This trip with friends was booked last August. Carnival refunded the fuel charge we had paid, as the prices came down since we booked, a plus. Boarding was smooth, and bags delivered shortly after we did at the cabin. Lots of activity if you wanted it, but the most nicest thing I saw was the fact that you were not pushed into buying stuff. Last fall we did a RCL cruise, and every moment was someone in your face trying to get you to buy a specialty drink,cookbook, or other "stuff". They had the same stuff on carnival, but it was not pushed. The only cookbooks I saw were on the Galley tour, and the overall experience was great. The only complaint I had was having to buy water in my cabin to take my pills or go up to the dining area to get to a water fountain. The entertainment was good, as was the food and service. Everyone was most helpful. We took 2 tours booked with the ship on St. Maarten and St. Lucas, but booked our own horseback ride on St. Kitts. This was a stable I found with the tourism bureau, Trinity Stables, and it was great. They picked us up at the ship, we had a great ride along the ocean, and they delivered us back promptly. I would have liked to try the Rain forest ride they offered, but we had time constraints. We only had 6 hours on this island, but hope to get back and stay a week.

Carnival offers a new (to us) type of getting off the ship - self assist. This was great, as we could carry our own bags off, and saved considerable time getting off. We had arrived in Ft Lauderdale around 6 - 6:15AM, and we were leaving the parking lot by 7:50, after having breakfast onboard shortly after 6:30. The last trip on RCL we waited a couple hours for luggage that had gotten stuck in the wrong pile, so this was a real plus.

We had sailed with this Captain before, and the last trip was not bad. Some friends did have a problem with the air reservations made with Carnival, but I am not sure where the problem really was - the airlines are condensing flights, and theirs may have been one that was cancelled by the airlines, as these too were made many months ahead. I suggest if you have air connections, check them out before you leave to make sure there has not been major changes. Another onboard with us got stuck an extra day in Ft. Lauderdale that made a mess of their plans for getting home. Read more