NCL/Royal Caribbean Cruiser Sails Carnival Liberty

[MeloDrew]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=109152

 

Hey Venusleo---check out my review!! Its up and official!

[Almost Packed]

love the liberty...been on her twice. but i can see how a couple of bad experiences will certainly "leave a bad impression". I have never been approached by a steward to purchase a towel. that's odd.

 

i had a negative experience on one of the smaller/older carnival ships. so many people raved about that ship and i found it not so. i think that's what's so great about cruising, is that we all can "shop around" and find something that fits us.

 

happy cruising wherever you choose. sorry you had a bad experience on the liberty...

[Venusleo1]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=109152

 

Hey Venusleo---check out my review!! Its up and official!

 

Wow your review was even less forgiving then mine! I was wondering what all those parents on these little cell phone things were doing... we saw lots of parents walk out of venues to take the call. That stinks!!!

[Venusleo1]

When I first read the review (Husband 40+ something, wife 30 something) I was thinking spoiled trophy wife. Then the "are you pregnant" comment from the cabin stewart made me think my first idea was wrong.

 

Not the same experience me and my wife or any of our friends ever experienced. All our cruises have been great on Carnival. Maybe next year we will try another cruiseline to see if it is any different on them since FCV's have been discontinued.

 

Your trophy wife comment had me cracking up!!! No I am not a spoiled trophy wife.And I'm not 30 something I am 30, and my husband isnt 40+ he's 40. I work for a builder as a new home sales consultant and hubby is a golf pro. You would have been closer to the mark had you suggested a trophy husband! We both work our buts off and live an average middle class lifestyle, we're also still technically newly weds so are really just starting out as a new married couple, we bought our first home just a year and a half ago. I just wanted to paint a better picture to give people the correct perspective of what type of person wrote this review.

[Rocknsoul]

OP ~ Thanks for a well-thought-out and well-written review!

 

Food has been hit-or-miss with us on all of our cruises; sometimes great, sometimes really not edible at all, even in the dining rooms. We haven't tried a specialty restaurant yet.

 

It does sound like the cutbacks on Carnival have really begun to have an impact. We've had fantastic service on all three of our Carnival cruises--but we haven't been on one for almost two years, so our upcoming cruise might be different. Our room stewards have been lovely and attentive--guess we hit the jackpot. We were seasick on a particularly rocky cruise (first time for me!), and our steward kept checking in on us & bringing us Bonine if we needed it. She was awesome.

 

On our last cruise, on the Triumph, we had YTD & the waitstaff was hit & miss. Once we found the "hit", we requested his section. Not particularly personalized service, but friendly & efficient.

 

The service on our two RCI cruises never stood out to me...but they were before I joined CC & knew what I was looking for! I think our first Carnival cruise was a pleasant surprise after hearing so many horror stories.

 

You probably didn't want to know all that. :) We have our first family cruise in a week on Carnival Elation & our 20th anniversary cruise in January on Navigator OTS, so we'll be able to compare the service & food to see how they stack up for us. I know the ships really don't compare at all.

 

It would really bum me out if the Carnival cutbacks turn into a less-than-satisfying experience for us. At our stage of life--kids in a million activities & college around the corner--that couple hundred per person per week is more than we're willing to spend right now.

 

Regarding Romeo: May I suggest you write a letter to the Hotel Manager on Liberty? You'll likely look back & laugh on the experience with him, but his actions as you described them seriously crossed the line. Inappropriate & just plain creepy!

[mcwebber]

I've been on RCCL twice in the past 12 months and found the eggs powdery and dry. The platter of smoked salmon is nice at breakfast, but I found the smoked salmon from Carnival room service to be of much higher quality. The steward sounds bizarre. I've never in 14 cruises had a steward try to sell me anything. Guess you're not a sushi person as I've not seen free sushi before dinner on RCCL but it's on every Carnival ship. I also get lobster on Carnival on a short cruise. I didn't on a 4 night on RCCL. Also, did you try room service? I've done that on some Carnival cruises when I came back from port at an odd time. I just find you have to order two items as some of the room service items are very small portions. But, a good way to get potato chips.

