A great cruise but people were packed like sardines
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Went pretty smooth overall. Had someone do the COVID test in port. Somebody came to get him when we first got there and took him and our party up to the second floor. The whole test in all took about 20-25 min.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
I’ll start off by saying the buffet food was lackluster and just didn’t hit the mark for me. I did enjoy their salad bar they had; always seemed fresh and had lots of toppings. The main dining room was the biggest let down overall though. Short staffed, extremely slow, warm-ish food. I did however enjoy some of the steaks they had in there. In my opinion the best food in the ship was the pizza from Pizzeria Del Capitano. Although the line for it usually was extremely long, it was always fresh.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Love doing the ropes course and sky ride. If ya get their early when it opens, there aren’t any lines. Really cool areas to play ping pong, pool, put put on the sports deck, but never got the chance to this time around.
Carnival’s layout for pools is just weird to me. Wish they would put hot tubs on the main pool, and maybe add an actual pool for children somewhere so that adults aren’t getting splashed every other second and smothered by neon life jackets. I do like the Tides pool area the best, usually a bit more relaxed, and there are hot tubs and a pool in one place.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Well I’m usually not a show guy so I can only speak on behalf of the comedy shows. They were hit or miss but for the most part pretty good. Accidentally went to a PG comedy show and fell
asleep though. DJ in the night club wasssss…a dj in a night club. I thought it was good, but heard others say it wasn’t good so I guess it’s just preference.
I’m gonna add Donkey(cruise director) into this part as well. Thought he did a great job connecting with guests and making the cruise fun. He hosted the Love and Marriage show which was hilarious!
Overall I think entertainment was pretty good ~for what I like~
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Besides our room steward, Elvio, the staff was not what it was before. I do think a large portion of this has to do with staffing shortage. None of the staff were bad, but also felt like none of them had that extra touch that makes cruising so fun.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Went on this ship almost 3 years ago exactly in 2019. It felt brand new and sparkling then.
Now, it kinda feels like the rest of Carnivals older fleet. I don’t think Carnival knows how to nail that timeless design that makes a ship feel newer even when it’s not. The main atrium area is still super cool though and is always fun to be in.
For cleanliness…..pretty good! Can’t remember a time when any public area was “dirty” or not clean!
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Elvio the room steward was amazing! Our cabin was great, however there appeared to be something either spilt on or melted the bathroom floor…? Not quite sure. The stretch of rooms right there from around 6237-6223 are prettyyy close to the arcade so LOTS of teens hanging out and running down the hall. Balcony was good though.
Ship tip
Even if you don’t like waking up early, if ya want chairs on any deck you should get their early. Sometimes hard to find them.
Just got a taxi/bus and went to Coral Beach…I think that was the name. $5 to get in, $10 for a chair or $15 for a chair and umbrella. $6-8 beers, $13 mixed drinks. Was quite busy once another ship came in but overall though the beach area was nice and seemed kept up.
Had a great excursion doing zip line, tubing, and blue hole with lunch at Margaritaville! So so so much fun and all of the people running it were great. One thing is they alllll try and get you to tip but our guide said that they all split it and you aren’t the only group they see in one day so keep that in mind.
Got a taxi to Nachi Cocum. We had reserved this a few months ago and so so happy we chose to come to this place $59 for the day. Amazing beach, tiki umbrellas included, food and drinks also included. Snorkeled right off the shore and saw lots of fish. Staff was great! Highly recommend. They also cap the capacity at 130 each day so it never once felt too busy!
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