What's your worst cruise ever?

[pg.]

As others have said, our worse cruise was still 'fun" in a "when you stop hitting yourself over the head it'll feel better" sort of way.

 

Hands down our worst cruise ship experience had to be a Louis Cruises 4 day Greek Islands cruise a few years ago on the Sea Diamond.

 

No hot water, no towels, sheets delivered late, uncooked chicken, worst embarkation EVER, dreadful unbelievably crowded ship tours, rooms were 60 sq feet in size total!!! Our cabin AC never worked right, it was the noisiest cabin ever and almost impossible to sleep, fighting passengers it was awful! :eek:

 

The Greek Islands however were some of the nicest places I have ever cruised to. :D

 

I wrote a review for the Cruise Critic about the ship, and how completely disorganized and dreadful it was. At the time the Sea Diamond was the newest in Louis Cruise's fleet, and we were on one maybe the third month of it's sailings.

 

Cruise Critic refused to add my review to the members reviews (which there were none) saying they had to have "one of their people" cruise the Sea Diamond first. WTH it was a "Members review" wasn't it... I still don't get their reasoning.

 

Too bad in retrospect, My review had ended with the sentence "I sure hope that the bridge crew is more competent than the ship management because if they aren't this ship is in BIG TROUBLE

 

The Sea Diamond sank off Santorini ten months later after hitting a reef as she tried to drop anchor. Two passengers drowned, the rest of the passengers and crew abandoned ship. The ship can be seen on the bottom to this day.

 

 

 

 

I am shocked and surprised that Cruise Critic refused to add your review to the Member reviews,, thats kind of scary that they are that controlling. In your case it is especially sad,, although it wouldn't have likely made a difference to most( but if even one person had reconsidered their choice to use that line and sail on that ship it would have been worth it to them!

 

Our worst was a Mexican Riveria cruise in Jan ,, 1993,, on a Carnival ship. Weather was horrendus, kids were sick, food was blah,, and ship was "tired" and gaudy looking. The next cruise we took was 5 years later and we chose Princess after that,, great change. We had taken 2 Carnival cruises before that ,, so we sort of knew what to expect, but that particular cruise as just more unpleasant( older ship, bad weather and food) .

[A Sixth?]

I am shocked and surprised that Cruise Critic refused to add your review to the Member reviews,, thats kind of scary that they are that controlling. In your case it is especially sad,, although it wouldn't have likely made a difference to most( but if even one person had reconsidered their choice to use that line and sail on that ship it would have been worth it to them! .... .

 

Well, it's every one's loss because even though we done over a dozen cruises, on five different cruise lines, since; I don't bother writing reviews on my experience anymore.

[mikefoz1]

That's easy Carnival Victory March 2008. Ship was over crowded lines for everything. There was vomit on Lido deck everyday from the over drinkers.It was just out of control.

They added extra tables in the MDR which made it so crowded and loud it was unbelievable.The food was cold and tasteless and you waited forever to get.

They had to airlift a drinker who fell and hit his head.

We had a aft balcony on deck seven everyday we had food thrown on our balcony from the ones above us and at night the two cabins next to us partied all night and would walk on the balcony railings to the next balcony.(which we did call security on) .

There was security everywhere. Some of the crew commented that the brig was full on the second day and they would have to let some of them of the ship in San Juan?

The Ship was filthy with a sewage smell in the back elevators the whole cruise.The only good thing about this cruise was when it was over.The ports were fun though.

Waited to long to try Princess.

Mike

[bostongal]

Not exactly a "worst cruise ever" experience but my least favorite cruise was on the Zuiderdam Eastern Caribbean. We stopped at the private island the first day out and after going in the water my foot swelled up & I couldn't put any weight on it. Made doing anything that week impossible and then we had a bad experience with a crew member at the Purser's Desk over a billing issue.

 

When I think back this was a cruise that I didn't enjoy as much as I had hoped I would.

 

Meg

[BoPippy]

No such thing as a bad cruise,especially on Princess,Royal Carribbean and Carnival good depending on who is going and age group.

