We flew to San Juan a day early and stayed at the Hampton Inn Isle of Verde. Nice accusation and hotel. They had overbooked and I had prepaid for a Suite 2 Doubles Pool view. To compensate they provided a king size suite and a second king size room for the same price. Breakfast was complimentary and very nice. The cabs were abundant to cruise terminal but be sure to check with driver up front on cost since some like to add tip automatically. Cabs are by zone with set charges and bags are $1 each. About $26 plus tip should get you there and the same back to airport.

Ship was nice, nothing special but well maintain for its age. Our accommodation was an Ocean Suite forward on Deck 7 which was comfortable, plenty of room, nice balcony, but it wasn't as nice as other suites we had on Carnival ships including the Liberty and Pride. Out cabin attendant was efficient and satisfied all our requests keeping the cabin clean without being in the way. We dined manly in the Pacific dinning room which seem to be the nicer of the two dinning rooms, the other being the Atlantic mid ship. We seldom ate on the Lido deck where there were long lines and sometimes rude people. We used room service in the morning which was always on time for morning coffee and juice (remember to tip, they earn it). When on board we had lunch in the Pacific dinning room. Service was adequate but nothing special including our dinners. The typical Carnival dinner show times were daily and rather annoying and interpretive of meals, we could have done with less of them. We didn't use the pools or hot tubs. We were always able to find an abundance of deck chairs on deck 10 aft. We didn't get to see any shows due to my wife having an ailing knee which sort of inhibited her movement and enjoyment, she didn't get to get off the ship during any port visits and my daughter and I went by ourselves. We enjoyed the Seven Seas bar and entertainment in the lobby except for some annoyance by noisy rude passengers (which were present especially during embarkation, some of whom seem to think they were entering a fraternity party) which leads me to the worst part of our cruise which was the quality and manners of the passengers. There were many who appeared to never have been socialized. A minority of them pushed and shoved like they had no parenting or respect for others. While there were some very nice people we met during the cruise there were just too many whose actions distracted from the overall enjoyment of the cruise and give us pause regarding sailing with Carnival in the future. After four cruises with Carnival we find there are too many who cruise with Carnival that distract from overall enjoyment. But the crew was very good and as we do we rewarded the better service during and at the end of the cruise very well in addition to normal gratuity taken by ship to share among crew. Remember the guy/gals who deliver drinks work for commission based on business they get. They get very little salary. That's why you see so many running like chickens all over trying to osell drinks.

Embarkation was a bit chaotic even though we had VIP boarding privilege. But that was partially our fault since we arrived around 12:30 when there were still people leaving the ship. But after we got through customs and the sign-in process we were able to board the ship and have our lunch on the Lido deck before the majority of passengers came on board and things became harder to navigate. I would suggest limiting carry-on baggage since you will need to carry them with you until your cabin is ready around 1:30PM or so. Read more