Carnival Splendor New England and Canadian tour

I took the cruise with my mom as a present for her 80th birthday. This was her second cruise (the first on Costa), this was my fifth or sixth cruise, my first on Carnival. Overall, the cruise was good.  The food was plentiful and overall good. We ate twice in the Pinnacle restaurant which was very good, great presentation, competent service- there was a piano at the restaurant but no one way playing it either night- this would have been a nice touch and elegant. It would have been a nice touch to also have flowers on the tables- there were no flowers anywhere on the boat.  On other boats, I would say that the food was prepared more elaborately and presented more elaborately.  There was cocktail parties and a meet and greet with the captain and photos with him- this did not happen on Carnival.  Also, there were many opportunities on other cruise ships for free lectures, events and I would have enjoyed more opportunities like this.  I attended one art event and bought a painting, one glass of champagne was provided - in the past more champagne and more elaborate talks were provided which made the event more inviting and people bought a good deal of art.  I would have liked to see more diversity like Rembrandt etching- I bought three on another cruise and numerous other paintings over the years on other cruises, through Park West, very knowledgeable people, but, there was little I wanted to bid on this cruise to be candid. I liked the shows but, they were not promoted as well as they should have been- just a list in the schedule- I think people would be more enthused if they knew about all the dynamic music, costumes, etc... really an extravaganza not to be missed- ex: the Hispanic event- I almost passed on it- didn't sound that fun but, was really excellent.  More info re; the ports, more info from captain, more info re; where to go, history etc... would have been very helpful and was not provided.  Other  cruises provided more.  Would have liked opportunities to dance and dress up more, even hear different music, guitar classical, background piano.I booked all excursions except Portland through you not the line as the savings were better.  All were very good and comprehensive. I took a similar cruise and we stopped in RI- Newport- and Bar Harbor. Maine- such stops would have been enjoyable. We had a balcony room- lovely well appointed and large- 6th floor. I will say the decor for much of the ship common areas was very pink- and busy.  Pretty Pepto Bismal- might want to tone down- loved the El Morrocco, other performance areas. Loved the water slide and