Of all our past cruises, this as the first where we actually were sailing for Valentine's Day, and it was a wonderful way to celebrate romance. We had an aft (but not aft-FACING) oceanview cabin on the Main Deck, that was a great size for a 5-day cruise with more than adequate storage, but in all fairness, we had only brought a carryon and a backpack each. As Platinum cruisers on Carnival, our favorite perk is the free laundry which makes the light packing do-able. The shower's size was a welcome change from those on our usual cruise line where the shower curtain tends to become a bit too familiar! Our only 2 un-favorite factors about the accomodations were: 1) I got the side of the bed where I had to crawl over the foot of the bed to go to the bathroom and 2) For 3-1/2 of the 5 days of the trip there was a foul, garbage/sewage smell in the hallway near the elevator on our floor. Near the end of the trip after repairs were performed in a ceiling panel, there were ventilation fans and some kind of miarcle odor-eliminating stuff put in place that took care of the problem.

We're not "show-goers", so I have no comments about the ship's stage entertaininment, but the music performers that we heard about the ship were pretty universally good and the Cruise Director's announcements weren't too obtrusive.

We usually become pretty well-known in the casino and this trip was no exception. Before the end of the trip, the casino hostess knew DH and I so well that she was offering us free drinks. The staff was great fun and, although we overall lost money gambling, we kind of enjoyed doing it. Read more