Does Carnival Cruise Line Color Your Image of Cruising as a Whole?

I'm late to the party with this thread but I'm going to add my 2 cents! We did a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream at the end of our wedding week and loved every single second. We hadn't even left Port Canaveral when my husband was talking about taking our son on a cruise to celebrate his high school graduation. This from the man who I basically had to tell "Shush your mouth and get on the boat!" The ship was absolutely breathtaking, inside and out.

That said, we were docked in Port Canaveral and Nassau next to the Carnival Sensation and the Carnival Victory. From what I could see of these ships....just yuck! Rust stains on the sides of the ships, faded awnings, soot-smeared funnels, they looked like 3rd hand used cars! I know you can't judge a book by it's cover but that kind of exterior neglect does not bode well for the state of general upkeep for the rest of the ship.

To sum up - Disney Cruise Line? Carnival?

I'm even later to the party, but I have noticed that it seems to me that Carnival's newer ships are having issues.

I have an older Carnival ship (the Fantasy) home ported near me, and although it's an older ship- it has yet to suffer any mechanical issues- or safety issues.
It did have a couple of incidents not all that long ago though:

1. A gentleman didn't want to use the stairs in the atrium to get to where he wanted to go and decided to jump down. The incident was fatal.

2. Two cruisers were picked up in Nassau for drug smuggling (the drugs were in their luggage on the ship).

No break downs or fires though- knock wood!!