We took this cruise as part of a specialty group, which had to get permission for onboard activities, thus we were limited to this particular itinerary. Both my partner and I have traveled on Carnival for some time... I turned Gold on this trip, and she turned Platinum. We had a balcony room on the 8th deck, and it was certainly a nice room, with a great view. The ship is still in great shape, and was very enjoyable, however there were a few things that I didn't like.

First... the NFL football playoffs were not available unless you went to the casino, or to the sports bar. The casino was filled with cigarette smoke, and the sports bar was just filled beyond capacity. Because Dallas was playing in the Saturday night game, there was a LOT of interest in the game. Carnival no longer has local channels on their shipboard TV (speaking of which.. the choices for in-room entertainment are very slim).

Unfortunately, in todays world, its almost impossible to get totally out of touch, therefore internet is a necessity, not a luxury. However, the shipboard internet is woefully lacking. Download speeds were as bad as a 1200 baud modem at times, and never got any better than decent dialup (for those old enough to remember that). Read more