Carnival - Pride (bad experience)

[pe4all]

I always try to research each ship I book, and read as many reviews as I can. I then pass some of the info I have read onto my family, to "prepare" them for what we might encounter on that ship. Ex: 1. when sailing the Fantasy, I told them this was the smallest ship we have sailed on to date, and the oldest, but it has just been refurbished, and there is a great water works area 2. When we sailed Miracle, I told them this was the first Spirit class ship for us, and the set up was different than the larger ships - especially the twists, turns, and entertainment being split between 2 decks, but we got a fantastic balcony - best on the ship (6232) 3. When we sailed Destiny from SJ, I explained the culture/ethnicity on the ships may be different than what we have encountered before, and to embrace the differences/similarities. (there wasn't an overwhelming difference that we saw!) Now, even dd21, who is special needs, understands that things may not always go the way we expect them to on vacation, and to look for the good things. To preface a trip with bad things, especially to teens, who already usually are "in flux" about leaving friends for a week, etc., may not be the best way to begin a vacation.

[donnajean1964]

look i love the older ships i get better service from the crue........... i have cruise on rccl 5 times each time the service got little wores but that dosnt mean i wont go on her again we are going on the pride and every one i know has gone on her and love her.. and sad she mad for kids

 

layout that not a reason to not like a ship

kids they are to yung to hate anything my kids have been on other cruise and seen kids with alots les then them and they are glad of what they have too...

 

 

donna

[FR8]

I was on this cruise also, sat across from Doc and his wife waiting to get onboard the 21st.

 

I have to agree with the OP on most of it, the food was substandard at best, we ate in the MDR most mornings because the buffet offered the exact same fare everyday (with the pancake/french toast switch), atleast in the MDR the food was slightly better. Lunch was usually the buffet because their was a wider selection for our group to pick from. I've heard on here that the food for Carnival is better than DCL, I found the opposite to be true, our last 3 cruises were with DCL and the food on all of those was outstanding, not a single complaint or food returned for any reason and the selections were far greater than Carnival provided.

 

On the arrival of our friends to the ship we found out they were dining with us, great, but their daughter and Mother who were in a different cabin, were dining at a different time, uhh....not what was planned. So we went to get this straightened out right away, we were told we would hear from them by the next morning, at breakfast we questioned the Hostess and she said they normally don't come out with that until 1:30pm, at lunch we asked again and were told we wouldn't hear until about 5pm. At 5:15pm I was at the Guest Services Desk asking when I was suppose to be eating, at 6:15pm I finally got an answer, we had not been changed, we had late dining. Our friends had been moved to eat with their daughter and mother which was good, but now they were eating early and us late, that makes it very hard to do anything together in the evening. We were told with the problems we'd had the Maitre De would be by to talk with us that evening, he never showed, so we asked for him on the way out and requested a move to early seating so we could atleast eat at the same time as the people we came on the cruise to be with. He flat responded that early seating was full and we could not change. We asked about anytime dining and were flat out denied that also. The next night another Maitre De stopped by our table as he was making his rounds asking passengers how their meal was. Well I explained our situation to him and somehow now it wasn't a problem at all and he came back with a card and moved us to anytime dining.

 

Cabin Steward, well he lost his tip by the end of the cruise, our cabin went untouched until dinner time most days and when he did do something it was half-a$$ed at best. We were out of the room by 7:30am everyday so that wasn't the problem. I had to complain every day about him not doing his job, nothing was ever done about it. We would have to call and have towels delivered because ours were still sitting on the floor from that morning when we were trying to get ready for dinner. We spoke to several people in suits that were in charge of the cabin stewards and none seemed to care, one even told us the stewards were very busy and probably didn't have time to get to our room that morning. Sorry, not an excuse.

