We decided to take this cruise because of the "newer" ship, and because we wanted to visit my grandmother in nearby Laguna Niquel because she was celebrating her 97th birthday. We drove to Long Beach, stayed at the Best Western at the Convention Center. It was clean and in a great location. We got there early and walked down to the Marina and enjoyed a simple steak dinner. When we had dinner the next night, we ate at a place called Utopia, that was just wonderful. Don't bother with the restaurants at the Marina, the Arts District in Long Beach has many great sidewalk cafes and restaurants. I am now a fan of Long Beach!

Embarkation was simple. We got there, parked, did pre boarding, got in line and then in about an hour we were on the ship. We went right to the Splendido Lido, bought the unlimited soft drink card and had a slice of goat cheese pizza....Ahhh, it was good to be back at Carnival! We then checked out the Tandori Grill, which was also very good. I read on many of the forums that many other cruisers felt that the ships decor was "too loud", but my husband and I thought it was art deco-ish and surreal. The pink color was soothing to us. To each his own, huh?

Got to the Cabin, it was a port side balcony cabin. Perfect! And for the length of the cruise, everything was perfect. Our cabin steward, Roel, was the most efficient worker on the ship. We tipped him well at the end of the cruise. We were early dining in the Gold Pearl. We had a great upper balcony view in a booth along the railing. However, we kept having other couples come and go. This caused alot of turmoil for the wait staff, who were already a bit inefficient. We were disappointed with this having had such great experiences in the past. As a result, we only ate in the dining room for 3 nights. Oh well! Read more