This was my 2nd cruise (first one was May 2010 on Carnival Dream) and my husband's 4th cruise (all Carnival). First of all we LOVED Carnival in May it was so much fun and exciting and we didn't even get that great of weather. I was very excited to go on this cruise with a larger group of people. I am 27 and my husband is 28. On this cruise I was pregnant (woo!) so I guess I had a little bit different of a cruise experience. My husband really doesn't drink so he was fine. We were on this cruise to enjoy our friend's wedding. They got married on the ship on sunday before the rest of the vacationers were allowed on the ship. It was a wonderful ceremony and they did a great job for a reception in the one night club.

All in all we definitely had a wonderful vacation, so much so that I cried when it was time to go home (hormones). However, if we had to choose between Carnival and Princess based on overall experience on the ship I would pick Carnival hands down. People complain about Carnival having "tacky" ships...well i thought Princes was TRYING to look too "country club"... but it didn't come off rich at all it just looked cheap. I'd rather just have the "fun" look of carnival. The ship's layout was VERY choppy. I thought the buffet lines were cramped and I was not impressed with the selection of food. I expected Princess' food to be top notch and it was still on the same caliber as Carnival (I'm a food snob). I will say i was impressed that there were more fish options and LOVED that they had LOX for breakfast (yes i know I shouldnt' eat that but i couldn't resist). I did enjoy the freedom of Any-time dining but we still ate around the 8-830 time frame so it didn't matter. Some of our wait staff was not pleasant and took FOREVER to serve us. The food selections for dinners were not that impressive and actually very dissappointing but still tasted ok. The Steakhouse was WELL WORTH the $20. It is basically like going to Ruth Chris for $20.

I like to workout and enjoyed the gym every morning at 630am. I did not like how the "track" was not one complete circle unless you go up and down steps and was closed sometimes in the early mornings. Read more