[Gusteau]

I've been on three Carnival cruises with my family and have enjoyed them all. I have heard a lot of the criticisms for Carnival, and though I don't disagree with them I feel that they are often exaggerated. The type of crowd is going to be younger and perhaps a bit rowdier because of the price, but if you don't allow that to bother you it won't. What I mean by that is if you're going to have a bad time on a cruise ship with everything you could ever want available to you, it's probably your attitude and not the fellow cruisegoers that's a problem.

Figure out if you mind sitting in a group or at a table by yourselves, and reserve early if you want to be alone! We were at a table by ourselves twice and with other groups once, and both were good experiences. When we were at a large table it was with one couple and four friends in their late twenties, we ended up hitting it off and having a great time. I will say that my parents, sister, and I all tend to be of the social butterfly variety, so we didn't mind being with other people, but some people might. I might even say we had more fun when it wasn't just a "family dinner."

I thought the food was very good, but not incredible. Some dishes were incredible, but in general I would call the food significantly better than your average catering hall, but not necessarily as good fine dining restaurant - probably just because of the sheer quantity they had to turn out. The ships we were on did not have any smaller dinner only places (I don't know if any Carnival ships do), so I would recommend the main dinning room for dinner. If you eat elsewhere for diner (and their are certainly many other options) it's going to be standard buffet fare - it's worth getting dressed up and going to dinner. I wished they had been more strict about enforcing their dinner dress code on all three occasions, but that's just because I'm a snob who likes getting dressed for dinner lol.

In general, I'm a fan of Carnival. I'd like to try other lines, but based just on my experience I think you could have a great trip with them.