Carnival = Its time to Raise the Bar

[firefly333]

I agree the adult area should not have high kid traffic things like ice cream.

 

On some of these ships there is no adult area, there are adult hot tubs, and its still in question if the pool in the aft on some of these ships is also adult or not.

 

I know Conquest and Triumph well, and neither has a serenity area or adult area, so why is it upsetting people to have the pizza, and the grill and a bar and the 24/7 ice cream back there .. its not a adult area.

 

It does not exist on all Carnival ships. Expecting what is not even offered would lead to being dissapointed.

[mrrugby]

I appreciate the feedback and will take the initiative to forward to CCL.

 

The events didn't ruin my cruise as I was with my family, and having cruised other lines I knew what to expect.

 

I think what bothered me most was that this was for some families a "huge" family event. And for numerous people from what I witnessed they really went all out to make this a special event and capture it with memories and photos. Those families didn't deserve to have others who simply can't follow simple dress codes bring down the significance of the evening. No matter how one tries you can't pretent someone in pajamas isn't sitting beside you at a formal night. I also wanted to say that there are options for eating on ships with varying range of acceptable clothing. That said, the responsibility lies with the cruise line to enforce its own policies.

 

On Celebrity if you dont have a dinner jacket on formal night, they offer you one to walk to your table with to create an ambiance and night of elegance. Its not about buying lots of clothes or spending money. Its about having regard for others and pride in yourself in my humble opinion.

 

Regards

 

Trev

[NavarreCruiser]

Many of the inside bars do not have buckets for ice and beer of wine. But on all of our 32 cruises with Carnival we have brought on our 2 bottles of wine and usually get one from the CD and have never had a problem getting a bucket with ice from the pool bar. I just hand the bartender the wine and ask if he put if in a bucket of ice. Never a problem. And we often have gotten the soda card. Again, never have had a problem with the bartenders. Sometimes the are opening my can of Diet Coke when they see me coming. Just saying.

[mrsbean1990]

It's all about expectations. Carnival makes people expect that if they say no wife beaters and pajamas, they will enforce it.

 

I saw a hill billy required to change from a really nice T shirt on the Valor last year.

 

It didn't bug me, but I'm glad the staff asked him too.

 

Carnival should either enforce their guidelines or remove them and allow people to dress as they please.

 

But don't print them and give people reasonable expectations and then disappoint.

 

I find value in Carnival and have the Dream booked in Feb.

 

Would I be happier on a higher priced line? Yes.

 

Am I willing to pay the extra (x 6)? No.

 

I agree...I really don't care what people wear, within reason, to the dining room, but if Carnival is going to have guidelines, they should enforce them. If they dont' want to enfoce them, what's the use of having them?

 

My husband and I will probably opt out of the second elegant night because we don't like to dress up. However, on the first elegant night, we will dress appropriately, within the Carnival guidelines.

 

We sail Carnival because it's what we can afford, and also because we are casual people. I just don't think we'd fit in or even feel comfortable on Regent, for example. (Not that we could ever afford it...we choose to live and vacation within our means). Carnival is a great vacation value, in my opinion. We've only been cruising since 2009, so we can't really compare the service and atmosphere to years ago, but we've been very happy on the two cruises we've gone on and we're looking forward to our third on the Magic in January.

[kwbound]

We took our 6th Carnival cruise on Dec 4th, our 3rd on the Conquest. Unfortunately it will probably be our last Carnival cruise. The cutbacks in staff and decline in service is so obvious and disappointing. The lower price is no longer sufficient motivation to sail the line. Our biggest complaint was the quality of food. It was really bad and we are not picky. But we do expect the food to be served at acceptable temperatures at least. On the bright side, the was the first cruise that I didn't gain not one lb. We ate in the MDR every night but one. Only one might did our waiter introduce himself to us. One night I was unable to have my water refilled for the entire meal, in spite of asking twice. However, if I had wanted a shot there were people walking around trying to sell those, which I found weird. The MDR staff seemed stretched so thin and so stressed out, that their vibe kind of permeated the dining room. I hated to ask for anything because it seemed they were overwhelmed like it was. On the last night they brought our starters and dinner at the same time!

 

We were really disappointed in the cruise because we have always enjoyed Carnival in the past. Maybe we are just cruised out. I think our next vacations will be on land.

[kroozers]

Sorry...JH cannot fix everything.

 

It's not his job to "fix it" - nor did I imply that it is. I only suggested that he is in a position to pass the info on to those whose job it is to fix things that can be fixed (which IS his job)...read "Brand Ambassador". Things like a waiter "rolling his eyes" when a soda card is presented. Those kinds of subtle issues could and should be filtered down to ship's daily or weekly briefings by dept managers as a point of emphasis.

[Cushing985]

I appreciate the feedback and will take the initiative to forward to CCL.

