Not impressed with Carnival or Freedom

[Guzzler]

Just off the Freedom and these are our impressions and opinions, so don't read this if you don't want to hear anything negative re: Carnival.

 

-This seemed to be the cruise of Long Lines. Starting with check in to the buffet. The buffet area is poorly designed and everyone is on one long line whether you just want cereal or hot breakfast items.

-Large family groups on this cruise, and they seemed to have the outlook that if one family member is on line, that qualifies 10-15 other family members the right to cut the lines. This happened mostly on the buffet but also included getting off the ship.

-Again, very loud groups. If they were up, you were up. Family meetings took place in the hallways anytime of the day or night. In fact, when asked to meet in their rooms and not the hallways, they responded their kids were sleeping. Well, what about my children with you yelling outside my room!

-Food was adequate. Nothing really outstanding.

-Teens out of control. In fact the teen room was closed on occasion because of fights.

-Teens took over the elevators, sitting on the elevator floor, not allowing passengers to get on.

-Small balcony.

-Ship felt cut off. Example, Chic dining room mid ship so you had to remember that when going aft to forward not able to do that on certain decks. Also, pool area seems small due to stadium style seating.

-Upon embarking the ship when in port, no crew member in sight to assist with wheelchairs or handle crowd control. Many people jumped the line, pushing past the civilized people.

-Areas of the ship were taken over by "birthday" parties. One night the lobby was utilized as a private reception for these birthdays. Denying other passengers the use.

-Crew and service was good, but not outstanding.

 

This is our 2nd cruise with Carnival (out of 26 total) and this cruise was nothing like our first cruise with Carnival. The previous Carnival cruise left from Tampa, and we were impressed with them and therefore did not hesitate to cruise with Carnival again. But, this cruise was nothing like the last cruise. This cruise cost us just as much, if not more than our recent cruises on Royal Carib yet, we felt that it was a ship out of control and no one seemed to care.

 

I sailed Freedom also last week , just home yesterday. Every point more than accurate. The one I had the most problem with was the Hallway issue, children and adults. Thank goodness I was Aft wrap and that makes up for alot but our friends were at first exit way to elevators and had a awful problem with mornings and late nights outside their door.

[Crazy4Koko]

Honey, the size of ship is irrelevant when it comes to seasons.

 

This is true..but wasn't comparing size to season... was comparing maneuverability between the two... It's MUCH easier to get around on the Inspiration.. I'm sure you noticed that, too? I know I did anyway. I ended up on the wrong deck on the way to the dining room on the Freedom at least 4 times in 2009.

[Kaboochi]

Just off the Freedom and these are our impressions and opinions, so don't read this if you don't want to hear anything negative re: Carnival.

 

-This seemed to be the cruise of Long Lines. Starting with check in to the buffet. The buffet area is poorly designed and everyone is on one long line whether you just want cereal or hot breakfast items.

-Large family groups on this cruise, and they seemed to have the outlook that if one family member is on line, that qualifies 10-15 other family members the right to cut the lines. This happened mostly on the buffet but also included getting off the ship.

-Again, very loud groups. If they were up, you were up. Family meetings took place in the hallways anytime of the day or night. In fact, when asked to meet in their rooms and not the hallways, they responded their kids were sleeping. Well, what about my children with you yelling outside my room!

-Food was adequate. Nothing really outstanding.

-Teens out of control. In fact the teen room was closed on occasion because of fights.

-Teens took over the elevators, sitting on the elevator floor, not allowing passengers to get on.

-Small balcony.

-Ship felt cut off. Example, Chic dining room mid ship so you had to remember that when going aft to forward not able to do that on certain decks. Also, pool area seems small due to stadium style seating.

-Upon embarking the ship when in port, no crew member in sight to assist with wheelchairs or handle crowd control. Many people jumped the line, pushing past the civilized people.

-Areas of the ship were taken over by "birthday" parties. One night the lobby was utilized as a private reception for these birthdays. Denying other passengers the use.

-Crew and service was good, but not outstanding.

