I had a great time both in New Orleans & on the ship. My sister was a little disappointed because of the weather, it was not warm enough for her, but I was fine with it. We went to Mardi Gras World in New Orleans to see where all the floats & props are made, it was an interesting little tour. Then we went to a restaurant on St.Louis St called "Petunias" the food was great & we had a dessert called "Peach Melba Crepe" it was so big the 2 of us shared it & it was to die for. If you ever go to NOLA you might want to try the place. Then we took a little stroll down Bourbon St, stopped in at O'Brien's for a little piano music & a Hurricane, 718 St. Peter Street. Oh, & if they don't tell you when you order a hurricane if you do not want to keep the glass return it to the bartender & he will give you $3. back. We stayed at Harrah's new hotel all I can say about it is WOW ! Went to a comedy show at the Improv in Harrah's the comedians were great, they were Judy Tenuta, Larry Omaha & Jeff Capri & last but not least played a little slots. We also had to stop at Cafe Dumond for a coffee & beignets before boarding the ship. Embarkation was soooo much better & smoother in NOLA than in Miami, hopefully it will be like that when we are in New York. Also if you can manage all your luggage yourself debarkation was wonderful doing self-assist, we were off the ship by 8:00am with practically no lines or wait going through customs. The cruise was great we were on a ship full of "Southerners" and they were a lot of fun, we joked how we "Northerners" were in the minority on the ship & better watch out....LOL... The shows were very good especially the Christmas one which included the kids from Camp Carnival in it, they did a wonderful job in the short period they had with those kids. And the last night evening show was excellent. The food for the most part was very good on the Lido deck & excellent in the dinning room. Our waiters & steward were also excellent. The only thing I was not crazy about was the coffee it seemed a little too strong & a little bitter for me. When we were on the Triumph it was much better. The Fantasy for being an old ship was in great shape & very clean, yes there were a few spots in the carpets but I think that is to be expected when you have soooo many people walking around with food & drinks daily. Our stateroom was a nice size & we had plenty of storage room for all our stuff. Just to let anyone who wants to know we were in stateroom E27 on the Empress Deck just below the Universe Lounge & when the shows are on you can somewhat here the noise but it would never be loud enough to keep me awake if I wanted to sleep. Usually the activity in the lounge was over before I was ready to go to bed & I assume that would be the case for most people. In Costa Maya we toured the ruins, our guides were 2 young people, a girl named Silva of Mayan decent & a young man whose name I can not remember of Aztec decent. He did most of the tour & was very informative. We were supposed to go with David or Ivan but according to Silva Ivan was sick & David was to meet us at the ruins, but we never did meet him. My sister & I suspect that maybe they are not connected with David & Ivan at all but are somehow picking up their business. We were to meet David & Ivan at the Cat's Meow in Majahual & that is were we met these young people, who knows maybe they work for David & Ivan in any event the tour was wonderful & well worth the $43pp. In Cozumel we only went to the shopping area on the pier as the weather was not too great & we had been there before. All in all I would have to say this was a great vacation & a great cruise...