My wife and I have sailed on 4 other carnival cruises. This was the first time we tried a December cruise, and it was the best decision we could have made. The timing (December 6-13) meant that most kids are in school. That meant few children in the Hot tubs, no lines at the buffet, and no searching for available deck chairs. The ship was clean and looked almost new after its recent overhaul. The Guy Fieri burger joint was as advertised, just great, with toppings galore. We also tried the steakhouse, which was excellent. A little tip, though. If you are just looking to have the same filet mignon in the dining rooms, it only costs 20 dollars, as opposed to the 35 for the full dinner at the steakhouse. Our rooms were up on the Panarama deck (10) forward. Better choice might have been a little further back in the ship, since we were under the gym and occasionally could hear medicine balls bouncing above.

They had excellent movies on the big screen on deck, which was a plus. Food was as i expected, good choices and all tasted good. The itinerary was all places we had been before. Key West is always fun just walking about and hitting the bars for a drink or two. In grand Cayman, we opted to take a bus to the public beach, which was really clean. We spent 10$ for two beach chairs and an umbrella, and it only cost 5$ round trip to get there. it was a little disappointing to us because the ship made port several miles from downtown. Apparently there was a lot of rough seas, and most of the ships made berth alongside us. In Cozumel, i booked a day pass at an all - inclusive resort, which was a good deal. All in all, a very enjoyable experience. The only down side was the shipboard entertainment. it seems the comedians missed the ship leaving Fort lauderdale, so they were not available for the first couple of days. The musical shows were all scheduled incorrectly in the daily activity sheet. Two straight nights we went to see a show only to find a Hasbro game show each time. Needless to say, we were not happy about that.