My husband and I are in our early 40's and this was our fifth cruise, second with Carnival and our first out of the port of Charleston. We drove from Virginia and were very surprised at the 45 minute wait to pay for parking and drop off luggage. $119 parking was secure inside an old warehouse type building with shuttle service to the terminal. Wait for shuttle and line to get through security at the terminal building was an additional 45 minutes. Check in process would have been at least another 30+ minutes without priority check-in.

Overall, the ship itself was clean and in good condition. This was our first cruise on a smaller/older ship and we certainly missed some of the features and spaces on the larger vessels. Seating in the main theater (The Sapphire Theater) was relatively "flat" causing limited views of anything on stage from many of the seats. Views from the seating in the Comedy Club was slightly better.

The Spa and fitness center was inviting and stylish. Spa services were a decent value during the sales/special events and the staff were very attentive and pleasant. We would have visited the sauna and steam room, however they were located in the locker rooms separated by sexes. Some of the aerobics and other fitness classes looked interesting, but we were disappointed at the fees to participate. It seems like everything on board was centered around making more money. Read more