First of all let me tell you that my cruise was to go to the Eastern Carib. However, due to hurricane Francis we were diverted to the Western Carib. This was not a problem with my family since we had never been on a cruise. I must say we were pleasantly surprised with the embarkation procedure and staff. My daughter was on crutches due to a dislocated knee. As soon as we entered the building the Carnival staff were very quick to get her a wheelchair and ushered us to the front of the line. Needless to say everything went very quickly from there on.
I had booked a oceanview room (Guarantee) and was very happy to be upgraded to a balcony on the 8th level! The ship is beautiful, clean and well maintained. The staff very attentive, helpful and courteous. Due to the hurricane we were on the ship an extra two days since the port of Miami was closed and did not reopen until Mon 09/04/04. The last two days of the cruise our ship was sent just off the coast of Cuba. We floated there along with about 5 other Carnival ships. At all times the ships Captains main concern was the passengers safety. The activities director went out of his way to make sure those last two days were just as enjoyable as the first seven.
The only food the ship ran out of was bananas and cream for the coffee! I did hear that the staff were not quite so lucky. The food was great the entire voyage except for the buffet on Lido deck. I found the food to be cold, the lines long, and the area had an overall dirty dish rag smell. The midnight pizza and burgers were great as were the midnight gala buffets. (Only offered on the two formal evenings.) We only encountered one problem the entire cruise and that was with the excursion we had booked in Jamaica.