My husband and I were somewhat apprehensive on booking Carnival. We have sailed HAL, Celebrity, & RC.

Reading some of the reviews we really did not know what to expect. Our first impression walking on the ship was "wow" this is really nice. Our cabin was a 4k (Main deck considered a interior but has the French doors behind the lifeboats) our cabin was between 2 boats so we had a nice view for the interior price. Plenty of room/storage, Our room steward was great, kept up our ice as requested. Beds very comfortable. Room service was good and only used a few times. We emptied the fridge with the drinks, etc., supplied by Carnival and stored in a cabinet we didn't use and put our bottled water/sodas and 2 allowed bottles of wine in there which was nice to keep cold.

Dining: we enjoyed the main dining and were "anytime dining" never waiting over 10 to 15 minutes to be seated. Service was very good and friendly. We had different servers each day. We ate only a few times in Lido buffet, and was okay, but preferred MDR. Buffet had a good deli, and Asian selection was good. Loved the potato cheddar soup. Did not care too much for the salad bar. Pools were small but nice and clean. Spa and gym were nice and well maintained with plenty of equipment. Serenity deck was wonderful, no children allowed so it was nice in that respect, lots of children on the cruise since this was over the New Years but never was an issue except a few times in the hallways where they were running/shouting but only a few times we observed. Just can't figure out why parents want to bring a 4 month or 18 month old on a cruise, we are parents, too and have traveled a lot with our children but they are grown adults now and even now looking back I would not take them on a cruise unless they were at least 9 or 10 and older. Just a observance--so many parents looked miserable. Entertainment on the Legend was very good, the Comedy acts were very funny, the 2 shows we attended were wonderful, with colorful costumes, good singing/dancing and the live band was so good. We cannot comment of the bands in the other areas of the ship as we never sat down to listen. Casino was nice but just smelled like a cigarette when we went back to the cabin. That was our biggest complaint. Even though they have a non smoking section it doesn't help because of the size of the casino floor. Read more