We won this cruise. It left from Galveston. The boarding process as expected but with large fans providing air flow at the port. Once on ship we had to report to our muster areas which is all well and good but none of the crew knew how to direct you to your your specific area. There was little to no air conditioning and we arrived hot and sweaty. The cabins were very noisy to the point that you could hear toilets flushing all night. There was little to no AC and we spent most of the night sweating. The airflow was terrible and the cabin smelled musty. You could hear people walking up and down the halls, talking, and the elevator running. The buffet was a joke. The food was so bad that I saw a heaping plates barely touched. Scrambled eggs were runny and cold. Toast with soggy and portions were limited. The biggest surprise was that bacon was only served two times and you were limited to three pieces. If you ask for more, you got one additional piece and no more. I was surprised to see eggs Benedict. I must say that I have never had over hard eggs Benedict before. For lunch, I must say that the salads were good. The variety of dressings were limited to vinegar and oil, ranch, blue cheese and thousand Island. At dinner, meats were sliced paper thin and were dry or fatty. You only got to have two slices at a time and if you wanted more you had to stand in line again. French fries were soggy. The pasta looked great if you liked clams or other seafood mixed in with it. All the food was cold and deli sandwiches had rubbery cheese binding the bread together. The desserts were ala Little Debbie snack cakes, and boxed cookies, and Walmart mass produced cakes. I was surprised to see no snack foods to be found for the kids. The unlimited soft serve ice cream machines were great if there have been cones to go along with the ice cream. They were also no toppings. The real kicker was it on movie nights, popcorn was available at the price of $4.50 per small box. On the last day, waiters were selling single tea bags at breakfast. The seating in the dining areas consisted of chairs and bench seats that were child height. Most adults needed help getting up from them. The smoke and the smell from the smoking area of the casino was very heavy. That was very indicative of the lack of ventilation throughout the ship. Most people I spoke to couldn't wait to get off the ship. In Belize, the tenders from the ship to shore were filled with fumes and extremely hot. On board they were only three little stores to shop from. They were Effy jewelry, a duty free watches, jewelry, and perfumes store, a Carnival store and a porta-potty sized expensive penny candy type store. The layout of the ship left a lot to be desired. At many points you had to go down one floor and then up another floor to get to the other side of the ship. The worst part was the lack of air conditioning throughout. I found it very sad that the best food was Guy Fieri's burgers and the pizza. Debarkation back at Galveston resembled a herd of cattle in a hot unventilated runway. The only air was from large fans placed periodically on the gangway. All in all this was the worst cruise experience I could have imagined. Let me just say that I have been on Carnival once before and was very displeased then. I have cruised with Royal Caribbean two times also and had very few complaints with them. The only plus on this cruise, was the very pleasant staff throughout. I would truly think twice about taking a free cruise from them. I would probably gift it. I would not suggest Carnival as a first cruise.