For those who say: "Anything but Carnival", they should have been with us the week of July 8 on this ship and itinerary. The service, food, and entertainment were superb.

We have been on over 85 cruises and have done this ship and itinerary before several years ago, but just wanted a summer gettaway other than the usual Caribbean. We flew to Los Angeles and had booked Super Shuttle. They showed up on our phone with an app that asked if we were down yet, what terminal, and asked us to notify them when we headed out to their location, a little after noon. We waited only a few minutes and the shuttle made only one stop enroute Long Beach. We pulled up into the garage, porters were waiting for our luggage, and we headed to the priority check-in, because as Platinum VIFP members, we have Faster to the Fun priority check-in. We were soon headed aboard and went directly to our cabin. Cabins were available to those with Faster to the Fun by 11:45, and to others by 1:30.

After some pizza for lunch and the lifeboat drill, we were on our way about 5pm. The weather was great the whole week except for the last sea day returning to Long Beach. Food really surprised us. We had sailed most recently on Carnival Vista, their newest ship, and even that didn't match this. Food included prime rib, lobster and shrimp, mahi, lamb shank, roast tenderloin, great soups...both hot and cold ones...and amazing appetizers including things like oysters rockafeller. They feature an appetizer and entree each night including items representative of the ports in Mexico, and they, too were very nice. They had all my favorite desserts, like crème Brule, and Grande Marnier soufflé. We purchased a 5 wine package at the mid-price of three offered, and it included some very nice wines, including a prosecco we enjoyed on the first cruise elegant night with our lobster and shrimp. The lobster was cooked perfectly, which is not often the case in mass production. Read more