Negative things I've heard about Carnival

[ChampionCruiser]

I was concerned that I wouldn't care for the majesty, but there just is something about that ship that made me fall in love with her. All the things that most would call negatives I found positives. And I had only done 70,000 grt ships and larger.

 

MAC

 

 

I know what you mean. I think it was a combination of the casually elegant feeling of the ship and the friendly and efficient service that did it for me.

[nckvilledudes]

With all the info, which cruise line is the Op going on????

 

 

Dan

[rolloman]

There is no such thing as a bad cruise. That being said, to compare the best new ship of Carnival to the best new ship of RCCL is laughable. RCCL Liberty or Freedom are out of this world with ammenities. Food is all the same but design and things to do such as Ice rink, rock wall, flowrider, promenade and activities associated with them....forget about it....

[bakechef]

I know what you mean. I think it was a combination of the casually elegant feeling of the ship and the friendly and efficient service that did it for me.

 

 

I loved the crew, we ate in the four seasons most nights, and as we would approach the dining room the hostess would see us coming and tell the person seating people where we like to sit and with which wait team to seat us with, it was wonderful. Actually the entire staff was just warm and friendly. We got to know the young performers from the show, they were so happy being able to perform for an appreciative audience.

 

It will be sad to see her go, I am not sure if I will get a second trip on her.

 

MAC

[principessa1180]

i am honeymooning on the carnival pride in a few weeks. i have heard pros and cons when it comes to almost all cruise lines. i read a lot of reviews online before i went with carnival. i liked the activites and themed ships. i also ordered the free dvd from carnival.com. i paid for an oceanview, and i got upgraded to an extended balcony.

[suzy1212]

...to compare the best new ship of Carnival to the best new ship of RCCL is laughable. RCCL Liberty or Freedom are out of this world with ammenities. Food is all the same but design and things to do such as Ice rink, rock wall, flowrider, promenade and activities associated with them....forget about it....

That depends on what you're looking for in a cruise. The ice rink, flowrider, and rock wall would mean nothing to me.

 

If we were taking a cruise with a family group, I'm sure the kids would love those features. Problem is, we'd be much less likely to be able to afford the extra cost if there was a bunch of us. :cool:

[Sandi149]

There is no such thing as a bad cruise. That being said, to compare the best new ship of Carnival to the best new ship of RCCL is laughable. RCCL Liberty or Freedom are out of this world with ammenities. Food is all the same but design and things to do such as Ice rink, rock wall, flowrider, promenade and activities associated with them....forget about it....

 

Actually you cannot compare any ship on any cruiseline to the Liberty or Freedom of the Seas because no ship has any of those amenities that those RCCL ships have.

[BillnBobbi]

I think it's that new Matt Damon movie :p

 

Yes, it's The Bourne Gastromety. See it first at your local humongousplex.

 

BnB

[zaandam_2]

:o ... I've heard that the food is horrible compared to the other lines, and here I read it is wonderful. I've heard that the ships are "cheap" and "garrish" and there is a reason why they cost less- you get what you pay for...?

 

you heard right, IMHO. there's a link in my signature to the review of my most recent carnival experience.

[kellywhitehills]

I can now say I have crusied both Carnival and RCCI....and if I had to choose between the two it would be Carnival hands down...The food was better, the cabin was better and the overall condition of the ship was better. The crew was very warm and welcoming. We are Carnival Cruisers..:)

[BillnBobbi]

Oh come on now.......the newer ships are not horribly decorated and are very nice.......now maybe the older ships are as you call them 1970's Las Vegas...but there not that bad either......IMHO

 

The newer ships (Conquest class) are definitely not 70s Vegas, they are more like 21st Century Vegas. Now that isn't to say that that's bad. Of the four Conquest classes (been on 3 seen pictures of Freedom and taking it in 2 weeks)

Ships, the Conquest is the most "understated" and the Freedom seems to be the most garish. Obviously the faux Statue of Liberty in the Lido Buffet staircase is meant as someone's idea of a visual joke. You could hardly call it good taste.

But then Las Vegas has a false Eiffel Tower, a false Empire State Building, a false Great Pyramid of Giza, a false Venetian grand canal....

Hey, is ANYTHING IN VEGAS REAL? Even Lake Mead is false.

 

So unless you are some kind of snob when it comes to interior decoration, you can certainly live with the visual pyrotechnics. After two days, you don't really even notice it. What we are more concerned with is CLEAN, and in our experience, all of the ships are kept constantly spotless.

