We chose Carnival because we had heard such good reviews from others who had sailed with them. The troubles started the night before we were to depart. Flight delays due to mechanical reasons delayed our departure flight, and because our connecting flight was so tight, we would miss that, too. Ultimately missing our boat. EVERYTHING WAS BOOKED THROUGH CARNIVAL and we had the travel protection/insurance. The phone calls started the night we received our first email notification. For a company that has been doing this as long as they have, they made it sound like this was the first time it ever happened. No one knew what to do, and our call was bounced to several different departments. I won't go into all the details, as this would be a book, but we were eventually held in Miami for two nights before being flown to Montego Bay, where we had to make our own transportation arrangements to get to Ocho Rios. Carnival did refund that cost, but we were on our own for the tip to the driver. The flight they put us on arrived at 1 PM, were told we had to be at the ship for three o'clock. It's a two hour cab ride, and we had to get through customs, too. Poor flight planning by Carnival from beginning to end. Once we were on the boat, it took time to get settled in. We spent a good deal of time on multiple days at Guest Relations trying to get everything sorted out. Our 7 day cruise turned into 3.5 days. We missed a lot of what was going on. This was our FIRST cruise, and we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. So much for kicking back and relaxing! There was a lot of stress at the beginning of this trip. Then, the last night of our cruise we got notification that we had to go through customs and immigration at 5:45 AM because we had boarded in Jamaica. We were told we could get breakfast brought to our room before that because of the early departure....guess what never showed up? Then we had to wait for nearly an hour after our scheduled time before we were taken off the boat and brought to customs. Uhg!!! I now need a vacation from my vacation!!

The ship was nice, but for a new ship, already showing wear and tear in our cabin, but not enough that it bothered us. The bed was actually quite comfortable, too! Next time (yes, we will try again) we will be further away from the doors to the Lido deck, as it was quite loud. I would suggest foam ear plugs if you're on that end of the hall.

Dining in the Horizon Restaurant was very nice. Lots of options to choose from. Our team headwaiter was Richard, Team Waiter was Marvic, and Asst Team Waiter was Binukumar. After our first night in their section, we asked for them specifically. They were fantastic! Read more