Carnival Freedom - Quality Way Down - All ships?

[vonster]

I just came back from the Carnival Freedom - 8 days - Eastern Carribean...

 

Come on People, Seriously, for less than $80 per day ?

 

Nothing wrong with the food, presentation is always great...

i mean the flavours weren't always great but HELO, you're paying less than $80 per day for 3 meals plus plus plus plus shows plus buffet plus plus plus

 

the only thing that bothers me most was the jewellery promotion, jewellery commercials, jewellery announcements and just push push push for you to buy crap all the time...

 

but no complaints whatsoever..you get to eat as much as you want in the buffet however many times per day...

 

and plus also in the dining room 3 times a day and it's still not good enough?

[megmno]

I think it makes a lot of sense for Carnival to close down the buffet service during "off hours". Buffet service can be very wasteful because food that is just sitting there ends up getting thrown out. It seems like a good way for Carnival to keep costs down (and cruise fares too!).

 

As other posters mentioned, there are plenty of other options for food available. Or, God forbid, you could actually go a couple of hours between feedings and wait until dinner time....

[stevenr597]

I have to agree. We had just completed a course on the MS Carnival Freedom (eight days) and overall we fell that although the staff tries to make an effort to please, overall the quality has gone way, way down. We felt that many of the staff in the dining room were just going through the motions. Maybe it is the fact that tips are already included. Dress standards are now a joke.

 

I always enjoyed the fact that Carnival was "reasonable" in their rates. However I am more than willing to pay more if it would make the experience more enjoyable.

 

FYI we are Plantinum Cruisers are Carnival. But our next cruise will be on Celebrity.

[EmmasNana]

I have to agree about the decline in food, at least on the Victory a couple weeks ago the food in the MDR almost every night was just so so or horrible. We will be on the Triumph soon and hope it will be better.

[alreadypacked]

We were on the Miracle last summer and took the Freedom this summer and wow we were really surprized how the quality of the food had dropped way down. Less of the good choices at dinner, last year there were always two or three times we liked on the menu, this year there were times I order from the "every day menu" as nothing appealed to me. Service was painfully slow at times too.

 

The Lido Deck was a joke, after 2:30 if you wanted lunch you were out of luck unless you like Pizza and Ice Cream as everything else was closed.

Sandwich station is open from 11am to 11pm. Also, there is 24hr room service. I just checked my Capers from my Feb 2010 Freedom cruise, and the poolside hamburger/hot dog grill was open from 11:30 am to 6:00pm.

The choices at lunch were not great, many days I didn't find anything I wanted. Fish and Chips was ok for one day but very greasy, the soup was very low quality. The mongolian grill was worse then in one of those all you can eat buffets. They do not let you pick the meat, they add it and when I asked for more chicken they added two small pieces. I want the vegtables with my meat, not the meat with my vegtables.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I have to say I loved the Mongolian grill, and I usually asked for and got all 3 meat/fish choices in my dish.

We had to eat dinner in the buffet one night - well myself, my two girls 9 and 13 and our friends 40 sometimes, 14 and 13 also didn't find much.

 

We did complain and there were others on the ship complaining. We met people who said they would rather crusie every other year on a better ship then once a year on this ships and this was there 12th Carnival Cruise and last :( I had said after the Miracle I thought the food was ever better then RCCL, I take that back................................

 

I would rather they raise the rates then lower the quality. Activies were also lacking on Carnival but that's typical.

I always find the activities to be more than adequate, however, on our Feb 2010 Freedom cruise, one of our port days was completely rained out, and we struggled to find activities to do. We played the trivia, and then another trivia-like game, but when they were over there wasn't anything else. The casino was closed because we were in port, so that was out. I was just surprised that they didn't schedule extra rainy day activities as a contingency plan.

We did get a huge credit for future use on Carnival and are going to try a cheapy cruise winter break on the Pride. If the quality is the same it will be my last cruise. If I didn't get a huge discount and book an Ocean Suite, the cost between that 7 day cruise winter break and the same on RCCL (not one of their best boats out of Baltimore, MD) was only $400 more for a suite and was 9 days. I would of booked that but I wanted to use this huge credit they gave me as it expires before the summer (of course).

 

BTW I got the credit for more then the drop in the quality of food and my not enjoying the trip. I can't say why but the credit would of given me a free trip if I could stand and inner or oceanview down on levels 1 and 2.

 

I was on the Freedom in Sept 2009 and Feb 2010. See my response in red above.

[salty dingo]

The Lido Deck was a joke, after 2:30 if you wanted lunch you were out of luck unless you like Pizza and Ice Cream as everything else was closed.

