Great cruise again and Carnival never disappoints with the entertainment and value for the money. See you next year! Maybe sooner.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Outstanding. We arrived early and are light travelers and we were through security and on the ship by the time our actually showtime arrived! It's nice to relax and check the events calendar while waiting on the rooms to be ready.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The sit down menus seem to be very hit and miss on most cruises, the same with the buffets, but the food was much better on this cruise than my previous cruise. Not all was great, but when it was good, it was very good.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
All the music shows, trivia and game show events were very entertaining. Pool was very overcrowded though and very small. It was cool to have mini-golf on the upper deck and the water park was a neat area, but also crowded. I didn't see the fitness center, but I wasn't looking for it. There was corn hole and giant chess on the pool deck and always had people enjoying those.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The shows were great. Very entertaining and full of energy. I cruise with my 15 year old daughter and she always has a blast at the music/dance shows they put on, the game shows, newlywed type show and all the trivia contests.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
My daughter is very mature for her age and we never actually used the kid's clubs, but have signed her up before and they had a ton of activities to keep the kids busy and give them some time away from the parents. I would definitely consider it when we take her little sister on a cruise.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Almost everyone is great with the service staff. I have never had a bad room steward and only one small complaint about a food server and staff member, but they were very minor issues of consideration that I felt could have been handled better since I was spoiled by how awesome the rest of the crew was. Never had any real problems on any carnival cruise.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
This ship is on the older side, but exactly the same layout as the Fantasy that we cruised on last year, so it was very convenient in that we already knew where everything was. The décor was a little different so that was neat. The only negative for me with this class of ship is the extremely tiny pool areas that are packed most of the day to standing room only. Defeats the purpose of a pool if you can only stand in one place. I know the logistics would be a nightmare to change and may not be worth it in the ship's life expectancy, so it is what it is. My only real complaint is the elevators near the front. They are very slow, only 4 of them and often 1-2 of them are unusable and programs for ship staff use only. I had stitches in my foot during this cruise and could not easily use the stairs so I did a lot of waiting in the elevator bay. Otherwise, the ship is easy to get around and everything is pretty easy to find and get to.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
While the beds are narrow, they were very comfortable and the pillows were soft and thick. The room was very clean every day and the view from our window (M31) was great. The room has three giant closets for storage so you don't have to step over your stuff in the room which makes it feel a little bigger than it would otherwise. Nice touch with a small safe in the closet for passports etc. The bathroom was designed well for the size and had plenty of towels and racks. The desk was small but has some drawers and was good enough for getting ready to leave the room. TV was old but we didn't get on the ship to watch a bunch of television shows so it didn't matter much, and they did have two movie channels to fall asleep to. Again, our steward was awesome and services our room in the mid morning and the evening and left towel animals on the beds, which my daughter thought was awesome. There were two of us in this room and it is the right size but I probably would not want more than that unless the third was a very small child/toddler.
Ship tip
Go omelets for breakfast, never miss with them. A hidden gem is the small street style tacos on the side of the burrito/bowl line, seriously must try them. Stay out of your room and do as much as you can on your cruise. Pack a 1 to 3 outlet expander, there is probably only one outlet and charging phones is always a priorty. If you want drinks available in your room you will need lots of ice, so tip your steward the first day and ask for a larger bucket and you will not regret it.
We did not do an excursion due to a foot injury and only went to the downtown port area of Nassau. It was nice but totally a tourist shopping trap. The people were friendly enough and there are some great souvenir deals in the straw market, but after a couple hours of shopping it gets kinda old and not much else going on if you aren't drinking a lot or going on an excursion. I was hoping for more cultural and laid back vibes without having to go that far from the port. I'll probably go back and give it another try when fully healed up.
Only minor complaint was that all the fans were not on in the long line for customs in Jaxport. Other than that, Carnival has the disembarking process down to a science. We left our rooms by 8am (have to be out by 0830) and relaxed near the coffee shop and waited for our baggage tag number to be called (about an hour and a half) while drinking a mocha frappucino. When they called our number it only took about 5-10 minutes to get off the ship, get our bags and get in the long customs line. Even that line only took about 15 minutes or so and we were out the door to catch our shuttle.
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