I'm probably not your target Carnival customer but over the years I've really come to like Carnival because it does so many things well. The price is reasonable and it is very family friendly. And at the end of every vacation my son and I have come away saying "wow, that was a really, really great cruise and we had a lot of fun!"

The September 4th sailing out of San Juan was no exception. We traveled to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. St. Maarten was canceled as a port of call because of Tropical Storm Marie. And that's where I want to commend Carnival for the way it handled Marie. We were given plenty of information that a storm was approaching and when it became apparent that our return trip to San Juan might be delayed, Carnival responded with free phone calls from our cabin and free internet. A nice gesture and really helpful. Turns out we arrived back in San Juan on schedule, but it was incredible peace of mind to be able to call loved ones and employers (in that order) to let them know about potential delays. It was also nice being able to line up travel options in the event we didn't make it back to San Juan.

This particular cruise was a great deal of fun. Apologies to fellow cruisers if my 9-year-old son Jake became over-explosed on the ship but he just loved taking part in the on-deck parties, the shows and on-board activities ranging from karaoke to comedy shows to kids activities. Read more