Also asked in FL but figured I'd check here too since it's right on the line.

It's REALLY close by and some of the last minute rates I'm seeing are damn good.

Not yet, but my family and I are booked on the 5-day (Cozumel and Costa Maya) cruise July 13th-18th.

I will let you know how it is.  I'm going in June.

Same, I've read enough that for a 40 minute ride to get on the boat it would be worth it with the low fee.

Gumby interesting to see.  New Orleans is quite a bit further but has also Norwegian ships there. I really feel like I need to investigate the one in my backyard.

Carnival is economy class.

We did it a few years ago.  Great cruise for kids.  Nothing extraordinary, but it was a nice cruise.  Clean ship, good food.  
Our cruise stopped and spent a day on the beach in Mexico.  
Overall it was a nice trip, well worth the money.

Thanxbro!   Looking forward to it!  As close as it is, and with the deals that pop up it's hard to not give this a try.

Thank you Sir!

Really nice write up. I'm glad I took the chance on this.  I'll post back as well.

I did the math (actually found a breakeven chart too) and it makes sense to get the cheers package for me I think.

I'm back from this cruise.

I give it a solid 8.5/10, and will cruise on it again.

It's a local drive for me, and I factor that into the score.

ENTRY/EMBARKATION:

Smooth.  Except for one bitchy security lady (facility worker, not Carnival) who just had to rip everything out of my carry on to find a single spent .223 casing. I weighed my options, and decided to forfeit it.

We were on the ship within 20 minutes of parking the car.

Ship Impressions:

Definitely an older ship, but very clean, and with a lot of character to it. Our room was very small (inside bunk cabin) but it was spotless. Lots of music if you want it, but done in a way that the music doesn't intrude.  Cruise director was a fucking blast. Very entertaining.

The ship has 2600 passengers on it. Far smaller than some others.  There was virtually no lines, anywhere the entire cruise - except today to get off the ship.

The seas were very smooth, and the weather favorable for the entire trip. My daughter is very sensitive to this, and we kept her pre-tanked with dramamine. No issues.

FOOD:

VG to at times, Excellent. Prefacing this with the fact that I'm celiac, and required special handling. My dietary requirements were handled professionally in the dining room and I never felt like I had to wonder.  It turns out I didn't get gluten-sick even once the entire trip, so this process worked.

My daughter ordered one of the 'steakhouse selections' upcharge entrees - Filet Mignon.  It was huge, and fucking delicious. Honestly one of the better filets I have ever had. She ate half of it, and I ate the rest.  It was so good, I ordered it for myself on my last night there.  The other entrees I had ranged from good to excellent. I was never served anything that I felt was substandard at all. Not even close. Flat Iron steak, Lamb shank, grilled shrimp, etc.  Sometimes I got two or three apps, sometimes two entrees. They will bring as many as you want.

Deck food:   The guy's burger joint accolades are for real.  This is truly an amazing, high quality burger.  I ate 3-4 of them a day (with no bun) and I'll miss them.  They are like five guys, but thicker, better quality meat and cheese.  And huge trays of bacon, mushrooms and onions cooked up to add as much as you want.  The taco place was also good, but the burger join won hands down for me. If this were a standing local restaurant, I would truly go eat there.

Pool:  I went in it, but did not put my face in the water at any time. It was cool and refreshing. It was a sea water pool.

Buffet:  I honestly only hit this very late at night for a sixth meal before bed, but the food was all very nice there.

Beverages: I bought the cheers program, and believe I got my money's worth.  They had gluten free beer, so between that and Patron Anejo, I was well cared for.  I tipped $1.00 extra on every drink and it didn't take long to get noticed by the staff. Drinks started finding me if I wanted them. All I had to do was nod, and it showed up.

Gambling:  My daughter played bingo once.  I did not gamble at all in the casino, but I did watch a chick from Mississippi piss thousands away.

Shows/Activities:

I didn't attend any big theater shows, but I frequented all the live music locations several times over.  The bands on the ship are excellent and really get the crowds into it. Those that did attend said they were really cool.

Shopping:

There were some really good deals in the store the last day.  I wound up with a beautiful Guess watch, and bought some jewelry for my girls. Some of it I got on giveaways.

Creeping Costs:

Essentially, none.  The app on your phone shows all your charges.  Even with my shopping and all the tips, I only incurred an additional $300 all told. It self-settled to my debit card and I didn't have to use guest services at all.  I'll add, there was almost always a line there.

Gym:

Pretty respectable for a cruise ship gym. Plenty of treadmills, ellipticals, and db's up to 65#.  There was a pull up bar, cable machine and the de-rigueur set of strength machines. They had enough stacks on them that I got a good workout. My 1RM bench is 250# if that helps anyone forecast.

Gym Staff:  A couple skinny kids came in and figured they'd take their shirts off and turn their hats backwards, I suppose to try and impress a couple girls with their linguini arms. The gym attendant promptly asked them to leave. When they objected, he pointed them to the rules that plainly say shirts are required.

Adult only area:

Serenity - The seat cushions were gross and there was very little shade, but otherwise it was nice. The hot tub there was nicer than the other ones.

Kids Stuff:

My daughter is 15 and had no problem finding friends through the ship's club area for her age group.

Annoying people:

There are always going to be some that just piss you off every time you see them. Aside of some truly obnoxious "I'll never get hired for anything" hair arrangements, there was an obese man who had to suck on his vape thing like every thirty seconds in the smoking area and breathe it all over everyone without any effort to redirect it. There was also a sawed-off looking guy that I called "stump." For some reason he refused to speak to the staff, and would only point at what he wanted with a bizarrely bent hand and grunt "mmmph." As if to say "this." I heard him speaking to other people so I know he was able to. I think maybe his momma drank.

Destinations:

Costa Maya - Complete rip off. Literally nonstop street vendors hustling you. Went to a beach club that turned out to be a rip off.  I did find a better one upstream a bit, the "Nacional beach club."  To do it again, I'll go there instead. I had a drink there and the prices were lower and the staff very nice.

Cozumel - Went to a beach club for $20 plus a $15 cab  ride to and fro. Had fun on the water obstacle course, had a tequila and got some open water freestyle swim in. "Ocean beach club."  This place was not a rip off but it still had a few "hard sells" from the hawkers. Did some duty free shopping there and found excellent deals on Tequila.

Herradura Anejo, three for $88.

Conclusions:

Having a cruise port this close is a luxury. I found the cruise on the Fantasy to be a good value for the price, and I'll be booking another later on in the year.

If there's anything specific I can answer, please ask.

@justsayin

Let me thank you again for your initial response. You made it a lot easier for me to plan my approach.

Looking forward to hearing about your RC!