The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly

No issues here, used the Port Parking Service off Port. Quick and Easy and very cost effective.

We did end up eating more ala carte on this trip. The pizza on the Lido deck was excellent - always hot and fresh. We had that for one lunch and one dinner. There is a small pay place on Lido called the Seafood Shack that we ordered a pound of peel and eat shrimp ($14.00) and had that for dinner with a salad from the buffet. The salads on the buffet were pretty good - at least there was lettuce and add ons to make a nice lunch or in one case, dinner. The cooked food was a step or two under Golden Corral in my opinion - most meats were overcooked or very tough. Their fried chicken wasn't bad, when fresh, but whoever butchered the chickens cut them in in some of the strangest sizes and pieces I've ever seen. Guy's Burger Joint or the Blue Iguana Burrito Bar - both are very good, but busy. The Burrito bar makes breakfast burritos to order, with eggs, choice of meats, crunchy potatoes, and all the other fixins. It's always been good, across the Carnival fleet. The MDR is very hit or miss - the first night, dinner was good. Hot stuff hot, cold stuff cold. Service OK. I had a small strip steak - the flavor was quite good, but it was not very tender - glad I have good teeth!!! The second night we ate there, our appetizers were good and dessert was excellent (Creme Brulee). I ordered Striped sea bass, and I actually had to use my knife to cut the fillet - it was that overcooked. Breakfasts in the MDR is usually OK - their Yogurt Parfait and their granola is excellent. I had the corned beef hash and eggs one morning - eggs were good, and the Hash came in a round puck shape (obviously premade, and then deep fried). Not the normal way you get hash, but actually nice and crisp with a good flavor. The Seaday brunch is a little different with some luncheon items as well as breakfast. I had the Chicken and Waffle(s) one morning. Again, very strange cut chicken (and about the size of a cornish hen) and only 1/2 of a 4" waffle cut on the diaginol with it. A little skimpy but good flavor. My wife had the Huevos rancheros made with chicken and it was excellent. I had their "Voyage" burger, which has a fried egg, bacon and a hash brown patty on it. Very messy but pretty good.

Very little to do on board we were interested in. We were taking this cruise to get away from work and relax a little. Almost impossible to find a quiet place to play cards or read. The number of out of control children and rude loud adults was incredible. The pools and hot tubs were always packed to capacity.

We went to one show. The singers were excellent in the concert style show. We also enjoyed the violin trio that performed in the Atrium. The Rock Band in the evening was so loud it almost vibrated the walls.

No children

Our cabin steward Viktor was excellent - always friendly and willing to help with any need. A true asset to the ship. We also spent some time with Jenny, one of the Housekeeping managers. She was a real delight to visit with and her smile was enough to light up the room. The rest of the staff we encountered were merely going through the motions. The staff shortages are very noticeable.

For an older ship, it's clean, but it is in need of some upgrades.

Cabin was OK - decent size for two people. Adequate storage, very soft bed.

The absolute WORST disembarkation in over 30 cruises. We stood in line in the stairwell midship between Decks 5 and 3 for almost 1.5 hours trying to get off the ship. Horrible planning and execution. No management in sight - didn't appear that anyone gave a D****. NEVER AGAIN