 

The events didn't ruin my cruise as I was with my family, and having cruised other lines I knew what to expect.

 

I think what bothered me most was that this was for some families a "huge" family event. And for numerous people from what I witnessed they really went all out to make this a special event and capture it with memories and photos. Those families didn't deserve to have others who simply can't follow simple dress codes bring down the significance of the evening. No matter how one tries you can't pretent someone in pajamas isn't sitting beside you at a formal night. I also wanted to say that there are options for eating on ships with varying range of acceptable clothing. That said, the responsibility lies with the cruise line to enforce its own policies.

 

On Celebrity if you dont have a dinner jacket on formal night, they offer you one to walk to your table with to create an ambiance and night of elegance. Its not about buying lots of clothes or spending money. Its about having regard for others and pride in yourself in my humble opinion.

 

Regards

 

Trev

 

Trev...thanks for posting honest feedback. It has been over a year since our last cruise (on the Splendor). Although we didn't experience what you did I am getting a bit paranoid with our up-coming Spirit cruise to Hawaii in April. There are too many posts that have reported much of what you did.

 

On the Splendor, because of the swine flu thing and with the ship being diverted to Canada instead of Mexico, costs were slashed to fill up the ship. I thought that was pretty cool because folks who normally wouldn't have had the chance to cruise were able to take it. I remember on one "formal" night families were dressed to the nines getting their pictures taken and looking quite proud. Everyone in the MDR on all nights were dressed appropriately and, in general, making memories that would last a lifetime.

 

To the clowns who have the idea that you'll dress the way you want to because you're on vacation...you really should consider taking road trips and stay off ships.

[H82seaUgo]

I have not seen any posts saying they care. They said they NOTICED it.

 

The only people posting about caring, are those who jump up and down flaming that they don't care.

 

I actually do not care either what others wear .. it's amusing and I notice it. Don't jump to assumptions that because someone noticed .. they care. some might, some might not. I'm observant. I don't like to dress up myself, so not among those who are the perfect dressing crowd.

 

they usually become great topics of conversation, and sometimes, even laughter! :D

[firefly333]

they usually become great topics of conversation, and sometimes, even laughter! :D

 

For once we agree. We had some girls on Triumph out of NOLA once, some black men at our table described as hoochie mamas. The dresses were so tight EVERYTHING was revealed and we all were discussing how these girls sat down (if they ever did). The dresses barely covered their arse, and they paraded up and down some steps near our table. They got everyone's attention!!! .. we were like.. here come the girls again to parade around. funny to us. They were dressed by the dress code :D

[genegri]

OP, while I agree with your observations, I do not believe Carnival intends to go to the direction you are hoping for. Carnival has decided to pursue a budget conscious demographic and it is doing very well on that course. I do not believe it will do anything other than sending you a PR friendly reply to your constructive criticism.

 

For the cruising experience you are looking for, I highly recommend you change lines. I may get flamed, but believe me when I say the actual product on a line such as Crystal or Regent is not 10 times better than a line like RCI or Carnival. It's the follow cruisers that are different. The price is set to filter out certain cruisers, not a reflection of how much nicer the hardware is.

 

And you may not need to go to luxury lines that cost an arm and a leg. Carnival's sister lines such as HAL, Princess or Cunard may very well do the trick.

[GTO-Girl]

This is one of those subjects that has been beaten to death, but I couldn't resist saying that I am one of those who does not let what other people wear in the dining affect me one bit.......although I do agree the Sponge Bob PJ's were totally unacceptable.

 

I have to laugh at those that talk about leaving Carnival for other lines that have "more class"..... because more expensive does not always mean they have more class. I paid a premium to take my granddaughters on the "DISNEY" Dream last May and saw more shorts/flip flops/t-shirts in the dining room EVERY night than on any other line I have been on.

 

I go on a cruise to enjoy "myself" not to critique what everyone else does. Our last cruise on the Dream was one of the best ones we have ever taken.

 

But these are only my opinions........:o

[kyrisong1]

On some of these ships there is no adult area, there are adult hot tubs, and its still in question if the pool in the aft on some of these ships is also adult or not.

 

I know Conquest and Triumph well, and neither has a serenity area or adult area, so why is it upsetting people to have the pizza, and the grill and a bar and the 24/7 ice cream back there .. its not a adult area.

 

It does not exist on all Carnival ships. Expecting what is not even offered would lead to being dissapointed.

Ahhhhh but I don't really have any expectations, I do believe areas labeled adult should really be adult though.

Will it ruin my cruise? No, I don't allow other people to influence whether I have a good time or not, that's on me.

Do I love a ship with better ambience? Of course, who doesn't. However when you add up the flight cost and hotel cost to my cruises, it's darned expensive.

