The ship was built in 1991. This wouldn't be relevant except for the fact that the whole ship stinks. In every area during any time of the day or night there would be a sewer smell. In our cabin, off and on there would be the smell of a skunk smoking a cigarette. No kidding. Distinct skunk smell pumped in through the air conditioning vent. We were on the 11th floor and still had the sewer smell coming up through our drains in the bathroom. The food was so far below par too. I've never had such bland cold food. I think I actually lost weight on this cruise. We have never rocked and rolled so much either. The ship shudders and shakes more than the others I've been on. There were a lot of sick passengers. The staff was very good. No complaints there. The shows were good too. Will never sail on this ship again. Read Less

We had FTTF and was on the ship and in our room in 15 minuets. Loved everything but food lacked flavor. We ate breakfast and dinner in dining room it was much better! If you want good service at a bar Sewlyn at the bar by the deli was awesome always gave me fresh drinks knew my name. Loved to talk to him. Mohammad our waiter was awesome and our room steward was as well E89. Loved location of our room. Close to everything! If you are looking for lots to do you might want another ship! It was great for us to relax! But the best was the ports. St.Thomas,St.Maarten and San Juan were beautiful it was a 8 day cruise! Loved Gary the cruise director he was so entertaining! Things I didn’t like was the smoking area was bad and that’s where our muster station was! And our dining time was 8:15 so we missed a lot of shows that was disappointing they need later shows so people get to enjoy both! Read Less

So the ship is old and you could tell very easily. We tried the dining room three times but my husband had issues each time. We paid extra ($20) just for a steak, plain. It came with some red wine sauce on it, twice. Even though we specifically asked for no sauce. Very disappointing. The included lemonade made me "pucker" each time I tried it, it was so sour. The included iced tea did not taste like ice tea at all. The cabin was a normal ship cabin. But it would be nice if they actually advertised the correct size of the bed. They said on the website it was 2 twins or both twins put together to make a king size. No way it was a king size bed, maybe a queen. This ship only had one pool for a lot of people. It was a good first cruise experience for my husband but even he said we will look for newer ships when we plan our next vacation. We both liked how we could see/visit multiple islands, the entertainment/shows were good, the pizza was fantastic, loved Guy's burgers, the burritos, tacos and such were wonderful!! Read Less