On port days, this is one of the biggest flaws in the cruise game plan. People are coming back on board hungry and the only thing to eat is room service... after a very long wait. Not good. Not good at all. Put the food out, Carnival, we are HUNGRY!

 

Poster above claims "Sandwich station is open from 11am to 11pm." That may be the official hours but in my experience the ships staff closes up shop on port days when they can, because they are short-staffed, due to crew having shore leave.

 

Burgers and fries may be at the grill but they are often an hour old, and not at all tasty if you have eaten one recently.

 

I think the least they could do is have some good cold subs wrapped in plastic available with a good selection of meats or veggie options. How difficult could that be? Don't make us wait on room service!

[salty dingo]

Buffet service can be very wasteful because food that is just sitting there ends up getting thrown out.

If the food is kept at the proper temperature and not exposed to anything harmful, there should be no reason it must be thrown out if not eaten. It can be put away and served again.

 

That's why I suggested having a cooler full of sub sandwiches that people can help themselves to. They won't go bad, at the rate the people eat them, just rotate the stock properly. You don't need an attendant either, except to fill the cooler.

[JohnStevenGordon]

I think it's all ships we took three Carnival Cruise after being taking RCCL alot not to mention all crossing on nice ships like CURAD and COSTA. The first three were pretty good, Activities lacking but we expected that due to the price we paid. We took the Dream this summer, boy was the quality down. I did also complain and I got a mere $100 per person on board credit per person per cabin if we book with them again. I don't plan on taking Carnival again. I would rather take half as many cruises on RCCL, Disney or even NCL then take another Carnival. The LIDO deck is a joke, the food was awful. I know what you mean about the meat at the mongolian area. We made two and then took the meat out of one and put it in the other. I like Vegtables with my meat not meat with my Vegtables also. Your right Madgally but wrong forum, email me privatly for a differnt form that is more objective. You must understand many of these people couldn't even cruise if there wasn't a Carnival.

 

Another thing that ticks me off about Carnival is there TV's are constantly losing the good channels. Other ships will give you free movies when that happens, you just have to ask - many don't realize this. I tried on Carnival and they said sure we have movies they are only whatever amount each. They do show two movies a day sometimes one free but it repeats all day. I can imagin if someone was sick they watched CNN HLN over and over again. Sorry you had a bad cruise - Book another cruise line, not sure why you are taking the Pride this winter, can you cancel? RCCL has a cheap ship out of Baltimore over winter break (9) days and only about $400 more then the Pride's (7) day cruise. Granted the ship is dated and doesn't have alot of the stuff the ships have but you will have a better time. Will need to take the kids out of school for just one day.

[JohnStevenGordon]

I think it makes a lot of sense for Carnival to close down the buffet service during "off hours". Buffet service can be very wasteful because food that is just sitting there ends up getting thrown out. It seems like a good way for Carnival to keep costs down (and cruise fares too!).

 

As other posters mentioned, there are plenty of other options for food available. Or, God forbid, you could actually go a couple of hours between feedings and wait until dinner time....

 

Why not keep one station open with a varity of items? This was always done in the past. I get ending the midnight buffet and stuff but give me a break this is beyond cheap. People were coming back from ports and were starving. Complaints were rampent on the Dream. We should of taking signature like they did on the Freedom. There is alot more on this topic on boards that are directed to cruises in General this is really only about Carnival so you will get alot of people who are loyal to Carnival no matter what. Some can't afford the other ships too

[Warm Breezes]

Yes but Deli every day is boring. Can get better sandwiches delivered to the room but again that gets boring. The food on the Lido deck was awaful. MDR while still has some good dishes doesn't offer as many "good" ones each night. Many complaints - our ship was almost all repeat customers. Tons of complains - the maitre-d stood there on the last day and the exit and not one person in the 5 - 7 minutes I was waiting there even approached him let alone gave him a tip. He didn't have his fake happy face like when he came around to the tables

"Good" is so subjective...You can't please everyone when it comes to food because we all have different tastes. I personnally loved the food on our Freedom Cruise last year. If it's not to your tastes then you may be better off sailing on another line. Hopefully you will find one that satisfies you.

[Warm Breezes]

Why not keep one station open with a varity of items? This was always done in the past. I get ending the midnight buffet and stuff but give me a break this is beyond cheap. People were coming back from ports and were starving. Complaints were rampent on the Dream. We should of taking signature like they did on the Freedom. There is alot more on this topic on boards that are directed to cruises in General this is really only about Carnival so you will get alot of people who are loyal to Carnival no matter what. Some can't afford the other ships too

 

There is still the deli, pizza, grill by the pool, and room service. I don't understand why people say they can't find anything to eat.

