Worst carnival cabin experience

[seaturtle_808]

19 minutes ago, jdemps said:

Carnival Miracle Deck 4 Vista Aft Wrap - ugh!  That room vibrated all week long.  The room steward had to remove the glassware because it just clinked all night long.  Never again, it was so bad I may never book on the aft again.

 

We had this problem on the Royal Princess when we did the corner Aft Penthouse Suite for our wedding cruise. We were shoving towels around everything because of the noise it made vibrating. I'm sure our stateroom steward wondered why all our cans were wrapped in hand towels in the mini fridge and why we stuffed a towel behind the tv everyday even after he would remove it. 

 

We just did the aft-most oceanview cabin on the Carnival Inspiration and had no issue at all with vibrating items in the cabin. So I guess it varies from ship to ship.  

[SRQbeachgirl]

We ended up in a cabin directly under the galley on the Paradise (the one and only time we booked without checking the decks above and below). It was awful. About 2am every night we would be woken up by what sounded like metal crates being dragged across the galley floor. Screeching, scraping sounds lasted for hours. Never, ever again.

[jas1178]

We've had a few really bad rooms out of our nearly 42 trips:

 

1. Carnival Glory (7/2019) had a room with no air at all.  Midway through a cruise they were able to move us due to a cabin opening up.  Guest Services Manager warned us we were moving from a HOT room to a room that often had noise complaints due to it being right above the piano in the piano bar.  We learned to love the noise vs. the heat while singing "Sweet Caroline" till the early AM.

 

2. Carnival Vista (11/2016) had a family harbor suite right under a portion of the galley that had loud noise starting at 4am.  Here they had no option for us other than to refund the upgrade price we paid.  Guest Services Manager actually came to the room at 4am and recorded what was happening and walked into the galley to try to isolate the cause.

 

3. Carnival Glory (07/2019) had an interior room that shared a wall with a service elevator on the other side of the wall.  Every time the elevator was used, the wall vibrated.  Every time someone entered or exited on the floor, it was extremely loud day and night.  Guest Services was able to find us an alternative that was so much quieter.

 

So 4 rooms out of 42 trips.  Learned a valuable lesson on the first Glory cruise.  That was I should advocate for myself/and family QUICKLY.  If there isn't resolution, found within the first 24 hours, and my cruise is going to be terribly impacted (like no air in a cabin preventing sleep), consider invoking the vacation guarantee.

[KmomChicago]

As many have noted, noise is potentially a concern, though bringing soft foam earplugs is not a bad idea on any trip, anywhere due to unforeseen noise problems, hotels, ships, other people's houses, etc. . . we were on the same deck as the main atrium lounge on a Fantasy-class ship, about 8 rooms down the hall, and could easily hear nighttime music, and I have seen other reviews that mention if you are close to the atrium elevator lobby on any deck, any Carnival ship, this can be an issue. Think late night trivia contests and being able to hear the questions as you lie there trying to fall asleep.

 

I would certainly avoid being one deck directly above or below the main show lounge, directly under a pool deck, and in the very far forward and aft cabins on the lowest passenger deck due to anchors, ropes, engines, whatever is going on down there during docking operations.  But, if it came down to that, and say we had to get aboard a nearly sold out ship, and those locations were the only thing left, I'd still go for it, with the aforementioned earplugs.

[KmomChicago]

17 hours ago, Tapi said:

My mother in law, traveling in a single cabin on the Carnival Dream, booked cabin 6229. We were in a balcony stateroom on the same floor but more midship. On day 2, she casually mentioned that she could hear music in her cabin. We asked if it was bothersome and she said that we could go to her cabin that night and judge for ourselves. So we did, and I was shocked. It wasn’t the music so much. While you could clearly hear music and someone talking on a microphone,  it was the bass that made being in the cabin pretty miserable. The “boom, boom, boom” made everything rattle. We watched her perfume bottle drop to the floor. 
 

We went to Guest Services the next day, and from their reaction it seemed as if they receive complaints frequently about this cabin and they had a plan of action already in place. The agent immediately said “Yes, that cabin is right above the main theater. We have another cabin for her on deck 11. Just tell her to have her bags packed. We’ll take care of the rest”.
 

Sure enough, they sent someone to move all of her belongings and settle her into her new cabin (which was nicer than her original one). They also posted a $50 OBC on both her account and ours. Carnival handled this situation quickly and swiftly. Very satisfied with their response. 

 

 

I have heard that crew cabins are right next to passenger cabins, hidden by various doors from our view. A little surprising that they don't change these badly located rooms out during a drydock to crew/staff quarters for people who work the night shifts; i.e. sleep when the big showroom is typically quiet and mostly unused. Of course I get a paying passenger is better than a non-paying crew member in taking up valuable real estate, but is it worth it if they routinely have to move people, give OBC, get irate passengers, etc?

