We flew from Italy to America to try our first cruise just before Christmas, we are both retired and are 57 years old, I am ex- military (Scottish) and Genna my partner ex-BT employee(English)We lived in spain 4 years prior to moving to Tuscany in Italy. We have travelled all over the world but never a cruise, till now!We flew into Miami from Milan and stayed at the Hampton Inn Downtown Fort Lauderdale for 5 nights prior to our cruise, this hotel was in an excellent location and the facilities, food and staff were first class, a good start! On the day of our cruise we travelled by taxi to the port, 10 minutes away, the taxi driver knew the score and told us what cruise documents and identity documents to show for entrance to the cruise terminal- all went well.  On arrival at the cruise terminal our 2 large bags were taken off us by porters for a $1 each, we had been briefed on this in our joining instructions,so we proceeded to follow the big snake line which was moving at a good speed for so many people. Our documentation was quick, credit card, information and our Green Cards which immigration gave us at the airport were retained during our booking in( these were returned to us on board 3 days later)Then we went on board-WOW- she was massive.The ship was spotless, our cabin which had a balcony was roomy with plenty of space for our clothes and storage under the bed for the suitcases and hand luggage, the stateroom had all you need, fridge, hairdryer, air con,ice tv and the roses i had ordered 4 months earlier were displayed in a nice vase in our stateroom.The greatest asset we found in the 9 nights we stayed in the stateroom was the sound proofing- we never heard a thing over the whole cruise!!!!! We had been giving a second sitting for dining and were disappointed to see the majority of the tables in our dining room were for 2 or 4 people only as we had hoped to meet a lot of people on the cruise, however our disappointment soon disappeared as the food and in particular the staff was the best, we attended the 2 formal evenings and it was nice to see everybody dressed up for the occasion, we did laugh at the notice at the door which said "No shorts or bathrobes"The rest of the food restaurants onboard were well staffed and the food was of a high standard Our visits ashore took us to St Maarten,St Lucia,St Kitts and Tortola- we did a variety of tours, sightseeing, beach, visits and shopping in particular Duty Free, all were good value for money and were well organized.Entertainment on board was varied, on our trip it was mainly for families but a nightly theatre show took place, you could find a game of cards,bingo,a quiet bar to have a drink or lose a fortune at the casino with it,s hundreds of machines or dance the night away if you wanted to. A plus point was the daily programme which was delivered to our stateroom nightly which was very informative and included EVERYTHING going on the following 24 hours One point which was really annoying was that we received two letters in our stateroom saying we did not have enough funds to cover our bill- totally untrue- the problem is than Non-USA credit cards are stamped with the month/year, Usa cards are stamped year/month- the pursers office was rejecting these cards, however the Atm, gift shop,island shops all had no problems-This needs to be rectified as it is unacceptable also the problem of a purchase being on my bill TWICE meant i had FIVE visits to the pursers office which was a very long line!!!!! The telephone from the cabin replied "you are in a queue please wait x 2 then Goodbye" Our disembarkation went well, we decided to take our own luggage off and were on the transport by 0800 hours, the bus did not leave till 0930 hours so 3 passengers decided to taxi to the airport because of early flights as the transfer vehicle did not go till it was full, there was a bit of confusion with tickets for this vehicle as some people had issued tickets by the ship,vouchers, e tickets or in our case when we enquired on board ship we were told you only need proof of payment- not so! The kind lady in charge of the bus issued us with a voucher after i had produced proof of payment AND our means of transport and payment for our embarkation We had decided to stay at the Sofitel Hotel at the airport for one night after the cruise and prior to our flight home This hotel was good value for the money, isolated for facilities outside the hotel but provided clients with a free shuttle to and from the airport.Journey home to Italy went well except for the loss of our two cases for 4 hours which caught up with us as we waited at our destination for them to come on the next flight Summary- did we have a great cruise?-yes, will we cruise again?-yes, will we go with Carnival?-unlikely, we will probably go with a smaller ship, less people,a cruise that suits couples of our ages but it was a marvellous experience and a great holiday, sort out the credit card fiasco and it would have been perfect Brian Adams