They managed to get over 2800 guests along with their almost 1200 employees onboard and mobilized, and it set us up well for a smoothly run resort on the water.

The three destinations to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica were short, and involved a lot of process and security checks getting on and off the ship, and reminded us that the point of the cruise was less about seeing and experiencing these destinations than enjoying the ship. Carnival Cruise offered very little in the way of educating us about the locations we were visiting and we had to figure much of it out on our own. Carnival spent considerable time trying to sell us expensive excursions offering us North American versions of these countries. We avoided them and explored these places on our own and were left with little time to do so. However, we made the best of it breaking through the tourist facade of these port of calls, and found some pretty places to see and learn about.

If you like alcohol, 18 hours a day of loud rock or Latin music, gambling, smoking in the casinos and on some decks, eating a lot of amazing food, plugging in to online cable or internet or shopping, swimming and hot pools, cruises are for you. The pop culture is alive and well here. It is a perpetual party. The cruising culture is set up well to captivate people with all of these options with a quick up-sell on almost every opportunity. Alcohol could not be brought on board and we were held captive by some steep alcohol prices or all-inclusive charges. Read more