We too were on the 27th sailing. It was our first time with Carnival and being honest, I had a lot of friends tell me not to do a 3 or 4 day Carnival as it will be like watching drunks inside a pinball machine and bouncing everywhere! However, for me and my two girls it was fine, you could party if you wanted and have a quiet time if you wanted to. All I needed was the ability to relax and I could. Never saw any trouble (though we did see one guy settling his account Weds night, and escorted with his suitcase, so assume he was under some form of room arrest and met by Port's Canaveral's law enforcement and handcuffs on Friday!!).
MDR was fine, food varied from good to ok. One day I ordered the Grilled chicken, and yes, it was chicken grilled. No seasoning at all! π. I had to get them to tell me what the Indian dish was and it took a battle! However, i enjoyed the meals, and the desserts were fine. The Lido was a crapshoot, but my girls loved it, particularly the cakes.
My eldest was determined to try Guys burgers but declared it could have easily been called Bobs or Simons burgers. Nothing special she said!! I found it fine. Fries were fries.
I too found the lines weren't really a problem and I liked the fact I could get in line on the app for MDR breakfast and the Sea Brunch. We didn't try the Omelette stations, Mongolian Wok or the Deli, simply because we couldn't be bothered. The lines weren't super long though.
Staff were friendly, and quite frankly handled some folks really well. I witnessed a few really rude folks but they're everywhere sadly.
We're seasoned RCCL cruisers so wasn't sure what to expect. well, I wasn't disappointed. Could I have been, yes, but I wasn't paying premium prices.
Would I do it again? Hell yeah.
We're booked on the Mardi Gras in September, and that was booked last year so having now experienced Carnival, I'm looking forward to the big ship. I've done Harmony of the Seas so be curious on Mardi Gras. However, I'm NOT doing the roller coaster! Nope.