As experienced cruisers we had some hesitations about the reputation of the line, but had heard that Carnival had tried to improve over the last few years - so we rolled the dice. With that said, let us share the 5 night adventure we encountered on what we not so fondly term the "Animal House Party Barge" cruise.

The ship itself is dirty and in grave disrepair (it goes in to dry dock next year - long overdue.) Our beds were so broken down we could barely walk after sleeping in them. Note how you can see the severe sag in the mattress even when the bed is fully made with a down comforter. The formal dining linens were raggedy, and the bedding and bath linens were no better.

We were shocked to find our cruise mates in the adjoining cabins frequently smoking marijuana, as well as a number of guests on the exterior walkways/decks of the ship. A significant number of other guests were unruly and clearly inebriated in the public areas of the ship. The crew dealt with a few of them, but this was clearly the "culture" of the ship. Read more