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Just got off cruise 19 and noticing some changes


goingwkids
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I really hope that those that are doing all the work get a higher rate of gratuities due to their increased workload, than they would otherwise.
The same (or actually slightly more) money split fewer ways would yield a greater result.
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My family cruises twice a year. We have only sailed with carnival. I am beginning to notice more and more changes some are concerning others not so much. I have no issue with losing the " George Lopez" on the comedy show, I noticed no difference in the comedians. The ESPN bar is now the Skybox, nothing different but the name. Those change to save money buy not paying for the name I get completely. The poor dining room staff are so over worked. The service has suffered but not because they aren't working as hard as possible but because they have too many people to serve. Dinner took forever the last few cruises. I don't expect a fast food experience but I also don't expect a 2 hr one. It used to not be like this and I certainly wish carnival would rethink this and give the staff more help. My other concern is how HOT our rooms are. The temp in one of our rooms this cruise was 81 at night. When we called and asked them to check it they brought a fan. This HOT room and hot dinning room has been our experience the last few cruises. Lastly why is the DJ/Music suck a short time on the Lido each day? 12-3? I do love cruising I just don't want the changes to make carnival not look like carnival anymore. They can't keep cutting corners and have quality service.

 

 

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We are about to leave on our 13th Carnival cruise Sunday on the Dream. I have to totally agree with this post. These are the same things we have noticed with Carnival since our beginning in 2006. Have had rooms that are told 'within guidelines' measured near the vent at 74 degrees, and dinners that were 2 hours and rarely seeing the servers. Plus the Room Stewards are more over worked with more rooms per teams and one per day service. It seems less employees for the same jobs. We used to spend time talking to staff and getting to know them but that has gotten less as they do not have that extra time to get to know guests (which to me is part of their job and our experience). It does seem to vary per ship based upon the Hotel Manager that runs things as well. Lately we have actually thinking of other lines when in the past we really hadn't. Still love the cruises and overall have fun. It does amaze me the lack of respect people give to posters on this site- very childish.

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MThe poor dining room staff are so over worked. The service has suffered but not because they aren't working as hard as possible but because they have too many people to serve. Dinner took forever the last few cruises. I don't expect a fast food experience but I also don't expect a 2 hr one. It used to not be like this and I certainly wish carnival would rethink this and give the staff more help.

 

This was my experience last year on a NCL cruise. It sounds like this is a problem across cruise lines.

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Thanks for the info, We have 15+ cruises on Carnival plus a good many cruises on other lines. We have a cruise coming up on a Carnival ship but just did a cruise on NCL. We had never been on NCL and had been told how wonderful the cruise line was and so much superior to Carnival..... well it was a 4 night cruise on a older ship that now goes to Cuba. It was "nice" and we were told constantly while onboard how much better it was than that nasty ole Carnival cruise line. I asked several people who told us this how many times they had been on Carnival ship... OH they would NEVER step foot on a ship, they are so bad!

 

So after the 4 night cruise my wife and I compared our last cruise on an older Carnival ship (Ecstasy - Charleston port and 15 minutes from home) and decided we had more room, fun and better food on Carnival compared to the NCL ship. Not even close.

 

Will I always cruise Carnival, nope. I must admit a good price on Celebrity will steal me away every time! But we are sure looking forward to this upcoming cruise out of New Orleans! Does Carnival have some problems? Over the years (first cruise with Carnival was in 1990) many things have changed and I'm sure many more will. I've had one hot cabin and thankfully the ship was not full, we ended up with an interior we could sleep in and our balcony for during the day. Not the best but it was a 3 night cruise!

 

Not a good comparision though. Try comparing the Carnival Fathom to the older NCL ship. Compare the Vista to the Escape, and the Conquest Class to the Dawn Class, compare the Celebrity Summit with the Conquest Class ships, so you get apples to apples..

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Not a good comparision though. Try comparing the Carnival Fathom to the older NCL ship. Compare the Vista to the Escape, and the Conquest Class to the Dawn Class, compare the Celebrity Summit with the Conquest Class ships, so you get apples to apples..

 

Actually the NCL Sky compared to the Carnival Ecstasy seems a fair comparison (if anything it should sway a bit in NCLs favour).

 

NCL Sky - debuted in 1999, tonnage is 77,104 and holds about 2000 passengers.

Carnival Ecstasy - debuted in 1991, tonnage is 70,367 and holds about 2000 passengers.

 

They are comparing old ship to old ship (with the Carnival ship being even older).

 

And there's no ship called the Carnival Fathom (the Carnival ship that goes to Cuba is the Paradise - Fathom was its own brand under Carnival Corp).

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Actually the NCL Sky compared to the Carnival Ecstasy seems a fair comparison (if anything it should sway a bit in NCLs favour).

 

NCL Sky - debuted in 1999, tonnage is 77,104 and holds about 2000 passengers.

Carnival Ecstasy - debuted in 1991, tonnage is 70,367 and holds about 2000 passengers.

 

They are comparing old ship to old ship (with the Carnival ship being even older).

 

And there's no ship called the Carnival Fathom (the Carnival ship that goes to Cuba is the Paradise - Fathom was its own brand under Carnival Corp).

