My wife and I wanted a mellow cruise experience with a short itinerary. Carnival is called the 'party ship' and some parts of the ship are livelier than others so you can have the experience you want. We had a balcony room near aft on the Veranda deck which we used a lot.
We used FTTF and it was great. The ship actually boarded late because of an inspection but once started we were on board in 10 minutes, to our room with luggage waiting. We will do this again.
The ship is quite dated and you can tell not a lot of cosmetic fixes are being made. Stains, cracks, bent pieces could be seen, none of which had any impact on our experience.
Cabin was nice. We asked for robes and got them promptly. Steward was attentive. Old and dated but we knew so.