Never thought I would say this.....

[Island Dog]

15 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

I'm right there with ya.

 

Taken three CCL cruises since restart. We are branching out and taking Bliss out of San Pedro CA at the end of the month. Ship looks to have great reviews and on previous NCL cruises we've been on, we appreciate the open late O'Sheehans\The Public pub eatery.

 

Love O'Sheehans and The Local.  No other line offers this great type of venue.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Island Dog

[Riles34]

4 hours ago, pe4all said:

I just like Carnival.  Never had a bad cruise - even one time with Destiny losing engine power and limping back to Miami from PR, and another time getting diverted from our itinerary due to a hurricane, etc.  Have never, and will never go hungry on CCL.  Crew has always been fantastic on each and every ship. Plenty of fish in the sea, and cruise lines to chose from.

Its all of what you make of it! I am on vacation and life is good. I am not going to complain about slow service due to staffing and all that jazz. People believe their cruise status is too good for others and everyone should bow down to them.

[mom2tcdx2]

I have sailed on Carnival, MSC, Disney, Royal, NCL, Princess.  Personally I find they all have had their flaws and differences.  Food I have found on Royal and NCL are not any better in the dining room than Carnival is, and I feel like they are trying to get you to their specialty restaurants instead.  Which on Royal last 3 cruises we paid for the dining package to do the specialty restaurants instead.  I have found I have gotten better bar service on Carnival than the other lines.  We got to know bartenders on Carnival, but never really did except on one Royal Cruise (the Anthem) and MSC, and once on NCL.  

 

Sadly I am finding them to be way more similar, just the others seem to cost a lot more.  I am drawn to Royal only when I can find a really good deal on their pricing.  Disney however I only manage to do a cruise randomly and two of them were Transatlantic cruises. Hands down best service ever has been my Disney Transatlantic ages ago.  

 

Some of the cutbacks really don't bother me all that much, unless the prices keep increasing.  For now I am still managing to find pretty reasonable costing cruises with Carnival and in doing so continue to sail with them.  

[Ilovesailaway]

Been on 2 Carnival cruises since the restart. Experienced service issues on both. I am giving them another try with the Celebration in January. Fingers crossed. 

Many people on here talk about Carnival's value. I can say that I have found value in all the mass market lines. I like Carnival because of the vibe on board. As much as I enjoy cruising with Carnival I cannot see myself putting up with a 30 min wait for a drink at a bar, or like I had on Legend earlier this year a one hour wait at brunch with no one coming to our table. smh

I am not worrying about paying more with another line. Like I said I know I can find value. I am upset because I will miss the fun ships.

[angela12345]

9 minutes ago, notscb said:

That's so interesting! I wonder why they wouldn't just use a stand for it in those situations (although I imagine space on those specific balconies is also smaller or limited).

That's actually a great idea to use a stand of some type.  The sad thing is, Virgin auto-assigns all cabins booked online to "best available" and folks are being put into these cabins thinking they are getting what the other cabins have but they're not (I guess last ones to book get these?).  Evidently Virgin has been sending a notification a week or so before the cruise for each of these bookings and offering $50 OBC in compensation.  If balconies were super important to me and the hammock was a selling point, $50 OBC instead would not make me happy.  Regarding balcony size ... many of these are larger than normal balconies !  Slightly larger to almost or maybe even more than double the size.  So, if hammock and glass aren't deal breakers for the person, these can be really good choices to get a larger balcony.

[notscb]

12 minutes ago, angela12345 said:

If balconies were super important to me and the hammock was a selling point, $50 OBC instead would not make me happy.

I totally agree. I'd be only partially satisfied with an OBC vs lounging in a hammock on my private balcony all week. I think that's the downside of Virgin- consistency. Based on a lot of youtube reviews I've been watching, it seems like their product is not always on par with itself, especially in the staterooms. Still want to try them, though!

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, Island Dog said:

Point is that if I'm plunking down 1k plus for Cheers! for two, I should be able to get my value from it. If I'm waiting 30 minutes, I'm not.

That's presupposing that the wait is consistently 30 minutes throughout the day. which it probably isn't and even if it is you would still be able to get your 15 in for the day.

[Raysgirl]

34 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

That's presupposing that the wait is consistently 30 minutes throughout the day. which it probably isn't and even if it is you would still be able to get your 15 in for the day.