 

More important is the food, which in our experience has ranged from very good to excellent, with very good being the main dining areas and excellent for the specialty restaurants. The lido buffet food we would rate as merely good, but for breakfast and lunch that's just fine. Some of the specialty corners are verygood to excellent, namely the Deli and the Fish and Chips.

 

Also more important are the activity areas. The Spa and Gym in our opinion can't be beat for a cruise ship (yes there is NO thallosotherapy pool but I heard that is on the brand new class of ships) and there is certainly plenty of room to chill out and find a lounge chair. There are also myriad activities for kids and teens in regard to games and sports.

 

For the price of even a cabin with a balcony, it still comes to about half of what all of the equivalent amenities would cost if you went on a land vacation.

 

Oh, and the people on board are friendly and unpretentious, that goes for passengers and crew.

 

Have fun.

 

We have.

 

BnB

[Mrs. Connie]

Some people will have a bad time no matter what cruiseline they go on. There are those constant whiners and complainers all over the place. Nothing is ever good enough for them. :rolleyes:

 

I think I'm related to them! :p

 

Mrs. Connie

[ECP]

I'm not referring to the people who have sailed CCL and don't like it. I'm referring to the people who HAVEN'T sailed with them and say they don't like it.

 

And I am talking about people who sailed it, did not like it, then lied about why they did not like the cruise.

[ECP]

Also, folks, please stop with the "if they don't like Carnival, they've never been on Carnival." The reason that there are so many different cruise lines is that everyone has different tastes.

 

But the problem is not that you or others don't like the 'Carnival Experience', there are plenty of people who will never enjoy being on a Carnival ship even if the trip was free by the very nature of what their expectations of what makes a good cruise line.

 

No; The problem is the claims about Carnival to be nothing but 'wild party boats' and 'falling down drunks'. These claims do not match the reality what cruising on Carnival is like, and I hate it when someone has never sailed Carnival and makes the above claims.

[ECP]

Also, folks, please stop with the "if they don't like Carnival, they've never been on Carnival." The reason that there are so many different cruise lines is that everyone has different tastes.

 

Interesting enough is the few times someone does make the above claims and has sailed Carnival, other people on the same trip say the claims do not match reality either.

 

Somehow, the negative posters saw ten drunks lying around on the deck. Everyone else saw a single drunk sleeping it off in a deck chair. Other claims are illogical, no captain aims a cruise ship at the middle of a tropical storm for example.

[rolloman]

I can now say I have crusied both Carnival and RCCI....and if I had to choose between the two it would be Carnival hands down...The food was better, the cabin was better and the overall condition of the ship was better. The crew was very warm and welcoming. We are Carnival Cruisers..:)

 

Now that is funny, comparing these two ships is the equivalent to comparing a model T to a new Mercedes, or in cruiseship terms the Carnival Fantasy to the RCCL Freedom of the Seas. Other than the food, you will need to sail ships built from the same year and then get back to me. RCCL Liberty versus Carnival Victory.. now that would be a fair comparison.

[khofgren]

My husband and I have sailed twice with Carnival and love them. We have always eaten at the buffet because we never know when we will be hungary so we eat when we want. The food has always been good and never had a problem with it. There are lots of food choices and every food item has been delicious. Our next cruise is coming up in September and we are looking forward to not having to cook, clean, and worry about the stresses in our lives.

[GettingOutOfIndy]

Oh come on now.......the newer ships are not horribly decorated and are very nice.......now maybe the older ships are as you call them 1970's Las Vegas...but there not that bad either......IMHO

 

"Older ships, newer ships..." What's the difference? I'm getting ready to cruise on the Triumph, and since I'm not familiar with Carnival, I'm hoping someone can tell me something about this ship.

[firefly333]

This guy repeated his post TWICE last night on the RCI threads about how he does not want to sail on Carnival because they continually make public announcements to remind folks to tip :(

 

I hate when Carnival is blamed for stuff far in their past.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=590304

 

I have cruised once, a long time ago on a Carnival cruise that I did not enjoy. My main memory of that cruise is the frequent reminders over the loudspeaker to tip the waitstaff, and of people throwing up. Does RCCL have the same type of over-the-loudspeaker frequent tipping reminders?

 

As long as they are not repetitive loudspeaker reminders specifically about tipping, that's great.

 

- no repetitive tipping reminders over the loudspeaker. (I'm fine with some loudspeaker announcements in general, just not repetitive ones about tipping specifically.)

[Sandi149]

On my 2 Carnival cruises....I never once heard them make announcements about tipping. Actually when they made any of the announcements and I was in the cabin, I could barely hear it.

