What is the worst Cruise line that you have sailed on

[cruzeluver]

We sailed on the Zuiderdam once. It was a bizarre experience....not terrible - but bizarre. First, someone ran over my foot with their scooter. I limped the entire week. Weird thing was - about 20 other people were limping too. Second, we had a couple at our table who were cruising while their roof was being fixed after a hurricane - this man wore denim overalls to dinner every night and every night he'd fall asleep between the salad and main course, while "mother" (that's what he called her) poked at him. We BEGGED to be switched to another table after the 3rd night. The food was so bland that the "signature" Caesar Salad was a running joke - the "signature" being that it had absolutely no taste at all. None. And there were creepy fake "people" (sort of mannequins, I guess) sitting in the balcony of the theatre. Very odd cruise.

 

That is bizarre indeed! Your dinner "companions" would have given me the heebie-jeebies!

[Smokeyham]

I’ll add one to the list here. Perhaps our most “interesting” cruise was a river cruise on the Volga (Russia) in July, 1996. We went on the MS Karamzin from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Here are so some of the more interesting moments.

 

· Arriving in the huge Moscow Airport was an experience. We walked for ages through long echoey corridors, past ancient computers and finally got to customs/immigration. The person behind the booth said nothing, just put out his hand. We handed over passports and visas and waited for a couple of minutes. He said nothing, just stared at us, then his computer apparently gave him clearance. He stamped our passports and handed them back. We walked out to bedlam at baggage claim. Tons of people milling around. Finally got our luggage, and went to wait for our bus, which we could see sitting back in a long line of traffic.

 

· Finally got on the bus, but after a few minutes the public address system failed, and the guide’s voice was not able to be heard at the back of the noisy bus, so I ended up repeating/yelling each of her sentences, so the people at the back could hear. Interesting way to get known to your fellow passengers.

 

· When we arrived on board we were informed that the air conditioning had failed. July in Moscow is hot and humid, and there was no air movement since the boat was docked for the first night, and windows do not open.

 

· Dinner the first night was rice and what appeared to be knuckles from chickens. Very little meat.

 

· At the first dinner we asked about ordering a bottle of wine, and charging it to the cabin. In our pre-cruise brochure they had said this would be possible. This request caused consternation up the wait staff’s chain of command, and we watched as a mini-conference ensued with the wait staff gathering around the Maitre d’, with lots of gesticulating happening. Finally, the Maitre d' came over, and said that we could not charge drinks to the cabin on this cruise since “the boat is full.” Since we had not brought much cash, their drink sales were about to plummet. Later, we convinced the bar tender to allow us to charge drinks in the bar.

 

· Returning to my cabin one afternoon I found a member of the housekeeping staff opening a cardboard box which I had put on a shelf, and looking inside. It contained a souvenir I had bought. I filed a complaint and was contacted by a member of the cruise staff, who basically brushed it off saying the staff member was “just curious.”

 

· Went to breakfast one morning, which was open seating and you just picked a table and sat down with others. I saw some crew members who were part of the cruise director’s staff who I knew spoke English, and sat down with them. Apparently, I had violated some unspoken rule. All conversation stopped and they refused to acknowledge my presence. I tried to strike up conversation, but there was no response, just averted eyes. I quickly finished breakfast and left.

 

· Not the cruise line’s fault, but there was a woman in the cabin opposite mine who was in her 80’s, travelling solo, and clearly the cruise was beyond her capabilities. She had an uncanny knack for knowing when I was leaving my cabin. Many times when I would open my door she would be peering out from her cabin and would say “young man, would you just help me with….” By the end of the week long cruise I was tired of being an unpaid assistant. Of course, as luck would have it, who did I end up sitting next to on the flight back from St. Petersburg? To add to the discomfort, she smelled strongly of urine for the whole flight back.

 

Overall, it was interesting experience. We had an excellent British guide (organized by the travel agent for our group), who did a great job of explaining the parallels between British history and what we were seeing in Russia. Local guides at each port were very good, and clearly loved sharing the history of their country.

 

The Karamzin is still sailing with Imperial River Cruises.

[momofmeg]

I'm with the "never had a bad cruise" crowd, but if you asked me which cruise was most disappointing in terms of dining room experience, it's a slam dunk. Celebrity.

 

Other than those fantastic waffles in the buffet, most of the food was mediocre at best. I might have set my expectations too high after reading all the good reviews here about food on Celebrity, or it might have been the good cooks' vacation week and the bus boys were cooking. Who can tell.

 

The best thing I had in the dining room was the braised short ribs, and the waiter tried to talk me out of ordering them. Luck of the draw, but both the waiter and his helper were absolutely clueless about the food. Couldn't answer a simple question.