I always look at the destinations.If a person or couple r so fussy,as in anything in life,they will be able to find flaws,but on a whole nothing is bad at all.:)Have fun,and enjoy,nothing in life is 100% perfect.:rolleyes:

Can't wait to book on the Ruby Princess for 7 days next spring or Emerald for 10 days...still contemplating!!!!:confused:

[pg.]

You know,, there IS such a thing as a bad cruise,, people who are get sick, or hurt,, or have a bad time dealing with loads of drunks and bad food, etc. , their experiences are legit. I think its rather rude for some to insist there is no such thing as a bad cruise ,, when others have stated their problems.. like they are just being "negative nellys",, really, rather condesending.

I also think that they may have just been lucky to not had a bad cruise,, out of my 7 only one was "bad",, and some of the things I am fully aware( as are others who have posted ) that the cruise lines can't control( like weather or missed ports) ,, it does not mean that they don't count as a persons experience.

 

A person could say THEY have never had a bad cruise,, but really, coming on a thread like this and DECLARING there is no such thing is annoying and rude.

[DisneyNutMary]

Being away from the stresses of home on a cruise ship is never a worst case scenario, IMO, but sometimes things conspire to be make a trip "not the best"

 

For me, it was the Carnival Miracle in Aug, 2008. I had originally booked the Glory for a later week in the summer, but switched to the Miracle to accomodate my kids soccer schedule. I am convinced this was my first mistake.

 

Sailing out of NY brings with it, lots of New Yorkers/New Jerseyans. Not a totally bad thing, as I am a NYer, as are most of my favorite people on earth. However, this trip seemed to have brought out the worst of the worst when it comes to behavior. We were surrounded by rudeness, constantly. Literally, people spilled drinks, then walked away as though it were someone else's job to clean up after them, slammed doors in others faces- I guess because waiting a moment to hold the door for someone was too much hassle, pushed, cut and were generally inconsiderate in lines and at shows.

Then there were the things we were not used to.... the couch bed and pullman were not stowed away during the day to make a sitting area, not a big deal in the grand scheme, but it was a bit uncomfortable when waiting for the bathroom to sit on a bed rather than a sofa. We never saw our cabin steward, ever, so to ask for something required leaving a note, which most times went unnoticed.

Then there was dining... we were three families who requested on our reservations, to dine together. This wasn't correct on check in, and when we went to correct it (after being pushed out of the way by some rude woman who pushed ahead of a line of about 10 people) the maitre d had a very hard time correcting this. It took two days of him correcting other peoples dining problems, to be able to get a table for us.

And finally, I don't think I have ever seen a ship with decor as ugly as the Miracle. I LOL about now, because it certainly did not ruin my trip, but man was it gaudy.

[1980dory]

You know,, there IS such a thing as a bad cruise,, people who are get sick, or hurt,, or have a bad time dealing with loads of drunks and bad food, etc. , their experiences are legit. I think its rather rude for some to insist there is no such thing as a bad cruise ,, when others have stated their problems.. like they are just being "negative nellys",, really, rather condesending.

I also think that they may have just been lucky to not had a bad cruise,, out of my 7 only one was "bad",, and some of the things I am fully aware( as are others who have posted ) that the cruise lines can't control( like weather or missed ports) ,, it does not mean that they don't count as a persons experience.

 

A person could say THEY have never had a bad cruise,, but really, coming on a thread like this and DECLARING there is no such thing is annoying and rude.

 

Henceforth, optimists may NOT post on this thread or express an opinion! Doing so could offend a pessimist!

[mom2jax]

Lighten up people! There are some good stories here, we are all adults and know not to judge cruising or a certain cruise line ONLY by someone else’s experience. Obviously there is such a thing as a bad cruise sometimes. But even all the above posters cruised again, or they wouldn’t be hanging out on these boards.

Thanks for sharing the stories!

[A Sixth?]

Lighten up people! There are some good stories here, we are all adults and know not to judge cruising or a certain cruise line ONLY by someone else’s experience. Obviously there is such a thing as a bad cruise sometimes. But even all the above posters cruised again, or they wouldn’t be hanging out on these boards.

