Our ship embarkation was very smooth. We took a taxi from the airport and shared with another family for $23 total. Carnival charged $15 each person. The taxi is not metered and they have to charge only $23. No problems and no long lines. We did not spend anytime in San Juan before sailing. We have been there before and found it dumpy. The ship did not seem to be in bad shape at all. They are constantly cleaning it and painting it. Our cabin was on the main deck towards the back. The only complaint I would have about it was the creaking sound it made in our room while we were trying to sleep. It sounded like water trickling down the wall in the corner of our room. A few nights we kept hearing a whipping sound along the side of the ship. Our cabin steward was O.k. He kept our room fairly clean. He was not as friendly as the other cabin stewards seem to be and never referred to us by name as they are instructed to do. His name was Ronald. I found every crew member on the ship was friendly and said "hello".

I was disappointed in the activities after dinner. We seem to wander about aimlessly after our early dinner until a show started. I wish they had more organized things to do. The musical revues seem directed towards older people or the Puerto Ricans. They were pretty outdated. The comedians were the best! The magician did very simple tricks and almost seemed drunk. We heard at the second show he messed up. We enjoyed the juggler. He was very entertaining. We went to the karaoke lounge a lot and it was hosted by a funny lady named Anna.

The food was average. Dessert was wonderful everynight in the dining room. The bread pudding, fig cake, and warm chocolate cake were the best. Only one night was inedible and that was a chocolate raspberry cake that was frozen solid. Our servers were great. Their names were Valentina and Iryna. They worked very hard. Another good waiter at breakfast was Sutin. He was always cheerful and eager to please. Some outstanding dinners were the short braised teriyaki ribs and grilled pork chops. The appetizers were usually much better than the dinners. The buffets were average. We enjoyed the Indian buffet they had one day. We ate at the chinese lunch thing every day and that was good. The grill always had at least 15 people lined up and took too long. After dinner we went by the coffee shop that is extra money. The desserts were only $2 and were great. The white chocolate forest cake was spectacular! It was worth it and three of us could not finish it. The cookies were only $l.00 and we bought some to take on the plane going home. Shore excursions: St. Thomas- Went to Magen's Bay by way of taxi. It was $8 dollars per person each way. It was very pretty. We also went to the Butterfly Farm that was within walking distance of the ship. It was $15 per person and was not worth it. Read more