Samantha Brown and Carnival thursday

[douglinc@msn.com]

I enjoyed the show, but wish they had shown more of the ship, I wanted to see what changes had been made since we were on her the week of 9-11.

 

Doug

[deborahjo]

Loved the show but did not think much of her. I usually like her shows but she came off really hokey.

[2TNCruisers]

I watched the show last night and, like the other posters felt Sam wasn't quite as "excited" as she normally is...and I didn't get to see quite as much of the ship as expected. Still, it gave me a chance to see a Carnival ship and what I saw looked great. We have our first Carnival cruise in Dec on the Splendor.

 

I thought the ship looked VERY nice. I was a little concerned when I saw the lifeboat right outside her balcony. Is this common? This is only our 2nd cruise and we splurged and booked a balcony (8-A, not sure if this is good or not). I'd hate to think we couldn't sit and see out because of the lifeboat.

[1RocknRobin]

After looking so forward to watching this show, I have to admit my DH and I were disappointed! We felt like the show left out so many fun things about the ship, like Camp Carnival, Mini Golf, the 24 hour pizza, the sushi and a few other things. I guess had they included everything about the Inspiration, it would have been a 2 hour show.

[cuyahoga11]

I watched the show last night and, like the other posters felt Sam wasn't quite as "excited" as she normally is...and I didn't get to see quite as much of the ship as expected. Still, it gave me a chance to see a Carnival ship and what I saw looked great. We have our first Carnival cruise in Dec on the Splendor.

 

I thought the ship looked VERY nice. I was a little concerned when I saw the lifeboat right outside her balcony. Is this common? This is only our 2nd cruise and we splurged and booked a balcony (8-A, not sure if this is good or not). I'd hate to think we couldn't sit and see out because of the lifeboat.

 

Dont worry about your view, an 8A will not have an obstruction. You cant compare the Inspiration (Fantasy class) with the newer ships.

[cuyahoga11]

After looking so forward to watching this show, I have to admit my DH and I were disappointed! We felt like the show left out so many fun things about the ship, like Camp Carnival, Mini Golf, the 24 hour pizza, the sushi and a few other things. I guess had they included everything about the Inspiration, it would have been a 2 hour show.

 

If they would not have spent 15 minutes watching her drive the jeep they would have had more time on the ship JMO

[Wennfred]

Saw the show this morning, Samantha Rocks, she is one of my favorites on the Travel Channel. The Inspiration looks great. Great show.

 

 

 

 

Fred

[createmem]

My daughter and I watched the show last night, quite excited because we are going on the Imagination next month. I am always excited to watch her shows on RCI, and was happy to see her branch out to another cruise line. I have cruised on both lines and feel both lines have the pluses and minuses.

 

If I had never been on Carnival before, I certainly would not be persuaded to do so after watching. I don't feel she showed cruising (and the traditions like the buffet, meeting the captain etc) in a very positive light, and almost felt like she was making fun of us for taking photos at the buffet - which I am proud to say I still do on each and every cruise!

 

I felt she didn't paint a very postive picture for the cruise industry as a whole. Since I know what my experience is... I will still cruise on RCI and Carnival - and will branch out to other cruise lines as my budget and travel time allows.

 

Though - one benefit, at least my daughter is more excited about the water slide now - and one negative - a little scared - did you see that view from the top?!

[kathyanddick]

Samantha looked great! I don't know how she stays in shape to be comfortable enough to wear a bikini on tv. Anyway......I thought she made the best of it. The Carnival Inspiration did make a great transformation. But the suite balconies on the Inspiration are certainly not worth the extra price. Too much iron and stuff around to block your view from all areas. And they never showed the cabin area. Did they? Did I miss that?

An 8A on the bigger, newer ships are better for views.

You are right about too much Jeep and beach time. Also too much on the sea weed wrap. Most people want to know more about the ship.

But............she is still my favorite travel show host. Her wit and personality make it!

JMHO.....

[KLLund]

I have never been on Carnival and this show really made me excited .. I mean wouldn't you be excited to know you can have the Buffet all to yourself .. and they let you do stuff that usually only the staff does ... hey and there excursions are great!!!! You can just take the dune buggy to the other side by yourself. What a great time we are going to have..... now I must figure out what to eat when I am seated at the table with ALL the officers!!

 

Of course I am being a bit tongue and cheek .. but it was pretty interesting to me to see actual pictures aboard a Carnival ship before sailing on one.

[blondie66]

I usually love her shows but I was disappointed as well.

 

We're going on our 1st cruise in August on the Elation & was looking forward to what cruising & Carnival was all about.

 

I was super excited about our trip & now I'm a little nervous on if I'll like cruising.

