I have sailed on the previous Carnival 4 day cruise on the Sensation and the experience was night and day from the Valor. This was my third cruise on Carnival, I have done most of my cruises (25+ ) on Royal Caribbean. I just wanted a last minute quick 4 day getaway at a decent price sailing out of PC which is a short drive from home. I expected the atmosphere to be more of a party, but never thought it would be as bad as it turned out to be.

Embarkation was quick and easy. I had an oceanview cabin, which on Carnival is very nice with a large window, cabin amenities were adequate. Unfortunately due to last minute booking I ended up on Deck 1, which I would not recommend. Several times I smelled fuel fumes. The ship itself is decorated a little bit "tacky" but the atrium was very nice. Everything was very clean, crew was always picking up dirty dishes and emptying ash trays. The layout of the various buffet lines made it always easy to find a table, and the service staff in that area were always friendly and helpful, they would carry my plate if my hands were full. I had anytime dining, went down at 5:45, immediately seated (with the same folks each night since we all hit it off). The waiters in the dining room were great, actually able to remember your drink preferences and your name. The atmosphere is more fun than other lines. Food was more than adequate, typical cruise line. Didn't take in the production shows, not my thing, the comedians were rather lame, but the various live bands were very good. Casino was actually tolerable for smoke since it is open to a large seating area and passageway on the side of it, and the machines were reasonably loose. Biggest issue in the casino was that the non smoking area machines only had a small decal on the machine, so often smokers would sit down at them, and they would not move if you pointed out the the decal to them. The casino needs to put out large prominent signs in non smoking areas.

As another reviewer mentioned, the major issue I had was not with the crew or the ship but rather with the fellow passengers. I have never encountered a ruder, more obnoxious group of cruisers, with absolutely no consideration for anyone else. It was common to be in an elevator with a group of drunks, cussing and even throwing up. Unfortunately I had several groups in cabins around mine that started partying when the ship sailed and kept it up until docked on return. The slamming of doors was almost nonstop as these people went up and down the hall from cabin to cabin, carrying drinks, yelling obscenities, shoving each other into walls. And many of these people were in their 30s, some with children that added to the goings on. The only quiet time was the few hours they passed out from 4AM to 10AM, when they started up again. One night I called security at 2AM and they did immediately come and make them break up a party of a dozen or so drunks in a cabin with a radio blaring. But Carnival needs to have security patrols do an hourly walk thru of cabin areas to head off this noise. Don't know what they can do about slamming doors except add a different hinge since people are so rude. Since I couldn't sleep, one night I counted door slams from a cabin 2 doors down that had 2 adults and a teenager in it. From midnight to 1AM they came and went 56 times, with the door slammed each time so hard it made the walls in my cabin shake. Due to the way the cabins are built neither ear plugs or white noise machines block out the noise. Read more