For my husband and I (both in our 30's) this was our 7th cruise (all on Carnival). We went down early on the Amtrak and spent a few days in New Orleans, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We look forward to the day that we go back to visit NOLA again.

Embarkation took about 1 hour, but we always try to get to the port early to avoid the crowd. First port of call was Costa Maya. From the advice on the message boards we skipped the "tourist trap" port and headed straight into Majahual ($3 taxi ride). We went to the Cat's Meow and spent the afternoon sitting on the beach relaxing and enjoying margaritas, beer and coconut shrimp. One word of caution, pay as you go. As others have shared on these boards, the Cat's Meow seemed to over charge us. We did not get an itemized receipt; the waiter just rattled off to us our total. We could and most likely should have made an issue of it, but chose not to. The service was acceptable, but nothing fantastic. We would definitely go to Majahual again, just not the Cat's Meow. Majahual is beautiful. Essentially, it is a secluded little stretch of beach with a handful of shops and restaurants. The Fantasy was the only boat in port that day so it was like we had the place to ourselves. The restaurants offer everything from massages on the beach to rentals (wave runners, boat rides, etc). If you like getting "off the beat in path, this is it. Next port of call was Cozumel where we booked the Carnival excursion of snorkeling and a beach break. The snorkeling was disappointing, just not a lot to see. The beach was ok, but there were no lounge chairs, just tables and chairs. After the excursion we headed into town for some light shopping. On the boat, we went to two comedy shows. Both were great. The late night "adult comedian" was very funny, but very adult content. The musical shows were entertaining, however, if you cruise Carnival regularly you may have already seen at least one of them. We chose self-debarkation and had no problems. It took us about 30 minutes to get off the boat after the called for self-debarkation. Our over all impression of the Fantasy is that she is has been well maintained and service was one of the best we have had with Carnival. We will definitely consider taking the Fantasy again for a future cruise.