[Cruisegirl6]

Just maybe that cabin steward was selling those towels on the side to make extra cash...I bet!

[Rottweiler Puppy]

I stopped reading at no salmon for the bagel.. :rolleyes:

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

Thats as shame as it was well written and well balanced review. I know you don't like any negativity towards Carnival but they did list the good stuff too.

 

OP Great review and thanks for sharing it.

 

I have been debating Carnival again, and Liberty was the main option as we sailed it last year and had a great time. I agree the food was only s so and the buffet sucked.

 

I don't like the idea of punchliners brunch and if there is no regular option for breakfast, I wont be booking.

[mcwebber]

Carnival knows nothing about "perks", nor about comping players in their casino. They are distinctly "small time" in that regard

 

That's simply not true. A friend who I've cruised with plays pretty heavy at the blackjack table and while they didn't comp his cruise, he got a heavily discounted rate and then several hundred dollars cash handed to him at the casino when they opened (not winnings) so his cruise was basically free.

[buddylover]

While everybody has a right to their own opinion, I am sorry you found your experience so lacking on CCL. To say you will NEVER cruise CCL again is very short sighted.

We have cruised CCL, RCI, Princess and Disney to date. Our experiences have been exactly opposite the OP's. While we enjoyed all of our different experiences, we have found your main complaint about food on CCL to be very different from our experiences. We have found CCL to have food far far superior to RCI for certain, and Princess. Both those lines had mediocre, very pedestrian food at best. As a matter of fact, we were travelling with friends on RCI who requested gluten-free foods before embarking. Her options were pitiful and paltry, whereas CCL could and DID make ANY foods (pasta, desserts, breads, Baked Alaska) on the regular menu fit her needs. When she complained about the less than acceptable cafeteria food (and ours was not much better, but we had more to choose from), the Maitre D' profusely apologized and explained that RCI DOES NOT BAKE ANY desserts on board, they are all carried on from shore...WHAT??? No wonder it all was so mediocre....whereas CCL bakes their own pastries, desserts and most breads on board.

We found the buffet on RCI to be 4 repetitive lines...all mediocre...and that honey stung chicken that those on the RCI boards rave about....are you aware that it is TYSON's frozen breaded junk??? It was not even edible, it was horrible.

So you see, we have never found this to be true on CCL, so to each his own opinion....that's why we all have choices in life. Hope your next cruise is better for you!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

That's simply not true. A friend who I've cruised with plays pretty heavy at the blackjack table and while they didn't comp his cruise, he got a heavily discounted rate and then several hundred dollars cash handed to him at the casino when they opened (not winnings) so his cruise was basically free.

 

Everyone will have their own experiences and thus opinions. Mine have formed over the course of 50 Carnival cruises. Once I received over $2,000 cage cash/comp at the start of a sailing. While that came close to covering our suite that sailing, it paled in comparison to what I lost in order to get that "rebate". Losing half that amount on Celebrity and NCL earned me a $4,500 and $6,500 suite (respectively) on our next two sailings.

 

Fortunately, I have had some significant wins to help offset the losses - but as with most gambling, I am still "in the hole", yet appreciate when lines extend a reason to return.

 

On my upcoming Legend sailing I will receive $50 cash to start... WOO HOO :rolleyes:

 

Tom

[sjn911]

Everyone will have their own experiences and thus opinions. Mine have formed over the course of 50 Carnival cruises. Once I received over $2,000 cage cash/comp at the start of a sailing. While that came close to covering our suite that sailing, it paled in comparison to what I lost in order to get that "rebate". Losing half that amount on Celebrity and NCL earned me a $4,500 and $6,500 suite (respectively) on our next two sailings.

 

Fortunately, I have had some significant wins to help offset the losses - but as with most gambling, I am still "in the hole", yet appreciate when lines extend a reason to return.

 

On my upcoming Legend sailing I will receive $50 cash to start... WOO HOO :rolleyes:

 

Tom

 

Hi guys...that does say something...glad you're still posting and informing...your TP quality friend..:o:)..Sarah

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Hi guys...that does say something...glad you're still posting and informing...your TP quality friend..:o:)..Sarah

 

:D

 

Tom

[misguidedangel]

I was on the cruise after you and I had a wonderful time. Food, entertainment, ports, and everything were amazing!!!!!!!

