My husband and I took a cruise on Carnival Sensation with our 3-year old son. Between him and I (without kid), we have cruised on Carnival and Princess cruises before. It was first time with kid and we were a little nervous. Our worries were quickly quelled!
Yes, we read all the reviews about Carnival and this particular ship before boarding. Yes, the decor is at first a little much, but it's quickly overlooked and we saw much of it as whimsical, including our "rocket ship" light up pic panel in our room.
We had an ocean view, which our son loved! If traveling w/out kid, interior would have been fine for us. The king bead was great! Slept comfortably every night. Our cabin had a pullman bed-kind of like a murphy bed that folds out of wall. Our son loved, loved, loved climbing up and down the ladder to his bed. He slept great in the bed and there were no problems. I had worried about him falling out, but there is a little side-rail, that somewhat prevents this. Our cabin steward would set-up all his stuffed animals every night-it was very sweet!