 

The shows....we enjoyed most of them, the fly in entertainers were ok, Tommy Drake was the last comedian in and he was really good, the rest, just ok. The onboard dancers and singers were ok also, the replacement singers and dancers came on for the new Jazzin show the night before the last night onboard and they were great I thought. My son dances also and luckily he came to the show even though the staff in O2 told him it wasn't worth going to since they were new dancers and didn't know what they were doing. The staff was wrong, the Jazzin show was one of the best we'd seen that week, the new dancers did a phenominal job and the singers could actually sing, couldn't say that for the ones they were replacing. That said, we still felt the other shows fell below the bar of what we were use to (except Jazzin) on a ship. There is no doubt DCL puts on some of the best productions afloat.

 

The ship itself, I didn't mind the artwork repro's, they weren't bad but I could see where folks with younger kids might be taken back. The attention to detail someone else mentioned though......they should probably pay more attention to details themselves if they thought this ship had any of it. The scrollwork was all plastic or fiberglass, the button tucked leather (looking) wall in the Casino was either plastic or fiberglass, most everything that was meant to look nice or fancy, was cheap. If it looked like wood, it was probably fiberglass. The layout is what it is, but we saw alot of clubs that were barely used, we went around in the evenings seeing what was going on and most were 1/4 full if that. If they were to limit the number of clubs down a bit they would get more activity in each and passengers would have a better time. Overall though we found the ship to be just ok, places we would expect to see teak decking there was rubber decking and other noticeable downgrades.

 

In the end, we got off the ship with the feeling that, If Wal-Mart owned a cruise line, it would be Carnival.

[pe4all]

Wow - I can't imagine how a ship sailing from Florida gets such good write-ups, but the same ship sailing from NY gets blasted! Truthfully, if I had read any recent complaints, it was more about the passengers - too many kids, pushy, loud NY'ers, etc. Most of the complaints seem to aimed at the crew on this sailing!

[Cruzaholic41]

layout that not a reason to not like a ship

 

Then what is? Layout is a great example of why not to like a specific ship.

[halos]

The only thing I would point out is that if someone is going to eliminate an entire cruise line based on one cruise on one ship...that is rather short sighted to me. There are lots of folks who have had horrific first cruises on RCCL, Hollard America etc.

 

Start eliminating entire cruise lines based on one bad cruise and soon you will have no one to cruise with. ;)

 

I agree totally. I wasn't as happy with my Celebrity or RCCL cruises, but I didn't write them off. I will say however, that I haven't booked either since....there'd have to be a great deal or an unusual itinerary for me to go with either again.

 

I haven't sailed the Pride...I will say even without seeing the ship that knowing how most CCL ships look compared to a RCCL ship, I can TOTALLY see where the OP and her kids could find it 'crappy'

I love Carnival but their ships are not nearly as nice as other lines. I REALLY wish they'd dump Farcus and try somebody new.

The ships are way too dark and the interiors are quite loud and bizarre. That's ok with a couple ships but ALL of them????

[Nunu]

I love Carnival but their ships are not nearly as nice as other lines. I REALLY wish they'd dump Farcus and try somebody new.

 

w3rd

[halos]

I was on this cruise also, sat across from Doc and his wife waiting to get onboard the 21st.

 

I have to agree with the OP on most of it, the food was substandard at best, we ate in the MDR most mornings because the buffet offered the exact same fare everyday (with the pancake/french toast switch), atleast in the MDR the food was slightly better. Lunch was usually the buffet because their was a wider selection for our group to pick from. I've heard on here that the food for Carnival is better than DCL, I found the opposite to be true, our last 3 cruises were with DCL and the food on all of those was outstanding, not a single complaint or food returned for any reason and the selections were far greater than Carnival provided.

 

On the arrival of our friends to the ship we found out they were dining with us, great, but their daughter and Mother who were in a different cabin, were dining at a different time, uhh....not what was planned. So we went to get this straightened out right away, we were told we would hear from them by the next morning, at breakfast we questioned the Hostess and she said they normally don't come out with that until 1:30pm, at lunch we asked again and were told we wouldn't hear until about 5pm. At 5:15pm I was at the Guest Services Desk asking when I was suppose to be eating, at 6:15pm I finally got an answer, we had not been changed, we had late dining. Our friends had been moved to eat with their daughter and mother which was good, but now they were eating early and us late, that makes it very hard to do anything together in the evening. We were told with the problems we'd had the Maitre De would be by to talk with us that evening, he never showed, so we asked for him on the way out and requested a move to early seating so we could atleast eat at the same time as the people we came on the cruise to be with. He flat responded that early seating was full and we could not change. We asked about anytime dining and were flat out denied that also. The next night another Maitre De stopped by our table as he was making his rounds asking passengers how their meal was. Well I explained our situation to him and somehow now it wasn't a problem at all and he came back with a card and moved us to anytime dining.

