There were three of us, including our 15 year old daughter on this trip. We sailed from New Orleans on August 16th. I'd booked the trip directly with Carnival.... the agent was Mike, who was very helpful for virtually 1st timers.

There was a sale on, with upgrades... we were on the Promenade deck (10th floor) with a balcony.

We arrived at the terminal at about 11:30 am. There were a lot of people checking in, but there must have been 25 or 30 agents working on checking us in, so we were through the line in less than half an hour. My wife has a serious allergy problem with some foods. I had mentioned this when booking, and the agent who checked us in found the information waiting for him, confirmed it for us, and emailed the Maitre'd. (On the first night we were visited by the Maitre'd, and she followed this every night with the following night's menu so we could make educated choices) Great Service there. Read more