1. General Comments. A pleasant cruise, despite cool temperatures and windy conditions. Some decks had to be closed at times due to the winds. We were over 3,000 passengers on this cruise. Passengers were of all ages; there were only a few college Spring Breakers. While my wife and I are "frequent floaters," this was only our second cruise with Carnival.

2. Embarking: We arrived at the cruise terminal around 11:30 on Sunday. You drop off your family and baggage at the terminal and drive to the designated parking lot. If you use one of the Port of Galveston lots, it is $70 (cash, VISA , or MasterCard) up front for an uncovered slot. The cost is $65 if you pay on-line at the Port of Galveston website. A shuttle takes you right back to the entrance of the cruise terminal. (Remember that RCCL has the other terminal.)

Check-in was a breeze, especially after having completed the Fun Pass registration on-line at the Carnival site. Also, having a suite qualified us for "VIP check-in" which avoided most of the lines. We were in our cabin by around 1:30PM after lunch on the Lido deck, and our luggage arrived at 2PM. Read more