 

Cabin Steward, well he lost his tip by the end of the cruise, our cabin went untouched until dinner time most days and when he did do something it was half-a$$ed at best. We were out of the room by 7:30am everyday so that wasn't the problem. I had to complain every day about him not doing his job, nothing was ever done about it. We would have to call and have towels delivered because ours were still sitting on the floor from that morning when we were trying to get ready for dinner. We spoke to several people in suits that were in charge of the cabin stewards and none seemed to care, one even told us the stewards were very busy and probably didn't have time to get to our room that morning. Sorry, not an excuse.

 

The shows....we enjoyed most of them, the fly in entertainers were ok, Tommy Drake was the last comedian in and he was really good, the rest, just ok. The onboard dancers and singers were ok also, the replacement singers and dancers came on for the new Jazzin show the night before the last night onboard and they were great I thought. My son dances also and luckily he came to the show even though the staff in O2 told him it wasn't worth going to since they were new dancers and didn't know what they were doing. The staff was wrong, the Jazzin show was one of the best we'd seen that week, the new dancers did a phenominal job and the singers could actually sing, couldn't say that for the ones they were replacing. That said, we still felt the other shows fell below the bar of what we were use to (except Jazzin) on a ship. There is no doubt DCL puts on some of the best productions afloat.

 

The ship itself, I didn't mind the artwork repro's, they weren't bad but I could see where folks with younger kids might be taken back. The attention to detail someone else mentioned though......they should probably pay more attention to details themselves if they thought this ship had any of it. The scrollwork was all plastic or fiberglass, the button tucked leather (looking) wall in the Casino was either plastic or fiberglass, most everything that was meant to look nice or fancy, was cheap. If it looked like wood, it was probably fiberglass. The layout is what it is, but we saw alot of clubs that were barely used, we went around in the evenings seeing what was going on and most were 1/4 full if that. If they were to limit the number of clubs down a bit they would get more activity in each and passengers would have a better time. Overall though we found the ship to be just ok, places we would expect to see teak decking there was rubber decking and other noticeable downgrades.

 

In the end, we got off the ship with the feeling that, If Wal-Mart owned a cruise line, it would be Carnival.

 

 

 

Please write to CCL with your comments. They need to be made aware of people's opinions...good or bad, in order to make changes and adjustments. I would hope you'd take the time to do this.

Snail mail to their corporate offices in FL are more effective than email correspondence.

 

and FTR...the Wal Mart line is REALLY old and annoying.

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

Oh, the OP hasn't returned since their original post. Umm, sumpin's fishy.

 

Sayonara!

 

I don't understand this comment. Why does the OP have to come back?

They stated their opinion and they haved moved on. Not everyone feels the need (or havethe time) to post 8 times in a single thread.

[Coolcruise02]

If my kids ever told me that the vacation was "crappy" before it really began I would tell them to be thankful for the things that they have and, when u get to most ports, observe the things that most don't. After that, for their next vacation, they can stay home and play their video games in their dark rooms.

 

Very well said!

 

I work at a very rural school where most children don't get out of the county let alone the state. I could just see their faces at the sight of a cruise ship. I have NO patience for unappreciative children and the parents that foster that attitude!

 

I'm sorry the cruise didn't live up to all your expectations. Did you try and have a good family vacation?

[mom2tcdx2]

I read this to my daughter and boyfriend last night. I asked my DD age 11 if she would rather go on a crappy, cheap cruise or stay at home. She voted for the cruise.

