My wife and I needed to get away for a little break from the cold and this cruise fit the bill, right time, right place and inexpensive. This was our first time on a Carnival ship and we were told it was at the lower end of the cruise lines, and they were right. The ship is the first of her class but it is now twelve years old and is definitely showing her age. There were lots of stains on the carpets, torn seats and stained linen in the restaurants, lots of calking repairing leaks in the washroom of our state room and a strong urine smell in the hall near our room that didn't go away during the entire cruise. If I had paid full fare or paid what we had for a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 I would have been very upset, but I didn't, and for $370 we received more than what we paid for. The service was not to bad but I found it strange that the staff call the clients by their first names. I found this to be a little too personal for my taste as I prefer to be addressed by my sir name while on a cruise as it helps make you feel special on your vacation. The service in the restaurants was not bad and the food was pretty good in both the buffet and the sit down restaurant. My wife didn't like the way the chicken and fish were prepared as both were over cooked every time she ordered them but I found the meat I ordered to be cooked properly. I didn't purchase a pop card for the cruise as I always find them to be overpriced but on this cruise the fountain pop card was even more dear. They were asking $40 for the week and I figured you would have to drink five gallons to make it worth your while. The ship its self is sometimes hard to get around, there is no deck that you can walk around the ship as there is always a dead end that forces you to turn around and go back where you came from. My wife and I like to walk around after dinner but the ships design discourages you from doing this. If you are anywhere on the ship and would like to walk to the other end of the ship you have to walk through a restaurant, go up or down a deck and walk around through the passenger cabin hallways or go to deck nine and walk around the pool and through the buffet. There is nothing they can do about this as it is just a poor design flaw, but it is irritating all the same. The shows on the ship are pretty good but they are not varied. The shows on our cruise were pretty much consisted of the Destiny Dancers. The shows were very energetic and well performed, but unless you planned to stay up to midnight for a comedian on one night or a magician on another night, that was the only entertainment. The ports of call were nice but familiar to anyone who has sailed the Caribbean before. So if you don't mind the dated decor (copper colored metal walls right out of the eighties) and service not as polished as all the other cruise lines I have sailed on, you will enjoy yourself on this budget cruise. Just don't expect a Rolls Royce for the price of a Chevy.