 

Thanks for sharing the stories!

 

No one will be cruising again on my worst ever cruise ship :-)

[Azure Moon]

I'm happy to say I haven't had a bad cruise so far. There may have been an occasional blip, but nothing to ruin a whole trip. :):cool::)

[mikefoz1]

You know,, there IS such a thing as a bad cruise,, people who are get sick, or hurt,, or have a bad time dealing with loads of drunks and bad food, etc. , their experiences are legit. I think its rather rude for some to insist there is no such thing as a bad cruise ,, when others have stated their problems.. like they are just being "negative nellys",, really, rather condesending.

I also think that they may have just been lucky to not had a bad cruise,, out of my 7 only one was "bad",, and some of the things I am fully aware( as are others who have posted ) that the cruise lines can't control( like weather or missed ports) ,, it does not mean that they don't count as a persons experience.

 

A person could say THEY have never had a bad cruise,, but really, coming on a thread like this and DECLARING there is no such thing is annoying and rude.

Thank You.

[michigan tim]

Worst does not mean it has to be bad. ;) Your worst cruise could be excellent if all your other cruises were even better. I just post thread as a counter another thread labeled, "What's your favorite cruise ever?". Perhaps it should have been labeled, "What's your least favorite cruise ever?". :rolleyes:

[bar_20]

My worst cruise was also one of my best. It was on NCL's Norway in 2002. NCL was going to send the Norway to Asia as a casino ship, but because of 9/11 they decided to keep it in the Caribbean at the last minute. They had not sold any cruises on it in 2002 so they were offering cabins for as little as $250 for seven days. They offered college students a $200 rate for an IC. That was one of the problems because the ship was loaded with students on Spring Break. These students spent all their money on booze and ran out of money for tips. This was probably the last NCL ship not on Freestyle, so we had the same table and wait staff the entire cruise. The last night when you tip the waiters, half the MDR was empty and therefore they got stiffed. Lots of drunken fights broke out on the ship as well.

 

This was the cruise where a young female room stewart either fell off, jumped or was pushed off the ship (depending on who you talked to) and was not discovered missing for several hours. They had to turn the ship around to look for her. Talk about trying to find a needle in a haystack, try finding a person floating in the ocean with nothing on but their clothing. We were in a balcony cabin on the port side. They asked everyone on board to watch the sea just in case she was still alive. The couple in the cabin next to ours saw her first, I saw her next and yelled up to some crew members who radioed someone else, and float rings were tossed out to her along with a smoke flare. Needless to say trying to turn a ship the size of The Norway around and stopping it took about a 1/2 hour. A crew in a Zodiac boat was lowered and set out to pick her up. She had been in the water for 10 hours without any flotation device and was still alive. Because of the extra time it took to rescue her we missed St. Martin and there were some upset people because of that. The worst part was putting up with the loud, druken students and the obnoxious passengers that were complaining about a missed port. The best part I got to sail on the Norway before she was scrapped and a wonderful story to witness and tell about.

[A Sixth?]

Worst does not mean it has to be bad. ;) Your worst cruise could be excellent if all your other cruises were even better. I just post thread as a counter another thread labeled, "What's your favorite cruise ever?". Perhaps it should have been labeled, "What's your least favorite cruise ever?". :rolleyes:

 

True.

 

My least favorite cruise was on a Louis Cruises ship so poorly run it actually sank a number of months after I was aboard, killing two passengers. :eek:

 

I however still had fun when I was aboard because I knew I was only in my cell for a few days and got out daily to see the beautiful Greek Islands! :D

[bbwex]

I wasn't there, but I am betting the passengers on the Titanic would vote for that trip's being the worst!

[04cruises]

You know,, there IS such a thing as a bad cruise,, people who are get sick, or hurt,, or have a bad time dealing with loads of drunks and bad food, etc. , their experiences are legit. I think its rather rude for some to insist there is no such thing as a bad cruise ,, when others have stated their problems.. like they are just being "negative nellys",, really, rather condesending.

