This was my second cruise, both with Carnival. I was a bit hesitant about Carnival and these larger ships, as I did not have the greatest experience on my previous cruise with Valor. I think I really just picked the wrong time to go then (end of February, TONS of kids!) Went with my boyfriend.

Embarkation was smooth and flawless! Except for the maybe 25-30 minute line which is to be expected, to me it felt like they were finally getting their act together with this boarding thing. We were handed our gold sail and sign cards (2 or more cruises with Carnival and you qualify- we felt special) and headed to board the ship. I made sure to look for and notice the "welcome home" sign another Cruise Critic member had mentioned they looked forward to seeing when they board a cruise. Nice touch.

So we boarded and made our way to our room. The main atrium looks just like Valor except for slightly different decor. The layout was almost the same also, although we noticed a few KEY elements were missing, such as the room mini fridge, the fish 'n chips station, and the make your own stir fry station. Bummer. Also you could not book your excursions on this TV! We enjoyed doing that ourselves on Valor. Very clean, I actually liked this decor better than Valor's! Read more