DO NOT SAIL THIS SHIP! We just returned from the worst cruise I have ever been on. This ship is old, dirty, food is horrible, and the ammenites are the worst. We "splurged" on a suite ($1600) for my friend's 40th birthday because there were no balcony rooms on this ship. DON'T DO IT. The "verrandah" rooms are a joke. 2 could barely fit on the balcony. My legs literally hung over the edge while sitting out there (I'm only 5'6"). And the "verandah cabins" are right under the aerobics classes, so if you want to sleep past 7AM, forget it. Definitely not a "suite" It was tiny and cramped just like a regular cabin - false advertising....The bathroom smelled; pool was a joke- it was slightly larger than the pool in my backyard for over 2000 people! We could not get near it at all and even had a hard time finding a place to sit; Imagine 5 days in the Mexican sun and no place to cool off. Staff was not friendly- seemed irritated when we asked questions like when we asked for help with the safe that did not work; we constantly had to ask for ice, our ashtray was not emptied from Thursday until Saturday afternoon; I had to gather dirty dishes and put outside the door otherwise they just sat in our room; the "bar" in the room was a barely cold refrig with 5 or 6 beat up soda cans in it; we NEVER EVER saw the stateroom attendant-Isn't that unusual? The food was awful. We ordered tiger shrimp as an appetizer one night and it was 3 little thawed out shrimp no bigger than my pinky finger on a piece of lettuce. Overall the food was bland and the buffet lines were very long. Bar staff was not friendly either. I'm not talking about one isolated experience. We bought drinks at several bars - pool deck, lobby, nightclub, theater, cigar bar and all staff acted like they were doing you a favor!
I know this sounds like I am blowing off steam - I am - but I hope I can forewarn someone from spending their hard earned money and vacation time on this ship. $1600 plus $800 we spent on spa services (which was pretty good overall) and incidentals and we feel like we were ROBBED. We couldn't wait to get off the ship. CARNIVAL'S RESPONSE- "I'm sorry you didn't have a good time. Have a nice day." DO NOT SAIL THIS SHIP. Never again. BTW - Ladies in the room next to us on a class reunion were as upset and disappointed as we were about the room and our dining companions thought the food was not acceptable so we know it wasn't just us being difficult. I'll stick with RC or Celebrity.