This was our first cruise, our honeymoon, and the itinerary really appealed to us. First of all, in reading these reviews I have found that some people are just super critical of things and they just cannot be made happy. It's not the cruiseline's fault, some people are just high maintenance. I must admit, when reading the reviews before we booked, I was kind of frightened. But we decided to book it anyways and are super happy that we did. The flight was easy and we bought the transfers from the airport to the cruise terminal. We just had to wait for them, but they got us to the terminal in more than enough time. When we got off the bus, there was an enormous amount of people there and kind intimidating! I was thinking it would take forever, but in reality it was only 30-45 minutes max. The porters take your luggage and then you say goodbye to it.....just make sure your room tags are on your luggage so they know where to take your luggage later. Once you are on the boat, they take you to the lido deck where there is a lunch buffet. You cannot get to your room until 0130 because more than likely they just came back to port that morning and they need to turn everything around. None the less, it's nice to explore the ship! The rooms were clean and got cleaned twice a day, once when you leave the room for the day and then again turn down service where you are welcomed back to your room with a towel animal. One thing I have to say is that Carnival is super service oriented. The staff works hard to learn your names and then as the nights go on, they will get you the things you usually ask for without even asking. The staff there truly is amazing. They come from all over the world and spend months on the ship. They work very hard, usually all day on different parts of the ship. So give them credit, they deserve it. We did tip them extra on the last night! The food was good, very plentiful, most of it had really good flavor, but what can you really expect from mass produced food. I was very happy with the food. Never had an issue with warmth or cold food. The pools were salt water which surprised me but that shouldn't have surprised me. The water slide wasn't open the whole time which was a bummer. The shows were really good, the comedians were really funny except for one of them and our cruise director, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Jimmy was awesome. Super Super funny. At the shows they really try to get the participation of the ship which is cool. There is always something to do on the ship......all day so even if you dont get off the ship at the ports of call, there are things to do. Onto the ports of call......... Cayman Islands-there were no lie 5 other ships that were there so there were approx 10k people there. Super crazy- with all the people. We did the reef and rays tour which was fun but I think if we go back we would do a different excursion. Cozumel-We did the playa Mia excursion where all food and drinks are included, they had water games, trampoline, iceberg, kayaks and paddle boats in the water. It was a lot of fun, and there were no ill feelings with the ice there. FYI Honduras-We went to Maya Key and it was fantastic. There, a meal was included and they had snorkeling that was amazing. It was far superior than other places we snorkeled at. There was an animal sanctuary there and just beautiful landscape. It was so relaxing. Belize-we went cavetubing and it was a lot of fun. The river that goes through the caves was pretty calm and our guide told us that it really picks up in November. With that excurion, you drive approximately 1 hour into the country and there is so much poverty but the country is beautiful. Just so you know, if you are an active blood donor if you go belize and honduras you will be unable to donate for a year. FYI-don't forget your mosquito spray.

I definitely recommend the balcony rooms, it was so relaxing sitting on the balcony and watching the water.

All in all-it was fantastic-we met some awesome people, had awesome service and could not have asked for a better vacation. We would definitely go on this cruise again.