I also think that they may have just been lucky to not had a bad cruise,, out of my 7 only one was "bad",, and some of the things I am fully aware( as are others who have posted ) that the cruise lines can't control( like weather or missed ports) ,, it does not mean that they don't count as a persons experience.

 

A person could say THEY have never had a bad cruise,, but really, coming on a thread like this and DECLARING there is no such thing is annoying and rude.

 

I apoligize if I offended you.We just look at the "not so good" as part of the memory.Like the time my wife flipped a ACV in Cozumel and later found out she had a hairline fracture in her leg. But we joke about how "everybody" was walking much faster then us but we got to go into the midnight buffet early.Or the time in Alaska we hit a gale with 60+ mph wind and 25+ waves but we thought it was funny because my wife kept getting thrown out of the bed. Or when I just got clear of strep throat and couldn't talk or eat the first 3 days.My wife says it was the most peaceful cruise she had been on.There are many other events that I haven't listed.

You see, we only think the worst cruise is the one we see leaving the home port and we aren't on it.

[pg.]

My worst cruise was also one of my best. It was on NCL's Norway in 2002. NCL was going to send the Norway to Asia as a casino ship, but because of 9/11 they decided to keep it in the Caribbean at the last minute. They had not sold any cruises on it in 2002 so they were offering cabins for as little as $250 for seven days. They offered college students a $200 rate for an IC. That was one of the problems because the ship was loaded with students on Spring Break. These students spent all their money on booze and ran out of money for tips. This was probably the last NCL ship not on Freestyle, so we had the same table and wait staff the entire cruise. The last night when you tip the waiters, half the MDR was empty and therefore they got stiffed. Lots of drunken fights broke out on the ship as well.

 

This was the cruise where a young female room stewart either fell off, jumped or was pushed off the ship (depending on who you talked to) and was not discovered missing for several hours. They had to turn the ship around to look for her. Talk about trying to find a needle in a haystack, try finding a person floating in the ocean with nothing on but their clothing. We were in a balcony cabin on the port side. They asked everyone on board to watch the sea just in case she was still alive. The couple in the cabin next to ours saw her first, I saw her next and yelled up to some crew members who radioed someone else, and float rings were tossed out to her along with a smoke flare. Needless to say trying to turn a ship the size of The Norway around and stopping it took about a 1/2 hour. A crew in a Zodiac boat was lowered and set out to pick her up. She had been in the water for 10 hours without any flotation device and was still alive. Because of the extra time it took to rescue her we missed St. Martin and there were some upset people because of that. The worst part was putting up with the loud, druken students and the obnoxious passengers that were complaining about a missed port. The best part I got to sail on the Norway before she was scrapped and a wonderful story to witness and tell about.

 

Thanks for an interesting and uplifting post,, I was glad to read they DID find the girl alive,, that was a miracle.. its a shame to think anyone could complain about a bit of inconvience on their cruise when a young womans life was at stake!

[luvs2travl]

Our least favorite cruise by far was our family cruise on the Norwegian Spirit this past December. The ship itself was lovely and nicely decorated for the Holidays - but the service was terrible. The cabins were not cleaned properly - if at all. The room stewards simply changed the sheets & emptied the trash. More than once, we had to ask for towels for the bathroom. The food was bland & tasteless and served luke-warm; the desserts were terrible!! (We did eat one night at Cagney's Steakhouse at a $20.00 up-charge per person, and it was excellent.) My husband spoke to the hotel mananger of service, and they apologized saying they were "very busy". Really? When is a cruise ship NOT very busy?? :confused:

 

Children were allowed to run wild up & down the passageways at all hours - the little buggers removed the Breakfast Room Service order tags completely so that no breakfast was delivered to the cabin that requested it. They took the "Do Not Disturb" or "Service, please!" tags from cabin doors and switched them all around by placing them on other cabin doors at random. And, they did not limit their pranks to just one deck - they were equal-opportunity brats, hitting all passenger decks with their antics. They played in the already-slow elevators, crowding themselves in, laughing while punching in every deck stop along their route up or down. :mad: Many passengers called down to Security to complain about these unruly kids, and nothing what-so-ever was done to attempt to curtail their activities. My DH spoke (nicely, really!) to one set of parents that were in the cabin 4 doors down from us (he observed their 2 kids taking tags off the cabin doors) and he was not-so-politely told to "..mind his own business..". :rolleyes:

