1st Carnival cruise

Thank you for your review. Your comment about crowds on Carnival being loud and raucous is true but typically on short summer time sailings. My experience on longer cruises has been much like yours.

I've always found the wait staff to be excellent... never had a complaint.

So glad you enjoyed your TA and the ship.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Transatlantics do get an older, more seasoned crowd, I think. Plus, kids are back to school in fall, and that will make most any cruise from Sept through early November much quieter than usual. I think I counted a total of 5 babies and toddlers on our NE/Canada cruise 2 weeks ago. It's a great time to cruise!

Thanks for your review, Saltydog. It's good to hear that Carnival is doing a good job. I was supposed to be on the "Breeze" a few weeks back but had to cancel. My friends loved the cruise.

So glad you had an enjoyable Carnival cruise. Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review. I, too, am glad that you were pleasantly surprised.

How was the transatlantic? Was the ocean choppy? What was the weather like?

We have crossed the pacific to go from San Diego to Hawaii. We had 5 days of clouds and choppy seas. The crew told us that that was "to be expected" sailing weather.

The trip back from Hawaii to CA didn't seem to be as cloudy and choppy, but it wasn't the hot, sunny travel that we thought we would have.

But with that being said, I'd do it again in a hearbeat!

Nice review – thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great itinerary!

To my surprise the seas were almost calm in the North Atlantic. Having sailed the NA when I was in the Navy it can be brutal out there. This time we mostly had the sailors term of 'fair winds and following seas'. Temps were in the 60's until we got to Iceland and then it dropped into the 40's for the rest of the trip. We also found the Pacific much rougher when we went from Los Angeles to Hawaii a few years ago.

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Good to know. I have been looking at TransAtlantic cruises. But was cautious after we did the TransPacific.