We chose the 4 day Carnival cruise to Catalina and Ensenada because it was close to home and required no airline flight. Stayed at the Maya Hotel in Long Beach the nite before for a fairly priced park & cruise rate, although they attempted to charge us for an additional nite of parking. We took the free shuttle over to downtown and Shoreline Village and enjoyed having dinner and walking around that area. However, the Maya was quite noisy due to 3 or more wedding receptions going on until quite late, and that made sleeping difficult.

Embarkation was very easy and smooth & received luggage quickly. All staff on the ship, from the cabin steward to the waiters to anyone we asked a question of, were friendly and helpful. However, cabin was quite subpar with dirty carpet (including candy wrappers under the desk), dingy towels, tiny bathroom with crud on the sink and a worn out, patched shower floor, old looking bed linens, minimal, very austere space and decoration in the stateroom, mismatched wine glasses, etc. Only one electrical outlet in the room, and the vent over the bed not only made the room freezing cold, but sprayed black soot all over the bed -- we thought it was bugs at first!!! A workman came to "fix" it and stood with his boots on the room chair (!!!) to put in a filter, never bothering to clean the filthy vent itself.

Food was adequate -- prime rib, shrimp, salmon and veal parmesan were good. Desserts were mostly horrible and didn't seem to match the descriptions -- stick with the pie and ice cream! Items from the poolside grill were always cold -- i.e., french fries, burgers, etc. The sandwiches at lunch were delicious, and breakfast was ok, but lukewarm. Read more