I enjoyed my vacation and had a great time, but I will never sail Carnival again. There are other cruise lines that, in my opinion, are better and actually enforce rules so that you can enjoy your time without worrying about someone else ruining your experience.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Embarkation was pretty smooth, not many hiccups at all. There were only two main issues. One being the self-muster that Carnival uses caused our departure to be delayed because there was no way to force people to actually go to their Muster Stations. Out of the ~4,000 people on board, only maybe half of us actually did the self-muster when we were supposed to. Another issue was tons of luggage lost tags and they had piles of luggage that people had to dig through to find what they were missing. There were supposedly people who’s luggage was stolen and found by room attendants in other cruisers’ rooms.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food and drinks were all amazing. Our dinner was in Marco Polo, and everything was perfect. Our servers were also very helpful and knowledgeable. All the bars were very easy to get drinks at as well. The buffets were all good food, but I didn’t go to them very often except for the Lido Marketplace and Guy’s Burger Joint, both of which being excellent.
Bonsai Sushi
5 out of 5
We went here on our last sea day and it was perfect. Genuinely enjoyed everything about this place!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There’s lots to do, but there is a huge issue with the pools. They are extremely small for a cruise ship of this size, and both were always packed full. The games and other activities on board were fun, but we didn’t use them much.
Serenity Adult-Only Retreat
4 out of 5
A really nice adult retreat. We didn’t get to use it much since they close it if it’s too windy but otherwise it was pretty nice to see. Only complaint was there wasn’t any enforcement on the whole “adults only” part, and multiple times saw kids in the retreat.
Lido Pool
1 out of 5
Way too small, didn’t even get a chance to try it.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Venues were all good, had a great time attending the ones I went to. Only complaint is the seating in the theater has many blind spots behind pillars, and the lasers were hitting me in the eyes constantly (that one probably being a me issue).
Cherry On Top
5 out of 5
Candy store was a really cool addition, and surprisingly good. Highly recommend at least checking it out.
Art Auctions
5 out of 5
I always enjoy Park West auctions, so this is a little biased. If you haven’t attended an art auction before, it’s worth it to give it a shot.
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
Did not personally use the kid’s clubs, but even without any children in our group I can tell you that there is no supervision at all. For over half the cruise, kids from the clubs would run around the stateroom sections on the lower decks and bang on doors, scream, and mess with people. There is a “curfew” for anyone under 18 at 1 AM, but this was not enforced at all. Security did nothing about this until day 5-6 out of an 8 day cruise. Carnival seemingly does nothing to enforce any of their rules and policies, and this is no exception.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
All of our personal staff were amazing. Some of the regular ship staff were a little rude. I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are having a rough day, working on these ships has to be very difficult.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship’s design was stunning, it felt like Disney levels of immersion into the environment. It was very clean as well, the crew was always hard at work.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had adjoining rooms, and both cabins were surprisingly spacious. Our room attendant was very friendly and helpful.
Ship tip
For anything that Carnival tells you “Go to [insert location here] to get your tag/pass!” either show up at least an hour early or prepare to go without whatever they are giving out. They did these for Half Moon Cay shuttle passes and debarkation luggage tags, and it went about as well as you can imagine. People were fighting, pushing, yelling, and straight up stealing when the workers were setting up for the debarkation tags. It’s a huge issue that Carnival not only allowed any of this to happen, but didn’t even punish the cruisers who caused the issues. Just remember you can do pretty much whatever you want on these ships.
Very cool and authentic port. The beaches can be a little crowded but still very fun to explore. Did get offered hard drugs by someone who I wasn’t sure if they were on our ship or not, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.
A very nice private resort. The shuttle system was atrocious, and there were actually physical fights between cruisers over them. The water was clear and fish would actually swim right next to you, which was amazing. What wasn’t amazing is that someone defected into the water and a lifeguard had to fish it out. Genuinely had no words for that one.
It was a nice area, but really not a whole lot to do. Went to some Caribbean restaurant near the big Amber Cove sign and they just never gave us our food after waiting for nearly an hour.
Debarkation was fine for the most part, I enjoyed the Manhattan terminal. The big gripe I had was with the debarkation luggage tags. An employee set them out, told everyone to wait a minute, and left them completely unattended. Of course, some trashy folks decided to grab handfuls of them and just leave, which caused utter chaos since they don’t have extras.
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