More Lies about Carnival

[sharecruises]

Not quite wet t-shirt contests, but some of those pool games can get R-rated and racy.

 

 

 

Carnival is NOT known for discouraging drinking. From the moment you get on, they are shoving alcohol on your face. Some of the most popular onboard activities include free alcohol samplings and bartending competitions.

 

While saying that there are SO many drunk people onboard may be an exaggeration, pretending that everyone walking around the ship is sober and pleasant is an even bigger exaggeration.

 

 

 

They may have designated "non-smoking" areas, but these are constantly violated by smokers and nobody does anything to stop it. Carnival's smoking policies and designated smoking areas DO make it hard to get away from the smoke.

 

 

 

A bit exaggerated, but the dancing waiters ARE there. In fact, there's a thred going on right now about how some people hate the dancing waiters.

 

 

 

No, it's not ridiculous at all. Exaggerated and blown out of proportion, YES. But the claims do have a genuine basis...

 

It is ridiculous...either it is a wet tee shirt contest or it isn't....and it isn't

 

RCI has the Belly flop and other cruiselines have silly contests

 

there is NO drinking or drink and puke contest...never was

 

the *nasty smoking has been cut down quite a bit...

 

The waiters of course do NOT get up on everyone's table....that is more than a "bit exagerated. Much more

 

There is no genuine basis for the claims

[sharecruises]

Carnival wasn't "like that" back in the 90's I don't think

 

I actually cruised on the orginal "party boats" several times

 

That would be the ones that "started" the private island....

Emerald Seas (Admiral Cruise lines)....and the Dolphin cruise line

 

Both of these sailed from Florida to the Bahamas....

 

Nassau....Freeport..

 

Nassau ...Freeport...private island

 

This was in the 1980's....these ships were the original "cruise to cruise" ships....no pretense of international travel or transatlantic. You got on board to party and so we did

 

You could >>> have your friends cart you to the port, they could come on board....have a drink in your cabin....bring your booze on....squeeze a lot of people into cabins

 

They blew the horns and said "all ashore who are going ashore" and your bon voyage friends had to leave

 

Then it was Bon Voyage...horns, confetti, music and away we went

 

You did not see very many kids...you did not see very many "older" people...I don't recall any modifications for disabled people...lots of the cabins and places had "rims" you had to step over

 

the ships had all sorts of windy corridors and up /down places/steps...

many of the cabins looked "different">> it was not cookie cutter the same

 

Dinner however was ON time...2 times....and you were in there ON time

The casual , party atmosphere stopped at the dining room....where you had to be dressed up....I remember wearing nylons/pantyhose LOL

 

Service was great...mostly Italian waiters...very continental

Flambe dishes....and they had a baked Alaska parade with real candles on the cakes...some of the waiters from the islands could balance these on their heads and they paraded around

 

Food was really good....very very "continental">> duck, cream sauces,

beef wellington, and so on.

 

There were some choices on the menu but no attempt that I recall to cater to all needs...I don't recall anyone with allergies or vegetarian items.

 

There was MUCH more a sense of "us" on both of these ships....you saw the same people all over the (much smaller) ship...every cruise had it's "characters">> the guy who was in every contest, sang in the talent contest, did the limbo etc

 

They had a LOT of deck parties..a LOT of music, congo lines....people were drunk and they partied on. The disco was a real disco...with disco music (which at the time was the music of the day)

There was usually a few very serious dancer couples who recreated Saturday Night Fever

 

There were NO stabilizers....the night to the Bahamas was rough...and the night coming back...people sucked it up or else lost it, they had barf bags out

 

They had more games that you don't see now...probably more than Carnival...horse races, contests, tug of war, pool games...party games...disco games

 

They did have skeet shooting

People smoked most everywhere....and yes on both these ships they had a "smoking" or nonsmoking dining room side LOL

 

The cruise director and staff were all Americans

Cruise directors were comedians or singers

 

The ship was geared to people in their 20's, 30's , 40's and maybe a few oldies who liked to party like a rockstar LOL, many singles, young couples, honeymooners

 

There is a video of the Celebration from the 90's that reminds me of these ships...except they were younger/wilder and more fun. I know other people who fondly remember these ships too

 

I believe the "private island" we went to on Emerald Seas was later bought out by Royal and is now called CocoCay...I was just back there in january this year with royal and yes, it was the island. Royal bought out Admiral (Emerald Seas) and sold off the ship and used their idea of a private island

Both Royal and Carnival took many ideas from these innovators to make ships "fun", rather than the "stuffy" Cunard etc ships of the time .

