We went on the Carnival Sensation Western Caribbean cruise. The ship is one of their older and smaller ships, but we paid the extra for a room with an external view, and so we liked our cabin. On the first day, we went to the Lido deck for the buffet-style lunch, and the food was *terrible*. I had an eggplant dish that was burned and mushy, which suggests that it was totally overcooked. My wife got a sandwich from the deli bar, and she thought it was awful too. We (of course) never ate the buffet food on the Lido deck after that point. The food in the main "Fantasy" dining room was very good. On the last evening, though, my wife ordered the lobster tails as a treat (for a $20 surcharge), and she ended up with diarrhea the following morning. Word to the wise - *don't* order the lobster tails. They were clearly frozen (rather than fresh), and they contained some kind of pathogen that made my wife sick. The breakfast service was usually slow (in the Fantasy Dining Room), which was a problem on mornings when we had an excursion and had to be ready by a particular time. On one morning, the waiter took our order (after a long delay) and brought our food, but he *never* came back to our table. I had to go to the fruit bar myself to get some fruit for our table, even though only the waiters were supposed to go there. The Cruise Director was energetic and funny, and the comedy shows were good. The musical entertainment was good as well. I rate this experience as "average," because it was such a balance of good and bad.
We checked in online before boarding the cruise, so the boarding process was very smooth.
For the Grand Cayman part of our cruise, I recommend the Stingray Swim excursion. That was a great experience. If you are eating in one of the main dining rooms and like your waiter, you can request that waiter for future meals. We did that for most of our dinners.