First, let me say, this was not my first cruise, nor even my first cruise on Carnival. I THOUGH I knew what to expect - but I was wrong!

I booked this cruise through the Carnival website using our "personal cruise advisor". She was VERY helpful until I actually booked the cruise, then not so much. LOTS of stock emails, but when I asked a specific question regarding Wi-Fi availability, she didn't answer two emails OR a phone call until AFTER we had sailed. I emailed on Wednesday before the Monday sailing, emailed again Thursday, and placed a phone call with a message to her voicemail on Friday. She sent a reply email on Tuesday - the day AFTER the sailing. The information she supplied was very complete - just too late to do any good.

On arrival, we didn't see any red caps so dragged our luggage onboard ourselves - turns out it was a good move as some people were still waiting for luggage after 10:00 and some, evidently NEVER got theirs. Our cabin, for some reason, was equipped with two fold-out bunks (which we didn't need) and neither was locked. Shortly after leaving port, we tried to contact our cabin steward to ask that they be locked as they were dangerously opening and closing with each swell and movement of the ship. No luck. When we used the phone to ring the steward, all we got was a busy signal - which continued throughout the cruise. Finally, we called the purser/information desk and they (after about an hour) sent someone to lock the upper berths. Although I had SPECIFICALLY requested early dinner seating, we were assigned to the late seating. We trotted off to the main dining room and changed to the early seating with little trouble and got a GREAT table with good table companions. However, this, again, is something the TA was SUPPOSED to have arranged. I also told her we were cruising to celebrate our wedding anniversary and she said "they" (?) would provide something for the celebration during the cruise. Didn't happen. During a 20-30 minutes conversation, when I was booking the cruise, the only item she seemed to have absorbed was that we HAD cruised with Carnival before - and we did receive invitations to the "repeat cruisers" reception. Everything else she "forgot" or just ignored. Read more