So we'll stick with Carnival for a while and see how it goes.

If I lived near a port (which I will when we retire) I would cruise a more expensive line, but at this time??? It's not feasable to spend 600 on flights and then the price of a more expensive cruise.

I think my point is that Carnival powers that be could be more thoughtful on how they set up the ships IMO. To give all a good cruising experience, doesn't have to be expensive, but not just tacked on as an afterthought either.

[kyrisong1]

I appreciate the feedback and will take the initiative to forward to CCL.

 

The events didn't ruin my cruise as I was with my family, and having cruised other lines I knew what to expect.

 

I think what bothered me most was that this was for some families a "huge" family event. And for numerous people from what I witnessed they really went all out to make this a special event and capture it with memories and photos. Those families didn't deserve to have others who simply can't follow simple dress codes bring down the significance of the evening. No matter how one tries you can't pretent someone in pajamas isn't sitting beside you at a formal night. I also wanted to say that there are options for eating on ships with varying range of acceptable clothing. That said, the responsibility lies with the cruise line to enforce its own policies.

 

On Celebrity if you dont have a dinner jacket on formal night, they offer you one to walk to your table with to create an ambiance and night of elegance. Its not about buying lots of clothes or spending money. Its about having regard for others and pride in yourself in my humble opinion.

 

Regards

 

Trev

At the same time Trev we were stuck at a table with a self entitled jerk on Celebrity, he wore a jacket on the nights it was called for but no tie and the jacket was always wrinkled. He didn't like the jacket and tie rule, but followed the rule. I would rather sit with someone in a clean polo and nice jeans than wrinkled old jacket.

He let everyone know he "Had to retire because I made so much I couldn't afford to continue working with the taxes I paid":rolleyes: Poor thing!!

He also had the Maitre D' hoping every night, lamb was too fatty, can't eat this bread, need special bread, ect, ect....... my husband did tell him off one night, and he got a little better.

Why didn't we move? We were sitting with CC group friends and we really liked them a lot, didn't want to leave the table just because of this jerk.

I guess my point is, there is good and bad on every line. Celebrity had some really good points, but the people are people where ever you go, bad and good.

Carole

[halos]

It's not his job to "fix it" - nor did I imply that it is. I only suggested that he is in a position to pass the info on to those whose job it is to fix things that can be fixed (which IS his job)...read "Brand Ambassador". Things like a waiter "rolling his eyes" when a soda card is presented. Those kinds of subtle issues could and should be filtered down to ship's daily or weekly briefings by dept managers as a point of emphasis.

 

 

I firmly believe if you have comments about your cruise, good OR bad, you need to write (snail mail) to CCL yourself.

Any GOOD cruise line reads their mail and responds to you to let you know they have and that your concerns (if valid) WILL be addressed.

 

I wrote another cruise line with my feelings on a cruise (just so happens the comments were glowing) Not only did the cruise line get back to me BY PHONE to thank me, but the hotel director mailed me a thank you card for my comments about her and her crew. It was post marked from Portugal, so she took the time to mail it at port.

 

Does CCL pay attention to comments???? I wonder....

[sparks1093]

This is one of those subjects that has been beaten to death, but I couldn't resist saying that I am one of those who does not let what other people wear in the dining affect me one bit.......although I do agree the Sponge Bob PJ's were totally unacceptable.

 

I have to laugh at those that talk about leaving Carnival for other lines that have "more class"..... because more expensive does not always mean they have more class. I paid a premium to take my granddaughters on the "DISNEY" Dream last May and saw more shorts/flip flops/t-shirts in the dining room EVERY night than on any other line I have been on.

 

I go on a cruise to enjoy "myself" not to critique what everyone else does. Our last cruise on the Dream was one of the best ones we have ever taken.

 

But these are only my opinions........:o

 

I'd rather cruise with Jack Dawson than with Cal Hockley;) (Titanic 1997).

[luv2kroooz]

Yes, there have been so many cutbacks at Carnival...quality of food, quality and amount of entertainment, level of service. Their price points are certainly very attractive to first time cruisers and I suspect the majority of their passengers are first timers. I was a huge Carnival fun up until about a year ago, cruising exclusively on Carnival. However, I recently completed my 25th. 2 out of my last 3 cruises have been on competing, mass market lines. For the most part, we have found greater value on the other cruise lines for prices that are not that much more expensive than Carnival. We will be sailing Princess again in November 2012. The Princess experience is fun and just a step or two above. It is too bad because we really enjoyed the Carnival product, but the cutbacks are such that they no longer provide the best overall vacation experience for us.

[nomadron]

Thanks for your post OP. You made valid points that I hope are listened to by the CCL powers that be.

 

When you follow the rules/guidelines/standards established by CCL you expect others to follow them too. When they don't, it is time for CCL to enforce the rules they have established.

