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I took this cruise with my girlfriend. It was our first cruise. It started off badly when the dockside baggage handlers demanded "tips" of $1 per bag. We paid him our last two dollars we had on us, after tipping the skycaps in both airports and the bus driver who brought us, because we thought that our bags would be "lost" if we didn't. Next we waited in a long line just to check in which took only about 30 second once we got up to the desk. As we were going aboard the ship we were stopped to take a picture we really didn't want to take due to a bad flight down and the long wait on line. We were tired and did not look our best, who wants a picture of that? We get on board and are directed to our cabin which I was surprised to find was roomy and comfortable. We heard an announcement that lunch was being served on the Lido deck. We went up there to find mass confusion because the plates are stacked up in the middle of the buffet. You have to shove your way through the line to get a plate then go back to the end of the line. The free beverages (oj, lemonade, apple juice, fruit punch, and iced tea) were the same way with glasses stacked up after the ice not before which would make sense. Also, there are no trays so you must carry your plate, glass, and utensils in your two hands. By the way these beverages are only free on the lido deck. We go back to our cabin and look at the "Carnival Capers" which is the ONLY way you know what is going on aboard the ship. This newsletter is poorly organized and some activities were not in there at all. Make sure to carry it with you at all times because it truly is the only way to know what's going on and where. Next we go wandering around trying to find our dining room. We spent a lot of time wandering around the ship because it is difficult to get around and the shipboard maps they give you are useless. I am happy to say that I did not need to use the gym with all of the stair climbing I did just to get around (elevators are slow and crowded), which is good because I didn't find the gym until the end of the cruise. The food at dinner was excellent but the service was severely lacking. They could have been more friendly, attentive and a smile never hurts either. I also had expected dinner to be more elegant and not as casual it was. As a result, it was not very special for me. It was like dining in a T.G.I. Friday's or Bennegan's but with fancier and better food. Also, your dining options are very limited. You have the Coconut Bar and Grill with not so great food, including frozen pizza or the dining room, that's it! Later that night we tried to find something to do but the variety of activities was poorly limited. We wound up sitting in a bar ordering drinks which surprisingly were inexpensive (for NY city prices which we're used to) but tasted horrible. The frozen drinks were sour and bitter and no replacement was any different. And soft drinks, which should be free, cost half of what a cocktail costs. We had booked our shore excursion for our first port of call, Key West, for 8:30 am. The shore excursions desk screwed up the tickets causing us to take a later tour that gave us less time to explore Key West. We liked Key West a lot and wished we could have had more time there. Next up was going to one of their "Las Vegas/Broadway" style shows. There were two during the cruise and both were amateurish and not fit for the Las Vegas nor Broadway venues. The cast, except for one man and woman, lip synch-ed all of the singing parts and the dancing was uncoordinated and sloppy. Considering that the entertainers are utilized for boat drills, bingo games, selling scratch off lottery tickets, and many other functions; maybe the cruise line should just let them rehearse. By the way, get to the shows early because the Palace Lounge where all of the shows were shown has only good views from the center of the first four rows from the stage. The balcony had no good views at all. We got there late and kept moving around looking for a good view. The third day into the trip we got to our second port of call, Cozumel, Mexico. We booked a tour to the Tulum Mayan ruins. The shore excursion desk failed to inform us that the "short, pleasant ferry ride to Playa del Carmen" is actually an hour long and through extremely rough, choppy waters that made us feel like we were on the Andrea Gail (the boat in "The Perfect Storm"). We had panic attacks and got so seasick that it ruined our whole tour. Upon complaining to the Purser's desk (front desk in a hotel) I was offered apologies and platitudes but could not get any part of my money back for the ruined tour. I was told to contact the tour operator directly because the cruise line is not authorized to make refunds, they are authorized to take your money though. Cozumel was nice but too overly commercial. The stores "recommended" by the cruise line are no bargain despite the shopping talk provided by the rude and arrogant cruise director. It is obvious to me that the cruise line gets a kickback from these "shopping specials and bargain stores". In fact there were "bargain" tables set up during the whole cruise that caused bottlenecks and got in way of passengers trying to get around the ship. I also didn't like how we were constantly assaulted for photographs at dinner each night and whenever leaving the ship. The photographers don't ask nor give you a choice to have your picture taken. They just GRAB you, SHOVE you into position and take a picture whether you feel up to it or want it or not. They even block your exit from the ship so you are forced into having your image recorded which made us almost miss our ruined tour of the ruins. Overall it was a good first cruise because we learned what it is like to take a cruise and we saw some places and things we
never saw before. However, the pools close too early, there is not enough variety of activities, and few are free, if
you don't watch your budget you will spend as much as the entire cruise cost, and everything was
either poory organized or unorganized. We will cruise again but never on a Carnival ship.
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