Most organized Carnival ships?

[tikibeach]

Looking for a little information here - any opinions would be appreciated. I am thinking about booking another Carnival cruise because I love some of the ports they go to. My only past experience with them was a few years ago on the Destiny.

 

There were VERY long waits to get on board, to tender, at the buffet and leaving the ship at the end of the cruise was a real nightmare. Hundreds over capacity stuffed into a room and no one being able to leave. Is this honestly how it usually goes with Carnival? Sorry, don't want to offend here, just looking for an honest answer.

 

Also, if you prefer something more light and airy for decor in a ship, which ones would you look at? I would love to sail out of New Orleans if any of those ships are nice.

 

Thanks!

[funinthesun1964]

Looking for a little information here - any opinions would be appreciated. I am thinking about booking another Carnival cruise because I love some of the ports they go to. My only past experience with them was a few years ago on the Destiny.

 

There were VERY long waits to get on board, to tender, at the buffet and leaving the ship at the end of the cruise was a real nightmare. Hundreds over capacity stuffed into a room and no one being able to leave. Is this honestly how it usually goes with Carnival? Sorry, don't want to offend here, just looking for an honest answer.

 

Also, if you prefer something more light and airy for decor in a ship, which ones would you look at? I would love to sail out of New Orleans if any of those ships are nice.

 

Thanks!

 

Ive been on four Carnival ships and did not experience VERY long waits. I did have to wait maybe less than 15 minutes to get the tender back to the ship once. Never had a problem with embarkation and debarkation. Buffet - depends on the time you go, but never waited more than a few minutes in a line.

 

As far as the decor of the ship "Light and airy" - does not sound like a Carnival ship at all. Just not their typical theme, but I cannot comment as I have only been on four. Maybe someone else will have a suggestion for you.

[tikibeach]

Thanks for the response. 15 minutes would be no big deal to me. Do you have a favorite of the ships you have been on?

[navybaby1113]

When we were on the Freedom, it didn't feel crowded to us at all. I really like that class of ship.

[tikibeach]

Thanks Navybaby - I'll check that one out!

[funinthesun1964]

Really, I have liked them all. The Fascination and Ecstasy were smaller ships, but enjoyed the Serenity deck. Still fun activities.

 

Splendor was our first, it was fairly new at the time. We had the best service ever in the MDR on this cruise. The Mexican Riviera was nice. Flying across the US to LA..not so nice.

 

Victory was also a nice ship. Not too large, but bigger than the Fantasy-class ships named above. I thought it was beautifully decorated. Blues and greens. Now DH thought Ecstasy was a prettier ship.

 

I am really looking forward to both Freedom and Liberty. I've heard great reviews about both of these ships.

 

Sorry I can't be of too much help, but four ships is really not a lot of experience; someone else may be better to ask because they have been on LOTS of cruises!

 

Whichever you choose, have a great cruise!

[tikibeach]

And thanks again - I will add the Liberty too. :D

[firefly333]

Magic is the newest and nicest and its out of Galveston which they consider a prime port.

 

NOLA has the older Conquest.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Looking for a little information here - any opinions would be appreciated. I am thinking about booking another Carnival cruise because I love some of the ports they go to. My only past experience with them was a few years ago on the Destiny.

 

There were VERY long waits to get on board, to tender, at the buffet and leaving the ship at the end of the cruise was a real nightmare. Hundreds over capacity stuffed into a room and no one being able to leave. Is this honestly how it usually goes with Carnival? Sorry, don't want to offend here, just looking for an honest answer.

 

Also, if you prefer something more light and airy for decor in a ship, which ones would you look at? I would love to sail out of New Orleans if any of those ships are nice.

 

Thanks!

 

Only sailed one and it was the Liberty. No problems at all. Well it did get a little congested during elegant night photo shoots on the promenade but it wasn't too bad.

 

Never waited for anything else but if you want to see a comedy show get there early, the club is nowhere big enough for the crowd it attracts. They really need to move the comedy to the front showroom.

[ferfoodle]

Only sailed one and it was the Liberty. No problems at all. Well it did get a little congested during elegant night photo shoots on the promenade but it wasn't too bad.

 

Never waited for anything else but if you want to see a comedy show get there early, the club is nowhere big enough for the crowd it attracts. They really need to move the comedy to the front showroom.

 

I concur with that. What was frustrating one night, the front show lounge did not have any entertainment running, but the comedy club did that night.

 

We loved the Liberty. Embarkment and disembarkment were a breeze at POM - nice port. The only time there was any lines were for the two tender ports we had - and even then they weren't that bad. There might have been lines at times at the buffet at certain times, but we never saw any. I think with the addition of the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy's burgers that eased the wait at all the venues.

 

The decor is neither gaudy or glitzy like it is on the Destiny. It is quite subdued from the other ships. Although the Liberty is essentially an expanded version of the Destiny, it is not nearly as congested. Still has the stadium seating on the Lido to Panaroma decks and still has the deck 3 and 4 issue of not being able to go completely from front to back because of the mid ship dining room. But both of those are okay to deal with by just remembering to go down to 2 or up to 5 to get from point A to B.

[spencercoop]

When we were on the Freedom, it didn't feel crowded to us at all. I really like that class of ship.