[idiebabe]

On port days, this is one of the biggest flaws in the cruise game plan. People are coming back on board hungry and the only thing to eat is room service... after a very long wait. Not good. Not good at all. Put the food out, Carnival, we are HUNGRY!

 

Poster above claims "Sandwich station is open from 11am to 11pm." That may be the official hours but in my experience the ships staff closes up shop on port days when they can, because they are short-staffed, due to crew having shore leave.

 

 

On Port days the Lido Buffet, Fish & Chips are open until 3:30 (check out any of the recent Fun Times for this info). The Deli is open until 11:00 p.m. Pizza is open and so are the Burgers. Where is there not food!!! Plus, the Sandwiches from Room Service are very good. Wow....how deprived we all are !!!

 

 

I have NEVER seen the Deli shut down due to what you have just described above out of 20+ cruises that I have been on with CCL. I have chosen to stay on board many times in stops like Belize & Nassau and that Deli is always manned!!!

 

 

You must understand many of these people couldn't even cruise if there wasn't a Carnival.

 

 

WOW...Excuse me!!! I have been on 25+ cruises and have cruised the other lines including Celebrity, RCCL, NCL, HAL, etc. Obviously, you don't check pricing or you would see that you can get unbelievable deals comparable to CCL on any of these cruise lines. RCCL is practically giving rooms away as is NCL! I wouldn't step foot on an NCL cruise again if it was for free because the food was so bad and all they tried to do was rip you off in every area they could!!! RCCL's food does not compare to CCL's..CCL's is much better (read the RCCL boards on folks that cruise both lines routinely...not just my opinion).

 

I choose CCL by choice because we like them as do many who sail Carnival. I sail other cruise lines because of Itineraries that CCL does not offer.

 

Sounds to me like you and the OP are typical of folks that are always looking for a "freebie" and by complaining, complaining you achieve that! I wonder who started the 200 people petition....interesting!!!

 

Adios to both of you...go get your freebies from RCCL because I'm sure you are on their ships "griping" as well!

[maabell4]

You must understand many of these people couldn't even cruise if there wasn't a Carnival.

 

How do you know what most people on this site can and can't do? That's pretty condescending.

 

Wow.

[maabell4]

Some can't afford the other ships too

Who cares if they can or cannot?

[mom2tcdx2]

I in may ways would be someone who may have a harder time finding things to eat, but by all standards I am a picky eater, and I am not very adventurous when it comes to food. However I don't allow my pickiness to show when it comes to reviewing a ship. When going with a group I look at the overall satisfaction of all in the group that went along.

 

Did personally find the food hours to be a bit lacking as I don't tend to eat breakfast until 10 or so, then I want lunch about 3-4 if I eat anything and we always pick the late dining. When lunches close up at 2:30, it was a bit harder with choices with my liking to eat after 3. However I have always found the deli to offer a good sandwich that would tide me over until dinner. Personally I didn't really like their pizza, just found it to be ok. Room service I just am not in the mood to hang out in my cabin for them to deliver and I find the choices lacking.

 

Sometimes I wish the cruise ships had a little better choices, more comfort foods you might say. I find the foods to be too fancy for my tastes, especially the deserts. For me a good dinner would be a nice hamburger steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. Overall I just tend to leave off comments in a review regarding food because I know of my likes and dislikes and know that food is extremely subjective.

 

Overall I find the food to be good, not by any means excellent, but I have never found myself saying I am hungry. Places I enjoy eating at are places like Applebee's, Outback, Cracker Barrel, small mom and pop diners. I even find the same problem with the restaurants when I go to Disney World, they go for some extremely fancy dining and sometimes I am hardpressed to find something on the menu I feel I would enjoy.

[salty dingo]

[quote name='idiebabe']On Port days the Lido Buffet, Fish & Chips are open until 3:30 (check out any of the recent Fun Times for this info). The Deli is open until 11:00 p.m. Pizza is open and so are the Burgers. Where is there not food!!! Plus, the Sandwiches from Room Service are very good. Wow....how deprived we all are !!!![/quote]
Well, maybe that is so on Conquest class with a Fish and Chips, etc. Our last two cruises were on Carnival Miracle and NCL's POA. I found Miracle to be lacking in the Lido food area between lunch and dinner hours. Grill was open but again, you really want a burger and fries or a hot dog ever day?

The POA's Lido buffet shut down completely in the afternoon. I went looking for ice cream and the only machines were on a side of the buffet that was closed. They did have a diner that was open 22 hours a day and it saved us a few times, and the food was very good.

