we went with myself, husband , our two boys 6 and 8 and my girl friend and her 10 yo son. ive been on about 5 cruises now...3 were 20 plus years ago and two recently. this one and the Disney Dream. we were super excited to go on a newer huge ship. we had an inside room that was nice and cozy....was worried b/c i tend to get claustrophobic but did not at all! i was soo looking forward to the shows and the food! the motown show(singing and dancing) was really good...something went wrong near the beginning of the show and shut down for about 15 minutes and right away our cruise director Matt ran up on stage without missing a beat and kept the entire theater entertained and laughing while the show ppl worked the technical difficulty! Matt is AMAZING!!!!!! he was the bom-bom diggity bom!! he was ON the ENTIRE CRUISE! so great!!! and he's sooooo handsome ladies!! lol! he made us all laugh always. so! we were really excited about what the food selections would be and i must tell you we were very let down. the guy fierri burgers looked great but were bland! even with all the topping and sauces ....i was shocked! they need to add dry seasonings or something to the beef before they cook it! im sooo serious. the buffet was just so average (golden corral is about 8 times better!) and the workers werent on it to replenish things that ran out! the breakfast buffet and brunch were nothing special at all! the ice cream machines werent anything close to being real ice cream....! i hope the powers that be will read this but no one in the dining area realizes that the lemonade machines are serving out lemonade AND apple juice concentrate that's NOT diluted at all with water. drinking them straight almost "hurt" going down!! you MUST add water even if they don't! the hot chocolate machine tho was very nice to have anytime you wanted. the deserts weren't that good at all. even in the dining room, the creme bruele' was warm BOTH times. bad timing! also, we tried the free style dining for the very first time ever...never again if i can help it! part of the cruising experience is getting treated a certain way....and we only guessed at who the maitre d was....no one EVER asked beyond a waiter how we were and could they do anything for us. not once! we like getting the same wait staff each night where they are happy to see you and know you by name and have your favorite drink waiting, etc. plus, with the freestyle dining, they gave out those blinking pagers AFTER you waited in a long line to just be given one to WAIT even longer! it was crazy! also, the the line to dine winded around several photographers and their backdrops and lighting and mini lines for those wanting pics! you had to scootch sideways just to get thru on the main floor. very bizarre. the thrill theater was fun. def buy the unlimited package. i hope that you run into Chris there....he is AWESOME!!! esp with children. he was a standout staff member and he's from connecticut! sooo friendly and just great to be around! i know im jumping around but i dont have time to lay this review out properly! sorry! our room steward was nice....and he kept our room excellent at all times! shopping onboard....we were shocked at how reasonable the prices were...esp the candy shop! we bought several items from a couple different shops, including clothing. the one lady who seemed in charge wasnt pleasant tho. also, the 3rd/main floor bar with the dance floor in front of it , the bartenders could have cared less that i was there and oddly, i could not catch their eye EVEN when they WEREN'T busy! what the heck?? oh! bring an extension cord with more plug space! our room only gets one two outlet plug! the comedian onboard was very funny and we really liked that he had a show that was r rated and another show that was g rated! very clever of him to do that! also, get there early because ppl know to get in line about half an hour before because these small theaters fill up fast! a magician, ELTON popped up out of no where with no warning at our dinner table one night and he rocked our world!!!!! the kids and i asked him if we could take him home with us he was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! he did table magic and the kids just freaked out with excitement...as did i! lol! he was soo funny and clever and uber talented!!!! we LOVE YOU ELTON!!!! go to his show at the breezeway lounge like an HOUR before just to get a good seat! kids get on the floor in front of his table. do NOT miss him!!!! about the info desk....good luck trying to call down to them! just call room service and try to get connected that way. i thought the line went entirely too slow each time we went there for a question...they need to call in reinforcements when they see there's a line, come on! getting on and off the boat was fine for excursions. OH! i hope Carnival is reading this. when we went to the terminal to check in before we initially got on the boat...what the