I recently took my last cruise on a Carnival cruise ship. I was hoping that Carnival would wow me with a Fun experience that blew me away... but that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I was on a cruise ship sailing to amazing locations so I made my own fun and had a great time. No sour grapes here... just the reality that Carnival is not for me.

The ship in general rocked and rolled more that any other ship I've been on before and the seas/winds did not correlate with the amount of movement. The Motown show was switched to just singing due to the motion; the exterior of decks 12 and 14 were closed for good portions of three of the days. Imagine a Sea Day on a Spring Break cruise where the slides, basketball courts, Serenity deck, and main Lido pool were closed until late afternoon. I saw one picture posted where there were no-joke 21 kids in one hot tub. I couldn't help but wonder how many used it for a toilet while they were all in there. Gross!!!

Embarkation was delayed for no apparent reason. FTTF did not board until 12:20pm, which is later than many have stated for previous cruises. If you are booking Carnival, either pay for FTTF or plan to board the ship after 1:30pm. Things get a little crazy between 12:30 and 1:30 with 3000 people and all the luggage stewards moving around. If you do board early, avoid the Lido buffet- head to either Guy's Pig & Anchor on Deck 5, Guy's Burgers on 10, or the Italian place at the back on 11. Read more