We arrived a little late due to the miserable weather in Baltimore on December 8th. It was about 1:30pm when we arrived, for a 4:30pm sailing. (Actually Carnival asks that you don't arrive before 1:30, so we were really weren't late.) The embarkation was terrible. Security line was over an hour long. Check-in was also over an hour. We did the same cruise 53 weeks prior and had no issues whatsoever, so I'm willing to let this go as a fluke. (Especially with the weather)

This cruise starts out with Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday as fun days at sea. I was immediately impressed with our head waiter at dinner the 1st night. I'd brought a bottle of wine onboard from a small CA winery. It's not available in wine stores, but our waiter was familiar with the winery and talked with us at length about various California wines. I knew right away it would be a great week in the dining room. The food and service was among the best we've had on any cruise.

The entertainment on Carnival is top notch. The singing/dancing shows are all fantastic, and there's 4 of them! The magician was also very good- not cheesy, but old school and worked the crowd. (He was on stage for about 10% of the show, and in the audience for about 90% of the time.) We missed all the comedy shows unfortunately, but we heard that all 4 comedians during the cruise were very funny. Read more