We sailed on the 3/28/10 departure and we are a family of four with two girls aged 8 & 9. We were in a balcony spa stateroom 1117. Mark was our room steward and he was truly wonderful—always smiling, pleasant and anything we needed was delivered to us in a snap. A very nice stateroom. Because I chose the end balcony, we had a little extra balcony and a feeling of openness because there is no divider to the aft side. There was a mistake made because from looking at the deck plan on the Carnival website, I could see that the pool and water slide are located just outside the spa staterooms and I had asked a Carnival representative if there was a door that allows people on the pool deck to enter the hallway by this stateroom and I was told "No, there was no access to anyone but spa stateroom guests". Well, this is not true. Anyone can enter the hallway from the pool area. But, that being said, it was really not a problem. There was not a lot of traffic and it was quiet and peaceful. Noise was not a problem in this stateroom.

I felt embarkation and debarkation were okay. I find it amazing that they can get this many people on and off so quickly and so organized. I don't have much to compare too because my first cruise was with Silversea which holds around 300 passengers, so of course, that was fast. We had too much luggage to bring it on or off ourselves, so we used a porter. If you are in the same position of having Carnival take your luggage off, I highly suggest getting a porter at the luggage "corral" after disembarking as porters have a special line to exit from, whereas if you are carting your own, you wait in a much longer line to get out.

The lunch at Lido Buffet after we boarded was simply splendid. I was very impressed with the selection and the quality. Almost all the food at the buffet was very good. I had the mongolian wok one day and it was pretty good, but a little too salty. If I were to do it again, I would see if they had a less sodium alternative. We ate once for lunch at the Rotissiere and that was so good. They have a mac and cheese (yes, mac and cheese) that is too good to describe. We also had breakfast once at the Pink? Pearl Restaurant (it's the only 'Pearl' restaurant for breakfast). This is the only place where the wait staff seemed a bit rushed. No one was ever rude though. The Eggs Benedict was different than any other I have had before. Not my favorite, but it was okay. The pool side grill had the most wonderful cheeseburgers. It's only a cheeseburger, but they were very good. The kids went to the arcade frequently. We were on vacation and if this was their idea of having some fun, I was all for it. They got a kick out of using their own room card to get tokens. The games are probably a little more expensive in this arcade than most places we go to on land. Usually 6 to 8 tokens per game which I think is pretty pricey, but like I said, it was a vacation I had saved up ahead of time for. Read more