 

We were continually bombarded by wait-staff selling everything from flowers to pub crawl tickets to bottles of champagne (for New Year's Eve) while we were trying to dine; twice (after making reservations a day in advance) we arrived at the MDR only to be told we HAD no reservations and our wait would be 30-40 minutes.

 

Two families in our group had their shore excursion cancelled to due to "overbooking". They had booked through the NCL website 3 months in advance, and had their on-line verification with them. How does this happen? :confused: With only 4 ports on a seven day cruise, this was a big disappointment for them.

 

Our TA sent each cabin an OBC for a bottle of wine. All wanted to enjoy the wine out on their cabin balconies. We sailed on Sunday. We finally got the wine delivered to the cabins on Thursday.

 

We wives ordered boutonnieres for our DH's for New Years Eve. None of us received them, tho' we were billed for them on our ship's account.

 

Never again on NCL! We have taken many, many cruises - several during the Holiday season, and have never experienced anything like that cruise - ever!! Bottom line was that the entire staff seemed totally disorganized and definitely had a "Well, what do you want us to do about it?" attitude.

 

This did not put us off from cruising - nothing could do that. We will just not cruise with NCL again. These are my opinions and experiences only, as I know others have cruised NCL with no problems. I am just responding to the OP's question. ;)

 

Smooth Sailing Always to Everyone. :D

[peptobysmol]

My "worst" was all my fault so to speak. On one cruise aboard the RC Monarch. My wife was overly sensitive to scopolamine which made her severely lightheaded and nauseated with the associated vomiting. (just returned from a cruise to St. Martin where we commemorated the episode with pics of the places where she threw up :D). Then that afternoon, while we were snorkeling, I aspirated some sea water after I had cleared my snorkel (guess not too well). Only enough to make me choke a little but I subsequently developed a respiratory infection that lead to a sinus infection. We also switched toothpaste. Little did I know that I was "allergic" to tartar control toothpaste. Made my mouth break out with canchre sores. It was so bad it hurt to eat anything. Food tasted bad.

 

But... It was overall such a fun time I actually consider it one of my favorite cruises because of my wonderful wife and the rare escapes from the daily grind we get. Getting back home was the worst part. Started antibiotics, work, kids etc.

[cruisemom42]

I don't think any of the posters who've said there's no such thing as a bad cruise have ever really been on a bad cruise.....

 

Mine was on NCL in the long-ago days before Freestyle cruising -- our honeymoon -- we had a small oceanview cabin. The air conditioning stopped working on day 2. This was in August in the Western Caribbean. Room temperature was never below 90 degrees for the remainder of the cruise. (Did I mention it was our honeymoon?) Staff could not or would not find us another room despite acknowledging the issue. They brought us a tiny room fan. :(

 

In addition to that, we were told we'd have a table for 2 -- got on board and found we were at a ten-top. New DH had never cruised before but I knew enough from previous cruises to talk to the maitre d'. What a smarmy character. He insisted there were no tables for two available. (There were, we watched at least four of them sit empty for two nights.) Finally on the third night, DH got up the nerve to "bribe" him with cash: He mysteriously located a table for us -- right next to the galley door in the back corner. :rolleyes: The four empty two-tops in the middle of the dining room sat empty for the remainder of the cruise. I guess we didn't "pay" enough to get one of them....

 

Now wait, it gets better. On our sailing there was a large group (around a third of the pax) who were with Aloette, which we were told at the time was similar to Avon. Several of the lounges were blocked off most of the day for their meetings and get-togethers. In the afternoon and evening, they'd gather around the pool (I mean they'd literally sit around the pool with their feet in the water) and sing "Aloette" songs......

