This was our first cruise. There were four of us - my husband and I and our two daughters, ages 9 and 14. The food was good, the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating (with the notable exception of the pool bartenders), and everything was clean and well-kept. There are two pools, both very small considering the ship's capacity (roughly the size of a backyard pool), but they are expected to serve thousands of guests. Every time we had to enter the main pool area it felt like we were taking our daughters to a wild, drunken frat party. The music blared nonstop at ear splitting levels, the pool "entertainment" consisted of the cruise director, Mat, hosting various (extremely loud) drunken contests that were wildly inappropriate for the many kids present, and then repeatedly encouraging the kids to "look away." This is also right where the water slides are, so no escaping it unless you don't let the kids use the pool or slides. The second pool at the back of the ship wasn't much better because it's where everyone went to try to escape the horror of the main pool, so it was full well past capacity and largely unusable. By the last night, the main pool was so full of drunken partiers, and the water color had turned to a sickly, grayish green, that we were genuinely concerned for our 9 year old's safety. After day two, our 14 year old had already declared it all completely disappointing, too loud, with the pool so full of embarrassing drunks that she largely wanted to stick to our stateroom the whole cruise.
We loved Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Montego Bay is terribly impoverished, run down, and the locals are desperate for any tourist money they can get. We hopped on a shuttle guided by a woman named "Sylvia," and asked to be taken to Doctor's Cave beach which I'd researched ahead of time. Sylvia assured us and others on the shuttle she would take us there and pick us up again. Once we were driving, she very forcefully announced she was taking us to a different beach (Tropical Bliss) and would be charging us 50% more than the agreed upon price. She insisted it was the best beach on the island. When we asked questions or disputed the price, she became angry and confrontational. Upon arriving at her beach, she demanded the increased payment for the ride there, beach entry and our return trip. We refused to pay for the return trip and by this time people were getting upset. The beach was muddy, weedy, broken equipment and we were all dumped and trapped there. After a few minutes, I went to the beach attendant and demanded a taxi with a driver who would not scam us to be called to take us to be beach we had originally requested. The attendant was terribly apologetic and had been hearing the same story from many angry people on the shuttle. He flagged down an empty shuttle bus and paid them to take us to Doctor's Cave. The shuttle driver and cab were very friendly and also apologetic for the treatment we'd received as they are supposed to be selling Jamaica, not making tourists never want to return. Doctor's Cave Beach was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed our time there very much. It was certainly all a learning experience. Our experiences at Grand Cayman and Cozumel were absolutely stellar. We were treated like royalty by the locals who helped us (and we tipped them generously), we had delicious food, and we can't wait to return.
All being said, we'd like to try another cruise someday as we loved many parts of it, but will probably look for a smaller ship without such a focus on hard partying. We prefer quiet relaxation without the crush of humanity everywhere, and want our daughters to be able to enjoy the pool and other entertainment without us constantly worrying about what they are seeing and hearing and whether they are safe. I'm not sure if Carnival offers anything that meets this description. We'll definitely go into our next cruise wiser and more informed as to what to expect.