This was our first cruise on Carnival after having cruised on Princess and RCL, including the former out of San Juan. We had read all the cruise reviews and had in many ways prepared for the worst. We do not believe that are particularly demanding passengers and generally prefer quiet conversation and keep to ourselves or to small groups. All-in-all, the title of this cruise review says it all. There was a lot of good, some things that were not-so-good, and some issues that were real ugly.

We arrived in San Juan a day early and stayed at the Hampton Inn near the airport. We had previously done a long stay in San Juan so our day-early approach was to get some rest after a long travel day and to get to the ship early the next day.

The Good. Embarkation was smooth as we VIP tags and we boarded about 1:30 pm and then had a nice lunch before getting to our cabin in mid-afternoon. The ship has been recently refurbished and is exceptionally clean. Most everything appeared to be in good working order though there were a few issues with the forward elevators at times. Our cabin steward, Imada, was excellent, attentive, and always cheerful and helpful. We did not hear a lot of yelling and running in the halls in 7 (Empress) Forward as mentioned in some reviews, though some passengers did mention it for other decks. We had great dinner service in the Pacific Dining Room from Ida and Prio. The appetizers and main courses in the Dining Room were excellent, though there was a little disappointment with desserts, more in variety than quality. It appeared that early evening dinner service was only about half full. My wife and I were the only people at our table-for-4 and we spent most of the time chatting with the couple at the next table who were in the same situation. The ship's shopping guru, Geoffrey, was tremendous in helping me spend money for my wife's birthday and Christmas presents. (I will say that while my wallet is now considerably lighter, Geoffrey was extremely helpful in obtaining great values for jewelry in St. Thomas and Barbados.) We also enjoyed Angela in the Irish Bar as she is quite a talent. The remainder of the entertainment was OK, but nothing special. The port stops and tours were very good except for a problem on Dominica and are reviewed separately. Read more