This cruise was chosen by my in-laws in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. This was the first Carnival cruise ever for my family. My wife and I did a different cruise line years ago and came in under the impression that a Carnival cruise wasn't going to be as nice because it was "cheaper". I was completely wrong!
Our embarkation time was at 1330 but we arrived in Long Beach a little bit earlier to avoid traffic delays and parked in the parking garage about two hours ahead of time and planned to walk around the pier. As we were walking out of the garage, we met a Carnvial cruise employee who told us it was okay to get in line after we told her our time was at 1330. She said it was okay to get in line and check in early which as really great! The whole process took about 30 minutes or so. While waiting in line, they were people of all ages there. My biggest concern were the 20-something college age kids who were there during spring break causing a problem. More on that later. During that time, we were also inundated with photographers asking us to take pictures. Since we weren't planning on buying any of the pictures, I stood there and made subtle funny faces. Once we got on the ship around 1230, we were told our room wasn't going to be ready until 1330 so we went up on the Lido deck with all our suitcases and hung out. I must have ate about 3 Guy Fieri burgers during that time which was incredibly good!
This ship was good size. We were told it was at full capacity and since there was so much stuff going on, it didn't see to be that many people on it at all! With all the entertainment and activities going on, my family did not encounter very much of the college/spring break crowd at all. The cabin was tiny, but that was expected. We were there only to sleep and take showers. It was cramped with a family of four in it, but we made it work. Our attendant met us on the first day and introduced himself. After that first encounter, he greeted us by name every time we passed in the hallway.
Drove golf cart around avalon
it was fast