 

This is our 2nd cruise with Carnival (out of 26 total) and this cruise was nothing like our first cruise with Carnival. The previous Carnival cruise left from Tampa, and we were impressed with them and therefore did not hesitate to cruise with Carnival again. But, this cruise was nothing like the last cruise. This cruise cost us just as much, if not more than our recent cruises on Royal Carib and Celebrity, yet, we felt that it was a ship out of control and no one seemed to care.

You went in the height of the season. Try CCL again when it is quiet and you will enjoy.

[hospsafe]

Here is my 2 cents. There was 12 of us on the Freedom last week. Five had never cruised before. There are now 5 more people who are cruise fanatics. That alone made my cruise a great one! That being said there were 800 kids younger than 18 on the boat. Which is a lot less than my previous 4 Carnival cruises and yes I always sail during the summer. Unfortunately, this was the first cruise in which I did notice the presence of the kids. Since I cruise this time of the year, I have become accustomed to the long lines so I have figured a way around them. I get there early. I thought the quality of food was great especially on the last day when they did an entire side of the buffet dedicated to chocolate for lunch. When you consider how many people they are cooking for, especially at certain times of the day, I thought the food was very flavorful. Maybe its because I work in the hospitality industry and am a former F&B Director, that cause my expectations to be different than most. No one who traveled last week can say that the staff was not extremely friendly. We had some of the best service in the Posh Dinning Room that I have ever had on any of 8 cruises. (Carnival, RCL and Princess) I constantly saw the crew cleaning every nook and cranny of the ship. Before each cruise I know 2 things will happen. One, my bar bill is going to be high and two I will refuse to let any member of the traveling public from the time I leave the house to the time I return...ruin my vacation. I have more important things to worry about like trying to figure out which bartender makes the best Chocolate Martini.

[GlendaleCruiser]

-Ship felt cut off. Example, Chic dining room mid ship so you had to remember that when going aft to forward not able to do that on certain decks.

That is common on many ships. You just have to remember that some decks don't go all the way through. They tried to address it on the Magic and the result is a MDR that has glass sides and no windows looking out at the sea:(:confused: All diners have to look at is the hallway and passengers walking from front to back of the ship on both sides of the MDR and looking at their plates.:cool:

Made the MDR seem dark and depressing. I was glad I had the other MDR with the view out the back windows

 

 

-Areas of the ship were taken over by "birthday" parties. One night the lobby was utilized as a private reception for these birthdays. Denying other passengers the use.

That is irritating. I don't like to go when there are "themes" on board, either. Our first cruise was theme of "Full House" from the TV show and several times we were turned away because we hadn't "signed on" for those activities (like we cared).

 

Sorry your experience wasn't good this time. Hope it's better next time.

[crzycick]

That's to bad. We cruised on the Freedom for our second Carnival cruise and it was by far our favorite cruise. We sailed at the end of August/beginning of September so I think most kids were in school or preparing to start which helped. My all time favorite waiters and room steward were on this cruise as well. The most helpful, energetic, willing to please service I've ever had. Of course that has nothing to do with the ship since the staff rotates regularly. Our first Carnival cruise was on the Valor--sister ship--so I was used to the dining room issue. I'm pretty good at remembering maps/layouts so I rarely had problems with that.

 

We often eat in the MDR for breakfast and lunch. We find it a better atmosphere and when we do wander into the buffet we try to do it at non peak times.

[crzycick]

I find that on Carnival you get more blue collar workers where on RC you have more white collar workers, maybe this is the reason?????

 

 

Comments like this really tick me off. Money has nothing to do with class, manners, respect, or common courtesy. Some of the rudest people I have encountered have been wealthy/wealthier. Money, age, race, gender, geographical location, etc doesn't make somebody more ________ (rude, obnoxious, disrespectful, fill in any other word).

[tiyana4]

Just off the Freedom and these are our impressions and opinions, so don't read this if you don't want to hear anything negative re: Carnival.

 

-This seemed to be the cruise of Long Lines. Starting with check in to the buffet. The buffet area is poorly designed and everyone is on one long line whether you just want cereal or hot breakfast items.

 

-Ship felt cut off. Example, Chic dining room mid ship so you had to remember that when going aft to forward not able to do that on certain decks. Also, pool area seems small due to stadium style seating.

-Upon embarking the ship when in port, no crew member in sight to assist with wheelchairs or handle crowd control. Many people jumped the line, pushing past the civilized people.