I am not trying to hit my 15 drink limit in per day,  Honestly I barely can drink 5 a day, but I also drink water and soda.   My point is there is not enough staff for the amount of people on the ship.  In years passed you were constantly saying "no thank you " to the numerous amount of bar staff trying to get you a drink, now you can barely find any.  It is not enjoyable to get out of the pool to stand in line at a bar for 30 minutes to get a drink. The drink can be a water, soda or alcohol, it doesn't matter, they are just under staffed.   Enough time has passed that they should be fully up and running.   If they do not have enough employees, then should not have not put a ship or 2 in service and spread those staff members over the fleet.     This is not just me noticing it.  Ask your room stewards, most have twice as many cabins to service, same with the dining staff, they have more tables in their section than prior to covi which puts a lot of stress on them.   Carnival will not increase the number of employees back to precovid if passengers do not speak up that there is issue with services.  This is just another way for them to increase revenue.

 

[ObstructedView2]

4 hours ago, Raysgirl said:

 

I noticed that most are focusing on the changes with the food I mentioned when actually our biggest reason to try another line is service.

 

 

Thank goodness Cruise Critic only makes up a Super Teenie Tiny amount of the cruising public.. Far too many (Carnival) Cruise Critic members place a simple Guy's Burger, Pizza, French Fries & Soft Serve Ice Cream on an extremely high shelf. And that type of food mentality doesn't belong, warrant or deserve to be that high on a shelf. 

 

In regards to service, staffing issues, etc.... Well that is happening everywhere, in many industries all over the world. There's a huge amount of people working jobs they've never done before or trained to perform. More time has to pass. It's still too soon. March 2020 was not that long ago. 

 

 

✌

Edited November 10, 2022 by ObstructedView2

[Theosprey247]

I've never had to wait anywhere near 30 minutes for bar service and I only cruise in the summer months (June and July) and December.  

 

 

Are going to the bar or are you waiting for a waitperson to come by?

Edited November 10, 2022 by Theosprey247

[jsglow]

I see all this discussion about '30 minute bar service'.  I guess I'm lucky. We're not all that far from Diamond and I have never experienced anything like this.  My single worst experience was on our January '20 Sunrise 4-nighter when I probably waited behind 4-5 guests at the Red Frog Rum Bar on embarkation day.....maybe 12-15 minutes max.  And I remember it clearly because it was so out of the ordinary. I chalked it up to that 'first drink at Lido' logjam.  Typically my experience involves a bartender making someone else's drinks looking up at me and saying 'What can I get you jsglow?'  Yeah, often by name. Seriously. I have no idea how they do that with thousands of guests. 

[Raysgirl]

10 minutes ago, Theosprey247 said:

I've never had to wait anywhere near 30 minutes for bar service and I only cruise in the summer months (June and July) and December.  

 

 

Are going to the bar or are you waiting for a waitperson to come by?

I am going to the bar at either the serenity pool or aft bar by the adult pool depending on what ship we were on at the time because there were no waitpersons walking around.  On all 3 cruises since the restart, they were very crowded areas and the wait time to get drinks was insane because there normally was 1 bartender.

[teknoge3k]

We have recently switched to another line, not because of the cut-backs, but because of the ports. We want some new Caribbean ports and other lines have a better selection of ports that Carnival just doesn't go to often. 

[bguppies]

5 hours ago, Raysgirl said:

I appreciate everyone's response and opinions!  I noticed that most are focusing on the changes with the food I mentioned when actually our biggest reason to try another line is service.  I agree the staff is wonderful, always friendly, but there is not enough of them which causes service to be very slow.  The last 3 cruises we had the cheers package (only because we had a great offer) and we usually hang out at the adult pool or serenity pool depending on the ship.  If there was 1 person walking the area offering bar service that was a lot. Same was happening at the shows and casino.   If we got out of the pool ourselves to get a drink the lines at the bar was huge, taking almost a half an hour to get a drink.  We were lucky if we had 2 bartenders, but normally there was just 1.  Just wondering since so many people purchase the cheers package they feel they already got our money and gratuity so it is ok to have slow service.   Again  I have not given up on Carnival.  I have 2 future cruises booked with them,  It is just time for us to explore out cruise lines to see if they are experiencing the same issues with services or if it is just cut backs on Carnival.

After you try another line, please come back and let everyone in here know how the service and food shortages (the Carnival BS, bacon shoratge) and food quality are in comparison.

 

We have one more cruise on Carnival in 3 weeks, but after that, unless it is a great cruise, after our experience in September on the Sunshine, we will; be branching out ourselves.

 

We have been pretty lazy about branching out due to Carnival's ports being so convienient to us. (Charleston is a short drive to downtown, Jacksonville, Tampa and Port Canaveral.)

But the staff on the September cruise were great as usual, just stretched way too thin.

