Overall, the cruise was fantastic. We loved how relaxed a Carnival Cruise is. Wish we had more sun, but they can't control that!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Main dining room was great! I'd give it a 9/10. Guy's Burgers was fantastic as was the Blue Iguana (breakfast burritos w/ salsa bar...YUMMY!!!) The Sushi counter on Deck 9 was phenominal! We loved it! Very fresh and served differently than we've ever had back home! LOVED IT!
Inspiration Dining Room
5 out of 5
Our wait staff was wonderful! The second day, one had seen my daughter in Tiffany's and greeted her by her name. I was very impressed! We really enjoyed the dining room and the food was top notch. Definitely take advantage of the "Rare Finds" on the menu. Very unusual foods that were very tasty. Even the kids tried and liked most of what they tried. The escargot was WONDERFUL!
Bonsai Sushi Express
5 out of 5
The sushi offerings were delicious! We love sushi and were very impressed by our selections. It was very fresh. The California Roll was not your typical. It was delicious and we loved how it was served and garnished differently that we have experienced back home. Highly recommend if you love sushi!!
Gatsby's Great Bar
5 out of 5
The entertainment at Gatsby's was great. It was very comfortable and we enjoyed the atmosphere quite a bit. This is where they had the comedians as well as the Blockbuster Movie Night.
Tiffany's Lido Restaurant
4 out of 5
My husband and I never really ate a meal at Tiffany's. But we did go at night for pizza or ice cream or a deli sandwich. The kids ate there a couple times for breakfast and liked it. I just tend to steer clear of buffet's, but the items we had were very good. The sweet shop needs to have longer hours at Tiffany's, or have some of those desserts out at night for those that don't want dessert immediately after eating dinner, or need a late night sweet treat!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
There were so many things to do! We didn't get to everything that we had hoped to. We really enjoyed BINGO, the Hairy Chest Contest, and the Blockbuster Movie Night.
Casablanca Casino
3 out of 5
For those who don't smoke, the smoke is very offensive. They said smokers could only smoke in half of the casino, but when it is busy, they whole place reeks of cigarette smoke. IF you have asthma, beware! The musical entertainment in the casino was usually good, and people seemed to enjoy. Also, they have the Candy Shop (for kids!!!) right by the casino. Very poor design in my opinion.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Children's Programs
3 out of 5
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
All the staff was so friendly, helpful and willing and ready to answer questions, offer assistance, and do whatever was necessary to keep their guests happy.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cleanliness was outstanding. I give the ship 4 stars for for Design. We were on the ship for 3 days before we finally started to figure out which elevators when to what floors. I would suggest to Carnival to put numbers on the Atrium elevator buttons, instead of just deck names, so one can more easily navigate. It was a pain having to constantly look up at the top of the elevator to see what floor you needed to be on and then have to check that the floor number and name on the buttons corresponded. Another suggestion would be to move Guest services to a different floor away from the Atrium bar. It is always so noisy that it is very difficult to communicate with staff when trying to get assistance at guest services. That part was frustrating. One is trying to communicate and comprehend staff with various accents that people have, and then having loud music directly behind you is very difficult.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Ship tip
Invest in Faster To The Fun!!! You only need to purchase one per cabin. It is soooo worth it. It made disembarkation go SO FAST. We got into port before 8 am. The FTTF people, got to leave the ship first. We had an early flight (11:10) from JAX International. We also had a rental car to turn in before making our flight. We were very worried we were not going to make it in time. Our travel agent had booked it that way. However, I kid you not, we were at the airport, turned in rental car, through security and waiting at our gate by 9:15!!!!!!! Having FTTF also made embarkation a breeze. I wouldn't have believed it had I not experienced it myself! Make sure you have extra money in your account. Stuff is very expensive, which I already knew, and was glad that I had a bit of a windfall sitting in my account at home. My spending with 2 adults and a fairly frugal 14 year old would have broken my budget otherwise.
Our family LOVED Jacksonville! We in fact are thinking we want to go back and just spend a week in Jacksonville and sightsee. Don't go to Jacksonville Beach...way too busy. We hit a little gem further north of Atlantic Beach at Hanna Park. We fell in LOVE! Not crazy busy, we were able to see cargo ships coming and going further up the beach, saw a couple surfers and parasails. IT was so fun! We also took a day and went down to St. Augustine. It's definitely a tourist place, but it was a beautiful little town, and we were wishing we had more time to spend. We had a pre-paid candy making class to get to at Sweet Pete's back in Jacksonville, which the whole family enjoyed. We want to come back to Jacksonville. Especially since we are from the Midwest, and NEVER see some of the sites we saw in JAX!
We elected to do our own thing in Nassau. We went to Junkanoo Beach. It was fun, but the day we went to Nassau it was a cloudy rainy day. The kids did get a chance to go into the water, but since it was cloudy and scattered rain showers, it was a little cooler. We had planned on going down to Fish Fry Alley, but since it was raining so hard, we elected to head back to the ship and stopped at a little place along the way, (by the Red Frog), and had conch fritters, and cracked conch and fries. It was very good. Aside from the rain, and the constant solicitations of people wanting to sell you something, get you to ride in their cab, or sell you their wares on the beach, it was a fun little town. Again, very different from where we came from and we enjoyed the experience of Nassau. We would like to come back again and maybe check out some of the museums and other excersions.
The island is truly beautiful. Again, it was a cloudy rainy day. (Not our lucky cruise for sunshine). We rented a cabana and we were glad we did because it did offer some protection from the drizzle. There were a couple times they had everyone get out of the water due to lighting. But once the lightening was gone and if you were in the water, you could care less that it is raining. Even so, we had a great time and made the best of it. I would suggest investing in the newer snorkle full-face masks that have the breathing aparatus attached, that you can get on Amazon. It makes snorkeling so much easier and worry free! I wish I would have known; after the fact, I heard one fellow cruiser say they brought some granola bars to the beach and crushed them up and were feeding the fish. They said they had all kinds of fish around them. Their kids really enjoyed seeing all the different fish. We saw a few, but not many. I wish I would have known that little tidbit.
@doggieskitties - They show a "blockbuster movie" that is/was in theaters. The night we went, they were showing "The Black Panther". My husband had been wanting to see that one! We really enjoyed it. ( I mostly went cuz hubby wanted to see it! I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would! Ha!) They showed it in the club at the aft of the ship...Gatsby's (?) For some reason I can't recall the name right now. Get there early though. They pass around soft blankets so you can cover up and get cozy in your chair for the movie, but they don't have enough for everyone.
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