We have been on many cruises but against friend's warning, we thought that we would give Carnival a chance. We left Miami on August 20, 2005. Embarkment was fine. The lines were long. On our last cruise with Royal Caribbean, there was seating for the lines making it less difficult with the hot weather. The ship was not that big but it was confusing because we did not receive a map.
The food was fine but the lines were just terrible. We waited as long as one hour to get lunch. The rooms were large but the shower leaked and the smoke alarm in our room went off. After several employees accused us of smoking (NO WAY), they found that it was something mechanically wrong with no apology.
The shore excursions were wonderful. On the night before we were to return to Miami, the Captain announced that due to Katrina, we would not be returning for three more days. There was a lot of chaos due to the fact the there was no cell phone service. We were told to use our phone in the cabins to let our families and employers know when to expect us back. Of course the lines were so busy that we could not get through until the next morning. There were no limits on calls made but we only made two. That included two cabins with six adults. We thought that we were set so we sat back to enjoy the rest of our vacation. We went to the disembarkment meeting with Brett, our cruise director.