I know I pointed out a lot of items that were like complaints, but the cruise was a really good and fun time. I just pointed these things out so others would be aware of what could happen to make the experience not go so well. We had a lot of fun, but will try to use a different ship next time to see what that's like.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
It was a little hectic at the entrance. We chose valet parking, and it was a little confusing where to park at first. The staff were polite and very helpful. Inside was crowded, which was to be expected. Expect a lot of walking from beginning to end. Overall, it went pretty smoothly.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
My wife has a gluten allergy. There was no way to let Carnival know the specifics beforehand. We watched the video and read the info on Menu Mate, which is supposed to simplify selecting foods when concerned about allergies, but it was pretty much nonexistent on this cruise. Only our host at evening dining used this to help her select food options. And even then, it didn't show items that she knows is gluten free, such as eggs for breakfast. At the buffet, the foods were marked GF for the gluten free foods. For my meals, there was something missing at a lot of meals. The evening meals were good, but the brunch in the morning, not so much. Such as getting toast, but not getting the butter or jelly asked for. Or getting coffee and waiting a long time and asking more than once to get creamer. One morning it took an hour to get my breakfast. It was just scrambled eggs. Overall though, the food was good. The options throughout the ship was good.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
As expected, the pools were often crowded during the day. We opted to not use the pools. We wanted to use the Serenity Deck, but didn't because it was pretty crowded. I noticed some guests there that day were sitting on the edge of the hot tubs and not actually using them. We went to a couple of shows that were fun. One was how to create animals from folding towels. The casino was fun, but expect a lot of smoke.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We only made it to one stage show, and the performers put on a great show. We went to the comedy club a few times, and that was a lot of fun.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
All of the staff were nice and helpful. The staff we interacted with at the evening meal were great. Trying to use the Guest Services desk to resolve issues wasn't good. We had 2 issues that had to be resolved on our first day, and stood in line for about an hour because the line was long and there was only one person there to help guests.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The layout was pretty good, and the ship was very clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We had an ocean view room. It was small but pretty comfortable. Storage wasn't bad, and the bathroom wasn't too small. It was clean and the A/C worked well. There was a little cooler under the desk to keep beverages in, but it didn't work.
Ship tip
Read the reviews and pick up on any info you can. There was a lot of things we had to figure out on our own because the info wasn't available.
Our excursion was beach time with chairs, clamshell, floats and snorkeling gear. It was fun. The area is small, though. The best snorkeling was at the far end at the pier where there was a lifeguard at the end. Go out there if you plan to snorkel.
We did the excursion that included shopping in town, snorkeling, chocolate tasting and tequila tasting. Our guide decided to take us snorkeling first before shopping. 2 people in our group didn't even go after learning how it was being done. We went snorkeling and did the chocolate and tequila tasting, then went into town for shopping in wet clothes. My mistake was not having a set of dry clothes with me, but I thought the shopping was to be done first. We went to a couple of shops, but it was just trinkets and t-shirts.
We were called to disembark by muster station. It's still a lot of people leaving together, but it went pretty well. We carried our luggage off instead of checking it so we wouldn't have to wait for it. The valet had our vehicle out to us in about 2 minutes and we were gone.
Me an wife on same cruise. Absolutely awesome time best ship in fleet easy to get around on food was good activity’s were good casino was also good. Great cruise
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