The food was not great, in fact as a foodie, I would describe it as mediocre. Dinner was best, but still not stellar, desserts were the best part of every meal. Even the kids thought it was gross. One of a small list of reasons we chose a cruise over a resort vacation was for the food. I've been on 5 cruises (my 2nd Carnival) and this was by far the worst food I'd ever had on a cruise, unless you went to the steakhouse and paid (approx $50 per person with the required gratuity). Which was frustrating because it proved that Carnival had the ability to make delicious food, but chose not to. This made me believe that they did this intentionally to get patrons to pay for the steakhouse. The steakhouse was amazing, the best steak I have ever had in my life. I was so full from all the yummy food that I couldn’t even think about dessert.
If you had large groups for dinner, you usually had to wait more than an hour for a table and there weren’t any snacks nearby to hold people over. You couldn’t make a reservation for the regular dining, so we had to wait every night or break up our group to eat dinner. It would have been great if Carnival would have allowed all groups over 6 or 9 to make reservations. I learned to get a small snack prior to dinner to keep from feeling sick from hunger.
The only 24 hour food is pizza (mediocre at best) and usually had long lines after bars let out...which makes sense. My husband has a gluten sensitivity and so for a late night snack he had to order pizza and only eat the toppings (not a lot of food and a waste). They did pretty good at getting pizza out quickly, but you couldn't really special order because of this. Usually there was pepperoni available and if you wanted anything else, you'd have to wait a while. It would have been great if Carnival offered other 24 hour options, but considering how poor the food was to begin with, I suppose this would not have made a big difference.
We had a balcony (not sure if I chose the correct category) on the 7th floor. It was perfect. I highly recommend the 7th floor since the elevators are super slow. You usually only have to go up or down a few flights of stairs from the 7th floor if you need anything.
We just got on and off the ship in Miami, so I don't really have any thoughts one way or the other.
The water was beautiful, which is why I gave 3 stars. The locals will scam you and do drug deals in front of you. One guy pulled a machete on another local due to a "turf" situation. I will not be visiting Grand Turk again.
I absolutely LOVE PR and wish I had more time to see more. We will be going back to do more there in the future. The tour of old town and new town was great, but the fort was amazing!
We went snorkeling at Turtle Cove and had an open bar. It was a great tour and absolutely beautiful. I will return to St Thomas in the future.
Amber Cove is beautiful with all of the jungle trees. However, it is also very poor and dirty. We took a fabulous excursion to a big home with free food and drink on the beach. Mama was funny and the food was AMAZING! I could see returning and doing the same excursion or staying at a resort, but I would not go on my own due to crime and how dirty it is.