This was our second cruise having taken RC first on a cruise of Alaska. This prompted a number of comparisons most of which were not favorable to Carnival. To be fair, we thought the cruise was good - just not great. It could also be that we're just not Carnival-type people.

Parking at EZ Cruise and the shuttle to the ship were excellent. You can save a few dollars by paying online for the parking. Even though they tell you to show up at 12:30, we got there at 11:30 and there was already quite a line. Given that, the line moved consistently and we were on board by 12:30. We brought a bottle of wine in our carry on and were not hassled about it. Others who tried to bring on more than one bottle per person were not so lucky and had their excess bottles stored until their return.

We tried most of the dining venues available. After waiting in the buffet line for breakfast for a few mornings, we went for the seating in the Monet dining room. This proved to be a much better choice as the food was prepared to order and it was a less chaotic atmosphere. The buffet lines moved slowly and we thought the action stations on RC were much more functional. All the folks we were seated with were pleasant conversationalists. For lunch, we mostly did the buffet line on the Lido deck and found the food to be okay. We tried the fish and chips and found them to be wanting. They use tilapia but it is too soft to hold up to the fryer and picks up the taste of the oil. Cod would be a much better choice. The grill offered burgers, hot dogs and chicken tenders all of which were okay. The Mongolian wok seemed to offer the best lunch or mid-afternoon meal as it was made to order. The dinner highlight was the Point Steakhouse. Everything was made to perfection. The corkage fee for our wine was $14 which seemed a bargain as their markup appears to be 3.75X retail. Again the main ding room was clearly a better choice than the buffet even though they mostly had the same food choices. Our assigned dining companions never showed up so we ate along each evening. The afternoon tea was most pleasant and had a number of good choices for tea, finger sandwiches, and desserts. For the most part, we found their desserts to be uninspired. The best dessert on the ship was a piece of carrot cake we bought at the coffee bar for $2.25. It was as good as any carrot cake we've even had and was clearly large enough to feed at least two people. Read more