As first timers to Carnival, we were very pleased with our overall adventure. We were very pleased with our cabins, somewhat spacious and a very comfortable bed. I don't remember being able to ever sleep so well on a vacation as we did on this ship.

Food: We were very pleased with the food. As always, the buffet thing was good, but the dining room was much better. I would always recommend taking the dining room when it is offered for the breakfast and lunch as well. The 24 hour pizza was fabulous and the frozen yogurt and ice cream were awesome as well. The favorite dessert at our table was the Chocolate melting cake-A MUST HAVE for you chocolate lovers!! The steak and lobster were wonderful as well. One lobster tail didn't cut it for many of us at our table, so our waiter did not hesitate to bring us all a second!

Ports: Key West-very beautiful. A fun place to try to visit again. We took the free trolley ride/tour offered to us as we got off the ship. Then we walked around, did some shopping and had lunch at a cute little restaurant. Very nice town-too little time. We would have loved to spend an entire day here and would like to visit the Keys for longer period of time sometime. Keep in mind, there is a CVS pharmacy available here that you can buy about anything for much cheaper than on the ship.

Calica: We were very prepared for the scenery of NOTHING but a rock quarry before we even set sail, thanks to reading up the Cruise Reviews. Thank God we were not disappointed since we knew what to except. It really is a rock quarry with a huge parking lot of taxis/buses waiting to take you to Playa Del Carmen. We had been to Playa before, so we chose not to go to Playa, but take a ferry to Cozumel-40 min ride, but very choppy and easy to get sick on. Don't know that I would recommend this as there is very little time to spend in Cozumel then. I would recommend either going to Xel-Ha, which is similar to Xceret. Both are beautiful snorkeling parks. We went to Xel-Ha a year earlier and LOVED IT! Well worth it, about $50/person to go, but very cool if you are into snorkeling at all.
If you just want to shop or enjoy a beach, take a taxi for $5/pp to 5th Ave, right next to the ferry to Cozumel and you can spend the day in this area. Senior Frogs is right there, along with the beach, and lots for shopping. I have heard that you can walk the beach to some of the private areas and rent a lounge chair and have drinks served to you. We did not do this, but in hind sight, I wish we had. Just not enough time to go to Cozumel and back.

Overall experience: We loved it! My only regrets is that we would have picked ports that stayed at the port for the entire day. Both Key West and Calica were very short stays and we would choose cruises more carefully next time. One other thing-we were very glad to have chosen the late dinner seating so we didn't have to rush back to the ship for dinner!

Carnival did a great job overall-easy embarkation and disembarkation-very organized and few delays, really. One more piece of advice-take along your swimwear/loungewear when you get on the ship as your luggage will not arrive for a few hours and if you get on the ship early enough, you can sunbathe, act for a good deal of the day and you will want your swimsuits!