 

I am to the point where I bring soft foam earplugs on all travel journeys, cruise or otherwise, though. Something as simple as weird floor / ceiling construction can sometimes mean you hear what should be silent footsteps above you all night on a creaky structure.

[jbethel11]

12 hours ago, yogibear said:

What ship??

 

I said on my most recent cruise (in my signature). But, to save you time, it was the Carnival Valor.

[Organized Chaos]

Some of these area perfect examples of why I love the Cabin Check Tool on cruisedeckplans. CC won't let us post a link to that site, but just search that and it should be the first result. Or enter that into your address bar with the .com on it. Choose Carnival, your ship's class, then your ship. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the "Cabin Check Tool." You pick a cabin and it'll show you exactly what is above and below that cabin, plus a little of the surrounding area. It's great for finding quiet spots or places to avoid.

 

The deck plans maps on that site will also warn about some of the cabins. If you see the symbol of a star inside a circle, hover your mouse over that and it'll give you info. about the cabin(s), like noise and whatnot. The one thing I'd really like to see all these websites do is to better label the crew spaces and those empty gray spaces. The ones they can, at least.

[2wheelin]

37 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

I said on my most recent cruise (in my signature). But, to save you time, it was the Carnival Valor.

Many of us don’t waste the space of having the signatures viewable. Easier to read without scrolling so much.

[nybumpkin]

17 hours ago, saharaga said:

We've only had 2 Carnival cabins we'd never book again. Our first spa balcony (1106) on the Glory, not the cabin itself but the location, had absolutely no shade on the balcony. Baking in the hot sun isn't relaxing. We've never booked another spa balcony. What's the point of a balcony if you can't enjoy it? 

We had 1112 on Glory and I hated it. Our problem wasn't baking on the balcony; it was a NYC-Canada cruise and it rained, making the balcony useless since there was no cover. No privacy, either; when we were able to use the balcony, often there would be people standing on deck right above us. The other problem with this cabin was that it was below Camp Carnival (now Camp Ocean). There wasn't a problem with noise from the camp itself, but when parents picked up their kids they would take the elevator to deck 11 (the highest deck you can go to with the forward elevators) and then go up the stairs to get their kids. It sounded like a herd of elephants.

 

As a rule, I won't book cabins on deck 6 above the Promenade Deck. One time we thought we were okay booking above the shops, but the sound from the main lounge drifted up the stairs. Our joke was that we got to experience the shows twice - the early show when we went to the main lounge, and the late show when we were in our cabin listening to it.🙄

[jbethel11]

3 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Many of us don’t waste the space of having the signatures viewable. Easier to read without scrolling so much.

Oh, I didn't realize you were using your phone. On desktop they can be clicked on, then hidden. Sorry about that.

[idraconis]

My cabin experience. Vista out of NYC re-positioning 11 day cruise. My cabin was 1201  starboard side. There was 4 ports of call. I don't know if this was a new captain or the  captain was not used to the ship but it took the crew a long time to dock the ship in every port. I know it's not like docking a 18 foot bayliner and its not easy docking a 130,000 ton ship. Getting back to my cabin. Nice interior cabin with port holes. On deck one right above the thrusters. When the ship dock at the POCs  it was on the port side of the ship. Docking in Miami my side of the boat, man those thrusters are loud and lots of vibrations. And it took over a half hour. Good thing it wasn't as bad as some nightmares I've seen and heard, also it was the last stop. 

[radcliff17]

SUITE V2 ON THE SENSATION 

This "jr suite" was smaller than inside cabins I have had in the past, The bathroom was a pedestal sink. Not the vanity or suite amenities I was expecting. We booked a 3 person cabin. It only had 2 closets and 1 was half full with linens, life vests and the safe. But the worst part of the room was our super public balcony. The was a public deck to the right with stairs coming down directly in front of our balcony. Those stairs weren't in the deck plan I looked at. We never had a private moment out there. And once another guest used to bang a chair on our balcony in an attempt to find someone he thought was in our cabin.

 

My husband and I had originally been in a spa balcony and had to move to accommodate a last minute friend wanting to join us and that's how we ended up in this cabin. This was my 12th cruise and the first one I have ever felt the need to complain about.

[Joebucks]

I am always curious of these comments about music playing until the wee hours of the morning. I can never seem to find these spots. I assume it is a room near the nightclub, which plays music until about 2 am. Still, I can imagine that being annoying if you are trying to sleep.

 

I usually stay on level 6-8, mid-back. The worst I ever had was a 6 aft on one of the Fantasy class ships with a very noisy engine. Woke me up every port day as it was grinding like all hell.

[Aplmac]

God made DECK PLANS for a reason!

Prior research with the above can help greatly.

Spend some time poring over deck plans, before you book

and even while booking, have those deck plans readily available

while finalising your choice.

