We booked a balcony guarantee on this ship back in January and left on April 20th. We received our cabin about 3 days before we left. We got 7140 on the Verandah...pretty nice. This was our first cruise and took a gamble on where we would be and think we ended up for the better letting Carnival pick our cabin. We were just a few cabins away from the stairs (and elevators...we always took the stairs, though) that led right up to the Lido pools and just 4 flights down in to the Taj Mahal. Great location. Loved our balcony and spent many mornings before breakfast having coffee outside. Nice to have the extra space while the other one was getting ready. One night we saw the Milky Way and a shooting star! Imade was our steward and he was top notch. We tipped him when we first met him and asked for ice twice a day and he delivered. Our cabin was cleaned twice a day and we tipped him again as we left. Always greeted us by name when we saw him.
Food was plentiful throughout the entire trip. When we first boarded we started with some welcome aboard drinks and put our Sail and Sign cards to use immediately : ) We met other fellow travelers and the party was on. After a few drinks in the Atrium, we dropped our bags to our room and headed upstairs to the Lido pools and bars. We set sail and had a few more drinks and went to the dining room for dinner. We chose the anytime dining option and that worked well for us. We only ate in the MDR 4 dinners and one brunch....we enjoyed breakfast at the Mermaid Grill better and between the pizzas and ceasar salads, we had more food than we needed anyway. We only had dessert one night and didn't finish those! We did have some sandwiches from room service a couple times also. We still gained a few pounds but probably could have gain 10, easily!! We never even made one midnight buffet and we both love Mexican food.
Plenty to do on board between the shows, trivia, ping pong, bean bag toss, putt putt and all the games and contests Carnival put on. Relaxing at the pool and just wandering around the ship was great. We walked the track and would stick our heads in and watch a few minutes of the 'goings ons' around the ship. Watched a couple of the comedy shows (adult versions), 2 music shows at the Taj Mahal (VROOOM was pretty good) and caught the Motown tribute in the Starry Night Café.