For a little background information: my husband and I are newlyweds and picked this cruise for our honeymoon because it worked with our schedule and because Charleston is relatively close to home. It was our very first cruise and we don't have any children. We weren't able to explore Charleston before embarkation, but we spent the Saturday after debarkation exploring the gorgeous city. If you've never been to Charleston, it's a lovely place to relax. If you're looking for a home port with lots and lots of entertainment, look elsewhere. Charleston is all about its history and charm. If you're fortunate enough to be there on a Saturday, check out the market. We went early in the morning, which was very nice, but it gets much busier as the day goes on. Now, as far as embarkation goes, it went incredibly smoothly. We arrived about an hour and a half early before we were able to park, but that wasn't really an issue. We parked nearby on the curbside until officials let us go through the process of getting our parking passes and be checked through. This was when they also took our luggage for it to be checked and delivered to the room. Some folks said that their luggage was late and possibly lost, but luckily ours arrived on time to the cabin. We parked in a very large, warehouse-like garage. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cars would be covered and out of the elements. Now, this is where the fun begins. As soon as we entered we noticed several crew members holding up very large, white tarps. A woman then approached us, informed us that there had been a medical emergency, and asked us to "check out the art gallery" while they handled the situation. We roamed about for a little while and then found our way to the Lido deck. What I first really noticed upon entering the ship was the pungent smell of cigarette smoke. I believe that with the ship being older, it has been smoked in quite a bit and unfortunately the scent truly permeated most parts of the vessel (even our stateroom). This wasn't too hard to get used to, but may bother someone who has breathing issues. We had an ocean view room, which came with two portholes. We were able to get a free room upgrade on Cyber Monday from an interior room to the portholes, but I think it would be worth it to pay a little extra to have them. The natural light really helps. We went to dinner and had a fantastic time the first night. We chose anytime dining and were assigned to the Windstar restaurant. On our first night, our waiter came and sang "Happy Honeymoon!" to us, and brought us a dessert with a single candle to blow out. It was honestly just fun and adorable! We giggled, laughed, kissed, finished our meal and tried to just get used to being on the ship. I'm not completely sure how they knew it was our honeymoon unless my husband entered it into our account somewhere, so I do recommend making notes online if you're celebrating a special occasion. They will likely surprise you somewhere like they did for us! After the first night, the service seemed to steadily decline. The waitstaff seemed a bit disinterested and less attentive. We began to realize that many people (mainly older adults) were using this time to spend their week as drunk and ridiculously wasted as possible. People would very frequently disrupt shows and make fools of themselves as they were extremely intoxicated. There seems to be no regulation of the behavior of others on this ship, even when it begins to hinder others' enjoyment of the experience. My husband and I don't drink, and if we had realized that such a huge emphasis would be placed on getting drunk, we probably would have picked a different line. Also, many of the activities that we wanted to do were located in a bar that was heavily consumed with cigarette smoke, which made things like trivia sessions not very enjoyable. Overall, the best part of the cruise was always when we got to visit one of the ports. Now, keep in mind that this can be accomplished on any cruise ship. However, we really enjoyed every port and excursion that we were able to do. We booked our excursions ahead of time and decided to do a Dolphin Encounter + Private Beach day in Balmoral Island (Nassau) and an Electric Hummer Tour in Grand Turk. Both were exceptionally fun and we are so glad that we spent the extra money to do them! Thankfully Carnival made it fairly simple to find your excursion, as you are assigned a meeting place/time on the ship where you will gather with all those who chose the same excursion. Then you disembark the ship and are guided to the excursion together. We had no problems, but we believe that some guests had to wait much longer than others for the excursion in Nassau as not everyone was able to board the first boat that took us to Balmoral Island. I would definitely recommend that you do at least one excursion, especially in Nassau. Half Moon Cay was our beach day and we absolutely loved how gorgeous it was. Carnival owns the island, so purchasing drinks and food is convenient as you can just put it on your sail and sign card. It did get a bit crowded on the beach, but bring snorkel gear because there is a large area designated safe for swimming. We saw a few angelfish and some other, silver-colored fish as well. It was so nice to lay out and cool off in the gorgeous, crystal-clear water! Our sea days were a little less than enjoyable because there just isn't much to do on the Ecstasy if you're not either a child or an adult who likes to party. The only pool was constantly in use by the kids, so the only place an adult could really get in the water was one of the two hot tubs on the Serenity deck (kids frequented the Lido deck hot tubs too often for anyone else to use them). However, there wasn't always room on the Serenity Deck and we were often left without a place to lay out other than the smoker's deck, as people tended to leave their towels and things in the deck chairs and disappear for hours. The food was also just average. We often had to wait for 30-45 minutes for our assigned dining location to have a seat available, and the buffet was often closed. It appeared to only be open during "typical" meal times, while the pizza place and deli were supposedly open 27/7. This didn't work for a number of reasons. Mainly because people aren't on their 9-5 eating schedule when they're on a cruise. Often they will sleep in, have brunch, and then maybe want to eat again around 2-3. This put too much pressure on the pizza and deli places to supply everyone's food during non-typical meal times, causing them to have too long of a wait and to run out of hot/prepared food. I went to grab some pizza at around 3:00 PM and they were fresh out. Also, the ice cream station usually only had a very bad vanilla and was out of order. I think they only had strawberry-flavored ice cream on the first day. Debarkation was very simple and easy, and we were through customs in about one minute. My husband and I purchased a conch shell on Grand Turk and declared it on the form they give you. They did not search/check our luggage or anything, and had no problems getting back to the car and leaving the port. Overall, we were able to make the very most out of our honeymoon cruise. Some of our problems may come from the cruise just not being a good "match" for us (we don't drink or party, which was highly emphasized), but other issues are really due to the ship being old. For example, on one of the port days we noticed a terrible sewage smell as we got close to the gangway. We later heard that a sewage pipe had burst and flooded the 4th floor. Many more seasoned cruisers pleaded to not let this turn us off from cruising, and said that it was the worst cruise (some out of 10-20 cruises!) that they had ever been on. If this inexpensive seven-day cruise had one extra port day on its itinerary, I would say that it *might* be worth it, just to visit so many wonderful places, but after this experience I would definitely not recommend that anyone sail on this ship. We probably will never sail with Carnival again, but are definitely open to looking at other cruise lines. Read Less

