First time cruisers in our 50's. We read all the reviews and blogs before we decided to go on this cruise. We wanted to do a cruise so each of us could visit the islands we each wanted to visit. We booked through the cruise line, but purchased air fare separate. We originally booked an inside 4H stateroom, but Carnival called and said we could "buy up" to a suite for $400 for both. We said yes and are very glad we did. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale from Chicago the day before we sailed. Stayed overnight in a hotel close to FFL used hotel shuttle to go back to the airport the next day to catch the Carnival shuttle bus to the Port of Miami. This ran really smooth with no hassles or glitches. When we arrived at the ship I could not believe how BIG it was. My wife told me to stop saying "WOW". We got off the bus gathered our luggage, took it a few feet to the porters and we were off to board the ship. Once inside we used the VIP line (another reason we enjoyed the upgrade)and was directed to the VIP reception room, filled out our health form and we were given our sign & sail cards and shown to our stateroom. The room was great with lots of storage and a huge bathroom with a shower/jet tub combination. We used the huge balcony every morning for coffee. Since our room was towards the front of the ship we were close to everything we needed. However, we did have to walk a ways to get to the dining room. Jorge the CD was just hilarious. He had everyone in stitches all week long. He really did make the week a humorous one. The food in the main dinning room was great and breakfast was the best. Service was outstanding and it seemed a lot of people were using "any time dinning". Room stewards were great, Albert kept our room to excellent standards. Over all this was an excellent cruise and we are already planning next years cruise. Carnival and the Glory crew made our first cruise an enjoyable experience.