 

-Crew and service was good, but not outstanding.

 

This is our 2nd cruise with Carnival (out of 26 total) and this cruise was nothing like our first cruise with Carnival. The previous Carnival cruise left from Tampa, and we were impressed with them and therefore did not hesitate to cruise with Carnival again. But, this cruise was nothing like the last cruise. This cruise cost us just as much, if not more than our recent cruises on Royal Carib and Celebrity, yet, we felt that it was a ship out of control and no one seemed to care.

 

We were on the Freedom last August and can totally relate to your experience. Unfortunately we are limited to school holidays (spring break, summer, Thanksgiving, and X-mas) which not only is a recipe for higher costs but also an increased number of families. Parental control does seem to take a backseat to vacation for some parents, but we suffer it to be so because we enjoy cruising.

 

My pet peeves - I disliked the fact that I was limited to one dining room for MyTime Dining and that particular dining room was always hard to access. My other issue was the buffet lines. If I only wanted eggs and oatmeal, I had to wait patiently in line behind 20 other people getting something from each dish. The buffet should be broken up into stations rather than having the single cafeteria-style line.

[DZNYROX]

I have to disagree and say Carnivals lines at the buffet are much worse. Carnival only offers a right and left side to its buffet, the salad bar is generally away from the main buffet as well as the desserts but to get practically all the food you do have to stand either in right or left side of the ships lines to get the food.

 

RC has mini stations throughout its windjammer buffet. They are divided of salad bar, fruit bar, sandwich bar, hot dogs/burgers & fries station, then there are other stations that contain the hot foods, vegetables and sides and then there is the carving station. They flow where Carnival is only one line for the hot foods.

 

I have also cruised during summer months and never seen such long lines at the buffet on Rc than what there are on Carnival.

 

Kids are definately so much out of control on carnival we always see kids running around in hallways, elevators, staircases and such and we really not see this to be a problem on RC, perhaps its because RC offers more things for the kids to do I not sure why....but then I have to say one thing that some of you will comment (again this is an opinion board and I am entitled to my opinion as you all are also) on....I find that on Carnival you get more blue collar workers where on RC you have more white collar workers, maybe this is the reason?????

 

Of course you are entitled to your opinion as we are to ours......snob:rolleyes:

 

To the OP. Sorry you had a bad exp. Hopefully next time it will be better.

[Room Service!]

I've encountered classless, line-butting slobs wearing blue collars AND white collars.?????

 

Those of you who are telling cruisers WHEN to cruise, everyone doesn't have an option. Case in point. School teachers really would have no choice but to cruise when the kids cruise, June, July, August.

 

Parents need to PARENT!!!!

[shippmates]

I agree parents need to be parents. Just because you are on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean does not mean the kids are completely safe running wild.

[matj2000]

Welcome to Carnival in the Summer!

 

And this lyndamr person loves to make the RC & Carnival comparisons. Very unbiased of course....

[CJinFLA00]

Here is my 2 cents. There was 12 of us on the Freedom last week. Five had never cruised before. There are now 5 more people who are cruise fanatics. That alone made my cruise a great one! That being said there were 800 kids younger than 18 on the boat. Which is a lot less than my previous 4 Carnival cruises and yes I always sail during the summer. Unfortunately, this was the first cruise in which I did notice the presence of the kids. Since I cruise this time of the year, I have become accustomed to the long lines so I have figured a way around them. I get there early. I thought the quality of food was great especially on the last day when they did an entire side of the buffet dedicated to chocolate for lunch. When you consider how many people they are cooking for, especially at certain times of the day, I thought the food was very flavorful. Maybe its because I work in the hospitality industry and am a former F&B Director, that cause my expectations to be different than most. No one who traveled last week can say that the staff was not extremely friendly. We had some of the best service in the Posh Dinning Room that I have ever had on any of 8 cruises. (Carnival, RCL and Princess) I constantly saw the crew cleaning every nook and cranny of the ship. Before each cruise I know 2 things will happen. One, my bar bill is going to be high and two I will refuse to let any member of the traveling public from the time I leave the house to the time I return...ruin my vacation. I have more important things to worry about like trying to figure out which bartender makes the best Chocolate Martini.