[Cruise Organizer]

Yes, there have been so many cutbacks at Carnival...quality of food, quality and amount of entertainment, level of service. Their price points are certainly very attractive to first time cruisers and I suspect the majority of their passengers are first timers. I was a huge Carnival fun up until about a year ago, cruising exclusively on Carnival. However, I recently completed my 25th. 2 out of my last 3 cruises have been on competing, mass market lines. For the most part, we have found greater value on the other cruise lines for prices that are not that much more expensive than Carnival. We will be sailing Princess again in November 2012. The Princess experience is fun and just a step or two above. It is too bad because we really enjoyed the Carnival product, but the cutbacks are such that they no longer provide the best overall vacation experience for us.

 

 

Cruised CCL in August - been cruising 20 yrs - different lines, and platinum on CCL. The cutbacks over the years has turned CCL into a bare bones cruiseline.

CCL is still a value. Cheap fare with less quality. There is a market for this. There are many brands of cars, as consumers want a choice. CCL has turned itself to a Yugo.

[swimmom32]

It sounds like people just expect too much..I agree with Firefly and from what I hear from people in the Industry that I do speak with quiet often it isn't just Carnival and it certainly isn't just Cruise Lines.....With that being said, We were on the Liberty for Thanksgiving and although I do agree with the Lack of Service in some area's we found Elegant Night was beautiful on our cruise and everyone just about was dressed extremely nicely the way it should have been...I also must say every night in the MDR we had yet to see people dressed sloppy or whatever..I will say too our son met a very nice friend onboard at Club 02 and it was his family's first cruise and they do not go on any boards and had no idea what dress code was in the MDR so they didn't even show up to Elegant Night as they didn't want to be the people you all Talk About so they went to the buffet in their shorts and shirts...So again people will be people and you take the good with the bad and by the way there are quiet a bit of people that Can afford the other lines like us that chose not to cruise them that becomes a personal decision not a right or wrong one...

[photographergirl]

We're sailing on the Glory Feb. 5, and I read this thread in its entirety...very interesting.

 

I'm sure the complaints are valid, but I hope we will be able to endure any inconveniences with a little flexibility, a little humor, a raised eyebrow, and a camera ;)

 

I intend to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of our cruise; that's my job for the week.

[swimmom32]

We're sailing on the Glory Feb. 5, and I read this thread in its entirety...very interesting.

 

I'm sure the complaints are valid, but I hope we will be able to endure any inconveniences with a little flexibility, a little humor, a raised eyebrow, and a camera ;)

 

I intend to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of our cruise; that's my job for the week.

 

There is a great thread regarding other people's Glory experience as they too just came off the glory recently, you should read it they had a wonderful time with almost no issues....enjoy

[beach410]

I guess I have just been very fortunate on my cruises, but then I dont care what other people wear, I find it amusing and enjoy people watching, as long as they are not rude. I do agree that some set ups regarding the food service areas on ships are not always agreeable. My last cruise was wonderful, it was even a short one, again, I hope my luck doesnt run out. Sorry your cruise didnt meet your expectations.

[afcj1]

My last cruise was on the Magic in Oct and I've got to say that the food, service, staff, etc were great. I certainly didn't notice any cutbacks. Maybe for their European venues, it's different...who knows:confused: Everyone knows that all of these comments are subjective. As for the ppl, it was an older group, so I didn't notice any jammies or WB's in the MDR. I'm so over the lack of ppl dressing appropriately (IMO certainly) when out in public. It's gone by the wayside along with conversing vs texting.

[foxesden1]

Last spring we were on RCL LOS and did a TA crossing, 14 nights.. There was a older man, over 70 I would say wearing a black tee shirt that said I love BAGLES.. Odd choice for the MDR IMPO.. And made ever more so that he had been wearing tht same shirt all day.. Even working out..

 

But hey, for all I know his bags were lost, and he had only what he could grab before connecting to the cruise?;)B;)

 

And for me we always have a 6pm dinner as we travel with our daughter, well we went to bed early, 8:30 to relax and enjoy a moving.. I was in cotton Jammie bottems, and a sold white tee. The pants were black with polka dots. O ran down to the promonade to grab a drink with my soda card ( 1 deck below our stateroom) and this older worm inher 60 shot me a look that would kill.. :rolleyes: yes she did look lovely in her gown.. But then so had I... The best part was she was enroute to the dining room.. At least 30min late. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[SMSACE6]

Op has some valid points, and others issues that really dont bother me at all. Op has the right to post his or her opinion here, and I really think that sometimes you just "outgrow" a cruiseline, or a resort or a brand of hotels etc. Op is in the travel industry, so has opportunities to try other cruiselines, and for him or her, I believe that, that is probably best thing to do for them. Better luck next time, next cruise.:)