This was our spring break and our kids first cruise. It was me and my husband, our three girls ages 12, 8, 5. We had a great time. Attitude on any vacation is the key to a good time. Be flexible and don't sweat the small stuff! This is a long review, but I found other's review so helpful, I wanted to provide all the details for you. I booked this trip because it was close to home, so no airports, and because the older ships allow for 5 people to be in a stateroom. Trying to book 2 rooms connecting or at least side by side was a huge challenge. So when a suite opened up on the Fantasy, I grabbed it. Also, I wanted to introduce cruising to the kids, so if I started on Disney or RC's Oasis, then they would expect that type of ship every time we go out. Wanted to start small so they weren't overwhelmed. Not a fan of ships under 100K tons due to the rocking, but figured this would be okay since we were mid-ship with our cabin. Also, I have the Carnival Mastercard which will pay for about 80% of the trip with my points. It's the best cruise card out there, giving you more credit for your points than any of the other ones as long as your redemption value is over $1,300. After $1,300, instead of getting $100 for every 10,000 points, it's about $100 for every 6,500 points. I use it for all business expenses, so it racks up fast.I've been on Royal Carribean Explorer of the Seas and when I was in college, a couple of the other Carnival cruise ships.Cruising has changed. In the early 90's it was still a luxury vacation on Carnival. Now with the introduction of 'luxury' cruise lines, you are getting a bit of an average vacation on Carnival these days and will need to pay a bit more with other lines for the luxury cruise experience you've heard about. This ship has cheaper prices than most, so expect a different clientele. I'm not complaining, I was expecting it. And being from the south, I'm used to it. I'm just saying, if you're not from the south, it will be an experience. For example, on formal night, when the next table has on a collared shirt and jeans, and the lady has on a orange and white fluorescent dress that looks like a swim cover up.....well, you just know that you're not exactly dining with the Rockefellers.EMBARKATION:We opted to spend the night in Charleston the night before since we didn't want to be exhausted by the 5 hour drive once we got on the ship. Learned a few days before we left that there was a huge marathon the day we were to leave. Initially I had planned to leave the car at the Embassy Suites and be shuttled to port, but they weren't going to take anyone until early afternoon and I wanted to get to the ship. So we decided to park at port. It's confusing, so make time for confusion. We ended up taking a wrong turn and getting directly into the parking warehouse, still with our luggage. The port authority was awesome, they called up a private van that picked us and our luggage up, drove us directly to curbside and then took our luggage to the loading dock. Didn't fuss at us or give us dirty looks, they just wanted to help us.It went fast for us, we were VIP because of our stateroom, so we walked right up, got our cards, took our pictures and were on the ship. It was after 1pm so we went straight to our stateroom, dropped off our many carry-ons and headed up top for lunch.STATEROOM:We had one of the balcony suites on the Upper Deck. It was a good size for the 5 of us. I can't imagine being in one of the oceanviews with 5 people. It would have been miserable. We also had our own balcony, so that was nice not having to go up on deck to see/smell the ocean. It was much larger on this ship, since there are only a few rooms with balconies on older ships. Bathroom was nice with a tub. Large closet. I will from now on always bring an over the door shoe hanger to place all our countertop accessories in. It made it easier to find things and kept our brushes, toothbrushes, make-up, etc. from getting all over the counters. There's plenty of storage areas in this room. And the room steward was fantastic at keeping it clean and straight. Chanita, you're the best!EXCURSIONSDo your homework for the ports. We didn't book anything through the ship, it was way overpriced. Booked the trolley tickets online for Key West, booked Dolphin Encounters for Nassau and since I had read that Freeport was basically barren, I booked with a local, Shamie Rolle of Calabash EcoAdventures in Freeport. He took us off the beaten path and showed us 'his' Freeport. Very knowledgeable about the ecosystems and parks, took us to the beach, lunch at a local place, were supposed to go to two other beaches, but a huge storm cut our day short. Our dinner partners used the cabs at the ports to go to places and had just a good of an experience. With 3 kids, I wanted a more sure itinerary, so I made sure our day was planned. Things tend to go sideways for us with kids, when there isn't something planned.DININGIf you can't find something you like on this ship, then (1) you don't eat out much and (2) you don't know what to look for. Sometimes I think they went overboard with variety and left taste on the shore. They offer so many options and really try hard to give you a good value. Try everything, it's not like they're going to charge you for throwing it away. The desserts in the Windows of the Sea are bland at best. Just go for the ice cream. But it is a cruise, so try everything, if it's bad, throw it away. Always had carving stations on the lido deck, not to mention the cooked to order stir