 

I love your outlook! Thanks for posting.

[zumbafan]

I cruised the Freedom 2 weeks ago--yes there were a lot of kids, but during the day we always hit the Serentity deck, so this cut down on the noise and added to the relaxation factor. We also did late seating and the later shows and the kid ratio was also lower. I hit the fish and chips area twice with only 1 person in line in front of me and had more luck with breakfast buffet near the pool with shorter lines. Felt all of the staff I encountered were extremely nice and loved our waiter/steward/bar server on the Serenity deck. I cruised last Oct with many less kids but still had a wonderful vacation on the Freedom and would go back again.

[zqvol]

Just off the Freedom and these are our impressions and opinions, so don't read this if you don't want to hear anything negative re: Carnival.

 

-This seemed to be the cruise of Long Lines. Starting with check in to the buffet. The buffet area is poorly designed and everyone is on one long line whether you just want cereal or hot breakfast items.

-Large family groups on this cruise, and they seemed to have the outlook that if one family member is on line, that qualifies 10-15 other family members the right to cut the lines. This happened mostly on the buffet but also included getting off the ship.

-Again, very loud groups. If they were up, you were up. Family meetings took place in the hallways anytime of the day or night. In fact, when asked to meet in their rooms and not the hallways, they responded their kids were sleeping. Well, what about my children with you yelling outside my room!

-Food was adequate. Nothing really outstanding.

-Teens out of control. In fact the teen room was closed on occasion because of fights.

-Teens took over the elevators, sitting on the elevator floor, not allowing passengers to get on.

-Small balcony.

-Ship felt cut off. Example, Chic dining room mid ship so you had to remember that when going aft to forward not able to do that on certain decks. Also, pool area seems small due to stadium style seating.

-Upon embarking the ship when in port, no crew member in sight to assist with wheelchairs or handle crowd control. Many people jumped the line, pushing past the civilized people.

-Areas of the ship were taken over by "birthday" parties. One night the lobby was utilized as a private reception for these birthdays. Denying other passengers the use.

-Crew and service was good, but not outstanding.

 

This is our 2nd cruise with Carnival (out of 26 total) and this cruise was nothing like our first cruise with Carnival. The previous Carnival cruise left from Tampa, and we were impressed with them and therefore did not hesitate to cruise with Carnival again. But, this cruise was nothing like the last cruise. This cruise cost us just as much, if not more than our recent cruises on Royal Carib and Celebrity, yet, we felt that it was a ship out of control and no one seemed to care.

 

 

Similar to my recent experience on the Fantasy.

[zqvol]

You went in the height of the season. Try CCL again when it is quiet and you will enjoy.

 

 

This common response is nothing but a lame excuse. The season should make no difference. Carnival is responsible for maintaining order and peace and quiet on their ships all the time.

 

The season has nothing to do with peace and quiet, nor with poor design, or bad food.

 

The cheerleaders simply cannot admit that Carnival is in free fall mode and doesn't seem to care.

[firerunner]

"Carnival is responsible for maintaining order and peace and quiet on their ships all the time."

 

Ok first off, I have never even been on a cruise YET! So no carnival cheerleader here darling..:)

 

and that remark and others like it are ludicrist! Employees have enough to do without making sure some dumb arse parent is watching their kid. Do you watch your neighbors kids cause the parents are out partying and drinking?? If you do..good for you.

 

I am selfish,..I dont and I am also not afraid to tell people to WATCH THEIR KIDS. I raised mine already I have zero interest in raising someone elses.

 

 

It is the PARENTS job not Carnivals, not mine, the parents. Carnival, in no way, has the staff needed to babysit all these bratty kids that parents are raising today. What do they do post a staff in the elevator so the kids dont play? A staff in each corridor? Please. We complain now that prices are too high, tips too much and now people are implying that carnival (or any other line, or business) should watch the kids.

 

Naa..

 

have a great day!

[halos]

"Carnival is responsible for maintaining order and peace and quiet on their ships all the time."

 

Ok first off, I have never even been on a cruise YET! So no carnival cheerleader here darling..:)

 

and that remark and others like it are ludicrist! !

 

It would be ludicrous except that other cruise lines do make sure that things don't get out of hand. RCI tosses families off the ship when their kids are out of control.