[firefly333]

i am honeymooning on the carnival pride in a few weeks. i have heard pros and cons when it comes to almost all cruise lines. i read a lot of reviews online before i went with carnival. i liked the activites and themed ships. i also ordered the free dvd from carnival.com. i paid for an oceanview, and i got upgraded to an extended balcony.

 

Whoo hoooo ... sweet upgrade!!!

 

My other negative is that I get to being embarrassed even here on CC to admit to going on Ecstasy. I get folks saying to me real life, "well I would not bother with less than 7 days" and "well you know its a older ship" and I start off with feeling like its shamefull almost to admit to having cruises also booked on Ecstasy. Iv started to refer to it as my "stupid Ecstasy" booking that the prices keep going up up up. 4 increases so far. Those cruises must be getting a lot more popular out of Galveston with so fewer ships now. Its about a 5 hour drive each way, so its fine to me to just go for 5 days. Iv only been on Ecstasy once before and that was before my CC days and I missed a lot of things so wanted to go again.

 

Does anyone else get that impression folks act like you are a low life for doing the cheaper older ships cruises?

 

The TA I used for RCI booking asked me to use a PVP for my Carnival cruises finally, she started off by telling me how much she disliked Carnival. Said the walls are too thin and how she thinks RCI is so much better. When I wanted to move the Conquest date, she cancelled it altogether and asked me to use a PVP for Carnvial, she didnt want those bookings. She REALLY dislikes Carnival a lot.

[Cruisetrio]

Whoo hoooo ... sweet upgrade!!!

 

My other negative is that I get to being embarrassed even here on CC to admit to going on Ecstasy. I get folks saying to me real life, "well I would not bother with less than 7 days" and "well you know its a older ship" and I start off with feeling like its shamefull almost to admit to having cruises also booked on Ecstasy. Iv started to refer to it as my "stupid Ecstasy" booking that the prices keep going up up up. 4 increases so far. Those cruises must be getting a lot more popular out of Galveston with so fewer ships now. Its about a 5 hour drive each way, so its fine to me to just go for 5 days. Iv only been on Ecstasy once before and that was before my CC days and I missed a lot of things so wanted to go again.

 

Does anyone else get that impression folks act like you are a low life for doing the cheaper older ships cruises?

 

The TA I used for RCI booking asked me to use a PVP for my Carnival cruises finally, she started off by telling me how much she disliked Carnival. Said the walls are too thin and how she thinks RCI is so much better. When I wanted to move the Conquest date, she cancelled it altogether and asked me to use a PVP for Carnvial, she didnt want those bookings. She REALLY dislikes Carnival a lot.

 

I' ve been on the Ecstasy twice....and am going on the Elation for NYE. Both "older, smaller" ships but for a 5 day'er, they are fine. I have also done the larger ships and am going on the Liberty on 2 weeks. Sometimes I cannot take enough time off of work for a longer cruise. I would have like to do the Spirit Mex Riviera for the holidays but couldnt get 8 days off of work.

[Hat Pinz Guy]

When my DW and I decided to go on cruises for vacations back in 2004, I started asking around at work. Everyone was pumping up HAL and RCCL.

So we decided to go with RCCL. Granted I work for a Finance department for a large company (average age was 50+, I was in my early 30's at the time). Well, the DW did some research, and RCCL was having some problems with keeping passengers on the ship:confused: , and decided that maybe cruising wasn't the thing to do. That's where I fault the media and certain sites for hyping the fear machine, but that's another subject altogether.

So we went back to the beach that year and were absolutely bored out of our minds. (We only live an hour and 30 minutes from the NC coast and go there a lot.)

 

We got invited to a reunion on the IMAGINATION in '05 on the Imagination - Everyone at work said we were going to have a horrible time. Guess What:

 

WE LOVED IT !!! :D USED Carnival twice since (Elation, Valor: see below) and have another booked for next year (Destiny). Basically If i would have listened everyone at work, I would have missed out on a very fun experience.:p

 

We are even trying a Norwegian later this year because we can drive to it. Its funny, We actually feel guilty about not using CCL this time around.

We are also planning an RCCL for a future cruise. The way I see it: I'm not going to be here in 100 years and tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone, so if you want to do something and it is within your means (and legal), go for it. I try to avoid the clicks running around work and on every message board I go to. My guess is that it is that gang mentality. I think people feel safer if they are part of a group that shares their ideals, they'll be accepted more if they agree with others within the majority. So, if Blank Cruise is more upscale, and 100 people say so, then it must be true.

I'm just out to have fun-

 

Talk at ya' later

[popsec]

They actually make you get off after your wonderful cruise is over!...the nerve!! :eek:

[patandal]

My family all sails in August and we are Stella Artois too:)