I've cruised on princess, royal Caribbean, and now carnival. I must say for the price of this carnival cruise I am very satisfied. People who are writing terrible reviews about this ship must have had ridiculous expectations. The ship was clean and the staff was always cleaning different areas. Our balcony stateroom on the 6th floor was great. First time having a balcony and it was definitely worth it. The stateroom was cleaned twice a day and they did a pretty good job. It wasn't super clean but good enough.
The entertainment was good too. Funny comedy shows and the Epic Rock show was by far the best from the amber palace. As far as crowds go it wasn't really bad. We only waited in a line for food a few times. Guys burgers was very good. It lived up to the hype I read about. The main dining room food was adequate. If you are expecting amazing, fine dining cuisine you will be disappointed. However there were some stand out dishes and we were never disappointed with our orders. Anytime dining is convenient but if you are looking for that personal experience with the waiters every night you will be better off with a chosen dining time, either 6:15 or 8:15. For us it was good to have anytime because my boyfriend loves to nap and I would have been rushing him around to make dinner each night if we had a specific time. I'd say half the nights we went to dinner we waited about 20 minutes for a table for two. The steakhouse was just ok. We ate there the first night and wished we didn't waste our money. If you're not really on a budget it's worth a try but otherwise I'd say skip it.
All the ports were nice too, half moon cay being the nicest beach I've ever been too. In Puerto Rico there will be buses right outside the terminal with men advertising 20$ for a tour. It was a complete waste of money do not do it. They took us through new San Juan and there was nothing to see. You can just walk five minutes to Old San Juan on your own which is where you want to go anyway. Besides wasting 40$ it was so hot on the bus and I wanted to get off so bad but had no choice. It was very frustrating. We won nothing in the casino. If you don't like cigarette smoke you will hate it in there. Other than the casino, people smoking won't bother you on other places on the ship. The serenity deck was nice and not really crowded the times we went. Overall this cruise was a great value. However I think after cruising RC in 2012 and now Carnival, I prefer RC. On a final note, if you like the drinking party atmosphere carnival is great for it. It's true that RC is more low key than carnival. Both lines are good so choose based on your personal preferences and your budget.
Beach was beautiful. Bbq food provided by carnival was meh. We didn't do anything here but swim and eat the BBQ.
We hung out at the pool and went in the ocean. It was fun. We didn't get that much but ended up spending at least $100. Worth it though.