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I’m not bobbyvotes, but here are our two cents.

We’re long-time Princess cruisers — 20+ cruises. As with most things, the quality isn’t what it used to be.

Have done Celebrity. It was OK; entertainment sucked.

Did Carnival in the ‘80, which was beyond terrible. Sounds like it still is.

We’ve looked at Explora, but it looks more snooty-patooty than we like.

I really miss the cruises from 1988 through about 2010. I miss the dress up nights and the festive midnight buffets with decorations, live music and cherry jubilee desserts. There were no all you can drink packages but drinks were not expensive. Now all I see is crowded bars.

Princess cruises was big in those days. We achieved platinum status on princess. Now I prefer Royal Caribbean ships with ice skating shows, such as Oasis of the Seas.

There are two Carnival ships which would change your opinion: the Venezia and the Firenze. These are two `135K ton ships brought over from Costa and touted as "Fun Italian Style". Granted, the entertainment is somewhat low brow, and there are lots of mobility scooters rolling around clogging up the decks, but the facilities and the general atmosphere is outstanding. I've probably spent 50 days aboard them and never once saw so much as an argument, much less anything worse. The food is good too, but, of course, tastes vary. I start off with a big breakfast of an omelet, home fries, and grits, skip lunch, and have an Indian vegetarian entrée for dinner, then perhaps some excellent Neapolitan pizza at midnight. Even with all that, I lost five pounds on my last ten-day voyage, after I hit the gym, the walking track, and the sauna every day. Book something with what they call a "cove balcony" and you are twenty-feet above the water with spectacular views sitting outside your cabin at night, at dawn, and at sunset.

Well, as you see, I love those ships.