Overall, we had a great time, but this was due more to the excursions and not the experience on the ship. The wait for the buffet and dining room and the over worked staff really killed the normal friendly vibe I get from Carnival Cruises.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The boarding process went smoothly, this was my 2nd time out of Port Canaveral and they seem to have the boarding process down. There was a slight delay while the gangplank was closed due to severe weather and we waited in some chairs for about 15 minutes. I was disappointed to see that once the gangplank re-opened that there was no organization to get us back in line, but rather it resulted in a large mob heading towards the ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The food and drinks were great as always, I rated this low due to the long waits that we experienced. When using the main dining room it would take up to an hour to get a table, then service was extremely slow and inconsistent from night to night. This ship does not seem to be able to handle the number of passengers and as a result the normal efficient and friendly service I have had on smaller ships was non-existent.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The kids enjoyed the water slides and the pool deck, the sports square had a lot of activities to enjoy and the kids took advantage of them all.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The comedy show the first night was great despite being standing room only, the following nights it was hard to get in as they began requiring you show up an hour early to get tickets (I have never seen this on any other Carnival ships). The slow dining room made this task difficult and we missed a lot of the activities we wanted to participate in because of this.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
The service was a friendly as it could be, you could tell that they were constantly swamped and were doing there best to service everyone's request. It would take a long time to get drinks at the pool deck or to get food. I think they would have been friendlier if they had time to be.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
This was my 4th Carnival cruise, prior to this cruise I was excited to have booked on one of their largest ships, but became disappointed. The ship is designed to just hold more people but all other areas (dinning rooms, bars, show spaces, etc) are the same size as they are on the smaller ship classes. As a result this ship is not designed to actually service the extra passengers it carries. This resulted in extremely long lines EVERYWHERE!!!! I felt that I had just paid extra to stand in line, I will book with Carnival again, but never again on this ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
I had a deluxe oceanview room that came with an extra bathroom that contained a tub/ shower and sink. With three people in the room this was nice to have, being on Deck 1 was a bit of an inconvenience but the room was great.
Ship tip
Make sure you plan for at least 3 hours for dinner service on this ship, between waiting for a table to actually getting through the meal. Note that you have to show up to comedy shows an hour in advance to get tickets. If you like to schedule a busy day of on board experiences just make sure to add enough time to eat, as the lines will be long!!
We booked Scuba Diving at this port was disappointed with the service from Stuart Cove, their was some current in the area and the dive masters we had left some of the less experienced members of our group, resulting in them drifiting away from the dive site causing them to have to abort the dive. Typically, (if you are not familiar with diving) one DM would take the lead while the other stays in the rear in this case both of them took off to the front, very unprofessional on their part and not the typical service I receive from them.
This port was actually very nice being brand spanking new probably helps with that though. We booked our diving outside of Carnival and the experience was fantastic. If you go to Amber Cove and plan to dive don't book with Carnival, give Aqua Adventures by Scuba Dive Sousa a call.
We booked Scuba excursions here as well, the process was easy and the Carnival provider for this excursion picks you up on the beach right by the ship. The diving was incredible, just didn't get the same level of service we got at the last port.
They no longer require custom forms when returning from the cruise, so this made the process much faster. I recommend saving some cash to tip a porter they save you a lot of time
Yep they have cut right back on staff and it shows 60 days until we leave Australia for our next adventure have back to back magic.. countdown ð¹enjoy
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