We cruised 4 times, twice on Royal Caribbean and twice on Celebrity. Celebrity was the better of the two but RCI was good also. Never had a desire to cruise on Carnival as we had heard too many not nice things.

Like @Hoofy7 we loved the excursions but usually used private tours not booked through the cruise ship. We enjoyed visiting all the different islands and picked cruises that were 10 - 11 days long with 9 different islands to see.

I do wish we could still cruise but just not doable with Bill's health. Oh well!

Sorry your experience was so bad.