We normally cruise with Royal Caribbean, but we had been on 1 other Carnival and really enjoyed it, so we decided to try it again. The price was great and this was their newest, biggest ship, so we thought why not? Our group was myself, my husband and our 2 kids, ages 7 and 10. We have cruised 15+ times and this was the kids' 7th cruise.

Got to the port in Miami and waited for about 20 minutes in line to show passports, etc. We had an appointment time from 11:30-12. We got in line at 11:25 and they wouldn't let us in the "on time" line, and made us go in the "early/late" line. Stupid. Got upstairs to waiting area and they were calling group 3. We had 22. Waited about another 45 minutes to board the ship. When we got on, the elevators were programmed to only drop you where the food was. Smart! We went up to the Lido Buffet. It was ok--nothing special.

We wandered around for a while, checked in at Camp Ocean and then went to our staterooms to drop the luggage. We had 2 adjoining balcony cabins--8319 and 8323. They were pretty standard rooms--nothing special or outstanding. Balconies were small--just 2 chairs. I had requested online for the kids' cabin to have 2 twin beds, but that was not done. We found our steward, Arnel, and he said he would take care of it. Read more