 

These were the original party boats

 

Of course...times change...things change...some people (moi) are able to accept that and adapt and some people are still looking for that little

"missing" shrimp cocktail. I can say this...Emerald Seas probably cost more per day than a carnival cruise in "todays money">> but it did have HUGE steakhouse type shrimp in the dining room <grin>

 

 

 

 

 

the food was surprisingly wonderful...very very continental

 

18 year old people could drink....and so they did

[swedish weave]

Esty -- I owe you a drink !!! You made me re-live my first cruises on the Sitmar ships. It was the same as you describe, and lots of good fun. Thanks for the memories !!!!

[MommaOf3Princesses]

I would be scared of some of the ladies that would participate in the wet tee shirt contest:p

 

((Giggles))))

[mamaskittles]

Carnival wasn't "like that" back in the 90's I don't think

 

I actually cruised on the orginal "party boats" several times

 

That would be the ones that "started" the private island....

Emerald Seas (Admiral Cruise lines)....and the Dolphin cruise line

 

Both of these sailed from Florida to the Bahamas....

 

Nassau....Freeport..

 

Nassau ...Freeport...private island

 

This was in the 1980's....these ships were the original "cruise to cruise" ships....no pretense of international travel or transatlantic. You got on board to party and so we did

 

You could >>> have your friends cart you to the port, they could come on board....have a drink in your cabin....bring your booze on....squeeze a lot of people into cabins

 

They blew the horns and said "all ashore who are going ashore" and your bon voyage friends had to leave

 

Then it was Bon Voyage...horns, confetti, music and away we went

 

You did not see very many kids...you did not see very many "older" people...I don't recall any modifications for disabled people...lots of the cabins and places had "rims" you had to step over

 

the ships had all sorts of windy corridors and up /down places/steps...

many of the cabins looked "different">> it was not cookie cutter the same

 

Dinner however was ON time...2 times....and you were in there ON time

The casual , party atmosphere stopped at the dining room....where you had to be dressed up....I remember wearing nylons/pantyhose LOL

 

Service was great...mostly Italian waiters...very continental

Flambe dishes....and they had a baked Alaska parade with real candles on the cakes...some of the waiters from the islands could balance these on their heads and they paraded around

 

Food was really good....very very "continental">> duck, cream sauces,

beef wellington, and so on.

 

There were some choices on the menu but no attempt that I recall to cater to all needs...I don't recall anyone with allergies or vegetarian items.

 

There was MUCH more a sense of "us" on both of these ships....you saw the same people all over the (much smaller) ship...every cruise had it's "characters">> the guy who was in every contest, sang in the talent contest, did the limbo etc

 

They had a LOT of deck parties..a LOT of music, congo lines....people were drunk and they partied on. The disco was a real disco...with disco music (which at the time was the music of the day)

There was usually a few very serious dancer couples who recreated Saturday Night Fever

 

There were NO stabilizers....the night to the Bahamas was rough...and the night coming back...people sucked it up or else lost it, they had barf bags out

 

They had more games that you don't see now...probably more than Carnival...horse races, contests, tug of war, pool games...party games...disco games

 

They did have skeet shooting

People smoked most everywhere....and yes on both these ships they had a "smoking" or nonsmoking dining room side LOL

 

The cruise director and staff were all Americans

Cruise directors were comedians or singers

 

The ship was geared to people in their 20's, 30's , 40's and maybe a few oldies who liked to party like a rockstar LOL, many singles, young couples, honeymooners

 

There is a video of the Celebration from the 90's that reminds me of these ships...except they were younger/wilder and more fun. I know other people who fondly remember these ships too

 

I believe the "private island" we went to on Emerald Seas was later bought out by Royal and is now called CocoCay...I was just back there in january this year with royal and yes, it was the island. Royal bought out Admiral (Emerald Seas) and sold off the ship and used their idea of a private island

Both Royal and Carnival took many ideas from these innovators to make ships "fun", rather than the "stuffy" Cunard etc ships of the time .

 

These were the original party boats

 

Of course...times change...things change...some people (moi) are able to accept that and adapt and some people are still looking for that little

"missing" shrimp cocktail. I can say this...Emerald Seas probably cost more per day than a carnival cruise in "todays money">> but it did have HUGE steakhouse type shrimp in the dining room <grin>

 

 

 

 

 

the food was surprisingly wonderful...very very continental

 

18 year old people could drink....and so they did

Lovely post :).

[MommaOf3Princesses]

I PROMISE you there use to be beer chugging contests on the pool deck...as one of my memories from childhood cruises is a guy finishing his 'yard' and then burping but instead of just a burp it was barf!

My dad was probably one of the original cruisers that Esty described in the post above...as he and my mom cruised a lot when i was growing up (80s and 90s) and i have lots of photos of them on vacation in a box in my garage! ;) Once or twice a year my parents took us with them.

I actually posted about being nervous to take my kids on a CCL cruise due to my memories of 10+ years ago mixed with recent media over sensationalizing of recent events....but we are booked on one for July. I live crusing...and I hope my kids love it as much as I did as a kid!