When you bring that up in here all of the apoligists just shout out any non-Carnival opinions, like they own the company personally.

 

I'd be incredibly anxious to know if other cruiselines are as shorthanded as Carnival has been running their business. I personally feel that Carnival has intentionally kept their staff shorthanded to save some labor costs, while cutting thheir product as close to the bone as they possibly can.

But I  would love to hear confirming opinions of this. (or if the other cruiselinesd feel shortstaffed , PLEASE come back and say so)

 

I greatly appreciate your honest assesment and review of your cruise.

[cruiseny4life]

17 minutes ago, bguppies said:

I'd be incredibly anxious to know if other cruiselines are as shorthanded as Carnival has been running their business. I personally feel that Carnival has intentionally kept their staff shorthanded to save some labor costs, while cutting thheir product as close to the bone as they possibly can.

I can give you a little bit of information on NCL's staffing based on my previous experience.

 

In April we cruised on the Getaway out of NYC during the Easter break, so the cruise was over capacity with all the kids onboard. There were about 1,200 crew members onboard, which was between 300 and 400 crew members less than they should have had to be properly staffed.

 

Later on, in September, we cruised the Getaway, again out of NYC. This time the sailing was at about 30 - 35% capacity. NCL had 1,600 crew members onboard. This meant more crew than passengers were onboard. It seems NCL went full steam to get an adequate number of crew onboard. 

 

I can't compare these experiences to other lines, but I hope it gives you a little bit of context on NCL ramping up crew for their ships. 

[PortSideCruzan]

55 minutes ago, ObstructedView2 said:

 

In regards to service, staffing issues, etc.... Well that is happening everywhere, in many industries all over the world. There's a huge amount of people working jobs they've never done before or trained to perform. More time has to pass. It's still too soon. March 2020 was not that long ago. 

 

 

Hi @ObstructedView2🙂

 

I certainly agree with you concerning staffing/training issues & millions of people around the World employed in jobs they've never worked before. Yes, this is definitely not confined to just the cruise industry or one particular cruise line. All industries are & still affected.

 

When Covid began its attack in 2020, we decided then, right away, to take a 3 to 4 year hiatus from cruising after 40 years of sailing. For us, even now approaching the end of 2022, it is far too soon. We'll probably sail in 2024 or 2025. 

 

To the original OP:

Hi @Raysgirl🙂

 

Wow! 15 voyages all on Carnival. That is far too limiting. Yes, branch out & explore other cruise lines. More importantly is to open your door to the vast destinations & experiences to be explored that exist beyond just one cruise line.

 

Happy sailing!!

 

 

🌴

 

 

[momof3cruisers]

3 hours ago, angela12345 said:

That's actually a great idea to use a stand of some type.  The sad thing is, Virgin auto-assigns all cabins booked online to "best available" and folks are being put into these cabins thinking they are getting what the other cabins have but they're not (I guess last ones to book get these?).  Evidently Virgin has been sending a notification a week or so before the cruise for each of these bookings and offering $50 OBC in compensation.  If balconies were super important to me and the hammock was a selling point, $50 OBC instead would not make me happy.  Regarding balcony size ... many of these are larger than normal balconies !  Slightly larger to almost or maybe even more than double the size.  So, if hammock and glass aren't deal breakers for the person, these can be really good choices to get a larger balcony.

That whole assign you a room thing is one of the big reasons I won’t sail on. Virgin. What they think is best might not be what I think is best. 

1 hour ago, Theosprey247 said:

I've never had to wait anywhere near 30 minutes for bar service and I only cruise in the summer months (June and July) and December.  

 

 

Are going to the bar or are you waiting for a waitperson to come by?

October—other than the lobby bar, every bar on Spirit had very long waits depending on timing. 
 

OP, I totally understand what you are saying. After our recent B2B, we don’t need to branch out as we have sailed many other lines already and liked them. However, due to lack of service in general (and a few outright lies) my husband is DONE with Carnival. I have another cruise scheduled in Feb on Paradise. I was on Paradise last March and it was great. If it’s not back to the same levels, I’ll be done too. 

[angela12345]

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

Typically my experience involves a bartender making someone else's drinks looking up at me and saying 'What can I get you jsglow?'  Yeah, often by name. Seriously. I have no idea how they do that with thousands of guests. 

 

It's truly amazing.  Like I literally can't remember a name even WHILE the person is telling me their name, haha.  
 

5 minutes ago, momof3cruisers said:

That whole assign you a room thing is one of the big reasons I won’t sail on. Virgin. What they think is best might not be what I think is best. 