 

But it was a good cruise ... :D

 

I think you must have had an "off" cruise. Celebrity has great food. There is no need to eat in specialties if you want good food unlike NCL and also RCI. In my mind Celebrity is a cross between Princess and HAL. An older demographic, but not quite as old as HAL, ages 35 plus with very few children or young singles.

 

The only line I really do not care to cruise agian is Carnival, ( would still do it with friends or for the right ittineary) but it is more about Carnivalit attracts a good many hard partying singles(not MOST as some claim but still many) versus RCI which attracts more families. I am older and I actually prefer Celebrity ( Princess has only been 2 cruisess for me-until October when we cruise the Grand - but they seem to have a simliar age demographic to Celebrity)

 

Even tons of rowdy kids (families) can get to me which you find on RCI and NCL both. RCI however has a curfew they inforce which helps, and they also have a nice adult's only area, so I do prefer RCI to NCL. However, I prefer the kids to rowdy singles.

 

Still, as you say, outside of a 3 day weekend cruise on ANY line (as they all turn into party cruises the 3 day ones) which I will never do again, no cruise is a bad cruise.

[commodoredave]

I think you must have had an "off" cruise. Celebrity has great food. There is no need to eat in specialties if you want good food unlike NCL and also RCI. In my mind Celebrity is a cross between Princess and HAL. An older demographic, but not quite as old as HAL, ages 35 plus with very few children or young singles.

 

The only line I really do not care to cruise agian is Carnival, ( would still do it with friends or for the right ittineary) but it is more about Carnivalit attracts a good many hard partying singles(not MOST as some claim but still many) versus RCI which attracts more families. I am older and I actually prefer Celebrity ( Princess has only been 2 cruisess for me-until October when we cruise the Grand - but they seem to have a simliar age demographic to Celebrity)

 

Even tons of rowdy kids (families) can get to me which you find on RCI and NCL both. RCI however has a curfew they inforce which helps, and they also have a nice adult's only area, so I do prefer RCI to NCL. However, I prefer the kids to rowdy singles.

 

Still, as you say, outside of a 3 day weekend cruise on ANY line (as they all turn into party cruises the 3 day ones) which I will never do again, no cruise is a bad cruise.

 

I think that's true of the major lines. But as I posted previously, I've been on some minor cruise lines (thankfully now defunct) that were absolutely terrible.

[lady_cruiser]

Even though I prefer one cruise line over the other I can't say one was far worse over the other. By saying one was the worst means I would not cruise on that line again, which I don't plan on doing. I plan on cruising on all three but will choose the one that will give me the best bargain at that time.

[Hstergo]

Even though I prefer one cruise line over the other I can't say one was far worse over the other. By saying one was the worst means I would not cruise on that line again, which I don't plan on doing. I plan on cruising on all three but will choose the one that will give me the best bargain at that time.

 

All that to say ..... ?

[maureencruiser]

How did two erroneous announcements causevyounto miss two ports?

I'd love to know this, too. I don't care what the announcements say, you couldn't look out the window and see that you were at the pier? :confused::confused:

[ducklite]

Royal has also hit sandbars, left passengers stranded, had fires (other fires on other owned ships such as azamara line). all ships and lines have their problems. Disney has had a fire, ran aground as well. and yes..carnival does have the fun ships. you only hear about the carnival corp problems more because they own more ships.

 

Actually you hear about them more because they handle crisis situations very poorly form a PR perspective. Which is obvious by their stock prices plummeting and recent upper management shake up. Personally I don't think the bloodletting is over for them, they've got a very, very long way to go to rebuild consumer and stock holder confidence.

[momofmeg]

I'd love to know this, too. I don't care what the announcements say, you couldn't look out the window and see that you were at the pier? :confused::confused:

 

Maybe it said the ship was not cleared when it was?

[lady_cruiser]

All that to say ..... ?

The OP ask what was the worst cruise line we sailed on. I was answering their question by saying no cruise line I have sailed on was so bad that I wouldn't sail on it again.

[maureencruiser]

Maybe it said the ship was not cleared when it was?

And they couldn't figure out why they were the only ones still sitting on the ship and who all those people walking away from the ship and getting into taxis and busses were? I don't think that's the answer. :rolleyes:

[bamelin]

The worst? For me Carnival.

 

I had heard what people said but I wanted to try for myself. What other cruiseline could you get a balcony cabin for 1 week for 400 bucks???

 

The cabin was actually aweseome. A good thing too since the ship was a crowded cruise of suckitude (Carnival Magic). We stayed in our room 90 percent of the cruise. The buffet was a zoo. MDR was decent, except only available twice a day since Carnival scams one MDR via it's "comedy brunch". Overall ship felt cramped ... def not what I want on a cruise.

