BACKGROUND: This was my fourth cruise and my husband's second cruise. My favorite line is Celebrity so naturally Carnival had a tough time competing in my mind. We booked Carnival based on price because we could get a balcony for slightly more than another Celebrity cruise we were looking at. Also - we wanted to see if the 'fun ship' environment could make up for the decline in service and food. While we did have a great time partying with some folks we met on board, we won't cruise with Carnival again. They claim a 60-70% retention rate of returning cruisers. I wonder what the percentage of people who have cruised other lines and return is. I noticed they didn't announce that factoid during the final show.

ACTIVITIES: Most were at best entertaining since they were geared towards college students. I would have liked more of a range of age groups. The entertainment was pretty abysmal as well. One of the Vegas style shows was actually pretty decent. Though I knew some folks thought it a bit condescending b/c it was a "taste of America" and it portrayed American's as hicks who do nothing but workout at the gym, play sports and work on the farm. I noticed that, but it didn't bother me too much.

SERVICE: This was probably the worst service I've ever had. I'm not even sure my cabin steward knew our names. They'd call it transparent service. I'd call is no service. We ALWAYS had to ask our steward to change our room during the day by leaving the "make up my room" card on the door. I'm used to a level of service where the steward mysteriously knows every single time you leave the room and at the very least zips in and makes your bed. I think Celebrity has me well spoiled! Also, Carnival has started an automatic tipping system which I am not a fan of. I really think it keeps all of the crew from working for their tips. Read more