So the point is not really that there is no food on the ship, but there is no CONVENIENT SELECTION of food on the LIDO. I guess the Fish and Chips will be fine on Liberty (our next cruise) if the line is not 30 minutes long to get food! On our Valor cruise we were often first in line on sea days when the Fish and Chips opened... so no line.... but coming back from port, there is likely to be a line if that is one of the few places to get food.

[madgally]

[quote name='JohnStevenGordon']I think it's all ships we took three Carnival Cruise after being taking RCCL alot not to mention all crossing on nice ships like CURAD and COSTA. The first three were pretty good, Activities lacking but we expected that due to the price we paid. We took the Dream this summer, boy was the quality down. I did also complain and I got a mere $100 per person on board credit per person per cabin if we book with them again. I don't plan on taking Carnival again. I would rather take half as many cruises on RCCL, Disney or even NCL then take another Carnival. The LIDO deck is a joke, the food was awful. I know what you mean about the meat at the mongolian area. We made two and then took the meat out of one and put it in the other. I like Vegtables with my meat not meat with my Vegtables also. Your right Madgally but wrong forum, email me privatly for a differnt form that is more objective. You must understand many of these people couldn't even cruise if there wasn't a Carnival.

Another thing that ticks me off about Carnival is there TV's are constantly losing the good channels. Other ships will give you free movies when that happens, you just have to ask - many don't realize this. I tried on Carnival and they said sure we have movies they are only whatever amount each. They do show two movies a day sometimes one free but it repeats all day. I can imagin if someone was sick they watched CNN HLN over and over again. Sorry you had a bad cruise - Book another cruise line, not sure why you are taking the Pride this winter, can you cancel? RCCL has a cheap ship out of Baltimore over winter break (9) days and only about $400 more then the Pride's (7) day cruise. Granted the ship is dated and doesn't have alot of the stuff the ships have but you will have a better time. Will need to take the kids out of school for just one day.[/quote]

Thats true look at the difference in response on the board that includes all ships - much different. The difference in price is a big factor to many. I actully tried Carnival to Save money but I liked the first two cruises very well, except for the lack in activities and the Television channels. To such such a dramtic drop in quality in less then a year. I would rather they raise the prices. What ship are you taking next summer? You go the same week as me (week before Labor Day)?

[madgally]

[quote name='Warm Breezes']"Good" is so subjective...You can't please everyone when it comes to food because we all have different tastes. I personnally loved the food on our Freedom Cruise last year. If it's not to your tastes then you may be better off sailing on another line. Hopefully you will find one that satisfies you.[/quote]


I loved the food on Carnival last year too - this year you could see the drop in quality. I do agree it's subjective but when you have a ship with over 2000 repeat customers and 10% of those people sign a complaint there is an issue. I can't say it's on all ships but my guess is yes. Check out all the posts on the more neutral thread about all cruise lines. This is under Carnival so people who like Carnival post here mostly. I hope your next cruise brings you food of the standards you like.

[LMHSRN]

[quote name='madgally']We were on the Miracle last summer and took the Freedom this summer and wow we were really surprized how the quality of the food had dropped way down. Less of the good choices at dinner, last year there were always two or three times we liked on the menu, this year there were times I order from the "every day menu" as nothing appealed to me. Service was painfully slow at times too.

The Lido Deck was a joke, after 2:30 if you wanted lunch you were out of luck unless you like Pizza and Ice Cream as everything else was closed. The choices at lunch were not great, many days I didn't find anything I wanted. Fish and Chips was ok for one day but very greasy, the soup was very low quality. The mongolian grill was worse then in one of those all you can eat buffets. They do not let you pick the meat, they add it and when I asked for more chicken they added two small pieces. I want the vegtables with my meat, not the meat with my vegtables.

We had to eat dinner in the buffet one night - well myself, my two girls 9 and 13 and our friends 40 sometimes, 14 and 13 also didn't find much.

We did complain and there were others on the ship complaining. We met people who said they would rather crusie every other year on a better ship then once a year on this ships and this was there 12th Carnival Cruise and last :( I had said after the Miracle I thought the food was ever better then RCCL, I take that back................................

I would rather they raise the rates then lower the quality. Activies were also lacking on Carnival but that's typical.

We did get a huge credit for future use on Carnival and are going to try a cheapy cruise winter break on the Pride. If the quality is the same it will be my last cruise. If I didn't get a huge discount and book an Ocean Suite, the cost between that 7 day cruise winter break and the same on RCCL (not one of their best boats out of Baltimore, MD) was only $400 more for a suite and was 9 days. I would of booked that but I wanted to use this huge credit they gave me as it expires before the summer (of course).

