Myself, my husband and our 10 year old daughter sailed on Carnival Conquest Jan 17-Jan 23. Overall, it was a good experience. We enjoyed ourselves. It was our first cruise. We aren't really outgoing or party people - we tend to keep to ourselves. So the amount of people was a little irritating at times. It was hard to find a seat in the Lido Buffet. It was next to impossible to find a lounge chair by the pool. The wait for an elevator. The lines to get into the dining room (we had the "Your time" dining). After awhile it just got to be overwhelming with people everywhere.

Getting there: We took a cab from the airport to the ship. Do yourself a favor and don't buy the transfers thru Carnival. Those are $16 per person, one way. We paid $20 for the cab - and that included a generous tip we gave the cab driver. And we got there probably faster than we would have if we'd had to wait around for Carnival's shuttle.

The cabin: We had an ocean view - Cabin 1452 on the Riviera Deck. I thought I was smart by saving a few bucks and letting Carnival assign us our cabin instead of selecting our own. BIG mistake! We were given the leftover room that no one else wanted - the last cabin at the end of the hall in the very back of the ship. On the other side of the wall is where they store the ropes used for docking. Every morning we docked, we were woken up by the clanging and banging from the hydraulics that pull the ropes out. It was very loud. Good luck getting any sleep in that room past 5am. The only days we had any decent sleep were the "fun day at sea" days. Read more