Overall impressions:

(1) If WalMart had a cruise line this would be it. The description of Carnival being the “booze cruise” is accurate. They push liquor sales from breakfast through the wee hours, and they sell a lot. The “seminars” seem to disproportionably focus on alcohol, weight and beauty, all of which nicely fit into on-board commerce. And at night, much of the main deck is taken over by photo booths. Carnival has a business plan that seems to work.

(2) Given that it was a late-July early-August cruise there were a large number of children and teens, and they all seemed to have had a good time, in fact, as far as I could see this description applies to nearly all passengers. Even when we stopped at Grand Turk and the line to de-board traversed nearly all of deck 2, and people were in it for well over an hour, the mood was not at all surly. Had I been in it I would have been livid – these people did not seem a bit perturbed, maybe they had already enjoyed the cocktail of the day. Read more