This was our third Carnival cruise. Our main reason for taking this cruise was the port location (local to us). We knew the ship had not undergone the 2.0 upgrade, but we were prepared for that. The overall cruise experience was great. I would walk away saying my wife and I both enjoyed the experience. There were a bunch of "little" details that we noticed that detracted from the joy. At first I thought maybe it was just me, but I heard the same sentiment from our dinner companions and others in the casino while we played there. The lobster was gone from the menu. We knew it was removed from the five day cruise, but others did not. The chocolates on our bed were gone. My wife really liked that detail. The biggest issue seemed to be that the staff was overworked. I can't say for sure that there are fewer staff, but this is the first time I have ever seen outward appearances of fatigue. And it was not just one person. The steward, the wait staff, and the casino all seemed to be tired. There were other small cuts that others mentioned that I had not noticed until they said something. Individually, all these things are petty, but added up you start to notice the cuts. Overall, I would repeat that we still had a good trip. I just think Carnival needs to look at how the cuts look in the overall cruise experience.
Norfolk can improve the embarkation procedures to speed things up, but as a part time port, they did a good job.
We booked a private excursion outside of Carnival (Tru Bahamian Food Tours). It was fantastic. Our day in Nassau was very enjoyable.
We booked another private tour of the island (Mr T's tours) and had a great day. The beach at Lucaya left something to be desired.