We had a blast! The Negatives (Let's get these out of the way first) There were only a couple rough spots and one of them had nothing to do with Carnival. Our first elegant night was not that great. We waited an hour to be seated (Your Time Dining) and then an hour to get our food. Then our food was not that great. Now, that was only on the first elegant night. However, there is a bright side. After a conversation with the maitre d, it was fabulous! Baris is the absolute best!! Also in the dining room I would like to thank Elizabeth and Elena, our amazing waitresses! We could not have had better service. The other negative was one of our shore excursions at Half Moon Cay. We did the snorkel by boat. The guides were great but the seas were so rough that we could not even enjoy the snorkeling. We should not have been out there in those waters. You get 45 minutes to snorkel and we both got back on the boat after just 20 minutes. Not worth it if the water isn't calm. No bright side to this story. The Positives! First, our room steward was awesome! Harry, we absolutely loved you! Thanks for your hard work throughout the week! We know we are not the easiest passengers to take care of. Second, our bar waiters. A big shout out to Gus, Samson, and Iwayan! You guys were the best! It's great to have servers that I can say "bring me something smooth and fruity" and you delivered each and every time in the most perfect way! Third, the on board entertainment! Chris Wiles, Sid Davis, and Billy D Washington were great comedians. Our cruise director Benjamin was hoot! All that energy he has just makes me feel tired but it was fun to watch him dance around and act up. Loved it! Our trivia hostess, Lindsey, was also great! Her sarcasm was refreshing and watching her stumble over how to pronounce "Kravitz" was hilarious. Our Excursions: We have already talked about the snorkeling. However, our Top 10 of Grand Turk tour was great! Jerome was the best guide we could have hoped for! Food: Dining room was great, for the most part! The Lido deck sometimes left something to be desired but that can almost be expected at a buffet. Guy's Burger Joint and the Blue Iguana were amazing! The food really was delicious. Easy embarkation and disembarkation. Our cabin was clean and orderly. All in all, a great vacation and we can't wait to go on Carnival again!! Read Less

Whenever there is a new different ship or itinerary out of Charleston we try to make it . Bermuda is a place you need to make sure you go when you can . It is NOT in the Caribbean . All of the island is very pretty . Having arrival times seemed to work for us . Again like anything plus or minus 30 min can make a difference . Had a balcony on the stern so with the high seas and wind we were protected . When we leave the room we put out the ' Cruising ' card and when in the ' Snoozing ' side , no problem . Do early dining to make seeing the shows easier . Had a round table for 10 and was pleasantly surprised that we could converse with all . I've said before that I would put the dinning room staff and food up against any in the fleet , VERY PROFESSIONAL . Had four great comedians and they were on enough times and the lounge big enough that all to see they that wanted . Am very glad Ecstasy is in Charleston . Read Less