 

You can't blame Carnival for the problems with debarkation--Blame US Customs for that. It wasn't Carnival's decision to have every single passenger checked. We got the low down about that from one of the B2B passengers at the meet n greet we had last week. I am Platinum and we were at the port waiting at 1030am when I was told the ship would be boarding.....meanwhile 2.5 hours later they let us on.

 

Lido food--rarely if ever eat at the buffets for lunch or dinner. I will get breakfast and will do the chocolate extravaganza. I opted for Blue Iguana burrito/taco for breakfast/lunch, or Guy burger for lunch.

 

Room steward--our room steward--Lauro, was great. I met him once and the assistant I met him and we chatted for a few on the second last night. There was no pressure to sell us a towel. Perhaps he saw you were new and took advantage of that. I did buy a towel anyhow cuz I wanted the yellow serenity towel last November when on the Magic; however, they did not have any left in stock.

 

MDR food--yum, every meal was delicious and on lobster night our waiters wanted us to eat more than we could.....One of our group loves lobster/seafood and after the third serving of lobster he swore off of seafood until the second last night when he had some shrimp...

 

I'd gladly go on the Liberty again, for the fourth time. I need to go on the Breeze first and Magic for a second time before going back on the Liberty...

[Mikew0805]

Thanks for your review. Everyone has different tastes.. and that is okay.

 

I will say.. that after my last two cruises I can not imagine how anyone could choose NCL over Carnival. In my opinion, NCL is just a bunch of rust buckets at sea! I do like RCI a lot, primarily due to their amazing ship designs, and great non standard itineraries. Personally, I like the food and options as well as entertainment on CCL better than RCI.. but not so much that I would not choose RCI for a cruise.

 

I'm hoping to try princess, HAL, and Celebrity, as I am sure they will all be good... I just do not see myself setting foot on another NCL cruise in the near future... that is not saying "never" just not while my memory is fresh with the last two LOL.

[markadele]

Thanks for your review. Everyone has different tastes.. and that is okay.

 

I will say.. that after my last two cruises I can not imagine how anyone could choose NCL over Carnival. In my opinion, NCL is just a bunch of rust buckets at sea! I do like RCI a lot, primarily due to their amazing ship designs, and great non standard itineraries. Personally, I like the food and options as well as entertainment on CCL better than RCI.. but not so much that I would not choose RCI for a cruise.

 

I'm hoping to try princess, HAL, and Celebrity, as I am sure they will all be good... I just do not see myself setting foot on another NCL cruise in the near future... that is not saying "never" just not while my memory is fresh with the last two LOL.

I cruise my only 2 times on RCI once on the Navigator and once on the Allure wow what a ship. Have never tryed another line but im going on the Breeze in Jan. want to give Carnival a try . So is NCL really that bad:confused: we have a cruise booked on the Dawn in April hope it isnt that bad. We thought we would try something different might try Princess next . So tell me about NCL did we make a mistake:confused:

[GRAMMYTAN]

Thank you for a good, unbiased review. I have 20+ cruises with Carnival and only 1 with RCCL. I would not begin to compare RCCL since I went on one of the older, smaller vessels and felt it wold not be comparing apples to apples. There were a few things I dis-liked about RCCL but would probably sail again on a larger/newer ship.

With CCL, I have seen various problems from time to time - just as you will when doing land travels but not anything to ruin my trip. For example on our second Med cruise we were on the brand new Dream and for some reason the food was always cold. I thought we would starve LOL But it did not ruin my cruise. By the way in the MDR, I learned several years ago (from CC) to order the sauce on the side to get a fresher dish.

Food is such a subjective topic as everyone has different tastes - therefore we have vanilla and chocolate. :D Does it make or break a cruise for me? No!

What would bother me more than anything about your cruise was the room steward. I have never had one try to sell me a towel or anything else. I have had some that kind of hide out sometimes but for the most part we usually have decent staff in that department. The fact that he called you out as did the person at the steakhouse, is something I would have reported. I am glad that you posted that experience here so if anyone else were to have a similar experience with Romeo, they will know that it is not an isolated incident and not feel bad for reporting his actions.

