I was part of a large group and Port Canaveral was close to all of us. I wasn't thrilled with sailing on Carnival to begin with. I've sailed with Celebrity in the past which is my favorite and NCL, my second favorite. If it wasn't for all our friends it would have been a total disaster. The food in the buffet was horrible, the dining room not much better. Service in the dining room was inconsistent. One night it was fine, the next night slow and the food was cold. The bar service left a lot to be desired. I ordered the drink of the day in the lobby bar and the bartender didn't even know what it was, she had to look at the card displayed on the bar to figure out how to make it. The Blueguana Tequila Bar on Deck 9 had fast service and the RedFrog Rum Bar directly across from it had slow service. The biggest joke was the RedFrog drink of the day was a Spicy Mojito but they ran out of mint, so I went to the Tequila Bar and they couldn't make it since they didn't have the liquor required in their bar, but they had mint. So I ordered a regular Mojito and after I finished I brought my empty glass full of mint back to the RedFrog and told them to use that to make my drink. Seriously, they couldn't call someone for mint to make the drink of the day. We were on deck 8 near the glass evevators - don't even try to go to bed before 11. The screaming from the Music Trivia Contests was incredibly loud - it was coming up the elevator shafts. The only good thing about my cruise was our cabin stewart Noel. He was fantastic. Carnival didn't bother to send me a review request - I would have posted this and more in that survey. Others in my group got it.
The cabin was OK, not great. Our steward was wonderful. He brought us ice every day, checked the room while we were at dinner to see if we needed fresh towels. As I stated above, the noise from the daily Music Trivia Contests was unbearable. I had friends who went to it and they were told to all scream very loud after every question. This wasn't necessary, even with the TV on we could hear the screaming until it ended.I'm not sure what deck it was on, it was either 3 or 4 right next to the glass elevator.
Close to home.
Our group went on a private excursion to Brugal Rum Factory and Big Lee's Beach Bar with Marisol Tours. Great experience and loved Big Lee's.
Margaritaville was great. Too many wild spring breakers there for a couple of hours while we were there. Once the other ship left it was more fun.