As 1st time cruisers we just picked a date hoping that the ship wouldn't be bombarded with kids. Well embarkment was horrible! they tell you to pick a time to board the ship but when we got there ...the parking lot was packed with people from previous cruise still on the ship! we had to wait like 1 hour in line at the parking terminal...once we got inside the building we waited another 1.5 hours to board the ship....we were supposed to sail at 4 or 4:30 we didn't move until after 6pm. Port Canaveral was our 1st port...what a waste of time! there is NOTHING to do unless you want to go to disney or kennedy space center which we have done many times...so we took a bus trip to cocoa beach and cocoa village...again what a waste of time. Ok next port was Nassau and that was beyond gorgeous we had a fantastic day eventhough as 1st time cruisers we had no idea where to go and what to do...no one ever came up to us to ask if we needed help. 3rd port was cancelled (Freeport) due to a hurricane...we experienced very rough seas and docked back into Baltimore 8 hours earlier than was expected originally Food was average at best....(they really need to work on their dessert selections) and keep another area of food open 24 hours other than the pizza shop..line was ridiculous and the plastic cups they give you to drink out of ...I am guessing 4oz cups and their water has such a funny aftertaste....I came home with such a bad cold ...and I am thinking maybe they don't disinfect the cups as well as they should. We were always told that when u cruise you are treated like royalty....not once did a waiter/server ever come up to us on the decks to see if we wanted a drink....maybe carnival is not the cruise line for us....I am hoping that if I decide on another cruise that maybe I can afford a "better" cruiseline....