We are Platinum cruisers with Carnival and have much travel experience. We know that things are not always perfect but this ship should be one of the absolute best that Carnival has in its fleet because it exposes first time cruisers to what cruising is all about. We found the ship dirty, the lido staff lazy, and the housekeeping "officers" a nightmare. Our wait staff in the Fantasy dining room for "Anytime dining" were awesome and some of the best we have encountered on our cruises. Food was typical Carnival fare---sometimes good and sometimes not so good. We don't cruise for the food anyway.

We had a great snorkeling excursion in Freeport but wished we had not even gotten off the ship in Nassau. The port area in Nassau gets worse each time we go there. The gauntlet you have to run to get off the ship and on to the streets of Nassau is ridiculous and intimidating at times.

Our nightmare with the housekeeping staff was due to our daughter, who sailed in another cabin on this cruise, coming to our room while we were in port to leave us a note and finding four officers in white uniforms and the room steward searching our room behind the bed and in the bed linens with flashlights. When our daughter asked what they were doing, she received an answer that they were "Having a party" in our room. No kidding, the Manager of housekeeping actually said this and admitted it later. We got various responses as to what they were searching for, but never probably got the truth. We did get a note of apology and some wine and a cake (that we returned) but never the truth as to what they were doing. We suspect it was a bed bug search (as the flashlights indicate) but never got any real satisfaction as to why this type of search was going on. Had my daughter not caught them in the act, we never would have known our privacy was invaded and still don't know if there was a report of bed bugs in our cabin or if they found anything. Thankfully, we did not get bitten but we still have the creeps. It takes 5 grown men to search a cabin for a "routine check" for cleanliness and they did not even do a good job as we found dust bunnies and small debris under the bed and a handprint on the dusty bed rail when we looked after the search. A note from them explaining what they were doing and advising us they had been in our cabin would have been nice. Needless to say, Carnival corporate is getting a letter about the housekeeping staff. We still have three other cruises scheduled on Carnival this year and our hopes are that they do the right thing and just come clean with the bed and linen search (no pun intended).