We did enjoy our cruise but found the ship to be rather tired, especially in the hallways. The pods on decks 9 and 10 were nice to lay in with a book if you could get one, but I always would put a towel down 1st as the cushions and the mat you lay on were stained and a bit grubby! It was nice to have the Serenity adults only area to get away from the kids that were often left to run wild over the ship (no fault of the Carnival! ) Another thing I feel I have to mention is a big annoyance to me is the ever increasing amount of cruisers who find it acceptable to "reserve seats" for their family or friends! This is againts many cruise liners policies but always never enforced! In Europe it is quite common in a resort to find 50 + chairs with towels draped over them and not a soul in sight as theyre all out shopping etc.... I find it the height of rudness and very un Australian! I found the food on the ship very hit and miss, in the Empire dining room sometimes there were fantastic meals being served up and the next night quite the opposite, much the same for me with the buffet upstairs too, there was an amazing layered shoe string pastery with blue berrys and cream for lunch one day and then 2 consecutive days following that there were just cup cakes on offer! The shows at night were ok ( no orchestra ) and the dancers were full of energy. We also found that many of the on board activities during the day were had $ symbols! When we checked into our cabin the shower had not been cleaned and there was a razor and used soap in there! staff were mostly friendly bit not trained to a standard of some other ships I have been onn for example I found myself walking around or stepping aside of some of them instead of the other way around. In all honesty I can only rate my experience as very average compared with others I have sailed on. It was our 1st time on Carnival and I won't be returning.