Carnival Carribean Cheap as chips or just cheap

[standby 06.30]

With the Dollar so weak we have taken two cruises out of Miami this year, one with Rcl in Jan, and the latest on the Carnival Triumph.

 

We booked a Cat 11 suite in the US without a flight, we thought this would be a good bolt hole with a balcony, and it was.

 

Boarding we had Vip status because of the cabin, so we were onboard very quickly.

 

We decided to have a walk around whilst waiting for the luggage.

 

The Ship was a rather strange mix of interior design, the best way I can describe it was a cross between one of Saddams palaces and the Trafford Centre , that was in need of a spring clean.it was seedy.

 

We then went to the Lido deck to view the food, the mixture of stale food smells, sweaty bodies + suntan oil, and steam generated from the bain maries, made us feel sick, the floor was also like a ice rink.

 

The food onboard was terrible, we did not venture into the buffet lines, more than once and "ate" in the London dining room.

 

"Formal night" having read the great debate about dress codes, after all that hot air I expected fireworks, I would say it was a 50/50 split, not one person said a thing, by the way they seem to group all the Europeans together. The food was terrible the Prime Rib had no taste, and the texture of damp pink cottonwool, Lobster it was not, it little taste and had the texture of a rubber band, the chocolate melting cake that is raved over, Marks and Spencers version is 200% better.Then waiters changed into the costumes much loved by Brazillian cross dressers at the Rio Carnival and joined by a large number of passengers in both formal and informal clothes began doing some sort of dance, some even dancing on the table. and the big debates is dress codes, give me a break!

 

We have said that it is impossible not to find some food you like on a cruise ship, I was wrong, we ate big lunches on shore, and returned with takeaway food that we kept in the fridge, then got room service to bring up plates etc.

 

The hotel staff were great, we asked them if they wanted dollars or pounds for tips Take pounds with you.

 

We met up with some good people at a roll call party, they were all very interesting and good fun.

 

Tip, do not pre pay your tips, do not let them add it to your account, and if you are using your credit card to settle your account, make it very clear that if they convert you balance in dollars to pounds at a joke exchange rate you will block the payment.

 

To sum up, on the first night we were having a drink before dinner listening to the pianno player compete with about 30 or 40 people being whipped into a frenzie on a bacony above by a shop worker selling them some piece of tat.

 

This is our " take" on Carnival having Cruised 23= times in Europe with a number of different lines.

[cberge]

Your post does NOT surprise me in the least.I have always said you get what you pay for and I am not even thinking about the dollar,pound or euro.

[bargainshopper]

Why is this review in the "ports of call" forum but has no mention of any ports???

[cberge]

Why is this review in the "ports of call" forum but has no mention of any ports???

Because the poster is from England maybe and it was just an FYI re the cruise to other posters who may read the board.Not all posts have to have "ports of call" in them. Just MHO.

[Sargent_Schultz]

This does sound like your typical dross.

 

Did/can you read your cruise contract? If you didn't/can't, I won't take advantage of that fact. I will assume you can read and offer you this:

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/Vacation-Guarantee.aspx

 

The money back portion and limitations are nothing new.

 

If it was such a horrible experience, why did not you take Carnival up on their Vacation Guarantee? Something, btw, I doubt you will find on the other cruise lines you have sailed?

 

On another note, the US Supreme Court slammed the door shut on the Carlisle case against Carnival.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/10/01/daily23.html

 

Carnival is not liable for your negligence in failure to do proper research.

[standby 06.30]

Because the poster is from England maybe and it was just an FYI re the cruise to other posters who may read the board.Not all posts have to have "ports of call" in them. Just MHO.

Thank you, you are correct, by the way your comment on you "get what you pay for", I have been comparing lines for our Jan 08 cruise, for a balcony cabin, the difference between Celebrity and Carnival is small, we have heard good things about Celebrity? any imput, my wife worked for them in the 90s, to make this about ports I come from Liverpool. regards

[standby 06.30]

Shultz with regards to the guarantee, to quote " applies to U.S. and Canadian Residents only" We are residents of the U.K.

 

With regards to our problems, a number of Americans also posted complaints, about sewage smells,choking chemical fumes in their cabin, toilets not working, aircon malfunctions, no hot water, vomit on the floor of their cabins, dirty cabins, broken beds, the general poor standard of the ships upkeep, poor food quality, etc

 

But I suppose Shultz as you are a shareholder you have to "tow" the line.

 

Regards

[Casino Player]

Thank you, you are correct, by the way your comment on you "get what you pay for", I have been comparing lines for our Jan 08 cruise, for a balcony cabin, the difference between Celebrity and Carnival is small, we have heard good things about Celebrity? any imput, my wife worked for them in the 90s, to make this about ports I come from Liverpool. regards

 

Yes, you do get what you pay for. Carnival is one of the two lines I currently travel on. The other is Celebrity. The difference between Carnival and Celebrity is small. With Carnival you get a larger room and better food. With Celebrity the food is almost as good as Carnival's food, but they don't make announcement over the PA. Also, Celebrity has the best service of the five cruise lines I've been on. I've been on other cruise lines so that's how I know about them being the best I've been on so far.

Some relatives of mine took a Carnival cruise out of England coming to NY. The ship's maiden voyage. It was a European style cruise and they didn't much like it either. They complained about the food too. To date I have not had a bad cruise on Carnival. Neither on Celebrity either. In my cruising experience the food on both of these lines is excellent.