 

Will never sail with Carnival again.

[Pushka]

At a travel expo I heard a consultant say to one cruiser who didn't want to spend too much to look at Carnival. I guess with low budget cruise ships you must travel with reduced expectations. If you expect gourmet food you are going to be disappointed.

[momofmeg]

And they couldn't figure out why they were the only ones still sitting on the ship and who all those people walking away from the ship and getting into taxis and busses were? I don't think that's the answer. :rolleyes:

 

Well, it happened to us, they said they would make an annnouncment when ship was cleared, they never did. No, we did not miss the port, but we could have gotten off ship more than 30 minutes sooner.

 

I noticed people getting off ship from our balcony and told hubby. Hubby thoguht maybe it was only ship's tours but we went down to find out. When we got down to where we get off -the guys there said,"oh yes, it has been cleared almost an hour." There were ALOT of ticked off PAX in line with us-so it was not just us.

[momofmeg]

At a travel expo I heard a consultant say to one cruiser who didn't want to spend too much to look at Carnival. I guess with low budget cruise ships you must travel with reduced expectations. If you expect gourmet food you are going to be disappointed.

 

Maybe not gourmet but Carnival had good food-of course I have not cruised them in over 9 years. They had good shows too. What I hated was their loud decor and the party-hardy atmosphere of many of the PAX. You still saw a good many families, it just seemed party hardy PAX could be quite loud and not respectful to other PAX. I do not like that kind of atmosphere, too old for that now.

[commodoredave]

Maybe not gourmet but Carnival had good food-of course I have not cruised them in over 9 years. They had good shows too. What I hated was their loud decor and the party-hardy atmosphere of many of the PAX. You still saw a good many families, it just seemed party hardy PAX could be quite loud and not respectful to other PAX. I do not like that kind of atmosphere, too old for that now.

 

Carnival is not for DW and me either. However, out 2 daughters who are in their mid-twenties enjoy the party atmosphere found on Carnival. And to think I wasted all that money giving them a more elegant experience on Celebrity and Princess when they were younger!!!!

[GROOVY]

Although RCCL is a good moderate cruise line, they do some things that are weird.

 

Beware of 7 day cruises sailing from San Juan, PR aboard RCCL. What this cruise lines does (not sure about others) is to drastically discount cabins to locals the week or so before a cruise. OK, what does this mean? Well, I booked a cabin on the Adventure of the Seas for $1,500 pp and some local got the cabin next door for $800 pp in same category. Free Enterprise? Yes But........

 

The drastic price reductions also allow a category of passenger which makes life unbearable. Loud, drinking, bawdy neighbors. The deck as strewn with beer cans, and other assorted trash the crew could not keep up. It was awful - no respect. To make things worse, Puerto Rican music was played constantly. If RCCL wanted to offer a Latino cruise than that is fine - but we did not book it. Dress code was relaxed and flip flops and shorts appeared in the main dining on formal night. I complained and was told that they were catering to the large Latino crowd?

 

Don't get me wrong - I have many Latino friends but none of them act like the idiots we found on board that cruise. Second, if we wanted a Latino cruise, we would have booked it. The huge discounts to the locals to fill cabins was a poor decision by RCCL.

 

Word of advice - be aware of cruise that leave from San Juan.

[sjn911]

Well in my few cruises over 33 years,,,( now I think),,,

 

Worst due to cabin bunk and falling off all the time,,,LOL,,even though thin,,Epirotiki ApollonII,,and it is still how i fell in love with cruising,,,,1980.

 

 

Best 3 tie for different reasons,...Star Princess when new 2002, Old Westerdam on Hal with old service par excellence...and the Carnival Paradise in 2009...just good people, cabin steward, gallons of ice, 2 spa treatments...great table food and shows..one that worked I tell you.

 

Can't wait to try more and different lines.

 

I know when things go wrong and add up and exhaustion and precious vacation and money for those of us who really have to budget is involved....a lot can go wacko..had It happened on the Carnival Spirit but my mood effected it too.;;so it is almost worst.

 

A year ago this week my folks were on the Disney Wonder...this was their last trip together and with youngest grandchild 12, and my mom was well for it thank God...she had a petty tough off infection from a foot wound year; and got sick 12 hours after her return with what ended up yo be a heart virus.,,She passed 8/2/12. Her last healthy and good day was last day of that cruise.

 

Now they had 3 unruly kids with their parents and my niece at their traveling table. But they just made it a joke, like what is going to happen tonight and giggled with my niece..

