re: Can someone school me on cruises?

Carnival is not that bad. I've been on most cruise lines, all-inclusives in one place, all other types of vacations. If it's just you and your wife, you like to party, and you don't mind other people, Carnival is the party line.

You can save money by bringing in your own booze in bladders. We generally refill them on one of the incursions. People begin to recognize us as the couple always walking around with our LSU Tervis's. The food is fine, but we are party animals and most of the time end up eating the late night pizza.

Maybe Carnival is not for you if you don't wanna party, listen to music, and meet other people. And as said above the food is better on other cruise lines.

If you can go on Carnival for 75% of the cost of one of the others and bring in your own booze as I suggested, you should go for it. You won't regret it.