Let me begin by giving you a little background about who we are.

My husband and I are in our early 30s. We do not have kids. We've been married four years. We cruise every 2 years. Our first cruise was the inaugural season of the Caribbean Princess. We cruised again on the CP 2 years later. This was our first cruise with Carnival. We were hesitant to begin with because of Carnival's party boat image, but decided to try it because of the glowing recommendations from my parents (who are even pickier than I am).

We chose the Western Caribbean itinerary because I loved Cozumel when we visited 2 years ago and this one had 3 sea days (we prefer sea days to port days). Also, Caribbean itineraries are closer to home for us (not requiring expensive flights or wasted vacation days). Read more