This was our first cruise. We were invited to go with some friends of ours who had been on one before. I was skeptical of being trapped on a ship for a week so I read a bunch of reviews before we agreed to go. In general I found the reviews to be accurate and helpful. I will try to avoid duplicating the same commentary everyone seems to give, but give some detail where I think it is needed.

Embarkation

We arrived in Tampa around noon and made our way quickly to the pier. Unless you are traveling alone, I would recommend taking a cab from the airport to the pier since this will be cheaper and faster than the Carnival bus.

When we got to the pier we had to stand in line for about 2-2 ½ hours. I’m not sure how other reviewers got on board so fast because it seemed like there was no end to the waiting. Also, you stand in big lines – no sitting.

Keep in mind that your luggage may not arrive at your room until later that night (although ours was delivered immediately) so keep some things with you.

Rooms

Our room was on upper deck (front). It was very nice and more spacious than I had expected. Our bathroom worked fine and neither my wife nor I had any complaints about this. Our room steward was great, but she didn’t knock that loudly so you may want to keep your door bolted while you are in the room unless you like having strangers pop in while you’re changing.

Food and drink

Both my friends and wife drink a lot of pop so they all opted for the all you can drink soda card. This worked out ok for them, but they all had two complaints about this:

1. The pop is always poured into plastic cups with ice and it always seemed flat.
2. Bartenders seemed to ignore you at times unless you wanted alcohol.

The alcohol prices are steep, but not unbearable. We had wine with dinner every night and I thought it was reasonable. The beer prices are between 3-5 dollars each with %15 tacked on to every purchase so if you want to drink a lot be prepared to pay for it. They don’t allow you to bring your own liquor on board either.

We all thought the food was very good. We ate up top for breakfasts and lunches and in the dining room for diner. We tried eating breakfast in the dining room once, but none of us enjoyed the experience. Two main reasons:

1. The food is almost the same as that being served upstairs, but you must be waited on. I enjoy being able to walk up and get my own coffee and grapefruit whenever I want.
2. You get seated – always at a table with some strangers who never seem to be in a very talkative mood. We noticed the same thing for the midnight buffets. Had we sat next to friendly folk in the mood for conversation I would probably be touting this policy as a great idea.

Our waiter and assistant (Florin and Werner) were very good - friendly, helpful and generally on top of things. The food was good, but not great. I give them high marks for presentation, but the food could have been more flavorful. And while we certainly didn’t have any bad meals, nothing really knocked our socks off either. Although I finally got to try escargot and I really liked it! The one downside of our dining experience was that we always felt rushed. It seemed like they were always pushing us to finish and get the next thing on the table. This is understandable considering the number of courses they have and the timeframe available. I should also note that my wife and I tend to stretch out dinner quite a bit more than most people I know so others may not notice or object to this. In fact, no one else seemed to notice it.

Ports

We stopped in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and New Orleans. If you plan on getting a tan by the pool, do it between Cayman and Cozumel, the rest of the trip is in a cooler climate. This didn’t bother us too much since we still sat outside in shorts most of the time, but we weren’t sure what to expect.

The stop in Cayman was too short to really do anything. We walked over to Eden Rock and snorkeled, which was great. We rented our snorkel gear from the boat, but I don’t think I would do this again. Everywhere you can snorkel on your stops will rent snorkel gear cheaper and you don’t have to carry it around with you. If you put a deposit down on something try to collect it before you HAVE to go because there might not be anyone working the desk when you need them there (Cayman).

Cozumel was beautiful. We wanted to go sailing, but not on the big catamaran with everyone else so we set out in search of a boat downtown. There is an outfit called Sail Cozumel or something like that (run by a guy named Dan) (keep asking people about sailing until they answer correctly) and they took us out for a couple of hours on a small sailboat. It was perfect for us.

New Orleans. My wife and I have been here about a half dozen times so we like it. My only regret is that the ship doesn’t stick around for any nightlife and doesn’t navigate the Mississippi during daylight (which would be cool to observe). If you’re looking for things to do – check out the French Market which is just past Jackson Square, grab a muffaletta sandwich at Frank’s, Hefe Weizen at Crescent City Brewhouse, and at least visit the cigar shop on Decatur where they make the cigars in front of you.

Debarking

It can take a while to get off the ship. Don’t make your travel plans out of Tampa before 12:30 or 1:00 because you might have some problem making it. We didn’t know this and had a 12:30 flight, which we made without any problem. Considering the wait to get in and the general herding of folks on this last morning, the actual process is quite fast and efficient.

That is it.