I was reading the reviews of the individuals that were either on my cruise leaving Dover on the 25th of July or the 1st one and they do make valid criticisms such as the decor is weird, the lifeboat drill was bogus, disembarkation in Petersburg bordered on being a fraud but on the other side, embarkation was a breeze, the ship is truly beautiful etc. Negative people focus on the negative and it diminishes their cruise or worse, ruins it. Positive people would treat these relatively minor annoyances like water off a ducks back and realize this is a trip of a lifetime on an beautiful new ship and what's not to like! I am one of these people and had the trip of a lifetime. On balance it was excellent. Such positive memories of seeing the sunsetted white cliffs of dover, sun setting in Petersburg at 10:30 pm, etc will always be in my mind. There is nothing like the white nights.

Again the ship is beautiful. They used the extra tonnage to give it far more room. The rooms themselves are spacious!. Nice beds. 20 inch new LCD TV's with excellent programming! Even liked my portholes which could be shut to completely darken the room. Good friendly service. Some negatives. Carnival ships are never ever really new. Saw stains on the carpets, some of the exercise equipment was already broken, etc. But who cares?

The meals at dinner were real size meals. Didn't even have to ask for seconds on the lobster tail as it was big and good! Carnival has the best entertainment at sea. John Heald was a superior cruise director contrary to what some negative reviewers have said. The orchestra was a real orchestra not taped. The lead singers who were excellent actually sung and did not lip-sync which is a problem for many cruise lines. The price is more than fair. If you want to pay double go on a supposed better cruise line and you won't get anything better. Oh, yes. I really liked the people I met on the cruise. Fortunately I didn't meet some of the stuffed shirt reviewers I have just read and hopefully you won't either. Try it, you will surely like it.