After the Swine Flu derailed our long weekend trip to Cancun we were forced to make a "Plan B," thus finding ourselves heading to Miami for a weekend cruise to the Bahamas.  We specifically chose this cruise because of the extended (overnight) stay in the Bahamas.We traveled over Mother's Day weekend to celebrate my cousin's 40th birthday, and as a special treat we booked a suite so we would have a balcony.  Since the original trip was planned for Thursday to Monday we spent the first night in Miami Beach at the Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront.  We took a taxi to the Port of Miami without incident.Embarkation was quick and smooth, greatly aided by our VIP status since we booked a suite.  We were escorted to the front of the security line and then breezed past the long lines at check-in.The ship has been updated but is still showing her age in many respects, especially the style.  The only way to get a balcony cabin is to book a suite, for example.  Our stateroom was pleasantly decorated, however, and in a word, enormous!  It was bigger than our hotel room in Miami Beach!  Well worth the additional money we spent as we had a walk-in closet, jetted tub, couch that converted to a double bed, and most importantly, lots of room to move about.The food was average.  The buffets were always busy, and at times the lines were so long that we gave up and found something else.  We ate in the dining room each evening and the food was okay overall.  Saturday night is "cruise elegant night," when they serve lobster (which was delicious).  But one evening they served grouper and it was mushy; just horrible.  We did enjoy room service a few times, which is mainly sandwich options.The ship's entertainment and activities were typical of most cruises.  We enjoyed playing the various trivia games, bingo, karaoke, etc.  Luckily I cruised with two women who like to have fun and make friends, so we had a great time on the ship.  For those of you who haven't cruised, it is as much fun or as boring as you make it.  The options are there and we tried to participate as much as possible.  We especially enjoyed Laurie in the piano bar (a sing-along type atmosphere).  We stopped by each evening and always had a great time.  We did not see any of the shows.The staff was always pleasant.  Drink servers are never far away, and our dinner servers were a lot of fun.We did not plan any excursions.  In Nassau on Saturday we rented scooters and drove to Paradise Island.  We saw the aquarium at Atlantis and then spent the day driving ourselves all over the islands.  The scooters were $70/day (they tell you $50, but then add $10 for gas and $10 for insurance).  It was a blast and worth the cost.  (Note that for the same price you can get a scooter for two people, although we each had our own.)  This was my 6th cruise and I prefer to do my own thing in port.Debarkation was smooth; we left the ship early so as to avoid any crowds and we transported our own luggage (mainly because we didn't want to have it packed the night before).This cruise was typical of Carnival.  It was a party atmosphere, and it seemed like a large number of passengers were 20-somethings.  This cruise is perfect for a weekend getaway, but I would have been disappointed to spend more than three nights on this ship, mostly due to the quality of the food.