Carnival is fun! I went on my first cruise in December and the posters on this board had me horrified. Calling the Walmart of cruise lines. I admit, I was worried when I got in line to board the boat but the entire experience was a lot of fun. It is cheap, there is plenty of food and lots of booze. I love to gamble so the casino was always open and that is where I spent a lot of time. It really is a blast. I can't comment on Norwegian since I haven't sailed on that line but a friend went and loved it. I am going on two more cruises, one in April and one in June, both on the Dream. My cruise in December was on the Elation which is a smaller ship that does shorter cruises. I highly recommend it but to avoid the cheaper crowd, sail the 7 day Dream. The longer sailings usually get the older crowd and those with a little more money to spend. But even on the Elation, I didn't see any problems and it was during Christmas break while plenty of people were out of school. No drunk college kids falling down drunk that I saw.

We are going to Little French Key on our June cruise, can't wait. So glad to read others have liked it. You can only book that excursion directly through them so it is incredibly cheap compared to excursions booked through Carnival.

By the way, our cruise in June cost a grand total of $420 with $100 on board credit for 2 people in an extended balcony room. Basically, $320 bucks. I highly suggest gambling while on board, because we gambled last time we got this offer for such a cheap cruise. And no, we did not lose near enough that we paid full price for the cruise by factoring in our loss. Even if we did, so what, at least we got something for our money! When I lose at the casinos in town I leave with nothing and am lucky to get a free buffet offer.

This post was edited on 2/25/15 at 10:36 am