with many cruises under my belt, most with carnival this is the first time we sailed out of galveston. we were having a family reunion cruise and most of the group lived in texas so we had to drive from florida and my daughter and her family from south carolina. this port was the best i have ever gone to, no hassle, your in and out in no time very efficient. half of our group were able to check in with the vip group and the other half the standard way. we all got done around the same time. they let us on board by 11:30 but we weren't able to check in to our cabins til 2pm. so other then lugging our carryons around we were able to scout out the ship, check with camp carnival (we had 10 children from ages 2-14 to sign up) and have some lunch on the lido deck. during this time we were also able to go to the pursers office and do some cabin swaps which was putting husbands and wives together and the kids in their own room--strange rule with travel agent but an adult had to be assigned to each cabin which caused couples to be separated (2 couples on board celebrating anniversaries) but the pursers office changed with no problems. at exactly 2pm cabin areas were open and at that time most of our luggage was already next to our cabin doors. the cabins were very comfortable and inviting. nice thing was the ref were locked (good the kids can't get things out they shouldn't) one thing we were surprised with was how brown Galveston's causeway was but was very excited because of all the dolphins jumping around in the water. some very close to the sides of the ship. we had 2 very relaxing, non-demanding days at sea. some took advantage and relaxed out in the fresh air others joined everything going on. 2 men who have no hair joined the hairy chest contest--very funny, 1 couple got pulled on stage for the not so newly wed game which was wonderful, funny and embarrassing for their teenage children, the so you think you can dance contest was enjoyable as were the Karaoke and legends contest. first stop was in Montego Bay, Jamaica--now I have been there a few times (flying in) but this is the first time by ship and i was very disappointed. very rough area. my daughter and i just went outside the guard house to the little shops around the port and was approached by 2 different men in different areas wanting to know if we wanted a smoke. feeling very uncomfortable we went back on board and waited for everyone to get together. 3 of the men went and did the canopy zip line and loved it, 4 of the older teens took the bus to dunns falls loved dunns falls but was nerves on the bus ride back. was suppose to be back at 4pm but arrived back at 5:15 (problems with the bus) ship was suppose to leave port at 5:30 so that was cutting it close. the rest of us went snorkeling then to margaritaville. the kids loved it there with the big slide which lets you slide right into the ocean, it also had two trampolines for the kids to swim to and jump around. next stop was Grand Cayman--we didn't notice until we were waiting to tender into shore that they had changed our tours from 8:30am (which is what we signed up for) to 10:30am. i feel they should have notified us regarding the change. but all turned out ok just 2 hours less sleep because we all got up early thinking we had the 8:30 tour. here we did the stingray city tour which included Hell and the turtle farm. WONDERFUL the last stop was in cozumel (have always loved this stop) my daughter and her husband did the mayan ruins tour--they were disappointed because a lot of things were roped off so you couldn't get up close. the rest of us did the deluxe snorkeling and beach party. this has always been fabulous, loved it. i have always done this tour the catamaran FURY and its group are wonderful people, going out of their way to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and its nice now that they have their own private beach area where everything is free. only draw back was that out of the 10 kayaks they had only 3 had paddles but the kids didn't mine. over all the ship was wonderful, the staff was better then i have seen in a long time, very helpful in everyway. the captain made himself visible to everyone everyday and the cruises director was very entertaining as was his staff. but for me the best part was getting off the ship. it was so smooth and easy. very well planned and carried out. i think the port of galveston was the best i have ever cruised from/to.