This was our first cruise on Carnival. We'd heard a lot of horror stories about the line, but were intrigued by the price difference. The old addage, "you get what you pay for," held true, but as long as you adjust your expectations, you it was a good value for the money.
We arrived in San Diego at about 1:30 for a 4:00 sailing. It took us about an hour and a half to get on board. We had to wait in seveal lines before we boarded. That was something that we're not used to, but it wasn't too bad. Hey, when you're know that the goal is being on board a cruise ship, how can you complain?
We booked a balcony room on the 8th deck (one deck below the Lido). We were concerned that we were right next to the forward elevators, and were concerned that there would be a lot of noise from the elevators and from traffic going back and forth. It was never a problem. In fact, we found the location to be perfect. Most of the activities on the sihp took place either on decks 9 and 10 or 2 and three. We found our location to be centrally located and easily accessible to all the other parts of the shift.
We were on the 8th deck (one below the Lido). We thought it was one of the best locations on the ship, as most activities are either on deck 2, 3, 9, or 10. We were right outside of the forward elevators. We never hear any noise in the halls. The room was large by cruise ship standards. Plenty of storage. Very good use of space.