[andychris]

We were on this same cruise. We were with a party of 17. Wel ranged in ages from 6 until till 48. We all had a great time. We all loved the food in the main dr for dinner and buffets for lunch. Yes maybe we ordered a appetizer or dinner that was not the greatest but we were given something else within minutes. We all liked to try different things to eat on cruises and if we did not like it, we got something else. Our waiters were excellent.He knew each of our names by the 2nd night. The rest of the staff/crew on the ship were always very friendly and smiling.

Thought the ship was clean. There were always crew cleaning up.

I really do not know what the op did not care for. Hey, you are on vacation. You do not have to cook or clean for a week. Sit back, get a drink and relax!!!

[Handsome58]

So sorry you all had such a bad time.....I was on the Pride in June and we had a ball...service great....food great....gambling great.....8th cruise so I was not a virgin..........a cruise like any vacation is what you make it......I myself and family do not pay our hard earned dollars to upset ourselves......the OP right from the beginning did not give the cruise a chance..........I would like to know if the OP has a check list that they carry with them to judge if they will have a great time........??? How do you know a whole cruise will be bad from day one if you have not already made up your mind to not like something.....stuff happens..go with the flow........teach kids what a Blessing is.......that way they grow up to Bless others rather than think they are entitled...........

[GlendaleCruiser]

I usually don't read the Carnival boards but my dtr is currently on the Pride with husband and 2 kids age 2 and 4. I was looking to see if anyone is doing a live review. I really have no comment regarding this thread but just wanted to say your "two bagger" comment cracked me up...it's my birthday today and you made me laugh!! :D:D

 

 

Happy Birthday!!!!:D

 

I have a question for the OP if he/she ever comes back (most likely not):

 

What exactly did the OP expect to see at breakfast that he/she did not?

I usually see 20-30 options and cannot think of anything missing. If it were, I would be happy with fresh fruit and cereal.

[Artemus]

DW and I were on the same cruise, last week. We also thought the food in the DR was subpar and the menu choices were not very good. Also, the lido breakfast food was subpar. One problem we encountered was the really, really slow moving line at the omelette station. Not until the very last morning did they have two people making omelettes to help move the line along. Also, the sandwich line was always incredibly slow moving. I mean really, really slow. You would get in line and be like the sixth person in line and it would take about twenty minutes to get a sandwich. Again, they only had one person making sandwiches almost the entire cruise.

[recyclelady]

Children say what they think adults want them to say. So the OP conditioned her children to be dissatisfied with Carnvial. What a shame to be willing to ruin a child's vacation. Even if I hated something making sure my children had a great vacation would have been my number one priority. Instead of pointing out the bad I'd be a giant cheerleader. Might come here and moan and groan afterwards but I would have ensured my children had a good time.

 

Well stated!

 

I was a teacher once. It is amazing how closely children will model the behavior of the adults.

 

I'm taking my adult children on a cruise in February aboard the Liberty. When I booked the cruise, I selected it on basis of time, availability, and cost.

 

When I once voiced something like, " I don't know how this ship will be...," my daughter said , " Who cares! We'll all be on a ship together. It will be so much fun!" I think I'm glad I have these children.

[Savoia]

Just came back from Bahamas cruise with Carnival – Pride, (21 Aug – 29 Aug 2009)

 

But overall, it turns out a BAD, very BAD experience:

 

My bottom line: We will never sail with CARNIVAL, anymore!!!

 

 

How disappointing about your Carnival experience...most people just don't seem to want to realize that in order for Carnival to charge the low prices it does it has to cut quality and recycle whenever it can. So I am not surprised to hear about the poor food selection..it makes sense with what other people have said. Once Carnival has your money..they really don't care about you unfortunatly.

[halos]

I may have misread but I believe the child of the OP didn't say the cruise was crappy...she said the ship was crappy.

Again, I love carnival. I have the majority of my cruises with CCL. BUT their ships are indeed crappy looking compared to other lines.

Those of you who haven't sailed other lines may not know this...or maybe you have sailed other lines and your taste is different, but CCL ships are butt-ugly compared to some others imo.

