Ports Great! Ship not so much! MORE OF A 2.5 STAR

Carnival used to be my goto cruise line for fun and affordability..but I don't know what happened with this cruise. There were soooo many cutbacks. I understand you want to trim were you can and make more profits but the very things they cutback were the things that made carnival..Carnival....the reason why I'm a repeat customer. 

PROS - Ports were beautiful 

          Food was Great ( that was the only thing that didn't change ..Thank         GOD!)

           Waiter Jose' and his team Edwin and Christian were awesome!

CONS- 1) Sail away party Sucked!  No offense to Vini and his guitar and Dj K1x but what happened to the reggae band? You used to see the DJ in the club and during events like the hairy man chest contest...but now the DJ is EVERYTHING!  I looked fwd to the steel drums...that's what made me feel like i was on vacation, and that joke of a sail away party was a snooze fest.

2) No more Chocolates on the bed at night. CUT!!

3) You must ask your cabin steward for Ice or else you get none (huh?)

4) No more reception for repeat guest,,,we used to get a 1 hour reception with unlimited drinks and appetizers...that has now dwindled to a 1 drink coupon you could used after 5pm on the last full day of your cruise (Say What?)

5) AND THE BIGGEST OF ALL....WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE FUN? CARNIVAL IS KNOWN FOR BEING THE PARTY CRUISE LINE NOT AN INFOMERCIAL FOR DETOX WRAPS, JEWELRY AND ART BUYING. SINCE WHEN IS BEAN BAG TOSSING EXCITING ENOUGH TO BE THE MAIN EVENT ON A CRUISE???   IT JJST SEEMED LIKE ALL THE FUN WAS SUCKED OUT INTO THE OCEAN...OR MAYBE BEING INVESTED INTO THE NEWER SHIPS. 

OHHH and 1 more thing....I was traveling with family we had 2 separate cabins on 2 separate floors.  Monday night my uncle pops up with itchy mystery bumps all over his body we advised him to go to the infirmary but him being military didn't make a big deal about it. Wednesday morning my aunt appeared with the same thing and Thursday morning mystery bumps finally got me..now i didn't want to assume the worse because we've been to the jungle and the beach but they did look like BEDBUG BITES. so after the bumps appeared on me, we decided as a group to go to the infirmary. Once there we explained what happened, my uncle tried to show her as well as I did but she seemed dis interested....and instead interrupted my uncle asking us did we go to the beach in Roatan, we answered yes and she explained that this happens all the time and that for some reason the insect bits in Honduras always appear 1-2 days later and that its normal then kinda dismissed us....I would've accepted that except we all got the bumps before gettiing to Roatan (which was thursday). I explained that to the nurse and she still tried to tell us that's what is was....I told her my Uncles bumps appeared Monday night which was a sea day, how do you explained that? She skips over that question then asks are we in the same cabin which i told her no...She then tells me she's going to send housekeeping to inspect both our cabins...I agreed to that then left...well by the time I got to my room on the 7th flr,.I see my door almost closed as if i forgot to pull it shut to lock the door..I softly open the door to find 2 strangers going thru my things tearing the room apart....I asked them to identify themselves as they could see the surprised look on my face and they explained they were from house keeping and were there to do the inspection. I then said well you could've called first or arranged a time to do this not just enter without permission they apologized....I then asked them were they going to my uncles room as well and they said yes, At dinner I told my uncle what happened and asked did they check his room, he said no one ever showed up! Hours past and we didn't hear anything so I called guest services and they checked and told me it was negative for bed bugs....i don't believe them! Not to mention I ran into a fellow cruiser that i met on an excursion and he told me his friend had a similar issue with ROACHES earlier in the week and was quietly moved to another cabin.  I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN CARNIVAL ESPECIALLY WHEN IM SO CLOSED TO BEING A PLATINUM MEMBER.. GET YOUR *ISH TOGETHER OR YOU WILL LOSE LOT'S OF CUSTOMERS