All in all a great cruise. This was my twelfth cruise. I have been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL. The ship was beautiful-gleaming, and yes a little gaudy in places...but Joe Farcus (the interior designer) for Carnival tends to do that on all of the ships.
I went on this cruise expecting a different experience-and I feel that I got one. I loved the fact that the announcements were in different languages-we even took the beginning Italian class. (The announcements were in English first). If you don't want to experience the world and other cultures go shopping at WAL-MART!
The cruise staff is simply the most entertaining of any ship I have been on. Watch Bepy teach the cha-cha and Rumba by the pool! Pepe(another Italian assistant) had me laughing so hard when he asked me to dance in one of the lounges. Do not miss entering the slot tournament-Davide(the Italian casino director) made it the most fun with his comments behind us. We entered again later on in the cruise. What a hoot he is!!