This was not my first rodeo and will definitely won't be the last (I already booked my next one), but it was absolutely my second and last with Carnival. After the first one I said I wouldn't use Carnival again..... I should have follow my instincts....(disclaimer.... I might be spoiled about cruising because I have also travel with NCL and RCL...)

Embarkation was long and exhausting.... took almost 1 1/2 after (a very quick) check in.... Room was dirty, dated, with rust showing all over the balcony, and with a minuscule TV. The ship was also dated, old looking and missing any kind of "wow" factor.

Food was the worse I have ever had on any vacation (by land or sea), it was usually cold, lacking in flavor, and variety (I actually got food poisoning from eating in the buffet one night). one of my travel company almost cried when she actually had some soup on the last night of the cruise that was "hot" and edible... The burger were greasy and the tacos/burritos were sad. The 5-6 items available for free for room Room service were a disgrace (I would paid to try some of their "for fee" offerings if I had though that there was even a remote chance that they were going to be edible), but had to endure it as it was the only thing available after around 8:30 when they star "closing" the one side of the lido buffet that was open at night (I don't count the 24 hour pizza as an option because the 2 times that I went to get some I had 2 bites of it and had to throw the rest of it away (come on, really, how do you manage to mess up Pizza????). In all fairness I only tried the MDR on the first night and it wasn't as bad but since I was traveling with a toddler, the MDR was not a reasonable option for me... Read more