Well, just returned from our first....and last....Carnival cruise.

Hated the Ecstasy, she was filthy, the service was appalling and the layout of the ship was terrible. There were muliticolored squares, triangles and every other geometric shape imaginable all over the walls and hallways. I felt like I was being hypnotized or tortured all the time. It is obviouse she has been dry docked and the public areas had been redone with modern glass tile, etc. But leaving things such as dirty rag mops in plain sight in a courner of the public toilets(every day!) is just not acceptable to me. Several times we sat down in the bars at filthy tables where the sugar in cocktails was still dried on and visible and had to ask for someone to come and wipe them down. One had drippy ice cream all over it and I watched an employee who was "dusting" a desk nearby who never came over to wash off the table, although she was there for 15 minutes or more. I felt like I could not put a hand on anything without wanting to go get more sanitizer! The bedding was good but nothing like we are used to being RCCL regulars. When people say the cabins are bigger, they are talking about maybe 10 sq ft bigger because the layout is so bad the extra space is wasted on things like portman beds on the wall so close to your bed you bump your head on them. The quality of construction was really substandard on most things. I liked the effort that has been made to update this ship, but even compared with older ships we have been on with RCCL, there is no comparison.

Food was pathetic. I do not understand how those on these boards always say they love Carnival, especially her food...ich! And the chocolate melting cake...O.K. one night, all raw dough the next. The only redeeming aspect was the pizza which was amazingly good and the crab cakes were tasty. Nothing else is even mentionable. Read more