[coachpete]

That's it, I'm going to have a beer.

[slk09]

We have sailed Disney and Carnival. We sailed Disney first as I had heard all the rumors about Carnival as well. I was bored as could be on Disney. Bored. I couldn't find enough things to do. When we sailed the Dream, I had so much fun. There was ALWAYS something to do. I never saw a wet tee contest or how much can you drink in 10 min, nor did I see anyone fight. I saw plenty of you tube videos showing fights on Carnival ships, but none broke out on my ship.

.

 

We too sailed on Disney first, while I enjoyed the cruise and will not bash

Disney in any way, we loved the Carnival Dream so much more! Alot more

to do and alot more entertaining. We decided while we were on that

cruise we would be doing another Carnival. Alot more for your money and

as far as some of stuff mentioned, didn't really see any of it on our cruise.

[halos]

That's it, I'm going to have a beer.

while in a wet tee shirt? :confused:

[MommaOf3Princesses]

Ok...i have to mention this....

I am reading this post where people accuse CCL of being full of drunk passengers, crazy pool games and nonstop shinanigans....

then i am reading another post of people saying CCL is so boring, not a fun party atompsphere, etc.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!! I am figuring out that CCL is the 'redheaded stepchild' of the cruise industry these days.....lol!

[lizjoemom]

i can only think of two pool games.

 

one was on a cruise where participants were prodded to buy mechanical swimming frogs, and the later, once back on board, there was a race to see which frog would make it across the pool first.

 

all the frogs were unclothed.

 

the other was a contest to collect ping pong balls from the pool by putting them in the participants own bathing suit.

then we would all count as they removed their balls and placed them in the bucket.

 

LOL!!!! Too funny! I have also seen the ping pong ball game! Never frogs though. :D

 

On RCI there were horse races on a couple of cruises many years ago. They would auction off wooden horses on the first day at sea, then the horse owners were encouraged to dress up their horse, name it, decorate it, bring it to dinner and try to get people to bet on their horse on race day, which was the last sea day. We had a group of friends on one cruise with us and we bought a horse all together. I guess it would be considered pretty racy because we named it "Just got Lei'd" and put Hawaiin leis around its neck, we took it to the MDR everynight and put it right in the middle of the table! On race day the girls in our group were the "jockeys" for the horse. It was great fun!

 

I've seen other games (not on Carnival) that I guess would be considered "racy", one was they put a greased pole across the pool and picked out two girls from the deck and they would shimmy out on the poles and try to knock each other off with soft bats! I think that was on NCL.

 

I have only been on one Carnival cruise, and I didnt see anything that was even close to a Wet T shirt contest???? Must have missed that one!

[DGP1111]

Regarding the drinking contests . . . the last Carnival-run (by the cruise director) one I witnessed that was July 1993. I just checked my dated pictures. There were only three cruises I went on where this was offered. It was one of those situations where no matter how awful you knew the outcome would be . . . you (I) still looked. :o

 

Fantasy-class ship on the raised stage of the pool deck. Entertainment staff had a mop & bucket pre-set for the event, and each and every time it was needed. :eek:

 

I've, also, apparently been in "the right place at the right time" as I've also experienced a pre-sailaway wet t-shirt contest on the pool deck. Was on Carnival Inspiration in Fall 2009, and it was NOT cruise-run or sponsored. A large number of firefighters from the state association were doing a short Mexico sailing, and they created some of the own entertainment while onboard. Despite it being somewhat inappropriate, these firefighters (and their female guests) were wonderful passengers throughout the cruise.

 

Quite interesting that the CCL photo team intently captured much of the event on video that afternoon, yet not a second of it appeared on the souvenir DVD available for passengers. They must have done something else with what ended up on the cutting room floor. :rolleyes:

 

.

[coachpete]

while in a wet tee shirt? :confused:

No, I am a firm believer that just because it comes in your size that doesn't mean you have to wear it.

[Aplmac]

Carnival is a Convenient strawman for some to beat up on.

 

Its like cruiseline racism!

Hey, don't knock it!

It helps tremendously...to keep the jerks off our ships!

 

Carnival is not hurting for customers!

They've already got hundreds of thousands of informed,satisfied,repeat customers

and lots of first-timers knocking on their door

so my assumption has to be that Carnival Cruise Lines is doing something very right.

.

[c&d]

The sister of the friend, must be the same person who cruised on the Fascination this past March during Spring break, it was her 1st cruise and her review was her 1st CC post. On the thread she posted well over 60+ complaints or replies about how horrible her cruise experience was. The comments in OP definetly sound like her complaints. Several people told her to take a Disney Cruise. Thank goodness that thread finally died or at least I hope it died.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

The sister of the friend, must be the same person who cruised on the Fascination this past March during Spring break, it was her 1st cruise and her review was her 1st CC post. On the thread she posted well over 60+ complaints or replies about how horrible her cruise experience was. The comments in OP definetly sound like her complaints. Several people told her to take a Disney Cruise. Thank goodness that thread finally died or at least I hope it died.

