Seems Carnival is slipping

[jimdod]

Carnival Imagination 4 day cruise May 2016

 

I had not cruised on Carnival since 2009 and have been mostly on Princess since then. I took this short cruise to see if the things I liked on Carnival were still there.

 

In my experience the food on Carnival is very good. Some ethnic varieties even on such a small ship. We loved the Mongolian Grill and the Deli I prefer this over what Princess does. I will say the Princess dining room menu might be a little superior but not enough to make a difference to me..

 

I did find some of the things in our cabin quite different from what we had experienced in the past.

 

Like no refrigerator and not even a ice bucket. On Princess our bucket was refreshed each day and even stored in the refrigerator I seem to remember having both of these on prior Carnival cruises. Is this the same on the longer voyages or bigger ships?

 

No Chocolates on pillow at turndown

 

Breakfast room service had nothing warm (except the coffee) not even the Lox and Bagels I remember from the past. The “room service” menu had charges for all most items, when did this change?

 

Condition of ship was good public areas very nice and in good condition,. Good entertainment and activities geared toward a short trip.

 

I am pretty much a beer snob, I had no problem with the very good selection. Wife and her friend had a martini sampler that was real fun. Never was offered a “bucket-of-beer”, Is that still offered? The Princess has a “happy hour”and it is a plus for them, but not one on Carnival. One other thing is the draught beer on Princess uses a special system that insures good even pours with little or no waste It is called “brewlock” and only available for Heineken and Newcastle. The draft beer on Carnival was flat and had a lot of it go down the drain.

 

I’m hoping the bigger Carnival ships still have all the things I was missing.

 

Any comments about my questions would be appreciated.

[BlazinSunsets]

Fridge could be ship by ship basis. All the ones I have sailed have had one and ice is given if you ask for it, otherwise they aren't going to give it to you.

 

I agree with you on the beer. Mine wasn't totally flat but they wasted a lot of it when pouring it.

 

All the old room service stuff is still free. The NEW stuff does have a cost, it's mainly the hot items. But I was still able to enjoy my grilled cheese and cheesecake for free.

[mike_ga]

Imagination is a Fantasy Class ship which is Carnival's oldest and smallest class of ship. While the newer classes can boast mini fridges and hair dryers in each cabin, Fantasy Class ships only feature them in Suites.

 

The ice bucket is now available upon request, I agree that this seems ridiculous, the removal of chocolates at turndown and paid room service items are also a recent development. Breakfast on Carnival has been cold for years now. It seems that the more profit Carnival is making lately the more they wish to increase it by nickel and dime charges. Still often times the price can't be beat.

 

I'm considering Princess for an Alaskan cruise in the next year or so, My favorite line is Holland America which seems to be the best of both worlds, but with far more comfortable beds than CCL or PCL.

 

Still I'm off on Magic this fall and can't wait to be aboard.

[SadieN]

Fantasy class ships and a few others do not have fridges in the cabins, except in suites.

The newer ships all have fridges. Out of Long Beach only the Miracle had fridges in all cabins.

 

We're Platinum on both Princess and Carnival. There are pluses and minuses on both lines. One of the big pluses for Carnival is not allowing assigned time diners into the anytime dining room.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Trumpster]

Magic and Breeze had both fridge and Ice bucket, filled everyday. Never had to request an ice bucket.

 

4 day cruises on the oldest and smallest ships is not indicative of a standard week long Carnival Cruise.

 

We just did a B2B on the Magic , a 3 day and a 7 day. Those were very different cruises, even being on the same ship.

 

Entertainment, limited offerings, and I will say even clientele.

[KevInPitt]

I will echo what others have said: the Imagination is an older ship without stateroom amenities that newer ships have. The mini-fridge is one of them for all but suites.

 

An ice bucket, if not present, can always be requested.

 

Chocolates on the pillow have been gone for longer than I can remember. Not even sure we had them on my 2009 cruise. If we did, I failed to notice.

 

The continental breakfast offerings also never had "hot" items to my recollection (aside from beverages like tea and coffee) and is still fairly expansive in what it does offer for a quick in-cabin morning nosh.

 

The regular room service menu still has a good variety of no-charge items as well as newly added upcharge items.

 

Draft beer is always hit-or-miss depending on the condition and age of the tap system. Sounds like the Imagination's needs some work.

 

These basics won't change much across the fleet so if you feel this is "slipping", based on solely these mentioned negatives, you likely won't be more impressed by newer ships.

[cruiseonthebrain]

I am also going to echo the Fantasy class distinction. First- you really just booked this cruise to see how Carnival is doing? Calling flat out BS on that. Second- I suppose this goes with the first point- why would somebody book an old small Carnival ship to see how Carnival is coming along? Of course it sucked compared to newer bigger ships in any fleet. That certainly did not take a rocket scientist to figure out. Not really sure what you are trying to do here except make Carnival look bad.

[RuthlessBoss]

I am also going to echo the Fantasy class distinction. First- you really just booked this cruise to see how Carnival is doing? Calling flat out BS on that. Second- I suppose this goes with the first point- why would somebody book an old small Carnival ship to see how Carnival is coming along? Of course it sucked compared to newer bigger ships in any fleet. That certainly did not take a rocket scientist to figure out. Not really sure what you are trying to do here except make Carnival look bad.

 

Thank goodness he didn't try to bring bottled water!

[jimdod]

I am also going to echo the Fantasy class distinction. First- you really just booked this cruise to see how Carnival is doing? Calling flat out BS on that. Second- I suppose this goes with the first point- why would somebody book an old small Carnival ship to see how Carnival is coming along? Of course it sucked compared to newer bigger ships in any fleet. That certainly did not take a rocket scientist to figure out. Not really sure what you are trying to do here except make Carnival look bad.

 

I am not trying to make Carnival look bad, just asking questions about the changes I have seen and wondering if they were fleet wide. I would expect that Carnival would have pretty much the same stuff I talked about on the entire fleet. I never implied that it "sucked" just observations and questions.

[jimdod]

Thank everyone for the replies. Glad to hear things are fine on the "better" ships.

[cruzelover55]

We last had turn down chocolates, Magic 9/14. Won't miss them, enough food aboard. We always bring a collapsible cooler, that has, so far been kept filled by room steward. In the past, for our "bucket of beer". Now, that we do Cheers!, just to keep things cold, such as extra milk from Lido, whatever. Have never been "offered" buckets of beer. Just knew were available and ordered. Have never heard of hot bagels and lox. Yuk! Can't imagine the salmon, warm. As far as draft beer, have only had in Red Frog and it was always good, not flat.

 

Our next cruise will be on the smallest we have ever sailed. Freedom. Am a little worried that we won't like the smaller ship. But, so far, have enjoyed every cruise we have been on.