I'm sorry you will not be sailing CCL again, but I do understand that you want the best experience for YOU for YOUR hardearned money.

Happy sailing - and thanks for the review.

[Topo Gigio]

That's simply not true. A friend who I've cruised with plays pretty heavy at the blackjack table and while they didn't comp his cruise, he got a heavily discounted rate and then several hundred dollars cash handed to him at the casino when they opened (not winnings) so his cruise was basically free.

 

What does this has to do with perks? Carnival is not stupid if he is coming onboard to gamble heavily of course they are going to give him a lot of incentives to motivate him to play even more!!

[Topo Gigio]

You get what you pay for!

 

I have said it over and over here on CC. The buffet on Carnival -and food in general - is the worst of all the 7 cruise lines I have been on, and yes I have been on 8 Carnival cruises, so I know what I'm talking about...! they just cater to their group of clientele who will rave about the pizza, hamburger and hot dog..

 

But I will still cruise on Carnival because they are a great value. Used to be a better value when there was no 200% single supplement and this is the primarily reason I'm not cruising that much on Carnival anymore, because the price will become to high and makes Royal Caribbean looks much more attractive. Especially being a diamond member with them the decision is an easy one for me. As a matter of fact can't wait to try out the Breeze when she comes to this side of the pond.

[katiel53]

While everybody has a right to their own opinion, I am sorry you found your experience so lacking on CCL. To say you will NEVER cruise CCL again is very short sighted.

from), the Maitre D' profusely apologized and explained that RCI DOES NOT BAKE ANY desserts on board, they are all carried on from shore...WHAT??? No wonder it all was so mediocre....whereas CCL bakes their own pastries, desserts and most breads on board.

 

I'm sorry that I have to disagree with you regarding the pastries. On both Royal Caribbean and Carnival, the same small pastries are served. They are little round ones with a vanilla/cheese type filling, a raspberry filling or round small cinnamon rolls. THEY ARE EXACTLY ALIKE. So, either the Maitre D" on Royal was confused and they bake them, or when Carnival says they bake them, that's what they mean. Just baking them, doesn't mean they are scratach made. Look at the slice n bake cookies or bake at home cookies found in the supermarket.

 

Anyway, both lines have some of the same baked goods and somehow I doubt Royal Caribbean gets them from Carnival, lol. One last thing, Royal Caribbean has the best dark multi grain bread served at the buffet in the morning. There is nothing like it on Carnival.

[iluvdoxies]

I cruise my only 2 times on RCI once on the Navigator and once on the Allure wow what a ship. Have never tryed another line but im going on the Breeze in Jan. want to give Carnival a try . So is NCL really that bad:confused: we have a cruise booked on the Dawn in April hope it isnt that bad. We thought we would try something different might try Princess next . So tell me about NCL did we make a mistake:confused:

 

we LOVE NCL, exp the suites with all the perks

 

The food is great and the crew outstanding !

 

Have a bunch more booked too :)

[Jumbiecruiser]

While everybody has a right to their own opinion, I am sorry you found your experience so lacking on CCL. To say you will NEVER cruise CCL again is very short sighted.

 

We have cruised CCL, RCI, Princess and Disney to date. Our experiences have been exactly opposite the OP's. While we enjoyed all of our different experiences, we have found your main complaint about food on CCL to be very different from our experiences. We have found CCL to have food far far superior to RCI for certain, and Princess. Both those lines had mediocre, very pedestrian food at best. As a matter of fact, we were travelling with friends on RCI who requested gluten-free foods before embarking. Her options were pitiful and paltry, whereas CCL could and DID make ANY foods (pasta, desserts, breads, Baked Alaska) on the regular menu fit her needs. When she complained about the less than acceptable cafeteria food (and ours was not much better, but we had more to choose from), the Maitre D' profusely apologized and explained that RCI DOES NOT BAKE ANY desserts on board, they are all carried on from shore...WHAT??? No wonder it all was so mediocre....whereas CCL bakes their own pastries, desserts and most breads on board.

