they were all great. Dinner was just a good. I had the opportunity to have the lobster tail, filet mignon, among many other things. Most did not disappoint. On the lobster night, I was undecided between lobster and duck and my server very happily gave me both. Our servers were wonderful too. They were very nice, very attentive, very quick and jovial guys. And that was good because we were a boisterous group and we didn't seem to drive them too crazy. The only thing in the dining room that didn't live up to my expectation was the Chocolate melting cake. I heard so many reviews about how great it is and it just didn't strike me or any of my relatives as anything special like I was hoping for. It was like chocolate fudge for ice cream poured into a bowl…with a bit of cake on top of it. Kind of gross, actually. But again, that's subjective. I think I just expected too much because the reviews of those who loved it made it sound so good. Read more