It has been years since we went on a Carnival cruise, but we liked the itinerary and have friends we wanted to visit in Texas. We've always had a good time on Carnival in the past but as we got older we weren't sure about the party reputation. We we're happily surprised with the result. The ship was spotless, the crew very friendly and helpful, the food was above average with the exception of one night. The rooms were very nice and well cared for. We spent a lot of evening time in the piano bar as they had a very good entertainer in addition to the pub entertainment. The main entertainment on the ship was a bit stale, we enjoyed other cruise lines entertainment better. They have upgraded their shore excursions, prices were reasonable on many, and even though we normally don't use ship excursions we did take one to Xunatunich and was glad we did, since it was far away and we made the very last shuttle. I was surprised at the amount of school age children on board even though school was in session in most places, but they have the kids areas away from the adult areas which was appreciated. The main pool had many kids but there is an adult deck with hot tubs and low level music which was very enjoyable. We did like the layout of the public areas of the ship, it is much improved over their older ships.