Carnival's Service Is Declining but We Had A Great Time!

This was our 9th Carnival cruise and 15th cruise overall.  We enjoy cruising and, for us, it is a preferred way to travel.  We both get 2 weeks of vacation per year and always want to make the most of the time we've earned away from work.  We have preferred Carnival over the years; however, we have noticed a high decline in the service.  We were told, at one point, that a new CEO came in and cut service in order to raise the bottom dollar.  While it is understandable to increase profits for the Company, one should never compromise value and customer service. We have grown accustomed to exceptional customer service and sadly, now it is obvious that the staff is suffering from being spread too thin and it shows outwardly.  We noticed several light bulbs out throughout the ship and the buffet dining areas were not cleaned as quickly as they should be.  The dining room staff seemed to be stuck in a routine and we had to ask several times for juice at breakfast and water refills at dinner.   The entertainment was a new show (only the 2nd week performing); they were good but need more practice.  Now on to the GOOD:  the check in at Port Canaveral was FANTASTIC!  The staff was well trained and moved efficiently to process the on-boarding.  We were on-board and on the Lido Deck in 20 minutes.  The ports were GREAT!  We stopped at St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Grand Turk.  All ports were clean and welcoming.  We booked "Da Party Bus" outside the Carnival excursions and we were thrilled with our choice.  We had several stops including Orient Beach (be careful if you have children, it is a completely nude beach) and then got to see the airplanes land overhead at Maho Beach (t his was very thrilling, loved the experience).  As we came into port at St. Kitts, Carnival announced a last minute deal beach excursion which we took advantage of.  The monkeys are not just running around wild as we were lead to believe prior to booking our cruise; however there was a local man with a monkey he would charge $10 for 3 pictures taken with your own camera/phone.  We did not book an excursion in San Juan.  We walked to the Fort and paid for a tour $10 which included entry into both Forts.  We took the free trolley/tram to the second Fort and walked back at our leisure.  The Forts were full of history.  Grand Turk was AMAZING!  We took a van tour outside the port for $25 per person and were so pleased!  Our tour guide took us around the entire island giving us details on everything he had to share.  We stopped at the lighthouse and fed the wild donkeys and wound up at Jack's Shack for lunch and beach time.  The water is several beautiful shades of blue and the sand is like powder.  We thoroughly enjoyed Grand Turk.  OVERALL:  we will continue to cruise and hope that our new memories make our old memories jealous.  Carnival has been great and now is good.  We are hoping it will become great once again.