Embarkation This was our first time on a cruise, my cousin and her DH said that we should take a cruise with them, this was their 8th criuse. We landed at San Diego about 9:30 and grabbed a taxi which was a $9.00 ride to the dock. We got though all the security and received our sail and sign cards about 10:30. They told us that we be boarding at noon; by 12:30 we were on the Lido deck eating lunch. By 1:30 they let us into our rooms and had most of our bags outside the room by 3. One of DW's bags still didn't show up by 4 and she found the luggage tag on the floor a few rooms away. She asked the room steward and went down to the purser's office and found a pile of lost bags with hers with them. There was a delay in leaving port and we cast off the dock lines around 6pm. We watched leaving the harbor until we reached the break water and had to go down to dinner. The only problem with having an early dinner was missing leaving the ports and running down to the dinning room. The Room We all had the inside rooms which had plenty of room and storage for all our belongings. Beds were comfortable and we slept without any problems. The room stewards were great and we only found them in the room once. We left for breakfast one morning, forgot something and went back to the room and the steward was making up the bed. He apologized and ran from the room. I guess they don't like to be caught cleaning. There was a flyer in the bathroom about saving water and conservation asking to help out. If you want new towels, leave them on the floor and if they are going to be used again to put them back on the rack. It was obvious that the room stewards didn't read the flyer because every day they replaced everything. The bathroom was pretty small, even smaller than our dinky master bath at home, not a problem though, it was only 8 days. We managed the tightness fine and are used to being close together. Only used the mini bar a few times making a couple of drinks in the room, we smuggled a couple of pints of our favorite liquor in the checked bags. The pop was $1.75 each, beer was $3 to $4 and the mini booze started around $7.00 each. The Ship With 2000 quests and 900 staff on board we never felt crowded. There was always some where you could find some sort of privacy and quiet. Some of the clubs on deck 2 or 3 only had a couple of people in them during the day, so you could have an intimate conversation with your significant other if you desired. We used the hot tubs a couple times and I tried out the waterslide, never did use the pools. The shows with the Carnival dancers were fairly lame and saw better shows in our local high schools. The two comics were good and the second one was very funny with his R rated one a riot. We did donate a few dollars to the casino; it was easy to do if you don't have any idea what you are doing. The shops had some great deals on the alcohol and the usual items for tourist stuff. We didn't buy any of the higher ticket jewelry or other fancy things; some looked a little cheap for the price. Stopped off at the Karaoke Bar a couple of times and some folk sang really well, others we had to leave the bar. At one of the piano bars we stopped to have a soda and the piano was well played, his singing was very poor. There didn't seem to be a lot of activities on the sea days but that didn't bother us at all. The sun and warmth on the deck chair was well used and we did walk around the ship a lot. Dinning The four of us had a table for four and the early dinning plan. Dinning early made some of the evenings watching the ship leave the harbor and the sunsets on deck hurried. I was a little disappointed that they only had the lobster one night. Only a little because I had two entrEes that night, I don't think I could have done that too many nights. Serving 1000 people at a time was very interesting to watch and the waiters were funny. The food was very good and well presented and you never left the table wanting more. Just one or two of the different dishes didn't have the flavor and zip that I expected and I tried many of the different dishes that I have never had. The Strawberry Bisque was very tasty and I wish that it was served more often as well as the French Onion Soup. The Chateaubriand had great flavor but was a little tough. There just isn't enough time to try them all, although it was fun to try.

All in all we had a great time and will cruise again, maybe not on the Carnival lines next time depending on where we're off to. We'll get an outside room next time for sure, we didn't have any idea what time of the day it was without the outside light.