At the request of 2 family members I chose a short get-a-way and it was a balcony cabin for $70...can't beat that.

I've taken 12 carnival cruises but this was my first one since I switched over to NCL 5 years ago. I'd heard these nightmare stories about fights and embarkation issues and debarkation issues ( some of these are more port related than Carnival related) so I wasn't expecting much and since my cruise was so inexpensive I wasn't going to be out of significant money and could drive to the port.

One of my family members missed the ship so we started out with 2 instead of 3 people and the carnival staff went beyond expections for the 2nd person who almost missed the ship by accidentally putting her passport inside the luggage which had already been taked away. Read more