This was our first time cruising and will be a long review as I have read so many other reviews and wanted to include one for first-timers. We went on a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Glory to the Western Caribbean with friends who have cruised several times before. We were anxious to see how Carnival was, and especially the refurbishing of the Glory. We left out of Miami; so glad we bought transfers ahead of time as the rep from Carnival was at the baggage claim and we were able to get on a transfer bus right away. Were wondering where you made the switch to put our wine in your carry on; found out it is after you get off the bus before you check in. We all were able to smuggle small amounts of liquor in without any problems. Check in took awhile; I would say all together we were in line for 1 1/2 hours, but didn't care since we were on vacay! Once on the ship we found that our rooms were ready right away. I had ordered a liter of vodka from Bon Voyage; it was delivered as soon as we entered our room. It cost $40 and found out later they were selling liters for $12 on the ship, but it was worth it to not have to worry about smuggling in large amounts of liquor. My friends also had a dozen roses delivered to our room to celebrate our first cruise; absolutely gorgeous. Our room was comfortable, clean and cleverly designed with bunches of cubbies and closets. Had 2 great bathrobes and beach towels provided. Also blow dryer in room and shampoo, conditioner, face soap and razors in bathroom. As per other reviews, found out later that shower curtain doesn't hold water in, so be prepared for your own pool every night. We brought an extension cord for my husband's cpap; the cord wouldn't have reached the outlet otherwise. We gave our steward $10 the first day and asked him to keep the ice a coming and he did a great job. Room was clean and bedding was luxurious. Never heard a sound at night (we had an ocean view on the main deck). Didn't think I would care about having a window or not but turned out I really liked looking out at the waves. We had early seating in the Golden dining room and really enjoyed the food; maybe we're easy to please but it's hard to complain when you can have lobster tail, fillet mignon, chateubriand, creme brulee, baked Alaska, shrimp cocktail, etc. etc. The only complaint I had was feeling rushed by the servers; if I had to do it over I would go for later seating or your way dining. Loved the waiters dancing and singing! We usually ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet on the Lido deck; food was good with wide selections; sometimes the lines were long. Had tea, hot chocolate, coffee, lemonade and fruit punch for free; buy a card if you drink a lot of soft drinks. They also had fish and chips, which was very good, a sushi bar every night before dinner, which was only OK, and a burrito bar, Mongolian grill, deli, 24 hr pizza and ice cream. They also had a steakhouse that cost $30 extra per person, but we didn't try it. We went to some of the shows, overall pretty good, didn't like the magician, felt like we were in Lady Heather's Palace of Pain and Pleasure--definitely not for the little ones. The comedians were very good and loved the lounge where they performed. Did a good bit of shopping and our friends won $100 in the casino, which was pretty smoky. Spent alot of time by the pool and didn't have a problem geting chairs. There were 2 pools and 6 hot tubs (I think!), tons of lounges that were mostly empty, miniature golf, a huge water slide, outdoor theater, spa, exercise area, lots of children's areas and an adults only area. You could pretty much make the onboard experience whatever you wanted. There were always things to do--you got a list of shipboard activites every day; I even went to a lecture on herbal medicines! There were supposedly 1000 children on board and I didn't really notice them. As for the excursions; well, they were hit and miss. We went to Cozumel, Roatan, Belize and Grand Cayman. In Cozumel we had a great excursion we booked off the ship with Shoretrips.com; we did the Eco Jeep and Snorkel tour at $79/pp, tour guide was Lorenzo, included a great lunch, be advised there are 4 of you to a Jeep and you need to be able to drive a stick. Only 8 of us on the whole tour, and the snorkeling/history tour of the island was fantastic. In Belize we booked an excursion with Carnival for snorkeling and Bannister Beach break. The snorkeling reminded me of the water scene in Titanic, hundreds of people in the water with snorkels, after a few flippers in the face I retreated to the double decker boat for some free rum punch. Bannister Beach was great; I could've stayed there all day. It's only open for cruise ships, teeny tiny with lots of lounge chairs, full service bar, hair braiding, massages, snacks (nothing free except the chairs), but it was pretty and restful. Did take the tender in to Belize City and got a great knockoff Fendi bag from one of the shops. In Roatan we had booked a tour with Bodden--it was terrible, the guide didn't know where we were going, got stuck by a parade in town for 2 hours, by the time we got to a beach we had an hour to swim before we had to head back. Found out later that there is a beach called Mahogany Bay you can see from the cruise ship that Carnival has developed for Carnival guests only. You can take a 5 minute "flying chair" tram to the beach for $5 and have your own private beach with free chairs for the day, snacks and liquor extra. Wish we had known that ahead of time. In Grand Cayman we took Captain Bryan's Stingray City tour with 2 snorkeling stops on a 50 foot catamaran. It was the highlight of our cruise. Just great sailing over the clearest, bluest water we saw on the whole trip. Was disappointed as a whole with the snorkeling (with the exception of the sting rays, which were huge and we got to hold them!) We did snorkeling at every port. Didn't see much in the way of underwater creatures, but did meet a lot of nice folks from all over the country. Long story short, we enjoyed the cruise way more than we thought we would. The bad things we thought would happen (seasickness, feeling like a sardine, kids running and screaming, run-down ship) never happened, and the things we weren't expecting (great food, super friendliness of staff and fellow travelers, lots of stretching out room on ship) were a pleasant surprise. We are planning on cruising again later this year; you can't beat the price and all the amenities.