My Carnival Experience :)

[aidansaunt2004]

I have previously sailed on two Carnival ships. The first ship was the Valor (March 2009) and the second ship was the Sensation (September 2010). We just booked our third Carnival cruise. (Dream September 2011) I would like to share my overall experience with everyone and hopefully you will enjoy it. I will skip our journey getting to the port because that isn't what you are here to read about. ;)

 

My overall impression of the Valor? We loved it. The ship was beautiful and was decorated in what I will call Americana. Think flags and presidents. There was an adults only serenity which included the pool. It was never "packed". We saw a few children lingering around the adult's only area but they were quickly escorted away. We chose an inside room and it was quite comfy. It was small but that is to be expected. I LOVE Carnival's beds. They are so comfortable and provide the best rest. :D

 

We had the best server on this ship. His name was Pituk. We got to know him over the course of the week. He knew our names and was a true pleasure. My fiance (at the time) loved the food but I found it difficult to find anything I liked other than fruit. :p

 

We had a great room Steward (sorry I can't remember her name) and our room was always clean and the beds were made when we would come back. We never had any problems.

 

The ports? We LOVED Grand Cayman. We took an independent tour for $30 and we went to the Turtle Farm and Hell. We drove past the governor's mansion and stopped at the rum shop. Our tour guide (a middle aged lady) was very friendly. The turtle farm was a fun experience. I held my very first turtle! She told us stories about the island. Apparently, turtle soup is very popular on the island but she worked at the turtle farm for many years and can't imagine eating those cute little turtles.

 

Honduras was very sad. We went before they started using Mahogany Bay. We once again opted for an independent excursion (possibly not the best idea here). The area was very devastating due to poverty. Once I got over the initial shock our driver took us to a BEAUTIFUL beach. The water was crystal clear. We had a panic inducing moment before we arrived. Our driver stopped at the top of a cliff and told us to get out and take a picture...there was a man sharpening his machete about 15 feet away! We can look back and laugh now but at the time it was terrifying! We used SPF70 (we are fair) and my fiance ended up with horrible blisters and I ended up pretty burnt as well. :cool:

 

Belize? We got off of the boat and it took approximately 15 minutes to arrive at land. We were not impressed and decided to just walk around the port area. The stores mainly had knock off handbags. We decided after walking around for a little while to get back on the ship.

 

Our final destination...Cozumel. The port was gorgeous. The water was crystal clear and you could actually see the brightly colored fish swimming around. There were many neat shops that we purchased items from. We bought our family and friends gifts from one of the market type stores in port. We ventured into town by taxi (his driving left a lot to be desired). We went into quite a few stores and decided to head back to the ship. They had armed soldiers on the street corners while we were there. It made me nervous but it made my fiance more comfortable?

 

I would cruise the Valor again, given the opportunity. The only downside was that everything was hard to get to. Walk across the ship, go down one floor, up two....etc.

 

Now for the Sensation. The ship was set up in a similar layout. Things were still somewhat hard to get to. This ship was decorated in bright purple. I will admit, I liked it. I like the over the top look. We opted for an obstructed view balcony suite. The view really wasn't obstructed. There was a lifeboat partially in front of us but everything to the left was open. I will call this the party ship. It was only a 4 night cruise (our honeymoon) so it seemed like there were quite a few intoxicated people on board. (It didn't really bother us)

 

When we first went to our balcony there were people on their balcony a few rooms down screaming and having a good time (they were already intoxicated). Well.... we requested a table for two due to our celebration. They gave us a table for four instead. Guess who our table mates were? That's right the screaming people from the balcony. Over the course of the trip they got into an all out screaming match with a lady across the dining room. This was during dinner. It was beyond mortifying. The more they drank the more secrets they let out, such as their illegal drug habits. We did have a great server (Raphael). I absolutely hated the song they made the servers sing on the final night. It literally said "We love to serve you." To me, it seemed so demeaning. Our server actually was crying while singing this song. We stayed after dinner and talked to him and found out that he has a wife and young daughter and he is working on the ship to provide for them and his parents. He was a great guy :eek:

 

Our room steward. I have no idea who he/she was. We never saw them. We would leave in the morning and come back around 3 pm to find that our room still wasn't cleaned. When they would see us waiting they would say it wouldn't be long. It would take another hour or so for them to get to it. :confused:

 

The food? It was AWESOME. I found so many things to eat that I really enjoyed. We had dinner in the main dining room every night (despite our horrible table mates).

 

We decided not to go on any excursions for this cruise. We were really disappointed with Freeport. There wasn't anything in the port to do. The day that we were in the port it was very hot outside. The shops were all t shirt types of stores. We stopped by one store so I could get a Bahamas trinket as a souvenir and got back on the ship.

 

We walked around the shops in Nassau and later that night went to Senor Frogs. The are during the day seems somewhat safe but at night it seems like something completely different. We were walking back to the ship with about 10 people and we watched a very nice car pull up and park and they were watching the tourists walk/stumble back to the ship. The next day we were told that a man on the ship asked some locals if they knew where there was a bathroom (don't know whether or not this really happened) and they took him in an abandoned warehouse and locked him in. As the story goes, he somehow made it to the top of the building and was screaming for help so some people came and unlocked the door.

Our table mates told us they were approached by some locals who tried to sell them cocaine. (Once again, I can't validate this claim).

 

We spent a lot of time in our room or on our balcony because it was quiet. The Sensation is a nice ship but I think since it's a cheaper cruise expect it to be a "party" type atmosphere.

 

We recently booked our 3rd Carnival cruise and we are very excited about it. There seems to be mixed reviews but we are truly looking forward to experiencing the Dream. Thank you for reading about my cruises and I hope you enjoyed my aspect.

 

 

 

 

 

[firefly333]

Im sorry you found Honduras very sad. Its my favorite port and victor bodden's guys are obviously very proud of their island. I have seen women carrying laundry on their head, for instance, but did not find it sad, as its the way of life for them.

 

Which private excursion did you do?

[truchattycathy]

Great review. I do have to agree with Firefly, I love Roatan. I just think of the money I spend on private excursions is well spent there.

[luv cruising 007]

Great review & attached pics! have you started a countdown clock to your DREAM'(Y) cruise? have a great time & cant wait to hear the Dream review!

[aidansaunt2004]

I'm honestly not sure if the "excursion" had a name. There were tons of people holding signs and we literally just picked one. From the old port when you walk through the gates and you are standing at the road and look left it was the house just before the left curve. As we were walking to get into the taxi a kid tried to sell me a dead sea horse. Compared to how I live here in the US, it made me sad to see that other people don't have it as "easy" as we do here. It definitely opens your eyes. Quite possibly while someone is complaining because they can't buy a special pair of $100 shoes here, someone there might not have any way to eat for the week. The beach was gorgeous. (wherever we ended up!)

[jimbo5544]

Nice posts.... Make sure you come back and let us know your thoughts on the Dream.

[Nanaimobound]

Thanks for the great review!

 

You should give Belize another try and do an excursion. it is a beautiful country with a fascinating history, Mayan and European.

The people are also really friendly.