Jeafl

On 4/3/2023 at 8:53 PM, Eli_6 said:

There is something going on with the excursions, etc. for sure.  I canceled an excursion I paid for with a gift card about 3 weeks ago and still nothing.  I kept thinking I would get a gift card in the mail...and nothing. 

It took us several months and many, many hours on the phone to get refunded for an excursion that CARNIVAL canceled due to flipping the itinerary. All because we paid with a gift card.  What was infuriating is that all we wanted to do was change the excursion to 2 days later so that it actually coincided with the day we were actually in that port!  They refused to switch it and made us wait months for a new gift card.

On 11/10/2022 at 12:50 AM, notscb said:

 

I didn't really give a strict reason why they're doing it, other than my own view. There's very, very clear economic reasons for doing it as well (from the cruise lines perspective). Every decision that's made in this (and every) industry is for their bottom line- in this case, ordering less (possibly), storing less and having to throw out and process less.

I'm guessing it is because of people like the guy we had at our table last time who had ELEVEN lobster tails on elegant night.  All of the sides that came with the lobster went uneaten.  The amount of wasted food was unreal.  Not to mention that his having the waiter go back and forth to get him 10 extra entrees delayed everyone else's dinner.

9 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

What ships are they on?

We stayed in them on the Panorama twice.   We also have one booked on  the Firenze next year.

On 3/28/2023 at 3:44 PM, FastShip24 said:

My wife and I just had this discussion.  We literally sat on the balcony a total of 1.5 hours for 7 days

That sounds like us.  We just didn't use it enough to warrant the extra expense.  We now tend to book the deluxe ocean view with the 2 bathrooms which saves us a lot of money.

2 hours ago, Hoosierpop said:

That’s kinda my point. It was a general statement that they had a horrible cruise. Nothing specific that would be considered a one off thing. And it’s not like they have never cruised, so they have something to compare it to. Again, they could have a great time. I just wouldn’t risk it. If I didn’t like a restaurant 7 times in a row, I’m not paying for an 8th.

 

Carnival isn’t for everyone. I’ve been on HA and wouldn’t go again because it seemed like a ship full of people just sitting around. Place was dead at night. Those same people might hate Carnival. 

I totally agree! We went to Alaska on Holland and it was the most boring ship I have ever been on.  There was no entertainment at night except for a piano player.  It was eerie walking around at night looking for something to do and finding everything closed up tight,  Even during the day on sea days it was a struggle to find anything to do. It was so disappointing.

Our excursion was paid for with a gift card, and then Carnival reversed our itinerary so the excursion had to be canceled because it was on the wrong day.  Why they just didn't switch it to the correct day is a mystery.  In any case, they refused to let us use that money toward another excursion, or put it back on our account to be used elsewhere.  They said their policy is to mail you a new gift card which they said would take 7-10 days.

Fast forward to 2 months later...still no gift card.  This was back when you had to wait 5-6 hours on hold to talk to someone.  It took about 4-5 phone calls, and dozens of hours waiting on hold to receive an EMAIL gift card.  I think it was about 3 months after the cruise before it was finally resolved.  Why they couldn't give it to us while we were on board is beyond me.

I agree with you about the soot.  We were laying by the Aft pool with fresh drinks when all of a sudden black soot started floating down on everyone.  To Carnival's credit they replaced everyone's sooty drinks at no charge.  It only happened once, but that was enough.

21 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

I guess it depends on the ship!  We just got off the DREAM on Sunday and security was everywhere.  And guess what?  No kids running the halls banging on doors all night, no kids running at all.  no speakers, no arguments, nada. No bad behavior that we saw though we did hear that a man punched another man in the casino one night, and was arrested and put in the ship jail for the remainder of cruise.  It was the most pleasant cruise we have been on in years.

That was our experience on the Panorama as well.

Great review, thanks for sharing!  I agree with almost all of your assessments of the food. I've never tried the Tuna Tartare though, maybe next time!

On 3/2/2023 at 7:31 PM, crooooze said:

The last night gives me anxiety - not because the cruise is over, but because of anticipation of the next morning’s hell. 
 

Let’s reminisce. Wake up at dark-thirty. Join a very packed lido buffet, where there are no available tables and everyone is sad or tense. Head to the lounge, theatre, or where ever you’re supposed to wait for your time to disembark. But you can’t get in because hundreds of people parked their butts at the door with their huge carry-ons. You’re waiting what seems like an eternity for your number to be called, only to realize there’s no announcements that can be heard where you’re sitting. So you’re forced to squeeze by the same crowded door so you can hear through the hall. Then you get the call to exit… and join the long winding parade to get off the ship. Lines of people coming from every angle, seemingly cutting the line in front of you.  Fun squad staff yelling for everyone to have their sign & sail cards out. Your toes run over by someone pushing wheelie luggage in a zig-zag motion. Get to the final gangway and the large family in front of you now frantically looking through all their baggage for their sign & sail cards. Then the hassle of finding your luggage in the terminal, and waiting in the long winding line to get through customs & immigration. Upon exiting the building, you’re looking for a clue of where to catch the airport shuttle.  But everything is obscured by thousands of people. Half debarking and waiting to rides. And the other half are embarking the next cruise, but loitering around 2 hours earlier than their 10:30 arrival time. Then there’s all the fun at the airport.

