This cruise started out as another cruise for my DW and I - you know a nice romantic trip for two. As it turned out, we ended up traveling with ten of us as a family excursion - what a treat. As previous cruisers both on Princess and Norwegian we picked this carnival cruise due to its itinerary and timing. Our expectations were kinda mixed with hope - since we still had the 'party' image of Carnival. As a whole Carnival exceeded our expectations.

The embarkation was very quick with minimal delays - I am starting to think this is due in part with the way things are setup in San Juan.

The rooms were more than adequate with plenty of space for storage and tastefully decorated. Our cabin steward was allright - nothing spectacular but not bad. The staff genuinely seemed very friendly, the front desk staff impressed me with the little things - I was mailing out a postcard at each port to my grandchildren - the lovely attendant recognized this and made a point of ensuring the postcards made it to the local post office herself. The ship itself, like many of the large sailing vessels of today was impressive and seemed to be in very good shape. There was plenty of places to find privacy and you never seemed to feel crowded at any point. Read more