This was my second cruise. In February I sailed on the Carnival Conquest. I find myself comparing the two cruises and want to let you know some of the differences to help you choose the best cruise.

My mom and my aunt sailed with me this time. We live in West Texas and made the long drive to Galveston the day before our cruise set sail. We stayed the night at the Galveston Hilton. We also stayed here last time. It is a great place to stay. It is on Seawall Blvd. right across from the ocean. The rooms need a little updating but they are clean with a great staff. They also allow you to leave your car in the parking lot for free and provide free shuttle service from the hotel to the cruise terminal and then back to your car at the end of the cruise.

We took the first shuttle from the hotel which left at 11:30. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the terminal. Porters are everywhere; you don't have to try to find one. They take your luggage off the shuttle and then you are off to get on the ship. Embarkation was very easy this trip. At this time of day the lines were very short and we were through the process in about 15-20 minutes and on the ship!!! I couldn't believe it because last time we arrived at the terminal at about 1:00-1:30 and we were in line for about 2 hours, so I suggest you arrive early. We were asked to not go to our rooms until 1:30. This gave us plenty of time to head to Lido deck for a drink and lunch. At 1:30 we went to our room and everything was ready. We had an interior stateroom. We didn't really feel the extra money for a window or balcony was worth it. We were rarely in our room. The room was clean and we had plenty of room. It was comparable with the room we had on the Conquest. The bathroom however was a little smaller with less counter space and fewer shelves. Our steward Sherwin was great. Everything was kept clean and we always had ice. The only complaint we had about the room was the sewer smell. I had read about this on other's reviews but on our last trip we never noticed. This trip the smell was everywhere!! Especially in the hallways and bathrooms, by the end of the trip we were so stick of the smell. It was horrible!! Our luggage arrived quickly, in fact we had all of our luggage and were able to unpack by the time we had the muster drill. The drill was quick and painless compared to on the Conquest. Maybe it was because we knew what to expect. After the drill we went up to an upper deck and watched as we left Galveston. Read more