I will attempt to describe this cruise in some detail. We are seasoned cruisers this being our fifteenth cruise. Twelve on Carnival. We can only travel when the schools in New York are off for the holidays. We chose New Orleans because the airfare was half the price of flying to Florida. We were supposed to take this cruise 2 years ago but illness prevented it. We are platinum members so the check in was very easy. No long lines we went to a separate room and were surprised that it was so easy. The cookies and juice were a nice touch. Arrived at the port at 11:30 am. Were on board by 12pm. Went to lido. Got some lunch and our cabins were ready by 1:30pm. At first sight the ship was a twin of the Carnival Freedom We were on the Freedom in August so we knew the layout. We had requested a large table in the Monet dining room early seating. We were pleasantly surprised as all the couples at our table were around our age and were all very nice. Food generally was good and you had plenty of variety. We did not have a bad meal the whole cruise. Desserts were also very good. My wife did not like the Amaretto cake but chocolate melting cake was available every night. We prefer to take all our meals if possible in the dining room. The service was good and the food seemed better that that served on the lido.

Our original cabin was on the Rivera deck number 1291. WARNING do not book this cabin. We had several problems. First the toilet would not flush. You would push the button and nothing would happen for about 5 to 10 minutes then finally it would decide to flush. I called maintenance and they sent a plumber who put in a new flush button. We called and he came within 10 minutes but it was 11:30 PM. Then the fun really began. It seems that this cabin is over a kitchen. The walls behind the bed vibrated badly and there were loud noises from the kitchen below. Called guest services and they sent someone to investigate. He was the one who told us our problem was a kitchen below us.

The next morning we were contacted by guest services and were given another room on main deck. It was a lovely room with no problems...obviously they do not really travel full! Read more