Hey, I keep taking Carnival; pound for pound, it's as good a (proportional) value as the high-end lines. I never find a lower price and they go where I want to go.

After that, well, that's where the "good" starts sliding into the "adequate", which after many Carnival voyages, it's easy to see the continuum of "disappointments" reveal itself.

Embarkation was the easiest I have ever had -- and see ? that's kind of a disappointment: Carnival made this big deal about scheduling and telling them when you were arriving; separate, but, similar, they also offer a PAY program (First to the Fun) to expedite embarkation. But, hey, they didn't tell me that if I sauntered over to Carnival Transfers lady at Miami Airport, she'd tell me to go to the special desk they set up, inside the air terminal. Five minutes later, I had totally checked in, complete with Cabin Card. Imagine my surprise when WE were the ones, walking past the couple hundred folks at the Pier Check In, straight to the boarding ramp and our first photo op. [It doesn't fit here, but I should say that Debarkation was just as easy; we do walk-off anyway, but this time, I mean, we strolled off on our own and sailed through customs.] Read more