 

The waitors and parents of the kids were beyond grateful..the waiters had their cocktails ready pronto upon sitting down and both on time and off made sure my folks had a special outside easy private ship place to go where niece could fetch cocoa and cookies and free pop (Yahoo a savings galore in my crew) and they could watch the world comfy with blankets and few people. They helped with mom when she needed a wheelchair with her foot sometimes and they had a more budget outside cabin but still wonderful and close to loading doors of ship was no issue....the cabin was perfect for 3 the 2 little bathroom sink and shower and sink and toilet deal and curtains that made 2 rooms and my niece getting the "living room" window and tv to herself when granny and Papa read and rest.

They loved the tours..so well organized and easily switchable when one was too much for mom....they adored the places the kids could go and still keep tabs on them..LOLOL, Dad said my neice did 300 in the game room,,,she LOVED it...but a once in a lifetime ok from granny and papa.

 

Yes this was long..sorry, tough...just tears of joy that last Sunday eating out with my dad he finally has happy memories of that cruise and told me...

 

I would always rather have families and kids than all partiers...from Carnival up are still on my list but really want to try other than Carnival to try new, hopefully RCL, NCL, and Celebrity are next and I am going to do Disney sometime...thanks for reading,,,Sarah

 

PS Not agst Carnival but glad they are on bottom and will improve..they have gone downhill from my 2009 to 2012 cruise in service, food, entertainment...everything. Glad it seems to be verified Disney has nothing to do with Carnival, folks were happy with their meals and they are not picky but like warm and nice for that many people and they got that and sometimes better.

[momofmeg]

Carnival is not for DW and me either. However, out 2 daughters who are in their mid-twenties enjoy the party atmosphere found on Carnival. And to think I wasted all that money giving them a more elegant experience on Celebrity and Princess when they were younger!!!!

 

Lol! I love dit too when I first started cruising. I acutally found RCI a litle "bland." Then I tried Princess and later Celebrity and liked it much better. My last Carnival cruise was in 2004 and I just realized it was not for me anymore.

 

recently we did a 4 day crusie on Celbrity Constellation. This was Jan. 3rd of this year. I think because that was still a holiday week and also a long weekend cruise Thursday to Monday,that there was more younger people, both families and singles so more of a party atmosphere and also unruly children.

 

The solaruim was NOT adults' only and that is my haven from kids on RCI. I did not enjoy htat crusie as much as I usually enjoy Celebrity.

 

My daughter is hitting close to 30. At first when we tired of Carnival, she was just happy to cruise, as we were still paying her way, but now she really likes the subdued atmosphere when we cruise a better line.

 

We mostly cruise with her on NCL, I just have lower expectations when I cruise NCL, I still have a good time, not as good as the better lines, but our daughter works in the school system, so if we go with her, prices are higher, which is why we settle for NCL. Once we lucked out with a decent deal on RCI with her.

 

Last summer we all splurged to do a Med cruise on Celebrity together. It would have been a savings for hubby and I to have gone in May instead of June but our daughter wanted to go with us. This was our 30th anniverary family gift. If I had realized how tired I would be after 12 hour ports, I may would have not cared which line. Several times we did not even go to dinner and I was too tired for the shows. Lol! However I did enjoy the solaruim several evenings! I was glad for that little haven and NCL would not have had that-so it was just as well we were on Celebrity I guess.

[05mak05]

Carnival Legend. First and last Carnival Cruise. Just thinking about it makes me break out in hives. Weirdest "decor" I've ever seen. All those urns....it was like carting cremated remains all over the Caribbean.... Bad food in the MDR, although the specialty restaurant wasn't bad - that's as charitable as I'm going to get.

I wanted to turn around and run the minute I saw the decor. We've done a lot of cruising and this is the first time that I was nervous and apprehensive. The kicker was that they bragged on the designer/decorator. OMG!

[Winnigirl]

I wanted to turn around and run the minute I saw the decor. We've done a lot of cruising and this is the first time that I was nervous and apprehensive. The kicker was that they bragged on the designer/decorator. OMG!

 

YES!!!:D They had HOURS of tv on about the designer! I kept wondering "are these people totally delusional - or have I fallen down the rabbit hole!?" Worst cruise ever!!

[maureencruiser]

I wanted to turn around and run the minute I saw the decor. We've done a lot of cruising and this is the first time that I was nervous and apprehensive. The kicker was that they bragged on the designer/decorator. OMG!