fry and omelettes. Standard burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries for the kids. Again, so much variety, you're an idiot if you can't find something you like. Not to mention the 24 hour hot pizza and the made to order sandwiches. Are you kidding me?! They were great.We ate dinner in the dining room every night. Loved our waitstaff. We were partnered with another family of 5 with kids. Sometimes it can be awkward to sit with strangers, thankfully my husband talks a lot, so he got them to open up around the 2nd or 3rd night. When you order in the dining room, order all that you want when they initially take your order. It's hard for them to be able to go back and pick up things once they get the ball rolling. It's a very strict process in the kitchen, so if they have to go back for 1 dish, they have to stand in the same line as if they were picking up 12 dishes. No breaking line for one dish. So order all at once.Lobster night, I ordered the lobster and prime rib, wish they would do a surf and turf that night, I looked like a pig! But my mantra at dining was to stick with steak or seafood. I can eat all the pasta and chicken I want at home. Look for the most expensive thing and order it. Soups were all puree's, so if you want to try the soup, order another starter with it. I enjoyed most of my dishes, I only ate what I wanted, didn't try to eat the whole thing. But tasted everything. Loved the ribs they offered twice. Loved the Filet Mignon, Lobster, Flat Iron steak, seafood newburg, Chateau Briand. Wanted to try the duck, but opted not to. Duck can be hard to master when cooked to order, I didn't want to chance it on a mass production basis. Also order your meats medium or medium rare. Well done is over done, medium gets it about right.Desserts were good. The chocolate melting cake was a favorite, and many nights we ordered the featured dessert and chocolate melting cake. Because we just had to have it every night, but I wanted to try the featured dessert as well. Get cappuccino too.Heard a man say he couldn't wait to get back home and find a Chic-Fil-A. Are you kidding me? Now see, that's what I'm talking about, if you can't expand your horizons and try different stuff, you will not enjoy the food anywhere, much less on a cruise. Step outside of your 'chicken fingers and fries world', and try it all. It's not going to be 5 star. They are feeding 2,600 people multiple times a day, but it's MUCH better than a fast food restaurant.One other thing, I so appreciated all the sanitizing dispensers EVERYWHERE. Especially at the entrance to all the buffets. Kudos to Carnival for helping everyone not spread germs. They didn't have these on Royal Caribbean. It should be a standard on all cruise ships. CAMP CARNIVALWhen I went to the first meeting on embarkation day and the director said there were over 950 kids on board, I almost fell out. But they did such a great job, I never notice that almost half of the passengers were kids. My kids were in heaven. When your 5 year old is yelling her Camp Carnival itinerary to you and she has to leave now to get to Camp carnival, well you know they are doing a fantastic job with the kids. I especially loved that they made them all go straight to the bathroom to wash their hands when they were checked in.My 8 year old loved her program. She was a week away from being 9 and would have loved being in that group, but b/c there were so many kids, they made all the kids stay in their age group. My 12 year old loved Circle C. There were so many friends she made and they all had a blast. My husband and I used the time after dinner while they were at camp, to take a nap! Their programs ran until midnight and they were determined to stay every minute.SEA DAYSThese were my favorite. Nothing to run and see, just walk around and relax. Plenty of deck space all around. Do need to get out early to get a couple of deck chairs, ones around the pool are always taken, but at the back of the ship, above serenity deck, near the slides, tons of chairs. Still need to get out early to claim some seats. But for the most part, we liked the back of the ship, stairs were right there to run down to the Windows of the Sea and grab some lunch or an ice cream cone, or pizza. The next deck down was Camp carnival to check on the kids. It was perfect. Pool is small, but the crowd changes, so there are times when no one was in it. Water was cold and it's a salt water pool, so you can't stay in there long, it's a little irritating to the skin. WHAT OTHERS COMPLAINED ABOUTI'll address what concerned me from other's reviews. Older ship: It was fine. Yes smaller than what I went on last time. But it was not 'old' looking and the crew is constantly cleaning. The neon theme is just what it is, neon. My kids loved it and thought everything was great. Sometimes if we'll just look at things through a kids eyes, it's much better than our negative tainted views.Clientele: This is not an expensive cruise, do not expect the cream of the crop in passengers. But most everyone was congenial. Just a little tacky though. Makes for some great comedy photos.Smoking: Yep, it's like the pipe it in at night. Can't believe the cigarette smoke, does no one care about their lungs? Never used the casino or bars so I was able to steer clear. Wind on deck was plentiful, so it would usually blow it away. Still could smell it strong when you walked along the promenade deck. And for you smokers, it stinks and for some, is physically debilitating allergic. Thankfully I'm not