General Comments: This was our second short (4-day) cruise out of Galveston in recent years. Our last Carnival cruise from Galveston was on the Ecstasy which we enjoyed very much. Our group consisted of 4 siblings in their 50's. Two of the siblings, including myself, had cruised on Carnival and other ships a number of times. This was the first cruise for the other two siblings.
Embarkation: While the line to check-in was long, it moved well and this embarkation was a much better experience than our previous Carnival embarkation in Galveston in 2009. It took about one hour from the time we got in line until we were walking up the gangplank. Everything was well-organized and the Carnival personnel were both friendly and helpful.
The Ship: I understand the decor of this ship is supposed to be "Great Vacation Spots of the World", but it seemed like a hodgepodge of American and European names. Mainly it was as I expected--a lot of neon and glitz (and there's nothing wrong with that). I thought it a bit odd that games were played and music was performed in the corridor adjacent to the casino. You had folks walking between the musicians and the audience and you had people walking through the trivia games shouting out the answers. I don't know why Carnival couldn't find a lounge for both the musicians and the game-players.
Spacious cabin midship on the Empress Deck. Very quiet.