 

So yeah, that cheesy John Denver parody on the last night in the MDR does bring tears to my eyes. LOL

 

But we do it over and over so I guess it’s worth it.

 

 

Yep.  That sums it up perfectly.

We have the Magic booked out of Miami in November.  I found another cruise for the week before that leaves from Ft. Lauderdale.  So we would have to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale then high tail it to Miami to board the Magic the same day.  Are we setting ourselves up for a lot of stress?  I know the 2 ports aren't that far apart. Opinions?

On 2/19/2023 at 7:44 PM, herdcruiser said:

If she has a picture of herself where she boarded the ship or a picture that would show proof of her being on that ship she can upload it to Carnival and they will give her credit toward her VIFP. My wife and I went on our first cruise in 1990 on the Carnivale. We have a picture of us at embarkation. Sent it to them and they added it to our cruise history.

Do you know what address you sent it to?  We have a embarkation picture for a 1985 cruise I would like them to add, but the Festivale does not show in the dropdown box when I try to claim the cruise.  So far they have not been able to add it.

Not sure about Carnival, but Holland America turned the ship in complete circles so everyone had a great view of the glaciers.

21 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I showed it at check-in last week because it's required for Grand Turk.

Do you know if you can show a picture of it on your phone, or do you have to show the actual card?

1 hour ago, sanmarcosman said:

Not worth it in our opinion. They'll take more of your vacation time giving you the hard sell in a small room to buy the whole array of photos placed before you. Dress the family up for elegant night. Stop at as many photo ops as you like and then choose from those photos. 

I completely agree.  We accidentally took some photos through Dreams one formal night (we just saw a plain black background and the photographer never mentioned he was from Dreams).  You had to make an appointment to look at the pictures, and once there we were told you had to buy all of them or nothing.  We just wanted one 8 x 10 and they refused to sell it to us.  So we walked, and the photographer was very snotty with us.

It also annoyed me that we got MANY text messages and voicemails in our room reminding us to show up at our appointment.

When my kids were little they loved to watch the YouTube videos of the ship we were going to be on.  There are some great video tours out there.  They liked to see where the kids clubs were, and what the pools looked like, etc.  There are also great videos about the ports.

I was once told by a crewmember that they prefer you mention them on your comment cards and surveys instead of giving them additional tips.  Apparently those that consistently get mentioned by name are the ones promoted and therefore given raises.  They also receive additional gifts as rewards for great customer service.

This is why I take note of the busboys/girls  in the buffet who are stuck cleaning up people's messes with a smile on their faces.  The more you acknowledge them, the more Carnival acknowledges them.  It makes perfect sense.

On 2/13/2023 at 10:56 AM, Saint Greg said:

Cakes

 

 

Do they no longer cut and serve you slices of cake?  It looks like you serve cake squares to yourself now.

On 2/7/2023 at 3:03 PM, cruisingguy007 said:

It's because of the website design, they want you to remove all ad blockers and disable security features to be able to leave a review. I tried several times and it simply won't let you, I'm not sure what they were thinking but that's the way it's set up. It's quite strange indeed. They also don't ask you to review excursions as part of the post cruise survey, which would be an easy way to exclude folks who didn't take excursions from leaving reviews and thus, the need for disabling security features that they have in place.     

 

Every time I try I get this: Please disable any ad blockers, which can prevent successful review submission.

Thank you! This makes perfect sense.  It definitely explains why most people don't bother.

We are doing the 8-day eastern Caribbean on the Magic in November, and in browsing the excursions most have reviews that are 3+ years old! Some I noticed were 13 years old!  I understand that there was a gap during Covid, but cruising's been back a couple of years now.  Surely someone has done these recently.

I guess we will probably end up booking through independent tour operators as usual.

I'm excited to see your review!  We are on the Magic in November for the first time.  Your Panorama review was helpful to us last year, and I'm sure this one will be as well.

Great review!  Thanks for sharing!  

We did the Panorama twice as soon as cruising opened back up and the ship was less than half full, which was fantastic.  However, we did notice that the food options were sparse and there was definitely a shortage of crew.  It's great to see that that things are somewhat back to normal.

1 hour ago, BasicSailor said:

They're still doing this on some ships today. I think it's just to make sure a person is not sharing the food with others.

Which makes no sense at all.  It's food that we pay for.  Why should they care if we share it?  I could see if it was a buffet, but it's not. So many tings make no sense at all these days.

21 hours ago, SSGFYCC said:

 

Under the "old" steakhouse, I would agree 100%. We always took dessert to go because we were so full.

 

Under Carnival Fun Ship 3.0, decreased portion sizes may have some guests stopping at the lido buffet afterward. 

Last October on the Panorama I asked for the cheesecake to go because I was full.  They said because of Covid they are no longer allowed to bring it to you "to go".  The waiter then said, "But if we bring it to you and you don't eat it we can then wrap it to go".  WTH?

On 2/1/2023 at 5:26 AM, MMfan14 said:

Did the steakhouse back in October and everyone in the past posted about how large the portions were and to be honest I wasn't impressed. The portions were smaller just like what they serve now in the MDR. 

I ordered what was supposed to be the 9-oz. filet, and when it came it was maybe a 2-inch diameter steak.  Probably closer to 5-6 oz.  I was still full when I left there, but it makes you think twice about spending the extra money.