We cruised for the first and last time on Carnival in December, 2000. We chose Carnival over other cruise lines because we were travelling with our two teenaged sons. We thought a younger crowd might be better for them and they might enjoy the experience more.

>From the moment we entered the ship, we were shook down for money and that continued for the entire 7 day cruise. The ship was so overbooked with multiple children staying with parents in cabins that they actually announced that the ship was slightly over capacity. This fact showed. You could never get an elevator that did not have multiple children camped out on the floor - riding it up and down for hours. You could not get a piece of "specialty" pizza because the poor people working the pizzeria could not keep up with cheese and pepperoni. The one night we ventured into the dining room, we never did recieve drinks, our meals were cold and the fat from the meats had congealed on top of the plates. All the while, however, the waiters frequently joined in to stand atop counters and dance for us. As we remained hungry, they danced away.....

The grill at the back of the ship did serve hot food (when it was open). The buffets were predictable and most of the food satisfied an empty spot, but we had been anticipating something more for our money. Desserts were awful and we frequently bought our children dessert cakes at the coffee bar for $4.50 per serving. We also purchased soda cards for our children. The bars ignored them when they tried to get a drink and we wound up paying for soda at the bars for them.

The "Vegas-Style" shows were sorely lacking. Many times, when we would go to a specific bar to see the "attraction," canned music was playing and there was not a musician in sight.

The ports of call were beautiful and were beyond our expectations. Overall, this cruise experience was a nightmare. We collectively lost weight and were often hungry aboard. We gave up on the dining room and lived off of pizza (when available) on our "fun days at sea." Our first stop when we came back from the cruise was to a local steak restaraunt to eat.

The one area where the staff and ship shined was our room stewart. Believe it or not, the highlight of our day was to find our room clean and a towel animal on the bed or dresser. He was truly wonderful and our tip reflected that.

We complained on our comment card. We complained via e-mail. We complained in writing and we complained to Cruise Magazine. Carnival NEVER acknowledged our dissatisfaction. No one did!

There were so many children booked on this cruise that ice cream machines were frequently broken, common areas were unusable, pools and jaccuzi's were unapproachable and the lack of control parents demonstrated with their children was deplorable. Frequently at breakfast, we would hear parents telling their children to meet them at dinner. That was 10 hours away! I guess they figured that if their kids didn't fall off the ship, they would catch them later.

My advice - go OFF SEASON while the little dears are in school. My two teenaged sons were also appauled and hung out with us because the unsupervised kids aboard acted like unsupervised 10-17 year olds (maybe because they were). This cruise (with airfare) cost us around $3,800. That was 15 months of saving for us. It is now almost December, 2004 and I am still angry that my money was taken and they took a week of my life. If we would have had enough money, we would have flown home from one of the ports.

What a waste of time, money and anticipation. Carnival met my worst expectation. Our next vacation is going to be . . . a cruise. It will not be with Carnival! It will be off season! It will be to a place where mostly older folk go. We will eat, drink and enjoy the trip.