Do your homework.

When my husband and I got married in 2014, I left three days after the ceremony for a travel work assignment. We decided that three years was long enough to wait and chose to plan a cruise for our Honeymoon. Let me say that booking a cruise was the easiest thing in the world. Carnival's customer service was great. The cruise itself was a much needed escape. The staff on the ship was beyond wonderful, especially when you consider some of the horrid people that were on the cruise. The cruise director, Mike was the epitome of energy. The food in the dining rooms was always good; sometimes great, but consistently good. All things in perspective, this was a great value for us.

Here is the caveat; make sure you do as much research as you can before you book a cruise. We are both in our late 30's and have no children. If you have them, or even love being surrounded by them, Carnival is for you. This cruise was very much geared towards children, families, and drunks. I was shocked at the amount of bars and the prevalence of liquor with so many children present. I was also a bit disappointed that to gain access to so many areas of the promenade, you had to walk through the casino where smoking is permitted and not vented. Poor design choice I feel.

I felt that Carnival could have done more (or anything for that matter) to educate the cruisers on the various ports.I was not aware (due to the lack of research on my part) that marijuana is legal in Jamaica. Within one minute of arriving at the beach I was offered both pot and cocaine. Jamaica also is a bit of a slum. I would have happily skipped it to have spent an extra day in the Caymans.

Carnival also does nothing to prepare you for the experience of arriving at the pier. Leave plenty of time to get unloaded, parked and checked in. Know that if you use the AB parking lot, they do not allow luggage on the shuttles to the ship. Let the porters unload you in the terminal. However, the day of debarkation, shuttles will allow luggage.

The major issues I had, do not involve Carnival. People on the cruise (as a whole) were extremely rude; think pushing past with no consideration, no control of children running along the stateroom corridors, shouting at night, just overall unpleasant. Perhaps a class on etiquette would be a nice addition to the itinerary.

If you loved summer camp, don't mind long announcements early in the morning about activities, and can handle unruly children, this is perfect. For us, it was a nice vacation, but more than anything, a learning experience.