Ha, You're right about that! I have no idea who does the interiors of the RCCL ships, which I've been on over 40 times, yet, I sure do know that Joe Farcus did the interiors for several CCL ships, I've been on CCL once, in 1992 :eek:

[CruisingAgain102]

Yes, Princess. I thought it would be the loveliest cruise ever. We booked a balcony and flew to San Juan to catch the boat. As a Floridian, I have only flown to one other cruise. (Celebrity, which was amazing.)

 

There was a big puddle of blood in our room when we checked in and we asked them to get us another room. Instead they cleaned it up the FOLLOWING DAY. We were told that someone broke a bottle in the room, Blood was smeared on the light switch, the bathroom counter, the tile floor, drops splattered around the room.

 

Our room steward must have gotten into trouble and she hid from us the rest of the cruise. Absolutely no service, plus the whole bloody room thing.

 

They didn't have another room and forced us to stay there, with her, the rest of the week. I wrote to them when we got back, and they offered us $179 towards a future cruise.

 

We cruise twice a year, but as far as Princess.....never, never, never again. We gave them every opportunity to make it right but they ruined our expensive vacation and didn't care.

[bamelin]

Well in my few cruises over 33 years,,,( now I think),,,

 

Worst due to cabin bunk and falling off all the time,,,LOL,,even though thin,,Epirotiki ApollonII,,and it is still how i fell in love with cruising,,,,1980.

 

 

Best 3 tie for different reasons,...Star Princess when new 2002, Old Westerdam on Hal with old service par excellence...and the Carnival Paradise in 2009...just good people, cabin steward, gallons of ice, 2 spa treatments...great table food and shows..one that worked I tell you.

 

Can't wait to try more and different lines.

 

I know when things go wrong and add up and exhaustion and precious vacation and money for those of us who really have to budget is involved....a lot can go wacko..had It happened on the Carnival Spirit but my mood effected it too.;;so it is almost worst.

 

A year ago this week my folks were on the Disney Wonder...this was their last trip together and with youngest grandchild 12, and my mom was well for it thank God...she had a petty tough off infection from a foot wound year; and got sick 12 hours after her return with what ended up yo be a heart virus.,,She passed 8/2/12. Her last healthy and good day was last day of that cruise.

 

Now they had 3 unruly kids with their parents and my niece at their traveling table. But they just made it a joke, like what is going to happen tonight and giggled with my niece..

 

The waitors and parents of the kids were beyond grateful..the waiters had their cocktails ready pronto upon sitting down and both on time and off made sure my folks had a special outside easy private ship place to go where niece could fetch cocoa and cookies and free pop (Yahoo a savings galore in my crew) and they could watch the world comfy with blankets and few people. They helped with mom when she needed a wheelchair with her foot sometimes and they had a more budget outside cabin but still wonderful and close to loading doors of ship was no issue....the cabin was perfect for 3 the 2 little bathroom sink and shower and sink and toilet deal and curtains that made 2 rooms and my niece getting the "living room" window and tv to herself when granny and Papa read and rest.

They loved the tours..so well organized and easily switchable when one was too much for mom....they adored the places the kids could go and still keep tabs on them..LOLOL, Dad said my neice did 300 in the game room,,,she LOVED it...but a once in a lifetime ok from granny and papa.

 

Yes this was long..sorry, tough...just tears of joy that last Sunday eating out with my dad he finally has happy memories of that cruise and told me...

 

I would always rather have families and kids than all partiers...from Carnival up are still on my list but really want to try other than Carnival to try new, hopefully RCL, NCL, and Celebrity are next and I am going to do Disney sometime...thanks for reading,,,Sarah

 

PS Not agst Carnival but glad they are on bottom and will improve..they have gone downhill from my 2009 to 2012 cruise in service, food, entertainment...everything. Glad it seems to be verified Disney has nothing to do with Carnival, folks were happy with their meals and they are not picky but like warm and nice for that many people and they got that and sometimes better.

 

Star Princess is still awesome. Wife and I sailed on her in 2011 on a 10 day southern Caribbean itinerary... She may be an older ship but the culture of service was amazing. Maybe I hats a princess thing in general? It helped that I won 25,000 dollars in the casino slots the first day of the cruise *grin*

[bamelin]

I wanted to turn around and run the minute I saw the decor. We've done a lot of cruising and this is the first time that I was nervous and apprehensive. The kicker was that they bragged on the designer/decorator. OMG!

 

Carnival Magic was pretty underwhelming too. My first steps on Explorer of the Seas and Star Princess I felt like I has stepped into a very high end resort hotel like Westin. Carnival on the other hand felt like a very dissapointing and tacky 3 star Vegas hotel ...

 

with that said, 400 bucks for a balcony on carnival ain't a bad deal. I realized though that when spending a fortune in flights I would rather just pay the extra for a better line.