Prior to the cruise:

Radisson at the Port Hotel: Sleep number bed didn't work. Left a wake-up call that we never got. Hired Cocoa Beach Shuttle to pick us up at the Orlando Airport and to take us from the cruise port back to the airport. The first words out of the mouths of the baggage handlers at the cruise terminal were to ask for a tip. We watched from our shuttle as they took their sweet time, sat around and acted like they could care less about the flood of people trying to get on the ship - Not the best advertisement for union labor!

Onboard: Instant iced tea in the MDR was the first let down. We bought the unlimited sodas which were disappointing because the bartenders poured warm soda (from a can) into a glass of ice from a distance one foot above the glass which ended up as a glass of flat soda - this happened every time. The mixed drinks tasted great - would have tasted better if I could taste some alcohol but that never happened (if I didn't know better I would have thought they were non-alcoholic, they might have been). They either have watered down booze or are extremely cheap on the amount of booze that they add to the drinks. We used the stairs throughout the cruise because the elevators seemed to be on every floor except ours and the wait for them took longer than the time on the stairs. The shows were nothing special. Our shore excursions were great as was our cabin steward Manuel. We had a very nice vacation, the pros outweighed the cons. Unfortunately we don't think that our next one will be with Carnival. Read more