After reading a few of the negative reviews I can see that many people who take this cruise are amateur travelers and don't do their homework before taking a trip. I flew into Miami from Chicago and had no trouble with the efficiency of Carnival. At the airport I was able to check in at the Carnival cruise desk and get everything squared away before even heading to the port on the shuttle bus that I had booked along with my cruise. Taxi fare is about $30.00 from airport to seaport so unless you have a group of people the shuttle bus is your best value at $32.00 round trip.

Arriving at the seaport already checked in I was able to bypass everyone else who had to still check in and was allowed to board the ship earlier than my scheduled boarding time. Our room was not ready but the cabin steward had no problem with us dropping our bags off in our room while we headed for the pool deck for some lunch. First we stopped at a bar to activate our soft drink beverage package that we purchased when we booked our cruise so we would have unlimited soft drinks. The food was great. ! never had anything I didn't like enough to actually complain about. The main dining room fare was very good and if you choose the assigned dining time you wont have any wait for dinner.

Here are few things I will point out to first timers that should be obvious but after reading some of these reviews apparently not. Read more