Ok, here goes...first, I will start with the bad news, since there wasn't much. The Carnival kids club staff did not speak English very well, and did not seem to really try to make the kids happy, unless the parents were present in great numbers. We asked my son if he liked this staff better, or the one on RCL better, and he picked RCL. A couple of the counselors on RCL made a genuine effort to make our son feel special, and I just didn't see that on Carnival. Next topic is the layout and/or location of some of the lounges. The Paris lounge is beautiful, HOWEVER, if you don't get there at least 30 minutes before a show to get a good spot, forget about getting a good view. If they had just made the entire area with stadium seating, then everyone would have a good view. Yes, I know, they were trying to create the "lounge" setting, but sometimes you have to give up some looks to appease the masses. Also, the chopin lounge was like walking through a Marlboro cigarette factory on fire, and unfortunately one of the activities I wanted to attend was held there, and because of the smoke, I had to leave. Most of the activities were held at the Violins bar, which was ok, except for the fact you had to watch all of the people walking by from one end of the ship to the other, very distracting. One final down note, the food wasn't all that great. Yes, I know you can't expect 5 star cuisine on a 3 star budget, but come on, we can at least make sure you get at least 2 or 3 wow, that's really good selections at each meal. The dinners in the Carnivale dining room were good, but the maitre D never came to our table to say hello, EVER. Ok, now for the good stuff...our cabin steward was totally awesome, but I never knew who exactly it was. Room was kept spotless, turn down service was great, towel animals were off the hook!! Embarkation was a snap, especially with valet parking, even though it was a fortune, when we got back to the garage, our car was smack dab in front of us, only had to walk about 10 feet inside the garage. All in all, it was a great cruise, better than RCL in a lot of areas(except for the fore-mentioned kids club), and you get a lot for your money. Just wished they would have taken a better look at the logistics when planning smoking areas and places for activities.