[JerrynClaire]

I really have to debate your comment about lines being long on Royal Caribbean. I have sailed that line 16 times, at different times of the year and have sailed on every class ship that Royal has. The only time there was any crowding at all was when the shows let out, and at that it dissapated rapidly. Royal does a wonderful job of crowd control, the lay-outof their ships leads to it being very easy to get around, which is the exact oppisite for Carnival. Passengers don't even have to deal with long lines in the buffet area on Royal because theyhave so many stations. Did you ever sail Royal? Bet I can guess on your reply to that!

Royal has a flaw that it can never fix... They are BORING.. geritol cruise line.

[Lil_Red08]

"Carnival is responsible for maintaining order and peace and quiet on their ships all the time."

 

Ok first off, I have never even been on a cruise YET! So no carnival cheerleader here darling..:)

 

and that remark and others like it are ludicrist! Employees have enough to do without making sure some dumb arse parent is watching their kid. Do you watch your neighbors kids cause the parents are out partying and drinking?? If you do..good for you.

 

I am selfish,..I dont and I am also not afraid to tell people to WATCH THEIR KIDS. I raised mine already I have zero interest in raising someone elses.

 

 

It is the PARENTS job not Carnivals, not mine, the parents. Carnival, in no way, has the staff needed to babysit all these bratty kids that parents are raising today. What do they do post a staff in the elevator so the kids dont play? A staff in each corridor? Please. We complain now that prices are too high, tips too much and now people are implying that carnival (or any other line, or business) should watch the kids.

 

Naa..

 

have a great day!

 

Amen......

[ilionite65]

Royal has a flaw that it can never fix... They are BORING.. geritol cruise line.

 

That is a pretty general statement. How many Royal cruises have you been on to make such a statement? Ever been on the Oasis or Allure? How about any of the Freedom or Voyager class ships? Radiance class ships are right up there too! Boring? Rock climbing walls, flow riders, miniature golf, pool tables, swimming pools-actually bigger that postage stamps, hot tubs, dance clubs, pub bars, multiuple eating establishments, great shows, movie theater, shopping, zip lines, promanades for relaxing and people watching,casino, etc. etc. etc! If a geritol cruise line, why is the new tots program so popular? Don't make such rediculous statements unless you are ready to be shown as the uninformed carnival cheerleader you are!

[luv cruising 007]

Originally Posted by lyndamr

I have to disagree and say Carnivals lines at the buffet are much worse. Carnival only offers a right and left side to its buffet, the salad bar is generally away from the main buffet as well as the desserts but to get practically all the food you do have to stand either in right or left side of the ships lines to get the food.

 

RC has mini stations throughout its windjammer buffet. They are divided of salad bar, fruit bar, sandwich bar, hot dogs/burgers & fries station, then there are other stations that contain the hot foods, vegetables and sides and then there is the carving station. They flow where Carnival is only one line for the hot foods.

 

I have also cruised during summer months and never seen such long lines at the buffet on Rc than what there are on Carnival.

 

Kids are definately so much out of control on carnival we always see kids running around in hallways, elevators, staircases and such and we really not see this to be a problem on RC, perhaps its because RC offers more things for the kids to do I not sure why....but then I have to say one thing that some of you will comment (again this is an opinion board and I am entitled to my opinion as you all are also) on....I find that on Carnival you get more blue collar workers where on RC you have more white collar workers, maybe this is the reason????? (sorry I didn't multi quote this time)

 

Of course you are entitled to your opinion as we are to ours......snob:rolleyes:

 

To the OP. Sorry you had a bad exp. Hopefully next time it will be better.

 

Sorry to the OP on the time you had! I learned my lesson about summer cruising never again in my book & hope you have a better cruise:)! But to the other poster your talking about she posts on the carnival board JUST TO BASH & nothing else look it up its true, I 2nd your opinion DZNYROX :eek:;) BTW love your Splendor pic & the "enterprise" :) in one month i'll be on the Splendor with 3000 other "blue collar"(just kiddin) people:D

[Vanessa L]

Also, Carnival might want to reconsider how people get on and off the ship. Stopping every person to have a picture taken on the gangway, holds up the process!!! Have them stand off the dock, and if someone wants a picture, than let the, but stop the bottle necks.