 

Oh well, I'll just have to keep reading the boards becuase that 's what gets me all exicted about our 1st cruise:D

[findingnemoks]

I have to agree, I was disappointed with the show! I wish they would've shown more about the ship; they didn't even show her room!

 

And if you're famous and someone is falling you around with a video camera, OF COURSE, it's going to attract attention...why act all upset?

 

*rolls eyes* I don't really like her that much anyways, she's very hookey....

 

Oh well, it's not putting a damper on my first Carnival cruise! I still can't wait, b/c I know about all the GREAT things that are waiting for me. I learned about them here, from all of you wonderful people!

[BeachBlondie]

I love CCl - have cruised with Carnival several times in the past and have two upcoming cruises booked with Carnival. However, if I had never cruised with Carnival before and watched that show last night I would not want to cruise with Carnival! IMO I felt it perpetuated the erroneous myth that Carnival is somehow or another the Wal-Mart of cruise lines. While I understand that the ship featured was not a Conquest Class ship, I still feel that a cruise onboard any Carnival ship could have been better presented than was presented in last night's program.

 

Blondie;)

[13point1]

I usually love her shows but I was disappointed as well.

 

We're going on our 1st cruise in August on the Elation & was looking forward to what cruising & Carnival was all about.

 

I was super excited about our trip & now I'm a little nervous on if I'll like cruising.

 

Oh well, I'll just have to keep reading the boards becuase that 's what gets me all exicted about our 1st cruise:D

 

Im sure it left a similar taste in other first time or potential cruisers.

 

Fear not, what she showed is not a true crusing experience.

 

She made it seem like ice carving is one of the highlights of the cruise:D

 

 

 

I think Carnival got played, maybe Royal paid her to be less than thrilled j/k

[LovesCruisin]

I saw the show as well. Considering my daughter and I were on the Inspiration in April Samantha really didnt show the ship at all. The one thing that made me smile was that she was def in a Cat 11 - and I am SO GLAD I switched from a Cat 11 to a Cat 12. I would hate to have been sitting out on my balcony in my nightgown waving to other passengers.

 

Eva

[bambam2972]

I was disappointed, too.

 

I've been trying to talk my boyfriend into sailing on Carnival, but he isn't so convinced. Since last night was "boys night out" I watched it by myself and I'm glad he wasn't there! :eek: There was nothing exciting about it at all!

 

Now I'm going to have to steer him away when it comes on. :rolleyes: :p

[KatSt]

I usually love her shows but I was disappointed as well.

 

We're going on our 1st cruise in August on the Elation & was looking forward to what cruising & Carnival was all about.

 

I was super excited about our trip & now I'm a little nervous on if I'll like cruising.

 

Oh well, I'll just have to keep reading the boards becuase that 's what gets me all exicted about our 1st cruise:D

The Elation was my first ship in 2000 and my DH and I were on her last February. She is a great ship. You will love her and cruising. We had a great time when we sailed in February.

 

The Elation hasn't been upgraded with the "Evolutions of Fun" changes yet so the pool area won't look like the Inspiration did in the show last night.

 

Go with an open mind and have a great time. Don't worry about anything.

[airlink diva]

I normally like Samantha's Brown shows, esp her cruising ones and I look forward to watch her on the Inspiration. I, like so many others was disapointed by the show.

On her other shows, when she arrived in her cabin, a brief overview was always given. No towel animals? I had them on my 3 day cruise so I know that they do them on the 4 day cruise. The only plug that she mention about spending extra for a balcony (which is worth the cost if you can afford it). I also hate the fact that she wasn't on the top deck when they went under the bridge in Tampa bay. I know she was on her balcony and it was a nice view, but to do it on the top deck would have been a true wow factor.

I know that when she was on the RCCL that people also ask for photo's. But they didn't show that. But the show make it seem like that's all people wanted to do and I felt that it was a slight insult to the ice craver that they were showing people wanting to take their picture with Samantha rather than of the ice craver.

It seem that she only ate dinner in the dining room only one night (the first night was in the buffet) and even then she was at the table with nothing but the captain and his other officers. I've sail a bit, but never recall seeing this or anyone mentioning just one guest and a table full of the officers. I guess she ate in the Lido the other two nights? On her other cruises, you always saw her at least once at the table dining with others. This really left a bad taste with me on the dining part,esp since she mentioned on her other sailings that it was fun to recap what you did at dinner.

I did like the behind the doors part in the kitchen see the food prep. I give anyone credit for feeding thousands on a daily basis. I like the carving of the fruits and ice.

I also agree that she really didn't highlight the ship features too much. I did like that they showed the sernerity section (no kids!!) as a nice place to hang out. The waterworks look fun also and that would bring out the "kid" in me :D . I also like that she was above the pool area and could still see all the action. This was were I was on the Miracle! The pool area is mainly crowded and upstairs have better lounging areas.

