Overall Rating: This was our second cruise; our first was on Celebrity Galaxy in Feb 07. I was pleasantly surprised with this ship and the cruise in general exceeded my expectations. The ship was new (2004) clean and well cared for. The crew was friendly and always willing to get you what you needed, very nice people. We booked our cruise directly through Carnival. Our experience was very good. Easy to book and our documents arrived early and were complete and easy to understand. Once we had the flight information we were also able to go directly to the air line web site and select our seats. There were three of us so it was important to get seats together. We were also able to print our boarding passes at home before we left that made going through the airport very easy.

STATEROOM: We were in stateroom 1005 and while the room itself was very good it was directly below the gym which opens at 6:00am. That's when you start hearing people dropping dumbbells on the floor above. If you were out late the night before you will be awaken earlier that you want. Select a cabin a little further back if you want to be on deck 10. Sergio and Nikki did a great job

EMBARKATION: Our flight arrived at 1:00pm and we were picked up at the airport in Miami and shuttled by greyhound bus to the Cruise terminal. On arrival, we were asked to wait on the bus until the driver finished unloading the luggage. At first I thought it was to avoid confusion but I really believe it was to allow the driver to get back to the door to look for tips, Even though the transfer indicated that tips were included. This happened on both transfers to and from the airport. After we got off the bus, there were attendants that were moving luggage to the staging area before they are loaded on the ship. These attendants were also looking for tips, I don't think you need to tip these attendants, as your bags will get to your cabin. I think they were taking advantage of the confusion and the fact that most people don't know the routine. I know I felt that a tip should be given. Inside the terminal things went very smooth getting your fun pass, I did all the work on line before I left so it was basically taking an imprint of my credit card and away we went. There was a pretty long line to get on the ship but it went pretty fast, no more that ½ hour to get on board. Once you were on board it was a little confusion but once the crowd thinned out it was fine. There were a lot of staff around to help and answer questions. Read more