I booked this cruise with Carnival directly and THEN read the reviews from this site and was pretty discouraged. My thoughts then became...make the best of it. I figured it would be great to just get away. I have to say though, that I was pleasantly surprised. Sure the ship is nearly 10 years old, but the staff have done a great job keeping the ship clean and well maintained. I was expecting to see the large statue in the main atrium, but apparently they had too many complaints about it and removed it. Instead there is a bar there. Actually there is a bar - everywhere.

Embarkation was a breeze. We got there pretty early (about 12:00pm) and expected to wait - but didn't. In fact, they boarded us right on and steered us toward the Lido deck where the buffet was waiting. Was it the best buffet I've ever head? No, but it was fine. At this point I started thinking maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Our room was fine - pretty much average size, but definitely clean. The beds were comfortable, the blankets great, and the shower fine. We had no problem with water temperature as I've read in other reviews. In fact, the shower was really pretty perfect - great water pressure, etc. I especially liked having a large medicine chest to store all bathroom products. The other ships I've been on didn't have this. Furthermore, I liked that they had a complimentary basket of 'samples' in the bathroom. In it were razors, toothpaste, face cleansers, rolaids, and a reading book, to name just a few thing. Read more