 

60+ complaints? I haven't had 60+ complaints combined on 25 cruises combined.

 

Sounds like they walked around the whole cruise with a notebook and pen critiquing everything. lol

 

Bill

[Cruise4Music]

60+ complaints? I haven't had 60+ complaints combined on 25 cruises combined.

 

Sounds like they walked around the whole cruise with a notebook and pen critiquing everything. lol

 

Bill

 

That sounds like your typical Cruise Critic board poster.

 

We can always find something to complain about.

[coachpete]

Can you complain about complaints? That would be a good one.

[JPEvans]

Can I find info on the wet tee shirt contest in the funtimes? Also is the alcohol free during the contest for contestants? JK

 

Never witnessed any of that, except the occasional people who drink to much. Sure it happens on all lines. Carnival cruises can be very weird sometimes. Some cruises can be loaded with kids. Some are loaded with older people. My parents did the Freedom 8 day out of FLL. They chose this over a celebrity cruise(they've cruised both) as they wanted more of a fun atmosphere. On there return they joked around that the activities/ship were more fun, but the passengers were just like a Celebrity crowd.

Id say its just totally dependant to when you cruise. Spring breaks/school vacations will likely be a little crazy.

 

Also for me Disney cruises are way too expensive. Even with a 40 percent discount.

 

I did a cruise on the Glory last year in February. I thought I got

on a Holland America ship by mistake. the crowd was a lot older

than I thought would be on a Carnival cruise in the middle of

winter.

[cvpends]

something as simple as "table dancing". when the newer bigger ships came out, yes, select individuals started dancing on those circular serve stantions. i always contested someone when they would say people danced on the table, until someone posted a picure of someone dancing on an actual table. i never said never again, but i can still say i've never witnessed this personally.

 

The waiters danced on those circular serve stations in the MDR on the Splendor in April. I would have had a hard time believing it if I hadn't seen it!

[boltnut55]

I postponed cruising on Carnival because of the perception of the craziness that we might witness, but I didn't see anything that was offensive, and we we went during our Spring Break. We don't drink, and I don't care that others do, but I didn't really want to be surround by rude drunks (happy drunks? different story!). I didn't see anyone behaving badly due to their drinking or otherwise on the whole cruise, and usually I have the unfortunate luck of coming across that.

 

I didn't see any wet t-shirt contest or any drinking contests; perhaps they had them before, but with the litigious attitudes, I don't think they would risk someone having a medical issue because they felt the pressure to drink more. Perhaps it was Spring Break and therefore a lot of young children, but I did hear many warnings about not going to the adult versions of the comedians if you feel you might be offended (I didn't because I don't like profanity, although don't mind various topics) and the potty mouth of the piano player in the bar (we visited for a short while just to check him out), so warnings were appreciated by me.

 

Our waiters sang in the middle of the dining room on two nights, and they danced three nights. They danced near the tables, and if you were my nieces, you joined them, or if you were me who would rather make a speech for an hour than to dance for 30 seconds in public, you were exempt. The dancing was for no more than 3 minutes max, and it was fun. We clapped and encouraged them and took photos. My husband said he thought one might have stood on the circular serving statin, but I didn't remember seeing it. I doubt anyone danced on top of the table.

 

Glad to debunk :D

[MizDaisy]

People who drink too much of the Disney "Kool-Aid" like nothing more than bashing Carnival.

Whatever you do, do NOT go to the DIS Boards and say you like Carnival. They will eat you alive.

 

They push the wine packages and "drink of the day" just as much on Disney as they do on any other cruise line. I've cruised Carnival, Princess, Norwegian and Disney. And I've seen more drunks on Disney than I have on any of the others....not sure why......maybe because they let people bring their own alcohol onboard?

[bobsfamily]

Thank goodness that thread finally died or at least I hope it died.

Whew! so glad that one died, and several others "she" started. Not sure the OP was not a banned member back on..

[bobsfamily]

And I've seen more drunks on Disney than I have on any of the others....not sure why......maybe because they let people bring their own alcohol onboard?

Have you seen them over at "Epcot", drinking from country to country? Amazing.. oh WAIT that was me trying to get that "wonderful world" song out of my head!

[Dolfinsfan]

Have you seen them over at "Epcot", drinking from country to country? Amazing.. oh WAIT that was me trying to get that "wonderful world" song out of my head!

 

Yep! Nothing better than the "drink of the day" from each of those countries, which are all within staggering distance of each other! :D

Boy, did this post change direction ~~~~~