We were a pair of two couples with two interior cabins. It was me (46), girlfriend (44) and friend and his girlfriend both 40. Our friends have sworn for years they would never set foot on Carnival. They had only sailed Princess, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. They referred to Carnival as the prison ships. They had read and heard what many people have heard about how bad Carnival is from food, to accommodations, to crowds and the low class people. Well, I finally convinced them to go since it was a new ship and we got a great deal. Jump to the end to see if they'll ever return. This was my 16th cruise with the last 9 being on Carnival (I'm one of those low class Carnival cruisers:). I love Carnival so don't read too much negativity into this review. I'm pointing out the negatives and positives but I know the review will seem negative. That is the wrong impression. I loved this boat and the crew and would do it again. (In fact, I'm already booked for one more cruise in November and just sailed on Breeze June 5. So if this review seems familiar, that's why. It's an awesome ship with a great crew.)

Embarkation: We got there at our assigned time and the line was long and slow. It took an hour from arrival to boarding. This was no different from cruises with no assigned time. I talked to people and found out that they board supposedly board groups at their assigned time so the terminal won't fill up and everyone boards as their time comes up. But they allow too many people per half hour segment so it backs up quickly. Bottom line, you're gonna wait in long lines to get on unless you're the first couple of boarding groups.

First impression and cabin: As I said in my previous review, once on board, I was expecting to see a very modern boat since this is the newest boat in the fleet in the US. But, while it was very nice, it looks in design, though not decor, like every other Dream class ship. They are beautiful but I expected something different in a new ship. As usual, the elevators were packed but we finally got one and rode to our interior rooms on the 9th floor forward. Again, new ship I was expecting something different about the rooms. But, other than color, it looked just like the Dream and Magic. I thought that on a new ship they might have considered doing something as basic as Motel 6 has done by adding USB plugs to charge smartphones and iPads. But, no luck. There are just two plugs at the desk. The shower is small with the same shampoo and body wash dispensers as on the older ships. Water pressure and temperature were excellent. Read more