We chose the cruise for the dates (President's Day weekend), the destination (somewhere warm) and the fact that the port is fairly easy and inexpensive for us to fly to. As our sailing date grew near, I began hearing some positive comments about Carnival from friends and family who are seasoned cruisers. We also discovered that the ship had just spent a month in dry dock getting a fairly extensive overhaul, so we started to get a little more excited about the ship. I'm afraid, though, that the cruise matched our earlier low expectations.

The ship did seem nice and fresh in many areas. The carpet was new, and a few spaces, such as the Art Gallery, the spa, and the public area restrooms, had obviously been updated quite nicely, if unimaginatively, to a more contemporary style. We were in one of the newly added balcony cabins, and, although smaller than the balcony cabins we'd had on other ships, it did feel fresh and new.

An unexpectedly liberal smoking policy seemed incongruent with such an extensive renovation, though. We were surprised to find that smoking is allowed in the cabins. Also, the "cigar bar" is placed right next to one of the public stairways and guests must walk through this smoky bar to get to the smaller of the ship's two theatres. Read more