this was the second cruise i have been with carnival and my 3rd cruise overall and i was completely impressed by it. we were completely let down before we even embarked. as 2 families we asked for adjoining rooms, which we were refused. we then asked for one of the rooms to be a triple or at least large enough to house 2 adults with 2 babies. we specifically asked for a double with enough space for 2 cots or a double and a fold out sofa bed.what we got instead was a quad room with 2 single beds with bunk beds above. how on earth did they expect 2 infants to sleep on bunk beds i do not know. the agency we booked it through said she had no authority on selecting rooms and carnival assigned them. she even cc'ed us on the emails when she was booking request for large rooms and 2 cots. we took all this to purser on board who said, its not her problem and it had nothing to do with carnival but agents. there was no spare rooms available in same category so she couldn't help us. so much for a new mum with 2 babies trying to get a rest , it added to the stress. in the end they squeezed the two beds together and fitted 1 cot on the side and they all crammed in 1 bed with 1 bad in bed and other in cot. there was no room around bed to move let alone have any bags or buggies. the second thing i found annoying was that the lido restaurants would shut just around the time you would be back on board from the tours. the only pace open was pizza place that i found were very greasy and were tasteless and the burger area serving hot dog and burgers. the burgers and hot dogs were even worse than the pizzas. i found that the freshness of food was not of as high a standard as previous and day after day they would serve out food from the day before. the food in the restaurant was quite good and the steak especially were excellent . however the selection on the menu seemed to be exactly the same everyday, just cooked in different sauces. i especially referred to the fish. like another critic, i also thought the cruise was especially for the americans, seeing as they are the only ones with platinum cards but this didn't bother me as much as i found the american guests delightful. on our particular cruise there were a lot of russian people and what really upset me is on one night as my dad headed to deck 10 to relax with a cigarette as he always did before bed , he found that not only was deck 10 aft shut but also deck 9 and 11 for a private function for the russian guests. you needed a password to get in, believe it or not. i wouldn't have minded if they used one of the discos or maybe the grill restaurant and closed that off for the evening as there are other restaurants and clubs on board but to block 3 whole floors for a portion of guests i found quite rude. after all, i paid as much as they did and should be allowed to go where i wanted. Shows -the cabaret shows were very good and lovely costumes. not so sure about the other shows. one show by a magician, i had to walk out, as he started to cut his wrist off with a knife and all this red "blood" started gushing down. there was no warning that it was an adults only show -not impressed. good thing the kids were asleep. i also wasn't too pleased to see that the cruise director's shows were exactly the same as last year's on the Freedom, including Dick Little, and the woman who knocks him over and drags his pants down...i thought John is great and really funny and was disappointed to see it is same. i didn't bother going to the other shows after that.

lido theatre -please explain to me what is the point of having a massive screen by the pool only to show same videos of surfers and fish over and over when they could be showing more shows and movies. especially on the days at sea. the shows would be at silly times like 7 or 10;:45 whilst there is a show in the main theatre. what about 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. when people are by the pool and want to watch a movie rather than getting ready for dinner. same of course with in cabin movies that could have all been shown on the lido theatre too (some did) camp carnival - i thought this was great and most of the girls there are great. we did have an incident though. one time we forgot the mobile that they give you to contact them and the girl there (Nikki) who also won employee of the month said don't worry about it, we gave her the restaurant and table number where we were and she said if there was a problem she would call us and that we shouldn't worry. except that when her shift ended, she left without giving a hand over and didn't tell the next girls this info. as my poor nephew howled and begged for his mum, the poor girls kept ringing our room and the mobile with no answer. he was only there for just over a n hour but it must have been horrible both for him (2 YEARS OLD) and the poor girls trying to console him.

Gym - i liked the idea of working out whilst looking out at the view but what is the point of this when the glass pane in front of treadmills stops at about shoulder height so you would have to bend down to look straight ahead. the Freedom was much better laid out. i also didn't like the fact that to use the special spa jacuzzi i had to pay extra as if it were any more special than the others around the ship. my last comment is about price - tours are far too over-priced for the average traveller. Read more