Our 5 day cruise out of Charleston , SC on the Carnival Ecstasy was so much fun. We had great weather. The ship is a smaller class but was clean and comfortable. Crew was very nice. Food was great. We only had dinner in the main dinning room once the rest of the time was the Lido bar and to be honest the lido food is just as good as the main dinning room, Port of Charleston is very easy to navigate. Embark and debark was very simple. The staff inn port for embark were very friendly and helpful . THe only issue we had was during debark and that was with the porters who load you luggage in the shuttle to the parking garage. They removed a luggage buddy from my luggage, i questioned why they were doing that and was told just to get on the shuttle the luggage buddy would be with my luggage. Well guess what it wasn't and the trailer & shuttle sat for another 5 min before puling away and the porters refused to open the trailer so we could see if it was still laying inside. It really confused us to why they wouldn't open the trailer and look. Read Less

I have to say I really disappointed right from the beginning of this cruise. If you can at all please avoid going out of Charleston. From the time we arrived in the parking lot to the time we got to our room it took over 3 hours. Getting off the ship was hassle as well. They are not built to properly handle cruisers and that's not Carnival's fault, but they should still think more of their customers and stop going out of there. The ship was smaller than I am used to so I could feel the waves a lot more. The entertainment was fun and good as usual. Of course it's a lot of trivia, bingo, comedy, and shows. You can have a good experience if you make the most of your time. The cruise director Benjamin was great! The food, that was another thing entirely. This had to be the worse experience I've had with dining. The dinners were not good and most nights we ended up with pizza. Brunch was really good and the food on the Lido deck as well. It was just the dining room that gave us trouble. Service was okay but not to the Carnival standards I'm used to. Our room staff was nice but some of the workers around the ship had attitudes about you asking them questions. We were also late getting to ports and then because of weather had to miss out on one. I'm just glad this wasn't my first cruise I don't think I would love it as much if it had been. Read Less

Got a Carnival gift card with some reward points - having never been on a cruise before, decided to give Carnival a try. If I had to describe the cruise in one word, that word would be GHETTO! Most of the passengers looked like escaped convicts and one was even taken off the ship in handcuffs when we arrived back in Miami. To be honest I am surprised it was only one. Embarkation was a disaster, no one knew what they were doing. We were supposed to get "priority" check in but we had to beg for anyone to help us, they just kept telling us to go sit in this room and that they would call us. How can they call us when they didn't even know we were there? They refused to take our paperwork. As far as the cruise goes, it was rowdy from the get go, people on their lounge chairs dancing in g-strings, half naked, children in the casino, the smell of sewage and marijuana filled the hallways. It was the type of people I went on vacation to get away from. I felt terrible for the crew, they were nice and tried their best. Now, on to the food. The website is a joke, it makes it seem like all the individual places are their own restaurants - they are not. They are all located in one big food court area where only half of them are open at any given time. We never did get to try the Mongolian Wok, it was either never open or had a line around the ship. How can they operate this way? How can only half (if that) choices in the food court be closed at prime lunch and dinner times?? My husband and I ate at the tiny salad bar 99% of the time because it was the only thing that seemed to be available at all times. The 24 hour pizza is a joke, thin, cheap, tasteless and ALWAYS a wait. There was never any pizza ready, the case sat empty the entire trip. As far as the dining rooms? All we wanted was a quiet corner away from the other passengers and even though it was late and the dining room was empty, they still insisted on crowding us in with all the loud, drunk, cackling idiots we did not want to be around in the first place. They refused to give us a quiet table so we could at least try to enjoy something other than the lame salad bar, but no, we were seated with the others, then looked at each other - and promptly left. The spa was nice but buyer beware - they try to upsell you expensive "at home treatments" after your service - even massages. I do have to say the employees in the spa were wonderful and very good at what they do - but I am sure corporate forces them to try to upsell product, not nice. We did not do any of the shore excursions, too expensive. We got a private taxi in Nassau and took a tour of the island, which was fun. The room we had was nice but beware if you are on V Deck, there is a gym right over your suite and they allow patrons to just drop their free weights on the floor making it sound like our roof was going to collapse. We were not informed of the gym when they called us to "upgrade" our inner stateroom to the balcony jr. suite. They open the gym at 6am and thats when the dropping begins. All in all husband and I had some nice quality time together but I will never, ever take another Carnival cruise again. Sadly it needs to be expensive to attract better quality people and hopefully get better service. Read Less

