I was concerned and almost canceled my cruise; the size, how few activities available, warnings by other posts about food outlets closing and boring casino concerned me.
The food was outstanding.. shows were great.. there was no question on where you stood in the casino.. The casino had good activity... the food outlets all closed at 2am. I didn't have time to do the activities but wished I could have hit the rock wall. They would come around selling the upgraded food but the food was good already.. I'm not sure why but I was having to be close to a toilet shortly after eating but it really tasted great.
However the bread. Biscuits and pizza was sweet and took away from the experience.. the donuts not good.. kinda cake donuts but honestly tasted like the same bread..
The last sea day those machines were tight.. when the casino closed after the last seaday.. the doors closed so there was nowhere but the windy chilly outside to smoke.. The adult area was nice and would have been even better if there were even a deck area to smoke and the hottubs were open more than the 1st seaday..
There was a maintenance issue that kept us from leaving till way late in the night.. when the casino was about to open there was a medical issue which caused us to go back. We were ok but several had excursions they missed out on. It probably saved us money in the casino.
There was a pleasant smoking area we could watch the movie, sit comfortably and not have to hold our food in our laps... hop in the pool/hottub and still be able to see our stuff..
which is lacking more and more on Carnival
The halls, rooms and bathrooms were smaller than those we are used to on Carnival. No refrigerators.... dang I hated that.
The Stewardess was great and very pleasant. We had a rather negative experience with room service.. one of those .. tell you what you want then forget you.. we just had a need for ice the last night we hadnt prior.
We bought the drink package but still drank some tea, coffee and juice from the Lido which would have been free.. It was taisty.. We hadnt planned to buy the drink package but they had a special that brought it to a near comfortable price, however we had expected to be able to get shakes on the package.. Melissa was very disappointed on that.
We normally ate in the Liddo but ate 2x in the dining room and it was a great experience.. Sergee's team were great hosts.
There was a piano show that was over the top awesome... right up there with my personal favorite live performers CheapTrick.. imo..
Disembarkation... yes folks say it's bad because they dont want to leave the cruise.. well.. for us. We like to cruise but ready to go home and disembarkation is the lasting impression of the cruise therefore if I were to add to a guests experience... it would be the last day.. All cruises could learn from the disembarkation from our Sunshine in February, Breeze in March... I would even say Fantasy in August 2018 but our January on the Fantasy tarnished it
The outside only smoking was cold and windy on the last day.. really wish the casino bar would have stayed open.. even if it were for limited drinks and smoking..
The host started to organize the disembarkation but then she created chaos..
We were to meet in the theater. We should have been organized there and there should have been plenty of crew guiding the passengers so you didn't have so many bottle necking from all directions. That and the refrigerators costs a star almost 2..
We have learned however... one can be on the same ship.. almost the same crew.. and different experience only a couple months apart