Just returned from first cruise ever! We did the 7 nights/8 days out of Tampa on the Carnival Legend in July. I will try to organize my thoughts so it makes more sense for you!
FOOD: Great food, nice selection. Lido deck was pretty crowded for lunch. We ate in main dining room every night for dinner, and had room service for breakfast most mornings since we needed to get off ship as early as possible for excursions. Main dining room service was pretty good, except it took about 3 nights to get them to bring refills for our lemonade/ice tea. Dining room entertainment was cute/fun. The assistant maitre d (John from India) was very personable!
ENTERTAINMENT: We enjoyed most of the comedians, family and adult shows! Marriage show was funny. The other big shows were good, just not my "thing." Lots of fun things to choose from, but not enough time to fit it all in.
Our only real "complaint" would be our cabin. We paid an upgrade charge to go from a deck 6 interior cabin to a deck 1 cabin with a window. Having the window was GREAT! However, we inherited a cabin with bad AC. After several calls to guest services, various technicians pulling apart things in our room, the cabin temperature never got below 76, which Carnival says is in their "normal range." Even though we were still very uncomfortable and our cabin was "damp" most of the time, guest services didn't try to accommodate us in any way, which was very disappointing. Our cabin steward did an okay job, nothing impressive. Not the same service they enjoyed on deck 5, 6, 7, etc., where the rest of our family was located. Even though we were close to the lounge/area for shows, noise was never a problem. Closet space was not enough for 2 adults, 2 kids. Of course we also brought snacks, snorkel gear, etc. Window was GREAT to have!