This was the worst Carnival cruise I have been on. The embarkation process was a little long, but I think that is the same for most cruises. Once on board, everything seemed to be perfect. We put our belongings away and headed to the muster station for the safety drill. We then changed into swimsuits and headed to the pool, ready for a cocktail and some R&R. When we ordered our drinks, we were told that we couldn't be served because we had not been to the muster drill. After about 15 minutes, they got that cleared up, and now, with drinks in hand we proceeded to find a place on the pool deck. The main pool was already completely full, so we headed to the aft pool, only to find that it was out of service. On the positive side, there were plenty of empty lounge chairs, so we shrugged off the idea of swimming, and did a little sunbathing instead. Later that night, we received a letter that said our excursion had been cancelled. First thing the next day, we headed to the excursion desk for an explanation and some options. We were told that our excursion was turned into a "bubble" tour that was only for non-vaccinated people...this was a vaccinated only cruise! They said there were a lot of families on board that had unvaccinated kids, and we weren't allowed to be on an excursion with them because we were vaccinated (but being in the pools and restaurants on the ship was apparently ok). We had booked this 6 weeks prior to sailing, but they waited until we were on board to let us know they changed it. We were left with very few options at this point. We told the steward we wanted a sandy beach. She suggested the "beach escape", so we signed up for that.

The next morning, we arrived at the beach excursion and were told the mask rules, beach rules, what was available to purchase, etc.... We proceeded to head to the beach, only to find that there isn't any sand. It's only rocks and broken shells. We carefully tried to get into the water, but my friend cut her toe on the rocks, so retreated back to the shore. There was a pool there, although food and drinks weren't allowed, so we swam for a bit, then took the first taxi back to the ship. This excursion was a total waist of time and money.

The next day (last day at sea) we headed to the pool. As usual, all loungers were accounted for, so we headed to aft pool again. We were very happy to find that they had filled the pool and there were available loungers, so we settled in. About ten minutes later, we started seeing black oily dots all over us. The exhaust from the "tail" was spewing oil droplets all across the aft pool area! There was a steward there that was continually mopping the deck, so everything looked clean at first. This is probably why there were empty loungers. That evening we went to the laser show called "Flick", only the lasers weren't working, so it was just 4 singers sitting on barstools singing. Read more