BTW I got the credit for more then the drop in the quality of food and my not enjoying the trip. I can't say why but the credit would of given me a free trip if I could stand and inner or oceanview down on levels 1 and 2.[/QUOTE]

Just cruisous. Are you ever please with anything? Appears all your posts are negative and grippie!

Just an observation, I am just saying............

[LMHSRN]

[quote name='madgally']Yes I got back on the 5th of this month. They gave me the credit not just because I complained about the quality of food. Actually there were over 200 signatures of the Freedom that week about the quality of the food. I got the credit due to some medical issues I had on the boat.

It wasn't enough for a free cruise for me as I travel with at least two more people and I book OS class, but if someone were getting an inner (Cheap Oceanviews down on the 1st and 2nd Floor too) on the Pride it would of covered the cost less the tax and tips. Prices might be higher now. Even the OS was still cheaper then anything else I could of booked for winter break so I just booked it. I also have all my drink coupons that went unused on the Freedom, why waste them, LOL

Hopefully I will be enjoy it but my guess is I'm back to RCCL for local Carribean trips, I might even try shutter NCL.[/QUOTE]

Well, back to RCCL. Bye Bye, we won't miss your complaints. Personally, I don't understand why you would sail Carnival again. You have never had a good review after sailing. Why not just give up now!

[LMHSRN]

[quote name='madgally']Yes I got back on the 5th of this month. They gave me the credit not just because I complained about the quality of food. Actually there were over 200 signatures of the Freedom that week about the quality of the food. I got the credit due to some medical issues I had on the boat.

It wasn't enough for a free cruise for me as I travel with at least two more people and I book OS class, but if someone were getting an inner (Cheap Oceanviews down on the 1st and 2nd Floor too) on the Pride it would of covered the cost less the tax and tips. Prices might be higher now. Even the OS was still cheaper then anything else I could of booked for winter break so I just booked it. I also have all my drink coupons that went unused on the Freedom, why waste them, LOL

Hopefully I will be enjoy it but my guess is I'm back to RCCL for local Carribean trips, I might even try shutter NCL.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like there was a petition. Would I be correct in guessing you started it?

[LMHSRN]

[quote name='madgally']We only had to eat dinner in there one night, it was due to a maid telling my younger daughter that my and my older daughter left for dinner when indeed we searching for her. The maid got in trouble and did apologize to us. We could of gone to the late dinner at 8:15 but I would of had to go alone as my friends table was full and my kids activities start at 8:30.[/QUOTE]


Didn't know Carnival had Maids.

[LMHSRN]

[quote name='salty dingo']On port days, this is one of the biggest flaws in the cruise game plan. People are coming back on board hungry and the only thing to eat is room service... after a very long wait. Not good. Not good at all. Put the food out, Carnival, we are HUNGRY!

Poster above claims "Sandwich station is open from 11am to 11pm." That may be the official hours but in my experience the ships staff closes up shop on port days when they can, because they are short-staffed, due to crew having shore leave.

Burgers and fries may be at the grill but they are often an hour old, and not at all tasty if you have eaten one recently.

I think the least they could do is have some good cold subs wrapped in plastic available with a good selection of meats or veggie options. How difficult could that be? Don't make us wait on room service![/QUOTE]

OR, you would eat before you come back to the ship. There's a thought!

[aly2445]

I loved my first cruise on the freedom from 9/11-9/19. I have to say I'm sticking with CARNIVAL!

The only way you could have a bad time on a cruise is if you expect everything to be perfect. Why go on a cruise to have a bad time?? I don't get it!! You're on vacation, who cares how much FREE chicken you get at the mongolian grille? Go back and get more when you're done if you're still hungry-which I can say that they gave me plenty of chicken/beef etc when I went there and I couldn't even finish all the food! I loved my Carnival Cruise!!! -Aly

[going to see the world]

[quote name='aly2445']I loved my first cruise on the freedom from 9/11-9/19. I have to say I'm sticking with CARNIVAL!

The only way you could have a bad time on a cruise is if you expect everything to be perfect. Why go on a cruise to have a bad time?? I don't get it!! You're on vacation, who cares how much FREE chicken you get at the mongolian grille? Go back and get more when you're done if you're still hungry-which I can say that they gave me plenty of chicken/beef etc when I went there and I couldn't even finish all the food! I loved my Carnival Cruise!!! -Aly[/QUOTE]

Your review definitely made us feel better about our choice :D