We loved Carnival and Mardi Gras and their intuitiveness for making passengers comfortable and informed in all departments. We would definitely consider a return voyage on this or a sister ship based on our experience this sailing.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Smooth as silk...no problems and no delays.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We made reservations for the specialty restaurants almost every night because the food was outstanding in each of them. We were not too impressed with the buffet food or the Cucina Capitano dinner so we avoided the main dining room. We only had one breakfast there and decided to stick to the separate food locations for breakfast and lunch. We absolutely loved the pizzeria and panini bars and even ordered in pizza one night for dinner. Guy's Burger Joint gave us some of the best hamburgers we have ever eaten and those wonderful Swirls machines were so appreciated every afternoon. The people (Thank you especially to Jordan and Maria in the steakhouse) and the service at all of the restaurants deserve high praise (and the extra gratuities we left). Of course the Teppanyaki chef performance was hilarious and masterful....one we will never forget.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We enjoyed the solo guitarist, Julian, in the lounges before dinner and the jazz trio from Brazil. Greta gave us some wonderful trivia fun in Pig and Anchor everyday where we relaxed the most. Our main goal was to just relax and we certainly did that!
Entertainment
We were early to bed travelers (o.k., we are elderly) so we didn't partake of the stage shows.
Children's Programs
no children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
See above for high praises for the wait staff in all of the specialty restaurants. Our room steward kept our cabin spotlessly clean and our ice cube bucket filled. We requested early clean up (8:00) service but did not received it....our room was always ready much later in the morning. We were extremely impressed with how consistently (and quietly) the staff kept the public areas and bathrooms so clean. Dirty dishes were removed quickly from tables so others could sit at them and every crumb on the floor was swept up practically before it fell. Every staff member in every job was friendly and gracious about answering any questions we had, going out of their way to make us feel welcome and not a nuisance (which I am sure we were on many occasions :) Guest services were extremely helpful and gracious in helping us with the very few questions we had during the cruise. They have a difficult job (as we could see with some of their interactions with other grumpy guests) but they never stopped smiling and showing concern. We loved our special animal towels on the bed each night and enjoyed the presentation of those talented folders very much....they were amazing and brough smiles to our faces every night.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We marveled at the ship's layout and how passengers were given enough different "destinations" that there was never the feeling of crowding. As an older couple we appreciated having our spots to relax and avoid the more youthful locations and activities. I am sure that parents were equally happy to have family places to go to keep their children entertained. Our only complaint about design was the lack of sufficient elevator service. It seems we always had long waits for our rides up (we used the stairs always for heading down) and it was particularly noticeable on disembarkation morning.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our room was overall very comfortable and roomy. We requested the two twin beds arrangement instead of the king size bed. The beds did seem a little narrower than usual twins and the top mattress had a tendency to shift off the sides a little but they gave us a good night's sleep. We appreciated being able to control our room temperature as we like it cold. It was nice having a separate sitting area to enjoy eating, reading, and t.v. watching without disturbing a sleeping partner by pulling a dark-out curtain between the two spaces. The two t.v.'s (one for bed viewing and one for the sitting area) were a stroke of genius and much appreciated. We wished we could have had a bit more choices of channels, especially news outlets to keep in touch with what was happening back home, but we actually enjoyed watching some old classic movies on TCM channel. The dressing table was very well used for charging all of our electronics. The Carnival Hub App was well designed to provide us with all the information we needed each day....we loved the account feature and the planner feature for keeping track of our expenses and appointments for the day. Our compliments to the digital engineers for a perfect Hub. The daily newsletters were so helpful to us in planning our day's activities and reminding us of special occasions on any given day.
We were amazed at the efficiency of handling so many embarking and disembarking passengers at the same time without running into each other. They must, however, do something about increasing the number of bathrooms (or even port-a-potties) available to passengers waiting in lines.
We really enjoyed the bus excursion of the city, mountain (by cable car) and national gardens with our tour guides, Jordan and Rosey. The knowledge they imparted about the locale was extensive and informative. However, the description of the walking distance from the ship, all the way out of the cruise terminal, to the excursion buses was not accurate at all. I would not consider it a 15 minute walk at normal pace whatsoever. We took advantage of the complimentary pedi-cabs (tip added) for a short part of the total distance but had sore feet and were very tired getting to the ship and back. We couldn't imagine this walk for elderly passengers in hot and humid weather! The streets in the Dominican Republic are narrower than the streets we are used to at home which means their vehicles (including tour buses) are much smaller and tighter necessitating close squeezes with your neighbors. Again, I couldn't imagine riding in hot and humid weather under those conditions, even though the buses were air conditioned.
The only excursions offered by Carnival were for beach and snorkeling which we were not interested in doing. We would have really appreciated a driving tour of the area just to see the beautiful colors of the ocean there.
Our only complaint was the difficulty in getting an elevator to our waiting area, so we were late for our priority disembarkation. We could not carry our luggage down three deck levels so we had to use the elevators.
So if you can afford to pay as much extra as a very good dinner on shore costs to eat in the specialty restaurants, then the food is great, but if you eat the standard “steerage” offerings, then meh?
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