Our check in was smooth at The Queen Mary. We were late bording due to the departing guests...the &quot;superbowl&quot; cruise was pretty wild (and not in a good way) I heard. Once we were on board, we easily found our stateroom (E49) and enjoyed walking around the ship. We had a bit of lunch(loved the deli sandwiches)and walked around some more. We purchased adult fountain cards so we wouldn&#39;t have to pay for sodas. This was a great deal at &#036;22 pp plus &#036;6.60 gratuity. I did notice that the bartenders(tho not all) will not hurry to help you when they see a fountain card, so best to leave it in your pocket until you order if you don&#39;t want to wait.  <br /><br /><br />Dinner the first night was good (probably the best) food wise. The service was friendly, but not as &quot;wonderful&quot; as it has been in the past- maybe this is due to the length of the cruise, but it was fine. <br /><br />Our stateroom was fine-comfy &amp; clean&#33; If you like to sleep in the complete dark, an inside cabin is the one for you-you could sleep forever with the gentle rocking of the ship, so if you need to be up get a wake up call or set an alarm. <br /><br />We did not go to any shows the first night, so I cannot say how they were, but when we did get to the shows, they were fun. There are not many &quot;good&quot; seats in the Normandy Lounge, but we survived. <br /><br />The art auctions are fun&#33; I &quot;won&quot; a piece on the first night-in the main bar in the atrium-by the way Renate, the bartender there is GREAT, they do a mini auction. If you are the first to bid, they will give you the piece free-just be sure it is a piece that starts at like &#036;5- don&#39;t do this on a &#036;2000 piece-he will not give you this for free&#33; <br /><br />I did purchase a nice harbor scene at the actual auction,, which was fun&#33; <br /><br />  Catalina Island was fun-we rented the golf cart and zipped around. There are many great photo ops, and be sure to watch for the dolphins on your tender trip over to the island. I enjoyed the entire experience-the shops are cute, even though I didn&#39;t purchase anything, I enjoyed browsing. We were back on the ship early, noon I think. We layed in the sun &amp; watched the dolphins all day.   <br /><br />Dinner was formal this night. They served lobster-way way way overcooked. I was very dissapointed. I have had lobster on cruises in the past that was perfectly prepared.It seemed that the food went downhill from there. <br /><br />If you do not want cold food, do not eat breakfast at the Paris lounge, enjoy your breakfast at the Destiny dining room. Lunch at the Paris was fine, deli &amp; a salad or go to the Destiny for lunch too. They had a nice Mongolian Steak Salad when we went.We had dinner everynight in the dining room. <br /><br />Cabin service-hmm, it was ok...Thursday my room did not get made up until 5:30 pm, and we were out of it at 9:15 that morning. I complained to the purser, got no resolution. When I saw a steward, I was told &quot;she must have forgot&quot;. HMMMMM. I also had to ask for a wash cloth twice. This seemed like a no brainer. If the room starts with a washcloth, they should be replaced during the cruise.  On Friday morning (debarktion looms) we had one last breakfast, then were off the ship bye 8:15. No waiting, they called our color, then we walked off, into customs, where we waited 1 hour. The other lines were moving quickly, ours was not-luck of the draw, I guess.   <br /><br />All in all, I will cruise on Carnival again-especilly since we won a a 3,4, or 5 day cruise in the raffle on board-woo hoo, and it is an ocean view room&#33; <br /><br />So, I am planning our next trip. I will pick a newer ship.  I hope this had been helpful.