 

Thanks! I thought I was comparing somewhat apples to apples....

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Not a good comparision though. Try comparing the Carnival Fathom to the older NCL ship. Compare the Vista to the Escape, and the Conquest Class to the Dawn Class, compare the Celebrity Summit with the Conquest Class ships, so you get apples to apples..

 

The trouble with this is that few people sail on enough similar ships to make a comparison. I know that when I compare cruise lines I look at the things that should be standard across the ships of the line- the quality of the food, the quality of the service, the quality of the entertainment, the cleanliness of the ship. That's the apples to apples to me.

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The trouble with this is that few people sail on enough similar ships to make a comparison. I know that when I compare cruise lines I look at the things that should be standard across the ships of the line- the quality of the food, the quality of the service, the quality of the entertainment, the cleanliness of the ship. That's the apples to apples to me.

 

 

I agree that there are a bunch of cruisers 100% loyal to a brand. How often does someone post a negative comment about Carnival that they heard from someone who has never sailed Carnival? Just as often as someone who posts glowing comments about Carnival being the best, yet they haven't set foot on another brand's ship.

 

When I started cruising NCL Epic and Getaway, I commented about on CC about how great their entertainment was. I was told that the entertainment on these ships was not similar to what people get on their older ships , that the newer ships were indeed much better. As far as food, the newer ships of every line seem to have way more dining choices thru specialty restaurants than the older ships of the same line.

 

As for the cleanliness of the ships, Disney was the only line with an across the board 100% rating from CDC health inspections. Most lines were in mid pack, satisfactory, but Carnival did have one ship that failed and had to comply with a remedial program.

 

So, I think it is hard to compare apples to apples even within one cruise line's own ships, if they are a different class or age.

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I agree that there are a bunch of cruisers 100% loyal to a brand. How often does someone post a negative comment about Carnival that they heard from someone who has never sailed Carnival? Just as often as someone who posts glowing comments about Carnival being the best, yet they haven't set foot on another brand's ship.

 

When I started cruising NCL Epic and Getaway, I commented about on CC about how great their entertainment was. I was told that the entertainment on these ships was not similar to what people get on their older ships , that the newer ships were indeed much better. As far as food, the newer ships of every line seem to have way more dining choices thru specialty restaurants than the older ships of the same line.

 

As for the cleanliness of the ships, Disney was the only line with an across the board 100% rating from CDC health inspections. Most lines were in mid pack, satisfactory, but Carnival did have one ship that failed and had to comply with a remedial program.

 

So, I think it is hard to compare apples to apples even within one cruise line's own ships, if they are a different class or age.

 

I definitely agree that there can be vast differences between ships in a cruise line. RCCL in particular has vast differences between the different classes of ships. It can be completely different experiences. NCL basically falls into two things, it's mega ships (Epic and "Away"+ ships) and the older ships. The older ships are the more typical 2-3 singer/dancer shows and fly-ins (which you'll find on the Dawn) for entertainment, and without the many of the other ship-things to do (less slides, venues, etc).

 

Carnival generally is more the same through the fleet. In fact I remember that being one of their proud points at one of those "future cruise talks" they did. That a person can go on any Carnvial ship and generally have the same feel to it, and similar layout. That doesn't count the food, cleanliness, crew and entertainment staff though. The Breeze was one of the more fun cruises I've had, the Fantasy probably the worst. It wasn't the ships really (though the Breeze is a newer, nicer, more things to do type ship), it was the all the other things that did it.

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  • 11 months later...
My family cruises twice a year. We have only sailed with carnival. I am beginning to notice more and more changes some are concerning others not so much. I have no issue with losing the " George Lopez" on the comedy show, I noticed no difference in the comedians. The ESPN bar is now the Skybox, nothing different but the name. Those change to save money buy not paying for the name I get completely. The poor dining room staff are so over worked. The service has suffered but not because they aren't working as hard as possible but because they have too many people to serve. Dinner took forever the last few cruises. I don't expect a fast food experience but I also don't expect a 2 hr one. It used to not be like this and I certainly wish carnival would rethink this and give the staff more help. My other concern is how HOT our rooms are. The temp in one of our rooms this cruise was 81 at night. When we called and asked them to check it they brought a fan. This HOT room and hot dinning room has been our experience the last few cruises. Lastly why is the DJ/Music suck a short time on the Lido each day? 12-3? I do love cruising I just don't want the changes to make carnival not look like carnival anymore. They can't keep cutting corners and have quality service.

 

 

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The rooms are a lot hotter than I remember as is the whole ship for that matter. I used to always pack sweats, a hoodie and a couple pairs of jeans for evening time. Those days are gone which I guess saves room in my luggage. I don't mind that aspect but I like to sleep in a cold room and sometimes that is rough, especially on the Sunshine. The dinners need to be under and hour in my opinion.

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Which ship did you sail?

 

Just read another review saying the ship (Miracle) was too cold.

 

 

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The vents on the Miracle come over the bathroom, and are huge, so there's plenty of ac coming out!

We found the Magic warm, and the Glory was slightly warm!

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