all in all, it was what I expected for a carnival cruise in terms of food & entertainment. But the crew were great & we enjoyed the ports of call. I wished there were more pools on the ship...the main one on the Lido Deck was always full of people, like a big bath tub & the water looked grey when they'd all get out. ick.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
pretty efficient operation. friendly staff.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
"you get what you pay for" and Carnival is the low price end of the cruise ship experience. Still, we did have "free" lobster one night & shrimp & that was the best dish I had the whole cruise. Could have paid $20 extra in the dining room to have lobster each night, but once was enough. There was also a great smoked meat 'restaurant' on the deck of the ship that was wonderful. but the lines were LONG for it & it was only open 2 hours a day (for lunch). I also liked the mexican restaurant on the ship where you could get burritos & tacos & heuvo rancheros made to order.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
only 2 small pools for 4000+ passengers. plenty of lounge chairs though. Heard complaints that the fitness center was too small, but I didn't go in there. When I walked by, I saw plenty of treadmills standing empty. lol.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
younger folks in our group loved the lip sync battle & they enjoyed the karaoke but the stage shows weren't anything like what I remembered from other cruise lines. And there was only one or two. the dining room magician was great & the comedian I saw was okay.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff was OUTSTANDING. had ice in my room twice a day after asking for ice the first day. Dining room staff knew our names even though we moved around at every meal.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
for such a big ship, it was easy to get around. Common areas were clean & they were always doing maintenance. The outside of the ship (seen from our 11th floor balcony) looked a little worn for a fairly new ship. so for this double barrelled question, I'd give a 5 for cleanliness, a 4 for mainenance (outside 3, inside 5), and 4 for layout.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
wonderful cabin. wonderful steward kept it clean throughout.
Ship tip
use the spa therapeutic pool if you have access. eat at the barbeque place. try the melting chocolate cake in the dining room and the heuvo rancheros for breakfast on the lido deck.
went smoothly except for elevators being too full & taking too long. next time I'll take less luggage or will leave it for the stewards to move the night before.
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