 

I think in looking at some photos of the Dream, they have improved themselves a bit..but CCL ships even if not overly 'Farcusized' are still very dark. But...there is an advantage to that. On my cruise on the EOS (which was gorgeous because of all the window views and very 'light' and open), the temperature on the ship was friggin HOT! All that sun coming in all day long makes the ship very difficult to cool.

[LemurCat]

I may have misread but I believe the child of the OP didn't say the cruise was crappy...she said the ship was crappy.

Again, I love carnival. I have the majority of my cruises with CCL. BUT their ships are indeed crappy looking compared to other lines.

Those of you who haven't sailed other lines may not know this...or maybe you have sailed other lines and your taste is different, but CCL ships are butt-ugly compared to some others imo.

 

See, and maybe because I've only cruise NCL and CCL, I found them pretty much to be the same decor wise. I don't think I'm obtuse to the aesthetics of these vessels, but I wouldn't call CCL's ships "crappy". (Oh no, I reserve that term for NCL's older ships. The Majesty was truly a crappy vessel -- so was the Sea.) But NCL's Gem was just as gaudy as any Carnival ship I've been on. I guess I'd have to be exposed to RCL's ships to be truly conversant on the issue, but I'll be honest, I don't cruise for the decor.

 

I think in looking at some photos of the Dream, they have improved themselves a bit..but CCL ships even if not overly 'Farcusized' are still very dark. But...there is an advantage to that. On my cruise on the EOS (which was gorgeous because of all the window views and very 'light' and open), the temperature on the ship was friggin HOT! All that sun coming in all day long makes the ship very difficult to cool.

 

I personally prefer the dark, exactly for those reasons.

[yogimax]

Carnival really needs to work on the decor of their ships. The gaudy and dark interiors are definitely a negative.

[morganboys]

If you go on a cruise and look for bad things you see bad things. the tone for the cruise was set early that it was bad and it ended up that way.

[Amosmoses33]

Another case of the OP making 1 post then not replying back to anyones questions the rest of the thread.

[cuted126]

 

I hate when I go on to CC and read people bashing others for their opinion, so I would never do that. And please excuse me if you think I am out of line, but here is where I have a problem... for a 13 year old child to say that a ship is crappy within a few hours of being on it and for both children to say that they would rather stay home than go on a cruise such as that is a bit over the top. As children they should be happy to be on vacation and as parents, you should make the best of a situation to teach your children to be appreciative for what they do have.

.

I agree with this 100%.

[Cruise, J.D.]

JThis review definitely is not helpful for the first time cruiser, or the lifetime cruisers with Carnival only.

My purpose of this post is to share my opinion/experience with others, and hopefully could help them for the right cruise selection. I understand that many people have different opinions and may completely disagree with me. Please don’t argue/fight with me. We could have a different standard, and I may have done in comparison with many points on the cruise ships we had previously.

My bottom line: We will never sail with CARNIVAL, anymore!!!

 

 

If you don't want any negative responses, then simply submit your review to the MEMBER REVIEW SECTION and it will be published without any comments. A message board is for discussion, not soliloquy.

 

Dining/food – terrible, terrible and terrible, both on buffet and in dinning room. Even with pizza, smell as left over for several days. The food selection is very limited and taste is awful. The food does not change daily at all in the buffet, same food in breakfast every day (only change is from Pancakes to French toast, which they switched over every day).

 

These kind of statements immediately signal to me that you have chosen hyperbole to make your point. Hyperbole does not help me in making a decision. It may be helpful in promoting an idea, agenda, or product, but it is not helpful to someone trying to make an informed decision. So, what is your agenda?

[FR8]

and FTR...the Wal Mart line is REALLY old and annoying.

 

Sorry you feel it's old and annoying, I've never heard it before, just started cruising the Carnival boards when we looked at booking this cruise a little over a month ago, thought I was being original...oh well....but if multiple people come up with the same feelings, perhaps there is more to it than just a line.

 

Was already planning on writing Carnival, but that won't change our mind, we won't cruise Carnival again.....