We chose this cruise primarily based on itinerary. This was my 5th Carnival Cruise (four on Conquest Class ships and one on the Magic). We traveled with 8 family members, myself and husband, two kids - ages 20 and 16, my parents, my sister and 12 year old niece. We flew in from Dallas and Denver the Friday before late and stayed near the Ft. Lauderdale airport at a Springhill Suites. The next morning we had breakfast and headed out at 9:30 for Miami via SAS Shuttle Service. We had a 10:30-11 am check in spot and quickly found ourselves in the staging area ready to board. All went smooth until they began calling boarding groups. Yes we are experienced cruisers, but this was our first time with the "assigned" check-in time and we thought we were good to go. Apparently our Carnival check-in person failed to stamp our card with a boarding group. We checked in as 3 different families - and not one of us got a boarding group stamp. I approached a Carnival person and told them what happened and she told me we would have to get on at the end! I approached a 2nd person and she helped us get into the line and they gave us a card stamped Group 7. We managed to get on the ship around noon and were ready to start the fun! First stop was Guy's Burgers! Yes they really are as good as everyone says! I decided my favorite was the Ringer with the bourbon BBQ sauce and onion ring! (The fries are great too!)

Two of our three cabins were the scenic ocean view. My parents had 9201 and we had 9197. We loved these rooms. The views of course are wonderful and they are very spacious. We have used balcony rooms before with 4 of us and found it hard to keep the room clean and organized, but with this room, it was large enough I never felt crowded or overly messy. The only negatives to the room were the couch makes into a bed where our boys slept next to ours. Originally I thought I'd like that better than the bunk bed type set up, but the bed unfolds right up to the vanity. If you have to get to the restroom at night, you have about 4 inches to slide through between the bed and the vanity. The other negative was the walls were very thin. If your neighbor is talking loud or have the TV volume up, you will here it.

For an overall review of the food, I would say this was one of the best food experiences I've ever had on Carnival. I used to always complain about the breakfast buffet eggs, but these were actually really good. I don't know if they started using real eggs but it sure tasted like it. We ate at Guys, the Blue Iguana, the Main Dining Room, the Pizza Pirate, the Deli and the Seafood Shack. We enjoyed the food at every place. While the pizza is thin and fairly plain with not a lot of variety, they are cooking a ton of pizzas constantly and you would have to wait a lot longer if they did have more complicated pizzas. Lots of people ordering multiple pizzas at a time. I really enjoyed the seafood shack and especially the fish and chips and clam strips! My son ordered a pound of crab legs ($20.00) and they were good too. I have always been a fan of Bitter and Blanc and did not see that on the menu. However, on the last night they had a banana bread pudding with a vanilla sauce that was just as good if not better. If I could have eaten a 2nd one I would have asked for another! The only food I didn't particularly care for was the Blue Iguana breakfast burrito. For me, it was just OK although I did like the chicken sausage and the hash browns. We had room service for a late night snack and it took about 30 minutes to be delivered. Read more