We drove from Orlando to Miami and it took us about 3 1/2 hours. The parking lot was confusing, but other than that was close to the spot of the boat. We purchased Faster to the Fun prior to boarding and I'm so glad we did. We were able to board right after the frequent cruisers, which was so fast. I recommend checking in online prior to arrival. We only waited about 10 minutes before we were called to board. Once on the ship, we were able to go to our room immediately. The overall look of the ship was just as I expected - gold and glass everywhere. Typical cruise boat, with some aging, but it is an older boat. So, don't expect a newer look. The boat was clean and felt clean. The crew were also vacuuming, cleaning, or doing something around the boat. The boat is small, too. I was disappointed with the one pool option. It was small for the size of the pool, in my opinion. On sea day, it was so crowded and it was so hard to find a chair. Serenity are (adult only area) had children in it at one point and no one said anything to them since they were quiet. The jacuzzis were always full and we didn't get to use them because of being full. We ended up purchasing the highest speed internet because my husband had some work he had to. It was perfect and had no glitches. It was $25 for 24 hour period. The entertainment on the boat stood up to the Carnival saying "The fun ship". There were so many options for shows and bars, we couldn't go to everything we want. We always had something to do. We really enjoyed the Blue Sapphire lounge shows, especially with the Cruise Director, Calvyn. I had a hard time walking through parts of the boat because they were smoking areas and the smoke permeated those areas. The dining was somewhat disappointing. We ate breakfast in the Lido buffet 3 out of 4 mornings. It progressively got worse. We ate the brunch in the MDR and wish we had stuck to that entire trip. It was definitely much more tolerable than the buffet. The lines for the buffet were always long and it was always crowded in the morning. The lunch buffet was better. We never ate dinner in the buffet, ate at the MDR every night. The dinner in the MDR was good. The one dish that was something I'd never order again was the lasagna. It had a really weird cheese sauce. The crab cakes were delicious and so was the $20 surf and turf. The 24 pizza place was delicious, too. I sort of wish we had done that for dinner one night. It was so good. We did the hop on hop off tour in Key West. That was so much fun and I'm glad we booked that through the cruise. My husband had never been to Key West before, so it was a good way for him to experience/see it all in a short amount of time. We were only there from 7am to 1:30 pm, so we had to really utilize our time. Our second stop was Cozumel. This being our first time there, we did some research beforehand and booked a private beach outside of Carnival. We chose Nachi Cocom and we are so glad we did. It was only $55 pp and was all inclusive of food/beverages. There was a private beach with private beach huts, chairs, hammocks and servers. A pool with a swim up and hot tub were also available. The taxi from the port to the beach was $17 one way for 2 people. We met some people at the beach club and rode back with them, so we shared the taxi (10 people ended up costing $38). I definitely recommend meeting people and riding with them to cut back on the cost of the taxi. We definitely will go back to Nachi Cocom if our next cruise stops in Cozumel. Disembarkation was easy since we had FTTF. Where we parked was a lot down from where we ended up disembarking from. So, our walk back was long and hot and humid. I wish we had known that, but oh well. No one's fault about that. Overall, it was a great cruise and I'm glad I gave Carnival a chance. Read Less