TOTALLY agree !!  But, you can call or go online chat and have them switch your cabin once you've booked.  Or, if you call to book they can give you the cabin you want while on the phone with them.  I believe travel agents can see cabins and put you in a specific one as well.  Not 100% sure about that.
 

[thunderingherd11]

23 hours ago, Raysgirl said:

Now they are nickel and diming you with their increases for things on the ship and an extra charge if you order 3 entrees.

If you don't like nickle and diming stay off of Norwegian.  We booked a cheap cruise and then spent way more than what we are use to on Carnival.  

[Raysgirl]

11 minutes ago, momof3cruisers said:

 

October—other than the lobby bar, every bar on Spirit had very long waits depending on timing. 
 

OP, I totally understand what you are saying. After our recent B2B, we don’t need to branch out as we have sailed many other lines already and liked them. However, due to lack of service in general (and a few outright lies) my husband is DONE with Carnival. I have another cruise scheduled in Feb on Paradise. I was on Paradise last March and it was great. If it’s not back to the same levels, I’ll be done too. 

Our last cruise was on the Spirit in October when we had the worse issue with bar lines, this is when we decided to cancel our cruise in March on the Sunrise and try someone new.  We do have a cruise booked on the Celebration next September and hopefully we will enjoy that ship.

[thunderingherd11]

22 hours ago, Raysgirl said:

Klfrodo, I do understand your remarks about the entrees and normally 1 or 2 is enough, but if you order something to try and you do not like it, or it comes cold and dried out like the chicken breast sometimes done, I would not want to be charged a fee for a 3rd meal.  Again cuts backs, they went from a flank steak to a strip steak that is so thin, they remind me of the steaks that you can buy at the dollar store in the frozen food department.    All I am trying to say is they need to give a decent portion of food which they used to do, but again has been cut back since the restart.

I think the portion of food is adequate and I weigh 255 pounds.  I always get two apps, because like their soups and want something else.  I typically get one entrée, but I occasionally ask for an additional side.  And I always do a dessert.  I leave filled up.  And if I am hungry still, I will go grab something off of the buffet or deli/pizza.  I get your point, but I don't think Carnival was ever about the food since 2015.  When I started cruising.  And I don't notice bar times or cold food, or slow service being any different than prepandemic.  I think if you look at these boards prior to the pandemic, we had the same complaints as we do now.  Although, i do feel the quality of food is a little down, especially the steak and chicken.  

[thunderingherd11]

21 hours ago, Raysgirl said:

If I elected to eat at the buffet, which normally has the same dinner items I can load my plate up with as much as I want as many times as I want and there is no additional charge.

its a buffet.  that's how buffets work.  The dining room is not a buffet.  They could limit us to one entrée.  I understand your frustration, but this is not a good comparison.  Buffets by definition are all you can eat.  I would be much more unhappy if they charged for a second visit to the buffet because that is not how any buffet works.  

[thunderingherd11]

21 hours ago, mz-s said:

They've cut waste at the buffet by cheapening the ingredients - you've never seen so much rice as a Carnival buffet, and the sausage on the breakfast buffet is just cut up hot dogs. If you're lucky enough to get actual sausage on your cruise, you'll notice it's just Banquet brown n' serve links. They will cut a chicken thigh into three pieces and that is one portion. They provide smaller plates and don't provide trays (and the kids cups for drink).

 

If they wanted to, they could make it more cafeteria style and have crew serve the guests from the buffet like the cake buffet is now - but that would probably require more staff, not sure if they want to go down that rabbit hole. But that is probably next.

we get it.  you are miserable.  Try another cruise line.  Let us know how it goes.  I have done Norwegian.  Way to much pay as you go and my experience a party crowd way worse than Carnival.  But it may have been this one cruise.

 

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, thunderingherd11 said:

we get it.  you are miserable.  Try another cruise line.  Let us know how it goes.  I have done Norwegian.  Way to much pay as you go and my experience a party crowd way worse than Carnival.  But it may have been this one cruise.

 

Been there done that, went on another line last week and had a great time.

 

But I reject the notion that because I am being honest that Carnival cuts a chicken thigh into thirds and tries to tell guests that cut up hot dogs are breakfast sausage, I am somehow miserable.

[Island Dog]

While Norwegian can be a nickel and dime experience if you opt for the bare-bones fare, we enjoy the all-inclusive experience when packaged into the fare. We are cruising NCL in March and got a great deal that includes 2 specialty dining meals, drink pkg., wifi and $50 off one excursion every port. Not to mention the drink package is honored on their private island. It's really a carefree experience imho.