 

We found the buffet on RCI to be 4 repetitive lines...all mediocre...and that honey stung chicken that those on the RCI boards rave about....are you aware that it is TYSON's frozen breaded junk??? It was not even edible, it was horrible.

 

So you see, we have never found this to be true on CCL, so to each his own opinion....that's why we all have choices in life. Hope your next cruise is better for you!

 

Royal does bake all of their desserts on board with the exception of some of the desserts served in Chops. I have seen it with my own eyes on galley tours. Also if you think Carnival makes all of their food fresh on board, I have some waterfront property in Vegas to sell you. I know for a fact that a lot of their food comes from food service that is pre-prepared and frozen. I suggest getting your story straight and I highly doubt that you were told any such thing by the crew member. LOL!!!!!!!!

[Jumbiecruiser]

I'm sorry that I have to disagree with you regarding the pastries. On both Royal Caribbean and Carnival, the same small pastries are served. They are little round ones with a vanilla/cheese type filling, a raspberry filling or round small cinnamon rolls. THEY ARE EXACTLY ALIKE. So, either the Maitre D" on Royal was confused and they bake them, or when Carnival says they bake them, that's what they mean. Just baking them, doesn't mean they are scratach made. Look at the slice n bake cookies or bake at home cookies found in the supermarket.

 

Anyway, both lines have some of the same baked goods and somehow I doubt Royal Caribbean gets them from Carnival, lol. One last thing, Royal Caribbean has the best dark multi grain bread served at the buffet in the morning. There is nothing like it on Carnival.

 

Those pastries come in frozen from a supplier and are baked on board for both cruise lines. Same with the cookies and bread. None of the large cruise lines make much of their stuff from scratch due to the sheer amount of product needed for the masses but it is baked fresh on board.

[HotBodFL]

So, the buffet is not open 24 hours a day? Maybe I misunderstood you, but I'd like clarification please. What are the hours?

 

It's reviews like this is why I was hesitant to try Carnival in the first place. But I figured I'd give them a shot (the Liberty) this November.

 

My biggest concern is what the OP touched on; 1) the lack of OPEN dining venues, 2) the lack of dining venues with reasonable hours of operation, 3) the lack of variety, and most importantly 4) long lines wherever and whenever I am looking for something to eat.

 

My 14 year old son (well, my GFs son) especially, and myself are "hit and run" eaters during the day. My GF and her 16 year old daughter have somewhat similar habits too. We don't normally sit down and eat a big breakfast and then a big lunch and then a big dinner. When we cruise, we scatter ourselves and grab quite bites to eat when it suits us. Then we sort of re-group at dinner.

 

This is where I'm concerned that the NCL system of "LOTS of food variety available ALL the time" has spoiled us. And we were on the Star, one of NCLs older and smaller ships and we never had to wait in line or had to make due with the "same old stuff" from day to day. Not once. Seriously.

 

Well, we'll find out soon enough. I think the countdown was 64 days today. I'm still excited, please don't misunderstand me. I just don't know what to expect any more.

I wasn't part of this particular cruise being reviewed, but I did just get off the Liberty today. The only 24hr food is the pizza and what is offered through the room service menu. Breakfast is basically served 6:30-11:30a somewhere. On sea days there is the additional comedy brunch offered from 9a-1:30p. Lunch is Noon-2:30p on sea days and until 3:30p when in port. The burgers are available from Noon-6p. Also the deli is open 11a-11p. And outside of MDR service the buffet is open 6-9:30p and again from 11:30p-1a. As for the buffet, a different cuisine is featured everyday; Italian, Caribbean, etc.

And all I can say is I just had one of my best cruises this past week. Sure, there were hiccups, but nothing that I was going to allow to spoil my fun.... When I achieve perfection, I then might start expecting it of others.

[GROUCHPUSS]

E

Oh NO!:eek: We just met our room steward on our Liberty cruise and it is ROMERO! We are in cabin 2390 I will lier you all how it goes!

 

I'm back!

 

Well I will start with Romeo!

 

I was little worried but it was miss founded .

He did a great job for us. He did not ask us to buy any towels. He was very visible and called me by name every time we saw us.