Background: My husband's parents generously booked a Carnival Victory cruise to Canada for our entire immediate family, including five adults and four grandkids, ranging in age from 7 to 11. A local travel agency in NJ called Starr Tours very conveniently bussed us up to NYC to pick up the cruise. However, I hesitate to recommend them because my mother-in-law paid for three oceanview cabins for our group of nine, but instead we got two inside cabins and one oceanview cabin. She paid extra to get what she wanted for her family, but Starr Tours failed to deliver. However, our tour director on the ship, Joanne (also with Starr Tours), was very friendly and tried her best to help us.

Ship Info: The ship is built like a maze. To reach the dining room on the 4th deck, for example, you can only use the "fore" elevators. The "aft" elevators will put you on the wrong side and you will have to go to the fifth deck, walk to the other end of the ship, then return to the 4th deck and enter the dining room.

Cabin: Our inside cabin had two upper and two lower beds. The room was more spacious than I expected, with plenty of closet space, a TV, and a roomy shower (but no window!). The beds were very comfortable with a cozy comforter, two pillows each, and extra pillows in the closet. Decor: The decor looked like a 1980s version of art deco design, with lots of peach and jade, black marble, sponge-painting, and mermaids. The bronzed mermaid sculptures in the dining rooms were very anatomically correct. I considered making cloth napkin wraps for them because I was getting cold just looking at them. Read more