This was the worst experience in my life SO i am going to give it to you in 2 parts. THe ship & my experience
The Ship: Bigger is not better. Too many people. I would rather sail the conquest in a heart beat. Everything took longer, the comedy shows were standing room only and people were turned away. The food was average, nothing special. Some of the combo of foods were off. My hubby ate Deli sandwiches most of the trip. The Main dining room food, was not much better. So so. I do believe Carnival has cut staff. There were tables outside the Ocean Plaza that were not washed off for three days. The elevator floors were sticky for days. The hallways and our room had a strong smell of sewer gas. The beds were so hard we had to sleep on top of the comfort. The room Stewart was attentive and I had no complaints about her. You could not have convinced me this was a new ship.
Now for the awful part. We got sick on the cruise. My husband got sick on Tuesday afternoon. with the most awful chills and fever and coughing he had every experienced. He stayed in the room as not to share, but mostly cause he felt so bad he couldn't get up. We had brought antibiotics with us and they did nothing to ease his suffering. SO we missed our stingray excursion. As a woman, I didn't want to venture out on my own. But by Thursday afternoon, I got the virus. It is and still is the most awful experience. Coughing, sinus, chest pain and fever. I went on shore Friday and got antibiotic's for myself, but they have made no difference. (i had someone check the Internet and they were from a well know manufacturer) SO I am still sick. I bought a $18 bottle of cough med from the ship store. I wasn't around any sick people or children before we left. I even brought disinfecting whips and cleaned the entire room before we unpacked. Well needless to say, by the end of the trip there were numerous people coughing and hacking. SO I say I we all got the Magic Cruz Flu. I did tell the Stewart she needed to disinfect the room before the next people arrived. SO my trip was awful. I will not cruise again for a long while. Not just because i was sick, but that Carnival is not operating to the standard of years past, not even to last years standard.