I will be able to chime in with my opinion in a little over a month Hopefully it will be good. I have heard that their service and food has improved over the last few years. When I told our TA that we wanted to go with Carnival and asked her what she thought.....she said, "Well, they're different." And then when I asked, "How are they different?" She just said that their ships and atmosphere were just not as (I think she said) 'elegant'. We shall see......