We chose this cruise because of the day of the week it sailed (Monday) and the maximum number of nights we could fit in our schedules. We have taken many cruises on competitors such as RCCL, Celebrity and Princess. I hope this will be a good comparison. I must say that Carnival earned kudos right off the bat as they never have two ships in New Orleans at the same time but due to Hurricane Nate, the port was closed on Sunday, when the Carnival Dream was supposed to arrive and depart. Carnival bused in employees from Galveston to process the extra ship in port. The cost for hotels, meals and transportation was absorbed by Carnival. Instead they could have just split the New Orleans crew in half to process thousands of passengers for two ships. High marks for customer service over profits in this regard. Carnival knows its demographic and the ship reflects it. Most common areas are bare bones with very little art work or anything appealing to look at. While the interior of the ship is clean in most respects, on pool decks there needs to be more staff with supervision. Dirty food plates and cups/glasses were constantly left out on tables and in hallways for hours. While service in the main dining room and our room attendant were excellent, the more common areas seem to be an afterthought. Only one attendant at most times stationed at the aft pool seemed to be oblivious to picking up after passengers, many of who were just downright slobs. I don't want to sound judgmental but once again Carnivals demographic seemed to be the traveler who was perfectly fine wearing shorts, a t shirt and flip flops to the dining room even on elegant night. Travelers who seem to take pride in chewing with their mouth open, burping and farting in front of others all of the time, anywhere and everywhere. Special thanks to the person who let their infant baby soil their diaper in the upper pool, let it leak out and clear the pool without telling anyone. Kudos to the others in the pool that got out and said nothing. And honorable mention to Carnival pool deck employees for not noticing why on a hot sunny day, no one was in the upper pool for an extended period of time. Once again if this is the demographic of people you want to be around then a Carnival cruise is for you. Pros on Carnival. Deck chairs, pool and room towels, quality of food in the main dining room, spacious cabins. Cons on Carnival, Ships layout very compartmentalized, very few bartenders/cocktail servers for the amount of people wanting a drink, especially at dinner time, ship decor outdated and very bland. Carnivals biggest issue is the people who book Carnival and it is Carnival who attracts the type of crowd described above. About eighty percent fit the description. If this does not bother you, Carnival's price point is great for the quality of food, accommodations and the vacation itself.