This was our first Carnival experience, and it was completely upsetting, and we would not recommend the ship at all let alone recommend Carnival Cruise lines. We typically do not complain at all because we know things are never to be perfect, but this was an experience that we never want to experience again. We had a balcony room and the people in room next to us smoked pot and it made it where we could not enjoy the balcony we purchased extra for. The buffet was closed more than it was open. The quality of the food left a lot to be desired in flavor and portions. There were many times we had to reorder something because we could not even chew the meat it was so tough or fatty. My husband's steak was so small he ended up ordering the filet mignon 3 times which was extra $23 a night we did not have or should not have had to spend. The smell of sewage when we boarded was nauseating. The stress Carnival put on everyone to test for Covid, download apps, etc made no sense when they piled everyone so close together in the port prior to boarding. There were no hand washing stations only sanitizing gel which people did not use prior to going to buffet. The buffet was closed more than it was open which made lines for pizza, hamburgers, and tacos extremely long. The buffet ran out of bacon and substituted with sausage and hot dogs. I did not pay for a cruise to get hotdogs. The breakfast buffet had eggs benedict that was so hard we could not cut with a knife. We missed our ship excursion on Wednesday because ship did not get clearance until 11 am and our excursion was for 11 am. The process to get off the boat for excursion was ridiculous we sat on stairwell with hundreds of other people for almost an hour. We got to the bus pickup / drop-off and our bus had already left. We booked through Carnival, and we would have thought they would have realized boat got in at time we were to board excursion and waited but they did not. We did get a refund for difference and got on another bus, but it was not the trip we had planned for. The music on the ship and entertainment was disappointing. The singers on the Welcome Aboard show were so off key and sounded like they did not practice at all. I honestly felt bad for them. A few nights we had nothing to do and just went to bed. Honestly, would have expected more variety of entertainment. Getting off the ship when we came back to port was also something that needs to be worked on. The elevators were so backed up and they continued to call other muster stations without letting the previous muster station disembark first. I honestly wanted to cry the trip was so bad. We traveled with 2 other couples, and they all agreed it was one of the worst experiences we have ever had. Spoke to many other passengers and all said same thing, "they would never book this ship or this cruise line again."

On a good note, the Staff in dining room, at the bars, in the comedy club and our steward as well as Jersey the Comedian were Amazing. They are the only reason I did not rate this a (0).

The attention to detail from the staff, their friendliness and overall wonderful dispositions made the cruise the only bearable thing. My husband is a real jokester, and they were able to give it right back to him. It was the best time we had the entire cruise was interacting with them. Read more