Not only was this my first cruise, but it was also my honeymoon and first vacation outside of the USA. For me preparation is key, so before I booked a cruise I did a lot of research, mostly online at sites like this one. I read and reviewed, weighed the good and bad, and made my choice. It seemed of all the cruise lines, Carnival was at the most consistent at being rated above average. Plus the wife had cruised with Carnival before and rated them a solid "5" out of 6. So after looking at what was available I booked a March cruise on the Carnival Conquest embarking from New Orleans, LA.
We purchased our own air fare as we could do better than the packaged deals. So I will skip my thoughts and opinions of air travel to get to the cruise. Embarkation was at first sight scary. Dozens of buses and Taxi's, baggage handlers everywhere, a big building with loooong lines of people, etc. But looks can be deceiving. We got out of our cab, our bags were collected and we were in line instantly. The long lines moved steadily, quickly even. First through the ticket counter for sail and sign cards, then to some chairs for a short sit, then another line to take pictures of us leaving New Orleans. Through a security check point and we were on the boat in about 30-35 minutes. Not too bad at all.
We found our room easily. It was clean, comfortable and more than spacious enough for how little time we would be spending there. A nice king size bed, television, phone, desk, programmable safe and lots of closet space. The bathroom was surprisingly wonderful. Good size, great shower and sink. Tons of nice new towels and lots of free product samples. They even had dispensers on the wall for soap and shampoo.