heck!!? the music was TWICE, no lie....TWICE as loud as it should have been...we could not hear one thing the lady was asking us until we shouted "can you please repeat that" and lean way way in. what is the point of having such ridiculously LOUD music when you are trying to take care important business?? this took TWICE as long as it should have since we had to keep having to have her repeat her questions! btw there is real scoop ice cream and better looking pasties for sale at a nominal charge back in the breezeway lounge area and gourmet coffees that i discovered toward the end of our cruise. i thought the hot tubs would be full of children at all hours like another post stated but that was not the case on our cruise. the ship is spotless and super nice. shows were fine to great (elton) and food was nothing to wake up early for. i will never free style dine again since you dont get that special excited feeling PLUS you have to wait TWICE most times to even get seated which was strange because we saw so many empty tables on most nights! my friends mother fainted in the dining room after dinner and i must say, they reacted with lightening speed to attend to her....i was very impressed when all the suits showed up super fast and a medic and then the dr. was almost out of breath when he got there...excellent response! the rear pool/hot tubs arent super full b/c it smells like sulphur b/c of the ships exhaust. not super heavy smell but still there. also, it would have been nice to have hot tubs surrounding the main pool on deck 10 so the parents could be in the hot tub while watching their children in the pool. also, most of ea day the big jumbo outdoor movie screen is mostly on a still screen that says dive-in movie for hours at a time and an annoying buzz from it just buzzes non stop. they should at least play cartoons or comedy ...just something to entertain. in the casino, they constantly ask to scan your room card to the point of being very annoying as if they want to keep track of your progress. they act as tho you're gonna get some great reward in the end by building up "points" or something, then you are let down when you get absolutely nothing! 90% of the time, we saw no one in the liquid lounge nor both teenage lounges (except on new years eve)....! about the kids club. this one seemed better than the disney one b/c it was age based maybe? BUT!!! please please powers that be! you MUST offer video games AT ALL TIMES for ages 6 and up in the kids club because our son wanted to go back to play wii (which we dont own at home) only to find out it's only offered at certain times and is just sitting there but not allowed to be played! i would loved to have had a few more breaks by having our sons safely in the kids club happily playing video games even tho i was happy to get away from them knowing we were going on a cruise BUT i just wanted to sit quietly looking out at the ocean and relax at will but could not tempt the kids to go back when it wasn't Video time! PLUS! they hardly got a turn playing b/c it's so limited!!!! also...my husband said the kids club is only open from 7pm-1 am....! how can one relax by the pool for like an hour during the day with children?! most of the water spraying guns dont work in the splash zone! and the huge dump bucket was only turned on ONCE during our cruise and it's prob b/c it was just way too powerful...our 9 yo friend got knocked into my sons head with the force of the water coming down and got a nasty pretty large bruise on his chin. other than that, the kids loved it anyways. but they should adjust the force. also, not one person asked us how can they/carnival make our cruise experience better....! also, at breakfast, there is a large area of dry cereal with NO SPOONS in sight...esp not in the wrapped silverware! with the bubbles card...(unlimited soft drinks...you pay extra for this) when u flagged a waiter down to get a soft drink (incl in casino) they got it for you but never checked on you again ...ever. in the casino, the most popular game is roulette and there are two tables...one smoking and one non. if you are forced to play at the smoking one, beware if you use the mandatory cup holders for your cold drinks...when you lift the glass up to take a sip, dont be surprised if you have cigarrette butts and ash on the bottom of it b/c if you're lucky, there will be ONE ashtray per table of 10-15 ppl that rarely gets recognized! also, cigars arent allowed in the casino. oh! we dont understand why no movies were shown at the ovation theater... also....i was surprised to see a bunch of windows that needed to be cleaned on the outside for better viewing. esp in the market cafe buffet area. carnival should have window washers keeping those windows pristine like Disney does. overall....it was a VERY nice and clean ship...bedding was great (bring your own pillows for comfort tho). if you dont mind just average food, you'll have a great time!!