This was my 2nd cruise and my husbands 1st cruise We read all kinds of reviews about the ship and they weren't on the same boat I was. It's an older ship, however I only know that because I looked up the year it was built. We arrived in our room. We were both thrilled at the size of the room and the balcony We had a drink on our balcony and took a tour of the ship. Our favourite spot was lido deck We had early dinning. The food was always amazing ! No complainants at all. We sat with a nice group of people and hung out with them on the ship The piano bar was amazing we had so much fun. The comedy shows were fantastic The casino was very fun The ports were key west and Cozumel Mexico. In key west we did the pub crawl. 5 bars and 5 drinks and it included a walking tour of the town And in Mexico we did swimming with sting rays. Both so much fun The cruise is what you make out of it. Our plan was to go and have fun and make memories, and that's what we did. We had a great time. The boat was clean, well looked after. The staff new us my name and were very helpful and the food was fantastic. My only compliant was having to leave the boat lol. I would recommend this cruise to anyone Read Less

I found a great deal on the Ecstasy. I took my wife and 2 kids and paid a little over $1K. Not bad. When we got to the ship, the inside looks tight, like a small bus. They only had one pool. Very few shows and seems that everybody there wanted you to buy something. The first night there was a pool party and all these college kids were partying like there was no tomorrow. Too raunchy for my teenagers. I mean very flaunty bikinis, sexual gestures and drunkenness seemed to be the theme of the day. When we landed in Cozumel, we were scammed and rented a 40 year old volkswagen for $60. Never, Never use CP Rentals. They are slick trying to rent broken down cars for as much as they can. My kids had a great time at Las Uvas. I highly recommend Reyes the snorkeling instructor. Great beach front, drink, bathroom, hamacas, snorkeling and pool for only $12. Not bad at all. We were unsure as to where to eat and my kids were traumatized with the how poor the natives live so we chose to dine at the ship. With regards to Key West, we were standing in line for 1 hour before imigration decided to start checking people off the ship. By far the worst part of the trip. And when we got off, again, another tourist trap. everyone selling the same thing trying to get you to buy their cheesy shirts and hats. We rented an electric car only to find out that we toured the entire key west in under 2 hours. After that, boring. All in all, I can't complain about the waiters and the food on the ship. Persy Crews II the comedian was the best. The other guy George, should quit his job as a comedian. It is a great trip for the money. I won't do it again, though. I'd rather pay $500 per person and go on Royal Caribbean. Much nicer ships, shows and ammenities. Read Less

We decided to try Carnival again after our first cruise a few years back. The first one was out of Tampa and we were going to be visiting Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This was our first cruise and as you can imagine we were initially amazed by the entire experience. However, once the cruise was underway we were less thrilled as the ship felt very crowded (cannot recall which ship it was but it was the same class as the Ecstasy). It seemed like the ship shrank on us as we were always standing in a line or waiting on a chair to open up. The atmosphere was very spring-break like with the middle-aged taking the place of the college kids and it felt like there was always a fog of smoke emanating out of the casino. Following this cruise we decided to try Carnival again mostly because of the low price for the 5 day and this cruise was offering 3 ports of call to places we'd never been. The ship felt just as small the 2nd time around but also seemed far less crowded! We were always able to find a couple of chairs on the Serenity deck. You could still get whiffs of smoke from the Casino and while the drinks were moving across the ship the drunken rowdiness was not there. The food in the buffet on our first cruise was great and the dining room was so-so. It was completely reversed during this cruise. The dining room was where we ate every night for dinner, and every morning for breakfast. The only line was for the dining room on Formal Night and the mongolian wok portion of the buffet on Lido. We missed seeing all of the shows except for the comedians on the 2nd night. Three back to back sets and they were terrific! Everyone on the ship was very nice from the passengers to the crew, with the exception of an older lady on formal night that decided to cut in front of us and a few other people while we were watching a couple dance in the promenade below as we waited in line for a table for dinner (we ended up getting seated at the same table - awkward!!). Our cabin was the exact same set-up as the previous ship, and never felt too small. The bathrooms on these ships really are larger than the one we had on the RC, which was also very nice. The AC is controlled manually by adjusting a dial on the vent on the ceiling. The output was AMAZING! We were always freezing while in the room, but the blankets helped with that. The only real complaints we had were that we always seemed to be waiting an extraordinary long time for an elevator. Also, a number of the lounges were frequently closed for private functions. We had heard that the Chinatown Lounge was very nice, but every time we tried to visit it was closed off as a 'Private Function'. Bottom line, we have decided that we much prefer being on the larger ships just for the variety of spaces. The Carnival experience redeemed itself somewhat on this cruise, although if we ever do another Carnival (which seems questionable now after all of the accidents and breakdowns they have had lately) it will be on one of their larger, newer vessels. Read Less