allergic, but I know people who are. Here's what I'd like to do one day...go in the Casino, or whatever bar is reeking with it and spray a can of 'flatulence' Not a heavy stream of it, but little 'puffs' here and there. And then watch all the people begin to get uncomfortable with the smell and start walking away for breaths of fresh air. That's how cigarette smoke is to non-smokers, choking smell and irritating. Royal Caribbean had less open smoking areas and I appreciated that. And we didn't have a smoky cabin, but some complained they could smell smoke in their cabin. Food: There's something for everyone, you shouldn't have anything to complain about here. If you're used to eating chicken and fries every day and even then you can have that too on this cruise. You can read about my food opinions under dining. Embarkation/Debarkation: Don't be in a hurry and go with the flow. Understand this may or may not be a great experience. If it's good, great, if there's problems, oh well, just deal with it and know that people are doing the best they can. If you can, I would say do the self assist debarkation. We couldn't handle the luggage by ourselves, otherwise we would have done that. It is the earliest you can get off the ship, but we weren't particularly in a hurry. And we got first debarkation b/c of our room. I think our biggest problem was we had too much stuff. Will definitely let the hotel take us and pick us up next time.CRUISE TIPS:Explore your ports of call online with cruise critic or trip advisor.If you can, spend the night the day before and let your hotel take you to the port and pick you up when you get back, free parking.Pack your bags, then take half of it out. We overpacked to an extreme level. Didn't think about the fact that on sea days and even at the ports of call in Freeport and Nassau that we would basically be wearing our swimsuits and cover-ups every day. We had a day and night outfit for every day of the cruise. Big mistake.Pack two swimsuits. While one is drying you can wear the other one the next day and vice versa. Nothing dries too fast when you're out to sea. Too much moisture.Purchase an over the door shoe organizer to keep all your belongings off the counter and strewn everywhere. We were able to find things much easier as the days went on cause they were in a pocket and not all over the place. Ditto for a closet shoe organizer to keep our shoes all in one place instead of here and there all over the floor.Soda card: we purchased these for our kids 'cause we're not big soda drinkers, it was kind of a waste of money for us. I think you could get away with having one or two with the soda plan. But we didn't see a need for that many sodas. Even at dinner the kids wanted tea or water. So that was not a savings for us at all. Even my husband was able to go up to the bar and get my child a soda, without her. They didn't check if it was his card. Pictures: They take so many pictures. ALL THE TIME. My tip would be to make sure all of your party is in one picture. There was several times they had characters like pirates, island girls, dance girls, and the photographer would take individual shots with each person in your party. Translation, instead of having one photo of your family, there were five to decide to buy or not. Ditto when getting off the ship at ports, make sure all of your party is in one photo, otherwise you have tons of expensive individual shots.We did do one formal photo and we went with the plain black background. They turned out GORGEOUS. I didn't like all the fake backgrounds of oceans, beaches, the titanic staircase, cheesy greek colomns, etc. I knew when I got home, I just wanted a classic family photo, the black background was fantastic. There was a white one on another night. But the problem with the night photos is that they only print them in 8x10's, I didn't want a bunch of 8x10's. You could purchase smaller photos after you bought the 8x10, but didn't need that.WISH, WISH, WISH there was a pre-paid photo plan, the same way they do the soda plan. I would gladly pay a lump sum up front and then have them scan our card before each photo, then be able to take all the photos home on a disk. Unfortunately, I spent a wad on photos, they took some great shots.Neon luggage straps. I strapped all our luggage with pink neon straps, not only for recognition, but because I was afraid some would come unzipped and pop open, and one of my pieces did unzip, but nothing fell out because it was also strapped. A couple of my straps were locking. That was great for the over stuffed luggage. It made it very easy to identify our scattered luggage in the terminal when we got off the ship. OVERALLJust relax and have a great time. You don't have to cook, think about where to go or be at work. You can eat anytime you like and have plenty to choose from. Attitude is everything and always put yourself in the other person's shoes. Ask questions when you don't know, everyone is more than willing to help. I would definitely book this cruise again. I think it's better than going to the beach for a week. A little of everything for everyone, including the beach.Thanks for reading this novel, and I hope that you go on this cruise. You have the power to go with a good attitude. They say that they are the Fun Ships, but YOU have to decide to make it fun. If you have a negative attitude about everything, you need more than a vacation, you need psychological help. Bon Voyage!!! If you have any questions about my review, email me ihavmakeup@gmail.com