 

 

You DO know that you don't have to stop, right? When boarding any ship we simply walk right past the photographers and say, "No thank you," and just keep walking. This is true when leaving the ship in port also.

 

 

-This seemed to be the cruise of Long Lines. Starting with check in to the buffet. The buffet area is poorly designed and everyone is on one long line whether you just want cereal or hot breakfast items.

 

-Teens took over the elevators, sitting on the elevator floor, not allowing passengers to get on.

 

-Upon embarking the ship when in port, no crew member in sight to assist with wheelchairs or handle crowd control. Many people jumped the line, pushing past the civilized people.

 

 

OP, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Out of control kids drive me nuts too. I agree with you about the lines, but I have found, fairly consistently speaking, that if I don't eat at peak times, the lines are manageable, and sometimes, non-existent. Just a suggestion. Granted, I have never sailed the Freedom, so they may have lines 24/7. Not sure.

 

I'm curious why, as an adult, if you saw kids sitting on the floor of an elevator, why you didn't just get on anyway. If it were me, I'd simply say, "You'll need to get up and make room, I need to use this elevator." If they refused, I'd hold the elevator and either DH or I would go get security. There is no such thing as another person "not allowing people to use" something. Nope. No way.

 

I also agree with you about boarding being a cluster. I would like to see more employees out and about for crowd control also.

[readytotravel44]

I feel pretty qualified to comment on the Freedom as we have been on it a total of 28 days in 3 cruises.

 

Each of our Freedom cruises was VERY different. It totally depends on the "crowd" of people on the ship. I am a teachers and just as my classes all have different "personalities" each year, so have the folks on the different cruises we've enjoyed.

 

First Freedom Cruise - Europe! (Italy, Spain, Croatia, France) Brand new ship! NO lines (seriously!) The ship was full, but I wondered if anyone was ever eating! We had no disruptive passengers. We always travel with children. On that cruise the kids were preteens. There were children on the cruise, but they were all super polite. This was a fabulous cruise!

 

Second Freedom Cruise - Southern Caribbean (Panama, Costa Rico, . . .) Exceptionally crowded. LONG, long lines at lunch buffets. I gave up on getting noodles at the Mongolian Station. They even had an additional line to accommodate all of the people, but it was still ridiculously crowed. Lots of rude folks. Saw a fight break out beside the pool between a man and woman fighting over a chair. People were tatooing (air brush) words on their backs to make long sentences. Nothing really wrong with that, it was kind of funny, but just a VERY different crowd. My daughter was a teen by then. Lots of kids. Many running around, but not too disruptive, just very unsupervised.

 

Oh yes, back to the buffet. I remember the first day. We had JUST boarded the ship and we went to the Lido for lunch and to wait for our room to be open and some guy said to his wife, "Fill up now, 'cause I heard they don't feed ya between meals." Their trays were beyond full with food for lunch and extra items they were planning to stash in the room. I couldn't believe it!

 

Third Freedom Cruise - Eastern Caribbean - We just got back from this one in July. It was right in between the last two experiences. Longer lines than Europe, but nothing like Southern Caribbean. Very nice people. Good crowd. Friendly and polite. Quiet teens, though we did have a loud experience with some college age guys across the hall from us. Nice people everywhere! Great cruise!

 

Your comments are valid concerning break-up of the ship because of the dining room. The layout is a little weird, but we are used to it by now.

 

Each of our three cruises on the Carnival Freedom included fabulous food and incredible waitstaff. The ship was also meticulously clean. We even took the "Behind the Fun" tour and were exceptionally impressed with the quality and cleanliness of the ship.

 

We are not married to the Freedom or even to the Carnival (though it may seem like we are!) We NEVER pick a cruise based on the ship, but pick based on the ports of call. It just so happened that 3 of the cruises we picked were on the Freedom. In fact we were already booked before we noticed it. We've cruised Disney, Carnival, and NCL and we would put them in that order with Disney being the best. It just so happens that Carnival's prices are well within budget and offers ports of call we like! We are eager to try a RCC to compare.

[ilionite65]

readytotravel44, You stated that you've cruised RCL and want to try RCC. Aren't these the same?