We traveled from Central Texas on Saturday, Jan 4 to Metairie, LA. to spend the night at the Ramada Inn before taking our 27th cruise. Great pre-cruise stay. Free shuttle & free parking during our 7 days away. Also an easy walk to grocery & mall for last minute items. Sign up for shuttle as soon as you arrive! Shuttle arrived at the dock ahead of 2 large buses & everyone seemed glad of that. The Platinum lounge was excellent & we were in our cabin by noon. We pack very light but at the last minute decided not to carry our bags on board. They did not come for several hours.

The ship is nice, not quite the WOW factor we experienced on the Magic. Some parts look very new but you can see a lot of old spots as well. Lots of nice lounging space on Serenity decks, but the weather was so cold & rainy most of the time that we could not use them. There seemed to be a lack of indoor public seating.

Service as always was excellent. Our Waitstaff, Perfibi, Alexa & Dewi were great & fun too. We love the Carnival food. Ocean Plaza serves a very nice light breakfast & lunch on Sea days. It is next to the Trivia area. Our Room Steward Dennis was terrific. A special shout out to Max in the Casino. I didn't win but he made losing not so bad. I play lots of Trivia & they finally had some new games, but they had no "gold ships" as prizes, almost cause for Mutiny! Social staff did a great job moving & changing the activities due to weather issues. Read more