I will start with our demographics: We are regular cruisers ( 10 cruises on different lines). We are in our mid 50's and were travelling with a senior citizen. We are not "picky" cruisers, and understand there are many things that are outside of the cruise lines control. This time is very different. We chose this cruise because of the ports, and the price point. It really was very economical for a 1 week cruise. I will start with the negatives and end on a positive note. This biggest negative for us, and it was a big one- the unruly children. Travelling the first week of December we thought that there wouldn't be many children. It's not that we dislike children, but this was over the top. The children took over the ship and I am not kidding. they were running up and down the halls, jumping in the elevators, pressing all the buttons etc. The two worst areas were the pools/hot tubs and the buffet. The children were running around the pool, jumping into the pools and splashing everyone, The hot tubs were horrible. At one point we counted 19 children in one hot tub. There never seemed to be any parental controls, There was running, screaming, splashing, knocking people over, and that is exactly what happened in the buffet as well. Children were running around, yelling, taking food with their hands, etc etc. I would normally say this falls completely within the responsibility of the parents; however, there were staff that saw all of this and ignored it. The Pool area was chaos- There was a "lifeguard" on duty but he never did or said anything. At one point there were two babies in the hot tub with diapers! This is a health and safety issue. The parents thought it was cute. Carnival you really need to have staff speak up when there is such a violation, and I am certain 19 people ( children) in the hot tub is also against health and safety. This was by far the biggest negative for us.

Now for the positives and there were many. 1st we were offered an upgrade a few days before we sailed! What an amazing surprise- this has never happened before, so we took it. It was a balcony ( jr suite) and we are really glad we did. the cabin was the standard balcony size but the balcony was very very small, but that is ok it was still a balcony. Embarkation was excellent- in fact from arriving at the port to being on the ship was maximum 15 mins. It was very smooth. The rooms were not ready until 1:30 so we had lots of time to explore and get lunch. Sail away was not until 8:30 pm as it was from San Juan- it was well done. Muster station ( again beyond what Carnival can take responsibility for) passengers please go to your muster station- I am not sure people realize they if they don't go they literally hold up EVERYONE until they are accounted for. The ship is older, yes, but it is very clean, easy to get around, children not withstanding, and the staff were great. The food was good, and we enjoyed the quality. There was one day in the buffet that the pork carving station was cold pork and a bit chewy- but the rest of the food was fairly good. We ate in the dinning room 5 of the nights and it was excellent. The escargot was really good. The lobster was excellent and our waiter even brought a second plate. As always my favorite is the chocolate melting cake, Ymm. The buffet is smaller than on other ships but had a nice selection. There are the usual's- Guy's burger joint, the Taco station, the sandwich bar, the salad bar, the pizza place and the dessert bar. There really were lots of options. It's not elegant or fine dinning but it was good. We found the food on this cruise better than our last cruise on Norwegian. The entertainment wasn't bad. The dancing shows were ok, but the comedians were excellent. We really enjoyed the many shows per night and there was lots of room in the lounge. Karaoke was good as well. The itinerary is very port heavy which we knew. The only port we were a little frustrated at was St. Kitts. We got off the ship early to catch a cab to Cockleshell beach. We were asked to stay in a waiting area until the cab could fill the van.....it took about 30 mins- so in hindsight wished we had just gone solo in a cab outside the cruise area. Overall it was a great cruise with very few issues. The only negative were the unruly children. I would ask that Carnival look at it's "rules and regulations" around the pool and hot tubs and enforce them- someone is going to get hurt badly otherwise and what we experienced is not consistent with health and safety standards.