My review starts from the booking process. The cruise was a birthday surprise from my sister, I live in Edinburgh Scotland and she has lived in Maryland for 21 years. As a surprise I in turn tried to upgrade the stateroom from a balcony to a grade 11 suite, (this also gave us VIP status), which featured in the brochure and on line, but as my sis was main name lead on the booking I was told could not do this. I eventually had to tell my sis who paid until I gave her the money !! surprise I think not. Upon checking in to the `guest reception` and then proceeding to the stateroom, I thought the cabin was nice until I came from the hallway into the stateroom. Eeks!, the place was nothing like the picture in the brochure. Basically it was like an ordinary stateroom with about 3` longer balcony. We had to move the marble top coffee table to get to the chest of drawers and safe.... You could only swing a cat in the cabin. and was certainly not worth the $400 upgrade. When I complained to the guests desk they informed me they had no other cabins, they couldnt change us or upgrade as they cant change a reservation `on board`. They sail full. I have worked numerous years in hotels ie Sheraton,Hilton in the UK, I know all the explanations.. (What would happen if someones cabin was flooded,through maybe a lea in the bathroom or a ceiling tile become loose The bathroom was adequate but we realised that the shower tended to leak from possibly where the seal around it didnt work. (Too late to complain) and there appeared to be an unpleasant smell from the toilet itself. The wardrobe doors kept sliding all night and eventually we had to `wedge` it closed with a piece of card. (May I suggest a hook and eye catch at the top of each door) The steward was very nice and friendly. mornings Nearer the end of the cruise the balcony seemed to be wet and dirty in the mornings and discovered when the staff cleaned the stateroom above balcony all the water would run over the side. At one point I could write my name on the glass it was that dirty. On the last sea day, the Saturday, I noticed the balcony door was not closing properly and realised that the `loud aircon` was in fact the sound of the sea, because as I pulled the door closer to the inside the noise disipated which bought me to the conclusion that the salt air had perished the rubber seal. The constant sound of the engine racing at 27knots through turbulent waters didnt help. Everything seemed to rattle in the room. I have to say the restaraunt staff were superb, had it not been for our nightly meet up it would have been a nightmare. The toilets in the public areas were not always clean and the lido desk was so wet thatI know of 2 people who were hurt through the lack of mopping up. The waterslide was out of action. Every day there seemed to be a pool out of action for maintenance. We noticed that the walking areas were sandy and the hull on the top walkways were dirty as well. We were told it was probably because of the storm the week before! This ship was a `sailing` disaster in my mind and should never have set sail. Other guests mentioned that there was not very much to do on board during the day. Where is the shuffle boards, the ballroom dance classes, pub quizzes,and not much to do when in port either (on board) Carnival pressume we all go on trips. It was like a ghost ship a Mary Celeste. If I didnt know any better I certainly wouldnt go on a cruise again (my sister has been on RCC, NCL and a couple of others) and certainly after this experience will NOT be booking with CARNIVAL AT ALL. I hope a lot of people read this and take my word for it because I flew all the way from Scotland to be so so disappointed greatly.

I probably could tell you more but I dont think I could sqay anything positive about this cruise line.