We came down to the piers for our ninth Carnival cruise on this new ship. We were doing a B2B so we had luggage. I found someone to assist me with our luggage on the elevator and he found a porter for me. I gave him my checked luggage. We got on board pretty quick in spite of the fact that the NY port couldn't use the regular means for boarding the ship and had to bring us in on Deck zero. My wife uses a walker and it took me and four other passengers to get my wife and walker safely up the slippery ramp. It was raining and no one from Carnival assisted.

We got on board and the rooms would not be ready until 1:30 which was more than an hour and one-half away. We got something to drink as the food stations were not open as yet. We tried several stations including the famed Mongolian Wok. Even the mild sauce was too hot for my wife. The mild sauce I thought was okay. Certainly the Mongolian Grille at Sam's Town in Las Vegas, Nev is much better. This food station leaves a lot to be desired. Other food stations were better. The Carnival chef's really did a good job on the buffett. Although, I will say that the pizza station was not quite ready. Whenever I went there it was a five to seven minute wait. Go back and another five to seven minute wait. It failed to meet the Carnival standard. This did not happen when I sailed on the Triumph a month ago.

The Safety Drill- was another disaster. They pack you into the area without life vests then show you a film about safety aboard the ship. We got the sound, but, no visual. Read more