 

Even so, you may not end up with The Perfect Cabin -

but do your best and learn from the experience.

[jbethel11]

2 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

God made DECK PLANS for a reason!

Prior research with the above can help greatly.

Spend some time poring over deck plans, before you book

and even while booking, have those deck plans readily available

while finalising your choice.

 

Even so, you may not end up with The Perfect Cabin -

but do your best and learn from the experience.

Yes, but Carnival also made guarantee cabins for a reason!  And before some flames me for "choosing" a guarantee cabin, sometimes not everyone has the option of booking far in advance and being able to secure a good cabin.

Edited January 18, 2020 by jbethel11
Added info

[LadySam1968]

I haven’t had a bad cabin. On my Dream Cruise we cruised during Mardi Gras. Unfortunately we booked late and ended up with an adjoining door. The next door was a cabin full of kids, smaller kids. Every time we were in the cabin you would hear the kids screaming, running and slamming open the balcony door. Then at bedtime you would hear the same kids and their father threatening them if they didn’t go to bed. That was the only time we had an issue with an adjoining room. 

[Shaded Lady]

The only cabin I was ever disappointed in (but only to a degree) was 12007 spa balcony on the Magic... as others have said, it's not covered so it's very HOT in good weather, and totally useless in rain. But other than the limited use of the balcony, we loved the location since it was so close to the spa and we were able to take full advantage of the amenities there. Coincidentally that was the only cruise we had to complain about smokers on their balcony next to ours!

 

We have an aft wrap on Freedom coming up this Thnksgiving, and I made sure to pick the deck level that had cabins above and below.... our first aft wrap and hoping it will be as wonderful as some say!

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

Um, out TV remote didn't work one time... we called guest services, and we had new a new remote shortly after. It was horrific! 

[JerseyGirlJen]

Carnival Freedom 8292.  If you look at the Drag it Decks website the room is under a blank space on the Lido, I think it's the stairs but that blank space is filled with some kind of boiler room or mechanical equipment.  The room was perfect every day and night, I never heard a sound, until the last night.  It started with what I thought was an obnoxious neighbor slamming their balcony door repeatedly around midnight.  I finally called guest services when I realized it was not a balcony door....they called Maintenance.  I ended up calling 2 more times because this noise went on for hours.  I even went up to the 9th floor to find the noise myself.  Maintenance finally showed up and it took them all night to fix it.  Not a happy camper, not a great way to end my trip.  I now have "blank space" paranoia.  😨

[2wheelin]

2 hours ago, Aplmac said:

God made DECK PLANS for a reason!

Prior research with the above can help greatly.

Spend some time poring over deck plans, before you book

and even while booking, have those deck plans readily available

while finalising your choice.

 

Even so, you may not end up with The Perfect Cabin -

but do your best and learn from the experience.

I try to use the deck plans as much as possible and look for a cabin with cabins above and below. Two of the questions I have are how to tell if balcony is covered and what is in the white spaces. I have been next to space which is quieter than having a cabin next door. Other times, it may be the space across the hall which is a noise producer.

[crzndeb]

3 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

I said on my most recent cruise (in my signature). But, to save you time, it was the Carnival Valor.

Not everybody can see signatures....many have them omitted from being seen. There were some that would take a whole page.

 

I blocked them years ago, but I couldn’t tell you how. 😉

Edited January 18, 2020 by crzndeb

[ummgood]

16 hours ago, Amadawn1 said:

Absolutely agree!  Though the Havana Cabanas on the Vista had surprisingly little noise, even though they were right next to Ocean Plaza.  Ours was the second cabin (5203) from the elevators/ocean plaza, and there are doors to the Havana Cabana hallway that they close in the evening.  I was shocked at having no noise in that area at night.

 

this is great to hear. We have that cabana booked in Sept on Vista. I heard the rooms on the other side get some noise from the live music in ocean plaza. 

[jfaaborg]

20 hours ago, hkbragg said:

The only cabin we have not loved is an aft wrap we had on the Dream last year. It was floor 9, right under the aft pool. Every time a lounge chair was moved, it sounded like a metal death cry. And unfortunately, this happened most often early in the AM as the staff was setting up for the day. I will stick to a room sandwiched between other guest rooms from now on. 

Had the same experience on the splendor. The crew gets up pretty earky to drag those chairs around 

[wesorbeth]

49 minutes ago, Gamecock_Cruiser said:

Um, out TV remote didn't work one time... we called guest services, and we had new a new remote shortly after. It was horrific! 

I hope you asked for a full refund! 

 

[wesorbeth]

Glory 7310 in October of 2019.  We were two floors above the casino and they must have ventilation issues because our cabin really smelled like cigarette smoke. They offered to move us but we decided to stay, got use to it after awhile.