We were excited to take our family on our 4th Carnival cruise to 4 new islands, Grand Turk, DR, Aruba, and Curacao. Tropical Storm Don changed our itinerary, but Carnival substituted San Juan and St. Maarten for Aruba and Curacao. For that, Carnival did well.

This was our 4th cruise and from the beginning, it was a disorganized mess.

The "new" embarkation process was hot, crowded, and resembled the State Fair. You no longer get your "Sail and Sign" cards at check-in, they are left in your message box at your stateroom. Unfortunately, the rooms were closed off for 2 hours after our arrival. For those that don't know, the S&S card is your "money" on the ship. You had to have your paper boarding pass with you to buy drinks. The computers were newly updated and the staff was struggling to keep up with the bulky papers and thirsty passengers. I finally went to our cabin and retrieved our cards, but was chastised by the stewards for the effort. Read more