We have cruised with several lines and hadn't booked with Carnival since 1999 because we really enjoyed Freestyle Cruising on NCL unless there was a specific itinerary we wanted on an alternate line. That said, since March, 2010 until our departure February 27, 2011 we have cruised on Carnival 3 times because of several birthday celebrations. During the past year we've been on the Glory, Triumph and now the Legend.

We came back to Carnival because we wanted a cruise with affordable prices for a balcony room, anytime dining and interesting itineraries. We were very pleasantly surprised by how much the dining and entertainment has improved since 1999 and allowing you to each bring a bottle of wine onboard to enjoy in your room is a definite bonus. As noted on the information, corkage is only charged if you take your own wine to the dining room.

Several reviews have compared Carnival to Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America. I don't believe this is a fair comparison as there is a significant difference in balcony pricing between these lines and Carnival and lets face it, reductions have to be made somewhere if there's a savings passed along to the customer. Read more