This was my first cruise; I went with my mother, who had been on five other Carnival cruises, and my two teenaged daughters. We drove to Tampa and parked in the garage; embarkation was smooth, and the wait was not too long.

Lunch was served on the Lido deck and in the adjoining Seaview Restaurant, and the wait there was long. Throughout the week, food was acceptable, but not anything like I had expected. My mother was quite disappointed with the food in comparison to the other cruises she had traveled on. The ship is older and there are stains on the hallway carpets and the infamous odor of sewage is noted in the hallways and in the stateroom from time to time.

We had some problems with our dinner assignments. Originally our group of four were split to two different tables, and we requested to be given seats together. We were sent to the bar to wait for half an hour or more after dinner was started. This was very frustrating. The next evening we were assigned to the other dining room with George the Greek, and his serving staff were awesome. But again, the seats we were supposed to be sitting in were taken. We had to stand around again, waiting until they found seats for us. George and his staff did what they could to work it out, and by the third evening, we had nice seats and great service, and we were able to enjoy the dinner. Read more