Our cruise started off a day late due to fog, which was no fault of Carnival. We came down a day early, so we had a hotel room to spend some time in, but after checking out, we spent the whole day we were supposed to be departing driving around town waiting for updates from Carnival. Updates were always later then Carnival had said they would be, with them finally telling us around 5pm that they would not be able to get into the port, so we were told that boarding would be the next day, possibly, depending on fog. Fortunately, we had purchased travel insurance, so our hotel and meals were covered for the extra day/night ashore. The ship came in sometime during the night and we were able to board the next day.

Due to the fog delay, boarding was total chaos. Fortunately, we had FTTF, but even then, we had to wait in a short security line. After security, boarding was a piece of cake with us arriving at the FTTF seating area just as boarding was called for us, so we walked right on and went straight to our cabin to drop off our carry on stuff. We had pre-purchased a bottle of Skye, so we carried on a twelve pack of Sprite along with a bottle of wine. We had brought two bottles of wine, but drank one the night before in our 2nd hotel room. Our Skye was delivered to us after we left the port. Our cabin steward came to introduce himself to us as we were struggling to open the wine and he expertly took care of it for us! We asked for lots of ice and before bed, he had brought us a large white ice bucket, which he kept well filled for the duration of the cruise, along with the standard bucket. Jessy was great and was one of the best cabin stewards I've had!

Our first stop for lunch that first day was the Blue Iguana Grill. IMO, there is no reason to even go into the buffet for lunch, as the food quality is not that great. It's pork or fish tacos for me! They make homemade flour tortillas and have a condiment bar. Guy's Burger Joint is good, too. This trip, the MDR served brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. You could still get what you wanted for breakfast, but the lunch menu was lacking. There is a filet Mignon that was pretty good for breakfast, but I was disappointed in breakfast in the MDR. The buffet has a smaller serving area in the center that has bacon, eggs and potatoes, so if that's all you want, skip the full buffet and go there. Overall, the food in the MDR for dinner was disappointing. The service was very lacking. I choose early seating because I like to get to know my serving staff and table mates and the staff gets to know your habits. Not on this trip. It was difficult to get tea or coffee, as they were never around and often didn't ask, and our eight person table was only half full with four of us and the next table was empty. My impression is that they have cut the dining staff and service is suffering. Some of the food was really poor quality and not very tasty. I actually sent a meal back, the first time I've ever had to do that. Read more