Dissappointing changes in Carnival

We've been on four Carnival cruises and this will likely be our last.  The changes that Carnival has made over the past few years are very dissappointing to us.  We made the best of the situation but for the thousands of dollars it cost, we'll make a different cruise company choice in the future.  The ship Conquest was quite old and beat up...it needs some TLC.  The extended balcony stateroom we booked was abnormally small (compared to other ships in their line) and the bathroom was small and ugly. The TV didn't offer any PPV channels (although it was supposed to via the FAQ on their site) and the wireless connectivity was abysmal - I could rarely connect and it was so slow that messaging responses constantly timed out.  The public areas on the ship were ok although extremely understaffed.  There were large waits for everything from getting a specialty coffee or drink to purchasing a photo.  Guest services was both slow and rude in dealing with the problem we had upon arrival at the FLL airport and our purchased transfer to the ship.  We sat for nearly two hours waiting for our 'missing' bus and barely made it on the ship in time to sail.  We missed out on getting our embarkation photo and were rushed onto the ship as the last to board.  It was confusing and upsetting.  After talking with three different people, we received a letter in our room saying that we didn't qualify for a refund of the transfer fee of $32.  Following that we got a phone call saying we would be getting the refund...this was how the entire cruise went...confusion and a serious lack of organization on the part of the Carnival management.  It's obvious that they've cut back on staffing and that there are a lot of unseasoned employees - even excursion management for getting groups off the ship at the ports was a mess with employees arguing with each other on their walkies and getting angry with each other.  We've been on more expensive lines like RC and Celebrity and thought that Carnival was close enough in service (at a much lower price) when we first cruised with them.  Now, it's obvious that you're getting what you're paying for and the savings aren't enough to offset the lack of service as it currently stands so we'll be returning to the higher price/higher service level lines.  Carnival seems to have decided to cater to the lower common denominator and that is simply not enough for us.  We prefer to be treated like we matter - even if it costs us 25-30% more.  It's dissappointing that Carnival has chosen the low road.