Interesting Return to the Caribbean and Carnival

We purchased the "Faster to the Fun" package so we could get rid of our carry-on luggage upon embarkation. That part went smoothly, as we were allowed onboard shortly after boarding began, The problems began after arriving on board. We were greeted by two staff members holding signs with letters and arrows pointing in opposite directions. When we asked the staff member what the signs were for, he responded with "they are letters." After quizzing others, we found out those were Muster stations, where we were supposed to report. well, they didn't even have the doors open to the deck so you could get to the muster stations. We followed other passengers hoping they knew where to go. We got to the deck and saw the signs for each muster station and stopped where we saw a staff member helping passengers. He directed us to our muster station, even though there was nobody there to check us in. There was another staff member in an adjacent muster station who checked us in. We were told several times we could go anywhere on the ship. We just wanted to get rid of our carry ons and find our cabin. We went to the correct deck, but the doors to the cabin hallways were closed and signs posted that cabins would not be available till after 1:30. While pondering what to do -- luckily, we saw somebody just open the door and go into the hallway. We did the same and found our cabin. If we had been instructed -- at any time -- about what to do upon boarding.... we would have saved much anxiety and allowed us to ask and get better answers from the staff.

Hard to knock the food on this cruise. Everything we had was good. We visited The Steakhouse restaurant, where it took over three hours for our meals to conclude; the deli was always a welcome treat; the sushi take out -- also a nice treat. The restaurants themselves were dated and the decor is due for some upgrades. The tables are supported with large metal poles which take up a good deal of room under the tables, and are a place where food seems to collect and is difficult to clean. Strangely there is no juice station or juice available on board. We were able to get some orange juice in the dining room during brunch. We usually just did breakfast from the buffet, where there was no juice. We got a bar server for some tomato juice -- even tried to call it a virgin bloody mary, in the hopes we might get some bloody mary mix. After 15 minutes the server returned with some badly watered-down mix in ice, and explained he had to go several places to get it. We had similar experiences with staff everywhere. In the Steakhouse we ordered a glass of Prosecco, the server went away for some time, then returned to let us know we had to order something from the menu. Because we were traveling with our grandkids, we told the youngest about virgin mudslides' in the hopes that he might enjoy. As we discussed it the server quickly pointed out that they don't have such a drink available. In another setting a different server promised that they certainly could , would , and do make mudslides. While having brunch in the restuarant we were served the wrong food. It was just a strange mix of competent and incompetent service. Also in the Steakhouse, we had to ask for refills on drinks. Our table was right in front of the bar, and we could watch our drink orders get filled by the bartender but would sit for some time for the servers to get them to the table.

The pool and deck areas are small and were usually quite crowded. Did enjoy the Serenity area where there were fewer people.

Did not make it to any of the stage showes on this trip

While we were traveling with family and one grandchild who took advantage of the Club C, don't have any insights about this experience.

We did not meet our room steward until the middle of the second day, we had an issue with a slow drain in the sink, and it was handled that day. Please note the uneven examples of the serving staff in the food and drink section. All we could think was these were inexperienced staff, or short timers waiting to complete their contracts. Some were incredibly friendly and helpful, others just burdened, or unsure about what to do. We bought the drink package to make things easier, but the process was cumbersome -- especially for the staff as you could only get one drink at a time, and you had to have everyone's card to be able to get a drink for your spouse. You had to sign for each and every drink. for each and every card. I'm not sure what to purpose was for this procedure, but it was certainly a pain for both servers and customers. Once when sharing a greeting with a staff member of "have a nice day," the staff member rolled his eyes and said "right." Just strange inconsistency. We used the Hub app to keep up with what was going on, and it was great -- we purchased the chat application to be able to communicate with the group we were traveling with as well as an internet package. Well,,,, for some reason the service was so spotty that it was more a source of frustration than help as we would rarely be able to send and receive messages with any consistency. As a Priority guest I was given a special customer service phone number. On the second day, before we ever met our stateroom steward, I tried to dial the number, to report the slow drain and the lack of a stateroom steward, but the extension rang 10 times the went directly to music. listened to the music for a short time, but gave up. We did meet our steward later that day, and he took care of the slow drain.

An older ship where Three decks are broken up by galleys and restaurants made getting around the ship a learning experience. The common areas were all well maintained and clean, the windows were remarkably grimy and never saw anyone working on these. Again, looks like this ship is due for some make-overs and re-design, but it is clean.

The cabin was good and comfortable.They only came in once per day to refresh, but we had everything we needed. Plenty of space in the closets. And good functionality. It had been a while since we had been in an interior cabin, but this was ok.

Wow this was the perfect ending to a strange customer service experience. We received a letter as priority members about disembarkation a couple days before disembarkation. It seemed pretty straightforward. Gave us luggage tags and a place to meet on the morning of disembarkation. The letter states that we needed to be in a restaurant by 8:20 that morning. We left our cabin around 7:45 to get there. We could not get to the restaurant on the thrid floor as the elevators were blocked off. Strangely enough we ran into 3 other families who were in the same predicament. we asked a staff member who was guarding the stairway in the atrium of the fourth floor. We thought there must be a secret way in. He had no idea how we could get to our meeting point but offered to check. We waited for some time and finally made a break down the stairs he was guarding to the restaurant. There were group areas for Diamond, Suites, and Faster to the Fun. We finally arrived about 8:23. We sat in our area with about 25-30 other people. No one ever came in to advise any one there about disembarkation. Several people just decided to leave on their own . Finally, after some time , we all decided to leave on our own. Now let me be clear, we had an afternoon flight and we were not in danger of missing it at any point, but here's where this episode, like Embarkation got to me. When we left the restaurant, I went to customer service to explain that there were several people whom had been waiting in the restaurant. The customer service manager looked a little stunned, and asked the Cruise Director , or he overheard the discussion, I'm not sure but as I was leaving the desk he came out and said: " oh no there is nobody there, I went a got them all." Well.... that was not what I wanted to hear. I did not need to be told my own experience was not real. so I turned back to the desk and asked when he was there. He told me 8:10 announced all of the departures. I didn't have my wits about me enough to say that I didn't even have to arrive until 8:20. I simply looked at the customer service manager and said he is incorrect. I sat in that room with others who were just as confused as I.