FWIW, we are diamond level with Royal Caribbean, with this as our second Carnival cruise. We choose this cruise due to good reviews on CC and is an easy drive for us. We stayed one night at Double Tree Hilton historic district prior to the cruise (highly recommend that hotel). Once we finally found the port (~11:10), it was about 30 minutes to get from the initial security person (where the gate starts) to getting on the bus for the terminal, and that is because we had paid for Faster to the Fun (FTTF) pass. Had we not, it would have taken us over an hour (at least) to get to the terminal. Once we arrived at the terminal and we were able to bypass the long lines because of the FTTF pass, otherwise I suspect it would have been another 30-60 minutes before getting onto the ship. Thanks to all who posted about the Faster to the Fun – it was a great tip.

Ocean view rooms were spacious, especially for this ship being so old. Bathrooms were large as well. Our room (U161) had 1 extra bunk, but we never actually used it as our 3 year old slept in our bed. She hung out on the bunk when we were in the room, but there is no way I would let any of us sleep there. The safety rail was quite loose with a couple of stripped screws. I easily could have fallen through the railing (5’3” small frame) and my head would have been caught. Jonathan our room attendant was courteous and always had a smile. He made towel animals each night. We always tipped extra for anything we asked for (clothes pressing, extra towels, etc) so I suspect that helped in getting a towel animal each night.

Most of our meals were at the Buffet, Grill, Mongolian Wok, Deli, or pizza. We ate 2 dinners in the dining room and were underwhelmed (bland, tough, or mushy). Breakfast was much better in dining room. Service was slow, but servers were polite. Read more