We chose this cruise to celebrate our 18 yr old's HS graduation--and enable him to dive in 3 Caribbean locales. Since we were on the "Hurricane Dennis" extended cruise-- we were sorry to miss Cayman. The credit we got didn't seem like enough compensation--but otherwise we were very pleased with Carnival. The Captain was excellent in keeping us informed and seemed to be extremely capable in piloting us through the hurricane. The food was uniformly good and the entire wait staff and all crew were super! The seas were rough, but it was an unusual week. We thought the two Vegas type shows were excellent and Phat Cat was great as well. All entertainment was good. Todd the cruise director and his staff were always around to answer questions and help whenever needed. The shopping tips before port were helpful too.

The ship itself is a beautiful work of art-- and the most fun we had were the art auctions. We went to every one, and purchased several works for our collection--at what we thought were fair prices. There was a wide range of activities to choose from and everyone should have found something to their liking. Our son entered several trivia contests and won a "ship on a stick" trophy--a highlight of the trip for him. We also enjoyed the tea and classical music, the jazz group and the piano bar. The cabin was a pleasant surprise (our previous cruise experience was limited to a Big Red Boat Disney cruise 13 years ago) There was lots of hanging space and room to store the luggage. The steward was excellent, and everything was kept spotless. We were glad we had sprung for the extra cost of having a balcony-- it added a lot to the cruise, especially as we sailed down the Mississippi. Wish we had known that the hot tubs would be closed all week, they were never opened.

The shore excursions we got to do included diving in Cozumel and the shopping trip. (It's definitely geared to women.) We took a taxi to Sunset Beach in Jamaica and spent the day there, a beautiful beach resort that included lunch. We also visited the nightclubs in Cozumel and snorkeled at Chankanaab part. Read more