As for Cozumel, I agree that if it was you or me on that tour, we couldn't just leave the group to wander on our own in the dune buggy. I could see if she just rented a jeep for the day and did it on her own.

I also felt that she did mock the people for taking pictures of the midnight buffet. I take pictures and know that people back at home get a kick of seeing the wonderful things that are displayed.

If I was someone who never cruise before and was thinking about it, this show would make me question why go?

I would like to see her on another Carnival ship and hope that she do just a nice presentation as she did for RCCL.

[pacarolinagirl]

Glad I'm not the only one that was disappointed in her show. I usually love her shows but this one just didn't do it for me. I was excited to see the ship, etc as we will be on it for our 1st cruise but I don't think she did it justice like her previous cruise shows. IMO! After the first 15 - 20 min when I realized it was going to be more about her & not the ship, I tried to start looking past her in the background to see the ship & the ongoings. I DVR'd it and will watch it many times until my cruise arrives but I just think she did a poor job. Short weekend or not, I just don't think she put her best foot forward on this one. :(

[mom2girls]

I was also very disappointed. She didn't show all of the best parts of Carnival. I was very surprised that she didn't go to any of the shows. I also was surprised that none of the dancing waiters were portrayed. (I know many people do not like the waiters, but there are many who do.)

[Guest carlogesualdo]

Just a couple of observations. I really like watching Samantha Brown's travel shows because she never met a stranger. She's never afraid to horn in on whatever activity the locals are doing and show it on camera. She seems pretty fearless about trying new things. That's what makes her fun to watch. I think I remember someone being unhappy because she didn't really cover anything kid-friendly, but in all the Samantha-watching I've done, I'm not sure I've ever seen her do kid-friendly stuff. Sometimes she'll mention it, but her shows are almost exclusively aimed at adults traveling sans kiddoes. But what I like most about watching her shows is even at her worst, it's better than watching the travel blurbs you get with most of the other shows. Very little else I've seen on the Travel Channel is as interested or informative and looks more like someone borrowed a bunch of videos from the travel agent down the street.

[Hogladyrider]

It was my understanding that the purpose of the show was a "weekend getaway" nothing more nothing less and for that it fit the bill.

 

I was on the Inspiration with Samantha and the crew and the show did not do her or the crew justice.

 

My SO and I can be seen in the show on the serenity deck, too funny.

 

I didn't expect the show to be an overview of Carnival or the ship, just a weekend getaway.

 

I'd like to see how they actually did the filming of her going down the slide, I did it and it was a killer!

 

We all don't know what went on behind the scenes between Carnival and the Travel Channel so I'm sure their decisions outweighed Samantha's decisions.

 

We also saw her and crew driving on the east side of the island as we had rented a car and were over there as well, however when we saw them they were in Jeeps not dune buggies!

 

All in all it was a fair show for a weekend getaway and we love sailing Carnival.

[KNowme1st]

I too was disappointed. I made everyone who was taking the cruise sit and watch this so we could see what we had to look forward too. So now I know, tipsy blonde at a piano bar, same at 21 table and on and on. I was hoping she would visit the differant room types and show them, and just more of the ship itself. Wasn't aware this was a "Sam Brown" promo. Big let down from her usual quality of work. Was like it was half hearted on her part. ;-(

[ROCruiser]

Very disappointed. I usually like her shows but she didn't even look happy to be on the ship less being excited! Why did she get a cabin that has the life-boat right under and where people can see her balcony? She seemed to be bothered by other cruisers (rolling her eyes.) It was more about her than the ship (singing, driving the jeep around, counting her money, etc.)

[MamaParrotHead]

Having only sailed Triumph and Valor, I don't really know how accurate the portrayal was of the Imagination (or was it Inspiration?). Anyway, to me, one of the reasons why I choose to take 7 day sailings is because the ships are bigger, and that I feel like there would be more to do and see (both on the ship and in port). And that show did little to change my perspective. I just wonder how much she had to work with on a smaller ship and one port.

 

I thought her comments were actually funny about the buffet line and people being all reverant around it, like at a funeral. I'm a picture taker and I LOL'd because it's TRUE, :D . I thought it was a funny take I hadn't thought of. I also thought that she wasn't making a big deal out of her getting a lot of attention, I think she was kind of trying to take it in stride and play it off (except for during the ice sculpting, and then I think she honestly FELT bad that people were like ignoring that guys' work).

 

The only thing I raised an eyebrow at was when she just spoke with the tour guide all nonchalantly and he just LET HER take off on her own...does anyone think that would actually HAPPEN?