 

In addition, champagne and spa vouchers purchased by family members for us in advance never were given to us.

 

We nearly bailed on this cruise, but were young and not sure what the ramifications were -- couldn't really afford extra big expense of flying back....... :( And back in those days, people didn't ask for or get shipboard credits or partial refunds like they do now.

 

But wait, it wasn't ALL bad. I did win $125 at bingo. :rolleyes:

 

I am not a complainer. I've been on many cruises, before and since. I've never experienced one like that before. Never again, NCL.

[grand isle joe]

NCL Spirit of America. It was the last cruise before heading into drydock for that year. The food was just horrendous with the cooks(use that term lightly) cleaning out the freezers and serving dispicable slop and most crew members so P O ed that they were down right nasty. Ship was neglected on all aspects of cleanliness with lacking in all facets including toilet paper. That horrid cruise swore me off of NCL for my lifetime. They could give me a cruise and I would laugh and toss it in the trash bin. Ruined a beautiful trip to Hawaii with terrible memories of money wasted on NCL.:eek:

[A Sixth?]

Funny how many had terrible experiences on NCL, ours have been nice save an issue during a spring break cruise a few years back with college kids in the balcony cabin above us spitting and throwing stuff off the balcony and using their cabin as party central. (No more spring break cruises for us)

 

In fact our 9 day Jewel cruise in Jan 2009 was one of the best cruises we've ever had. The new 2.0 service (or whet ever they call it) was a real improvement. The food was excellent, service excellent. I can't think of anything we didn't like about it...

 

Different ships/itineraries and luck I guess.

[A Sixth?]

I am shocked and surprised that Cruise Critic refused to add your review to the Member reviews,, thats kind of scary that they are that controlling. In your case it is especially sad,, although it wouldn't have likely made a difference to most( but if even one person had reconsidered their choice to use that line and sail on that ship it would have been worth it to them!

 

Our worst was a Mexican Riveria cruise in Jan ,, 1993,, on a Carnival ship. Weather was horrendus, kids were sick, food was blah,, and ship was "tired" and gaudy looking. The next cruise we took was 5 years later and we chose Princess after that,, great change. We had taken 2 Carnival cruises before that ,, so we sort of knew what to expect, but that particular cruise as just more unpleasant( older ship, bad weather and food) .

 

After sinking and fires on Louis ships, they're back in the news as we all heard with that fatal "Rouge waves" in the Med yesterday.:eek:

 

While far too early to say what's what, I am dead serious.

 

Do Not Cruise on Louis. IMHO there is something seriously (and dangerously) wrong with this out fit

[Aunty Pat]

My worst cruise, first and last on RCCL was on the Song of America back in 1989. After 2 grate cruises on NCL back in the days before “Free Style”, I found the Song of America to be over crowded (my first time sailing on a ship where every bed including the 3rd & 4th bunks were full), the service was poor and the food was equivalent of what you’d find a cheap all you can eat restaurant that only serves American comfort food – none of the tropical fruit or fresh seafood I’d had on NCL - no caviar, no smoked salmon, no lobster, no escargot, etc.

It was also the first time I’d sailed the Caribbean in the summer and it was hot, pools were over crowed and the shore excursions were so poorly planned that the local operators they’d contract with ran out of snorkeling equipment. This was a real let down after being use to NCL where they fitted you with equipment at the start of the cruise and you used the same equipment on all of your snorkeling trips for the entire week.

That being said, I’m going to give RCCL another try. My niece wants to sail on the Oasis of the Seas for her high school graduation present from me and I told her I would book it as soon as I see her diploma.

Aunty Pat

 

Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81

K&D German Rhine Line ‘84

NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93

RCCL - Song of America ‘89

American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98

HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, Westerdam ‘09 & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ’07

Carnival - Spirit ‘05

Celebrity – Summit ‘05

Cruise West - Yorktown Clipper ‘06

Princess - Golden Princess ‘07

A & K - East Queen ‘07

Cunard - QM2 ’08

Crystal – Serenity ‘09

Pending Cruises:

Oceania – Insignia, June 17, 2010