Just got back from our cruise out of new orleans on the ecstasy 7 night to jamaica, cayman, and cozumel. My only other cruise experience was with my then 20 yr old daughter two years ago on the destiny, same port. We had a great time as we had hoped, spent too much time in the casino, but with my lady friend hitting a 450 jackpot and me a 1000 jackpot on keno machine and doing ok at the tables, I can't complain too much about the need for more of the newer video machines. We played bingo which imho is overpriced for the amount of 'playing' you get. $10 for 1 card/20 for 3 is in line with the drink prices I guess. Again, I can't complain because my lady friend won the first $500 game and gambled all week on carnival money. I guess they need to set the price that high for the cruise drawing for bingo players at the end of the cruise. (we didn't win that..) My only complaint about the casino(and this goes for any sitting areas), is I wish I had a sign on the back of my hat that said "no thank you, i don't need a drink"). I understand they need to sell drinks to probably make a profit on the cruise, but jeez, being asked every 5 minutes or less got a little irritating. The waitresses were nice in they way they asked and i'm sure probably got sick of asking, but just a little less would be nice. My expectations were met at all levels. Room size was the ok, as expected, adequate, beds were comfy enough and bath served its purpose. All you do in the room is do clothing changes, shower, sleep when you have time. Not the ritz but the room service people must be ninja's because I never say them. We'd leave and come back to a cleaned room with towel animal. Leave again for less than an hour sometimes and they had the covers pulled back and 2 pieces of candy. Like I say, never saw them, but great service! Main dining room food was excellant! Our head waiter, Louis,( and I just can't say enough about him and the assistants) made our dinners memorable. I'll say that what they may call the entre on the menu may not exactly be what you'd expect, it was still usually delicious. Louis usually brought us 2 choices anyway, he was a mind reader. Melting cake! As I remembered (drooling). I'm trying to think of any restaurant that i've been to where you are treated as well and I just can't think of one, high priced or not, where i've been treated so well. Restaurants in the states should take note. I would value the main dining at a $50+ meal depending, so lets just say food alone damn near pays for the trip. Yeah, the buffet food is more like ponderosa (ryan's, insert name here). Ok, some interestingly good, some not so much. The lido deck with hamburgers/etc was decent enough for a snack. I'll praise the deli/pizza counter for giving us pizza 24/7. Excellent pastrami sammich! Pizza was consistantly good, even at 4am. Food, we thought it was above our expectations, we both probably gained 5pnds, 'nough said. Entertainment was good enough, 'adult' comedy was as expected, we had some good laughs. I find it interesting that there is an art auction onboard. I actually bought some pictures which I find even more interesting. We'll see if I'm as pleased when they arrive in 'less than 10 weeks'..LOL We didn't experience any bad attitude carnival people. Everyone seemed more the eager to please. We booked our excursions online outside of carnival so we saved some $$. Plenty to do at any port, I recommend the rays with snorkling at caymen, we just went to private all inclusive in jamaica, public in cozumel (do the paragliding if you've never done it!), wish the ships would spend an overnight in the ports so we could get more inland time. If you're old and expect more, cruise the holland lines like my 76 yr old mother does. If you can't afford the $9 drinks, buy some rum runners and smuggle in your booze, bring your cokes, refill your 'container' at port and have fun!! Read Less