 

I agree that the Conquest class ships are a nice size.

 

A "secret area" that not many people know about is the second level to the lido deck restaurant on deck 10. If there is ever a time when you cannot find any seating in the lido deck restaurant on deck 9, just go up to deck 10 and 99.9% of the time you will find an empty seat.

[Gulf Breezer]

Magic is the newest and nicest and its out of Galveston which they consider a prime port.

 

NOLA has the older Conquest.

 

However, the Conquest is going into dry dock in October and will emerge as the "new and improved" Conquest with the 2.0 upgrade. We sailed on this ship on our second cruise in 2005 and it was great.

[RWolver672]

As for ports of departure, I'd say Port Canaveral is the most organized. Very fast checking in and very fast getting your luggage after the cruise.

[maldenmusic]

For some reason I did not especially enjoy being on the Triumph. Of course I was on a cruise so it wasn't bad but the ship just seemed too crowded to me compared to the Fantasy and the Elation.

[SkyMaster]

I agree that Conquest Class ships are very good, but IMO, the Spirit Class are just the right "blend" of size, and amenities. I'd suggest any of those ships ie: Spirit, Legend, Miracle, or Pride. I think you'll find them to be an EXCELLENT blend of size, and FUN!

 

"SKY"

[TaraLynne]

Looking for a little information here - any opinions would be appreciated. I am thinking about booking another Carnival cruise because I love some of the ports they go to. My only past experience with them was a few years ago on the Destiny.

 

There were VERY long waits to get on board, to tender, at the buffet and leaving the ship at the end of the cruise was a real nightmare. Hundreds over capacity stuffed into a room and no one being able to leave. Is this honestly how it usually goes with Carnival? Sorry, don't want to offend here, just looking for an honest answer.

 

Also, if you prefer something more light and airy for decor in a ship, which ones would you look at? I would love to sail out of New Orleans if any of those ships are nice.

 

Thanks!

 

Port Canaveral - cruising both the smaller Disney Wonder and the VERY large Carnival Dream - arrived at the port about 11 AM, waited no more than 15-20 minutes in security line, no line to check-in, plenty of places to sit while they opened up the ship for boarding, didn't have to wait in line to get on as they board by group, on the ship by 12/12:20 PM.

 

To get off the ship there was a bit of a wait - I think maybe 30 minutes each time to go through customs - but it wasn't bad at all. The port is very clean, air conditioned, pleasant. Loved cruising out of there and the only reason I'm not doing it again anytime soon is because they don't go to very good eastern Caribbean ports IMO :(

 

Miami - worst. experience. ever. This was in 2005 though and supposedly they've re-done the port since then. We flew into Miami and took the Carnival bus to the port, arriving around 12:15/12:20 PM from what I remember. Waited over an hour in a non-airconditioned warehouse type building to go through security. Got through that and it was another 30 minutes or so to check in for the cruise. Didn't have to wait to board but still...miserable experience. Getting off the ship wasn't much better; a good 45 minute wait to get through customs, but at least it was a bit cooler because it was early in the morning.

 

That said, I've never experienced long lines at buffets or anything? We waited maybe 15-20 minutes for the Mongolian Wok thing on the Dream on the first day because those dishes are made to order, but even on the sea day when we ate burgers right at lunch time there was no line at all. Same thing with the Valor in 2005, though to be honest the mornings we ate breakfast at the buffet we were up there fairly early (like 9 AM, on sea days).

 

Tender ports...up until now we've always booked Carnival excursions while in tender ports because when you do that...no tender lines. Though I'm going to be on the Liberty in a couple weeks and I'm nervous about tendering at HMC because we didn't book an excursion at all (no desire to do any of the ones offered, mainly).

[okgirl]

For some reason I did not especially enjoy being on the Triumph. Of course I was on a cruise so it wasn't bad but the ship just seemed too crowded to me compared to the Fantasy and the Elation.

 

I didn't care for the Triumph either. It's better than having the smaller Ecstacy in Galveston, but I really didn't like how they took casino bar stools away to put a sushi kiosk that is only used in the evening.

 

People were standing 4 deep trying to get drinks in the evening.

[CRUISE4JANE]

I liked the Inspiration over the Conquest.

[crusinfamof4]

We sailed the Dream in Nov and had to tender in Belize. It was very organized on the way to the island, if you had a CCL excursion, as we did. They did the excursion tenders first. The tender back was over crowded and too packed. We offered to wait for the next tender, but they declined. We decided if we did Belize again, we will just stay onboard.

 

The Dream is a beautiful ship. We love her! She is out of Canaveral.

[tikibeach]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions & your experiences. Maybe a lot of the problem boarding had to do with the port of Miami which we sailed out of. From the time we got to the port (a little early) we were also "warehoused" with people in chairs, on the floors and leaning against the walls for about 1 1/2 hours. This was, however, when they were having such problems with that ship (it broke down on the cruises before and after ours).

 

I will definitely check out the Freedom, Liberty and all the Spirit ships. So many of you love Carnival maybe our cruise problems were all due to the mechanical problems.

 

I do really like a lot of the Carnival routes better than the other lines. I REALLY, REALLY regret reboarding the ship though at Half Moon - I want to live there