We flew from Cleveland to New Orleans and stayed the evening before the cruise at a nearby hotel. We had never been on Carnival Cruise Line before and had high expectations after wonderful cruises on both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. It was our first cruise with the kids (ages 7, 4, and 2) but figured we couldn't go wrong with "the fun ships" and thought the value was too good to pass up.
The embarkation process was quick and smooth and the ship was small, but beautiful. Everything was clean and smelled nice. Our oceanview room was small, but we expected that. Our room steward was great and very responsive when we needed anything, but that is where the positives about the cruise end.
The rest of the staff were polite and professional but had an overall tired demeanor. Dinner in the main dining room took WAY longer than it should have every night even though we specifically reserved the late dining time to avoid the waiting of the choose your own time dining.