My first cruise and I plan to do this every year if I can but never a summer cruise unless in the future I travel with younger members of my family. I dearly wished I had taken my grown children on cruise when they were young.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Carnival has this process very much in control at the Port in Miami. Arrived a few minutes after the end of the scheduled check-in time waiting for a fellow traveler to get her passport in the mail when she forgot it at home. They did not penalize us for late arrival and we went right in. We passed a long line of folks who did not check in and that was incentive enough to make sure that we always do this.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was not great despite their efforts to provide a variety and quantity. Although I am accustomed to well seasoned food including salt, more than a few dishes were over salted. It takes a great effort to pass up the wonderful sounding appetizers and entrees in the dining room, and I could not resist but I wish they food had been better. Making the waiters dance through the middle of the meal does not seem like fun for them. I felt bad that some were very uncomfortable with the need to do this.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The day time activities were so-so. A few too many sales presentations, and nothing to improve the intellect. The August cruise had so many children and families, that it needed 5 more pools to accommodate them as that is all the children want to do and it was so hot who can blame them. The evening entertainment choices were not disappointing. I was informed by my fellow travelers that the gym was great.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The good - the late night comedy shows were consistently good and different each time. The house was packed and after two days we finally figured out that we needed to arrive early for the better seats. The lounges were good but the experience is very much based on your comfort level with the music and vibe. At Michelangelo, there were great dancers and mixed-age group that until about 11pm included young children and adult zombies. The zombies were those who just sat and stared without participating -- dancing, or even talking to each other. Bored as they appeared to be, they did not deter anyone from dancing and enjoying the great DJs and beautiful space. The late-night club had a great DJ and was full of non-zombies who were having a great time. In an August cruise, it's mostly a very young 21+ scene . For this reason, there was good security at the front (checking IDs) and they were needed as a small fight broke out briefly the first night out as happens in these club scenes no matter where they are.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Very impressed with the staffing levels and how helpful and friendly all the staff were. I got locked out of my safe and help arrived within 5 minutes of my call.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
It's an older ship so it's expected that it would not be the most current design. The lounges appeared to be more current from the last renovation. The Lido deck was ok and the outside table seating on the decks was great. All that said, it was not priced as an upscale cruise and the ship décor was suited to that pricing. Unfortunately, of 8 people, 4 got colds that we can attribute to cruise so I hope that Carnival is using sanitary methods to clean tables, staterooms, etc.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The bed was comfortable and the porthole stateroom did not feel cramped nor the bathroom. There was more closet space than we used. Only thing missing was a larger shelf in the bathroom. The toilet brush was smelly but that was remedied with two cleanings I did of the toilet and the brush with my own detergent. There was a stale odor of cigarette in the stateroom and sometimes an ashtray smell coming out of a room a few doors away so it's possible the a previous passenger in my room or a current one a few doors away smoked in my room or the odor circulated in. Other than shampooing the rug, I don't know what any staff could have done to stop a selfish person smoking in the wrong place.
Ship tip
Make sure you find all the food locations on the Lido Deck - there is a one in the back end of the large dining room that is easily missed. Bring cleaning liquids to fill-in any extra cleaning you may want to do in your room. I had a 4-oz bottle of Tide that was perfect and I also used it to wash out a few items that I dried in the laundry room. The best thing I packed.
An evening in Key West would have been ideal as it's a bar town and it's all about the sunset. A morning stop in too hot weather was ok. We took a tram tour as it was too hot to walk around. A family next to me was planning to stay on the tram over and over until they had to go back to the ship!
The water is spectacular but the beaches are too full of rocks to make it a hazard to go into the water. We managed without a pre-paid excursion (too expensive) but only because we found the local government tourist agency booth who provided needed guidance. The local taxi/vans charge $30 for what we paid $6 ($3 each way) plus $10 entry fee to go to Playa Mia - not the best beach but it was close by. The beach staff warned us that the local taxis would not be around to return to port after 4:30pm so we left before the beach closed. On a too hot day, this was ok anyway,
My group appeared to be the last group to disembark. The lines were manageable. I can't compare to how long it took for other groups, including those who carried their own luggage, to get off. Good advice to encourage passengers to let their bags get taken off. The early departures on the Empress deck were too crowded.
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