I will try to give an honest and objective review based on my recent experience. This was our first cruise, 2 adults in our mid thirties and two children 6 and 4. We sailed from Houston and was amazed at how easy embarkation was, of course the conquest had been docked there for a few days so the ship was ready and we got to our cabins within 20 minutes of walking into the terminal. The ship decor is a bit cheesy in my opinion, a bit vegas style and we're not talking bellagio or wynn here. Not too bad though. Our cabin was a good size and the balcony was nice. The hallways are worn and most of the ship has a significant smell of smoke which was just awful to us. The ship was easy to get around in my opinion and the top decks were nice. The food was well, pretty bad. I didn't have high expectations to be honest and thought it would be your average buffet food but honestly the food was pretty bad, very bland and not of good quality. The dining room food was better than the buffet but still wasn't good, I thought some of the dishes were odd and didn't really go with the sides, Sur Mer is a disaster in my opinion, I mean I am shocked at the reviews of this place, not better than long john silvers to put it bluntly. Supper Club was the best meal on the ship and the service was spectacular however my steak was rare inspite of me ordering well done and waiting about 25 minutes from our salad to receive our entree. I thought the service on board in the dining rooms, housekeeping, room service and camp carnival was excellent, I was really impressed to see the staff ALWAYS smiling and offering to help. The service is by far the best part of this cruise. That being said, the manager in the spa is rude, loud and unprofessional. I overheard her yelling at a customer for a very weird reason. She was upset the therapist had made the customer wait but yelled at the customer? Also I had to visit the infirmary to get some medicine for stomach cramping after eating at the point (under cooked food) and the front desk person, who at this time was a heavy set woman was also very loud and rude, she seemed to be bothered by all the work she had. It seemed to me that the people that get paid the least are the nicest on these ships which is very bizarre. Camp carnival was good, the staff was attentive and always friendly however the schedule was very inconvenient, they close for lunch and early in the afternoon, this made it impossible for my husband and I to take advantage of the few things we actually wanted to do like the married show and afternoon tea. The casino was fun, we won 250.00 dollars. The smell of smoke is just so STRONG in this area that we could not be there for long. I also thought a bit odd that afternoon tea was only offered in Alfreds Bar which reeks of smoke and cigars! The ports were nice and we had fun there. Debarkation was a total NIGHTMARE, though this was probably not carnivals fault it did make for a very long and exhausting day. Seems like customs was slow in houston. We didn't get off the ship 'till almost 2pm! Overall, I have to say that we will probably not cruise again. There were a few good things but too many bad to try it again. After 5 days just the thought of the buffet food made me starve for the last two, needless to say I couldn't wait to get off the ship and have a decent meal and a normal size bathroom. One thing I want to point out is that I was informed after asking that the staff on board like housekeeping and dining rooms do NOT have a salary other than the gratuities they add on and anything extra the customers tip, this was pretty amazing to me, so I hope people take this into consideration when they try to remove the 70pp gratuities, we tipped our housekeepers an dining room staff an extra 25 each. After all they didn't to the cooking themselves :)