This was our first cruise ever. We went with a group of HS band students who performed on the ship along with 3 other HS bands. My oldest son played in the band and my wife and I were unofficial chaperones. We also took our youngest son with us. The day we left was cold and rainy. Not much fun on the deck leaving. We got on the ship with no problems! The ship was bigger than I thought it would be. It was very clean and very well maintained. The staff was great and almost everything about the cruise was great. Our room was well-kept but we never did see our room steward but he did a super job with the room. The only thing that was not super or great was the shows. They were alright but nothing to write home about. Our cruise director Kirk was very good even though he was sick. The dining was the best part! Our waiter was from Indonesia and I could not pronounce his name so we called him Mr. M!! He was the best he did nice tricks and had a good sense of humor!! But best of all-he could sing! He loved to sing country and western songsJohnny Cash's "Walk the Line" was the first of many good songs he sang for us. He made the whole cruise and we could not wait to see what he would sing each night. Our table mates were kids and parents from another band and we all got along very well. Cozumel was ok but I liked Playa del Carmen much better when we visited there. Taxi rides were good and reasonable! The weather was great the whole cruise after we left Galveston. Once we got back, leaving the ship was ok. Had to wait for all the self-assist people to go first and that took forever. Once we got off it took us less than 15 minutes to get our luggage and go through customs. We used EZ parking and I would recommend them to anyone! The cruise had alot of hs students on board and we hardly noticed them. The kids acted great and we never saw any major problems. The little kids were never seen. The Carnival people did a great job with the younger kids. My family and I cannot wait to go another cruise. Carnival did a great job on this cruise!!