This was my fifth cruise, my partner and my adult daughter's second cruises and 4 1/2 year old grandson's first cruise and our first cruise with Carnival. My partner and I had a standard balcony cabin on deck 6 very near the front of the ship and daughter and grandson had an inside cabin directly across from ours. Both rooms were spacious, the beds and pillows were very, very comfortable making for a great night's sleep every night. We had much more than enough closet and storage space for our over abundance of clothing etc. that we brought and never even used. Our room steward Waynan was very friendly (getting to know us all by first name immediately) and did a great job keeping our rooms in tip top shape and frequently entertained the 4 1/2 year old. We chose the dine on your own time option, which was convenient. We were seated immediately when we arrived each evening, never having to wait on any of the 7 out of 8 nights we ate in the Bacchus Dining Room (upper level only is available for those on this plan). My only complaint is that I would have enjoyed eating and talking with other cruisers, but that only happened one night. On the other nights our family ate alone as there were no "shared" tables available. That also might have been because we ate fairly late, so fewer people were coming in even after we were seated at a "shared" table. With this dining option, you do not really get to know your waiter as you sit in a different place each time. The food itself was delicious, more than ample as on any cruise, and pretty much available from early morning up to 1 AM!

I can't say enough about Camp Carnival which our 4 1/2 year old loved. I think he would have preferred to be with his new "friends" during the whole trip! He was in the 2-5 year old group. I was very impressed with the security used to sign the kids in and out of program and we could see how he was doing any time we wanted. Their afterhours (after 10 PM) program was also conveniently held in the same area at a reasonable price of $6/hour broken down to 15 minute segments so you were not charged the full hour if you only stayed 15 minutes. They even had a dinner time in the Horatio's Restaurant blocked off separately for the children who chose to eat with them at 6 PM and then they would take the children back to the playroom together. My only complaint is that they really are kept inside in a room (although a large, fun room) for the whole time the child is in program. The staff is not permitted to take this age group out on deck or to the pool, so they are pretty much inside when they take part in the camp. Our practice was to make sure we did lots of outside activities swimming, mini-golf, and lunch etc during most of the day and then bring him to camp while the adults enjoyed the evenings. Camp Carnival (a free service) it is something I would highly recommend for any children on board; even the teens seemed to be having a great time.

I must have misunderstood or misread, but there were really plenty of pool areas (3 pools) and lounge chairs available, although you might not always get a chair in the area you wanted. We did not get to go on the waterslide as all three times we attempted to go, the slide was closed due to high winds. I had previously read a lot of complaints about loud, rude people from the New York/New Jersey area. I did not find this to be the case at all. Everyone was very friendly and courteous and yes, most were from NY and NJ. As school is already in progress, there were fewer families and definitely more seniors on board. Read more