I am a brit, travelling with children and was lucky enough to be able to compare it to the larger ships and other companies like Royal Caribbean. If this is your first cruise, I'm sure you would enjoy it more than we did. It was not half as good as any previous cruises and i will not travel with Carnival again. Personally i should have paid the extra and gone on Royal Caribbean.

Embarkation/disembarkation- easy smooth. got on at 12, cases didn't arrive until about 5. Keep any wine in hand luggage, it is not allowed in suitcases, it will be taken out. See drinks rules. We carried out own luggage back off, it was quicker and easier.

Entertainment-There was not a lot to do. The daytime entertainment was quite old fashioned. My younger children were not entertained in the kids club, they were dumped in front of the wii. Although my teens made friends at the clubs and had a great time. Evening entertainment was ok, not much of it. The production shows were good and so was the comedy room. The rest was bands playing in the middle of corridors in smoky casinos, or a nightclub which put me off, as they were loud. Read more