First, embarkation! The best I have EVER experienced!! I arrived at the port at 12 noon, walked right up to the desk, no lines, as smooth as silk! Great! Took about 5 minutes, amazing. Well done Carnival on that! My last cruise was with HAL and it took over 2 hours! You were greeted with free champagne, as much as you wished for, and I have to say, I love champagne, and this was actually pretty palatable too -- pretty decent stuff! I was alone so felt a little self conscious, but after a few glasses of champagne I felt more comfortable. LOL

My luggage was already in my cabin so I quickly unpacked before the lifeboat drill. Asked my cabin steward to make sure to keep my ice bucket full as I had brought some champagne. It was a New Year's Cruise!

First evening at dinner was not the best. My table mates were not the friendliest ... 2 couples and 3 single people. I was put off because the "social graces" for eating were somewhat gross .... slurping of soup and starting before everyone had received their plate, etc..sorry, am I a snob? I felt uncomfortable and unfortunately my food was not the best. I had the sweet and sour shrimp, with soggy batter ... not tasty. Anyway, I decided to forego dessert and got away as soon as I could. Read more