This was my first cruise. My wife and I decided to plan a trip for our son that is graduating this year. We booked well in advance along with several other families, 25 people in all.
Carnival made it very easy to book our rooms and be in close proxmity. We selected the early dining time of 6:00 PM. The first night at dinner we where scattered across 4 tables. We mentioned this to the staff and for the rest of the trip we all were upgraded to Saphire Room and all 25 sat at one table for the rest of the cruise. The rooms and ammenities of the ship surpassed all my expectations.
There is so much to do and see on the ship that we had to make it a point to check in with our travel companions or you could go several days without bumping into each other.
Our cabin consisted of one double bed and twin singles for our kids. Our room steward asked us the first day what would be the best time to clean the room everyday. On the second day he knew my entire family by their first names and the room was perfectly set up by the time we would return in the afternoon.
My wife and I would spend every night looking at the stars from our balcony.