This was my seventh cruise and the first time on Carnival. My husband and I are in our 50's, very active but I've always steered away from Carnival due to it's "party" reputation. We enjoy cruising for the relaxation, adventure and rest. With that said, Carnival lived up to it's reputation. We chose this trip due to needing certain days over the July 4th holiday and hoped for the best as we've never had any major complaints on any cruise we've been on. First problem was our room. It was an oceanview but the window was SO dirty. Even the rubber gasket around the window was falling off and wouldn't fit back in place. The bed felt like I was sleeping on the floor so the next day they added a pad to it which helped some. I could accept that the ship is older and well worn so some of it was to be expected. The worst problem was the noise at night. Our stateroom was #2393 on Deck 2 with the Golden Restaurant above us. The first night about 9:30 I thought there was a storm with hail hitting the windows. It literally sounded like there were pipes running down our walls and rocks were being flushed into them for hours every night. We complained by the 3rd night and they told us to call someone when we heard it and they'd send someone up. Seriously? They aren't going to change the pattern of whatever is happening in the kitchen above us! I started taking ambien to sleep through it.

Our room attendant was great, waiters in dining room were great and staff were all friendly. There just aren't very many of them compared to previous cruises I've been on. I'm not a real picky eater and love a nice time to dine with my husband but although food was good, it wasn't great. Only did the buffet a couple times and the choices there are slim and even the fruit was lacking and seldom had strawberries or watermelon. The taco/burrito bar by the pool was the best. Guys Hamburgers were just hamburgers. The little deli window was also pretty good. Biggest complaint was the lack of hand sanitizer. There were so many times that we went to the main dining room and the sanitizer outside was empty. Most ships even have additional personnel standing around the buffets and dining rooms with Purell to encourage you to use it. You don't even see the stands or bottles outside the buffets or places where you get food by the pool. I don't carry this product personally but in public areas like a ship it's necessary!

The pools are all in once place and for us, to be avoided. They were small and packed with people. I know all the games, loud music and crowds appeal to many but we just wanted a quieter place and it only existed in the adult Serenity area above this. My biggest complaint here was the lack of shade. You could only find it if you sat on the couches or chairs by the bar. On sea days we spent our whole day here and really enjoyed it. All day long people would walk by wanting a place in there away from the sun but it was always full after about 11 am. Read more