JD Power Ranks Carnival Last!

[sonicbuffalo]

Carnival rated last by JD Power & Associates....NCL is second from the bottom.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jd-power-reports-although-overall-satisfaction-with-cruise-lines-is-high-nearly-20-percent-of-passengers-experience-a-problem-on-their-cruise-2013-06-27

[shof515]

I think the low rating was just due to the bad PR earlier this year with the triumph and other issues. It will get better once Uncle Bob does his magic

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

They're simply reaping the "rewards" of their past actions and debacles. Let us hope that they pull themselves up in the future. I have personally witnessed abysmal customer service from them, as well as some of the best. They need to become move level across the fleet in that regard.

 

Tom

[larkz]

Carnival has, and definitely should, take a big kick in the rear for their well-known disasters at sea. I suspect that they've learned from their mistakes and will be improving over the long run.

 

However, the difference of 81 versus 87 percentile is bleh.

 

Shriekers will certainly exaggerate that range, but it's B+ versus B- from highest to lowest score. Not a very remarkable difference between the lines.

 

And as the report said, primary reason for selecting a cruise line is price. Potential customers have a price point, and a top limit for what they will pay for cruises.

 

And my grade for Carnival, as I prepare for my 6th sailing, would be an A- based on my previous experiences.

[firefly333]

I would rank it last too, but its cheap, so I continue to cruise on Carnival.

 

I used to rank NCL last but they sure have been getting better reviews with their newer ships. They pulled themselves up by the boot straps, which Canrival needs to do too. Up their cruise experience.

 

People I know came back from Epic raving it was their best ever cruise .. and these were seasoned cruisers.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

 

And my grade for Carnival, as I prepare for my 6th sailing, would be an A- based on my previous experiences.

 

I guess I'd bestow a C+ for them, though I FULLY predict that our Freedom sailing next month will be substantially higher! :)

 

Tom

[LBumb]

unreal values out there for fall

[gtalum]

Anything that depresses fares is a good thing. I welcome bad press for Carnival. :D

[Calico Jack Sparrow]

I won't sail on Carnival, but they are still paying better dividends than RCL.:D

 

Apparently, many people find their brand of cruising adequate, so what JD Power says is basically meaningless, right?:rolleyes:

[KPfromCT]

Funny.....I rank Carnival 1st:D

No desire to cruise on another line....

If ANYTHING, Oasis or Allure, but am waiting for Quantum to come out and lower those cruise fares:p

HAL, and NCL ships just look plain UGLY and I have no desire.....

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion:D:D

[mafig]

looks like Carnival needs to look at Disney and Royal Caribbean to see what they're doing right. ;)

[mafig]

I would rank it last too, but its cheap, so I continue to cruise on Carnival. That's what we did for our last Carnival cruise ... we picked it because it was cheap. I'll have a hard time getting dh on it again ... for awhile at least

 

I used to rank NCL last but they sure have been getting better reviews with their newer ships. They pulled themselves up by the boot straps, which Canrival needs to do too. Up their cruise experience.

 

People I know came back from Epic raving it was their best ever cruise .. and these were seasoned cruisers My doctor (who knows I cruise a lot) raved about his cruise on Epic (he was on Allure the year before, his family enjoyed both but liked Epic more) can't wait to cruise on the new Norwegian ships.

 

 

We were in New Orleans recently and were talking to our cab driver on the way to the airport. Upon telling him that we liked to cruise he said "On no, don't cruise on Carnival! Everyone who gets in my cab to go back to the airport complains." We laughed...this guy was from Moldavia, only in America less than a year, and already he knew all about the problems Carnival was having.

[Danacat222]

They spelled traveled incorrectly, lol. :D

 

Seems to me they did not survey many people, and they surveyed for 17 days and claim this is how the cruise lines rate for an entire year? Sorry but i would never select a cruise line based on that survey, how did they select who they surveyed? I'm not saying Carnival is the best or perfect, but i have enjoyed 2 ships and look forward to more fun times on Carnival.

 

 

The 2013 Cruise Line Satisfaction Report is based on responses from 3,003 customers who travelled on a cruise line in the past 12 months. The study was fielded from May 29, 2013, through June 14, 2013.

[PatrickZJD]

Well, while I generally hold that polls are only worth the paper they're printed on, and that Benjamin Disraeli was quite correct in pointing out the similarity between lies, damned lies, and statistics and how they generally only serve some form of agenda, to me there is little question that CCL quality has dropped off since I first started cruising in 2006. I just wish JD Power had some form of survey results prior to this one -- of course the Concordia and Triumph disasters are going to affect not only Carnival's performance, but opinions on cruising in general! Ah well...

[The4Cruisers]

The day I make my buying decisions based on JD Power surveys or Consumer Reports is the day I turn in my brain. This country is full of people that believe what they hear and repeat is as verbatim. Well, I don't trust the recommendations or warnings of most strangers, especially anonymous ones, without doing my own research and testing.

 

Hell, simply reading the things people whine about on this board show just how irrational or biased many people can be. Some of them may be filling out these surveys and screwing with the rational replies.

 

Carnival may be ranked last with justification for all I know, but I have no reason to look elsewhere at this time.

[firefly333]

We were in New Orleans recently and were talking to our cab driver on the way to the airport. Upon telling him that we liked to cruise he said "On no, don't cruise on Carnival! Everyone who gets in my cab to go back to the airport complains." We laughed...this guy was from Moldavia, only in America less than a year, and already he knew all about the problems Carnival was having.

 

Besides price.. Carnival also sails from Galveston .. and in a pinch NOLA that I can drive to.

 

I have a friend now on Magic .. she is taking her neice on a graduation trip. There were no other 7 day ships this summer out of Galveston she could drive to.

 

It will be her first on Carnival. She did HAL to Alaska, then NCL around Hawaii (only choice at the time).. and now this is her 3rd ever cruise. Ill be anxious how she likes it.

 

For years when I was first cruising Carnival was the only year round choice out of Galveston .. so I choose Carnival. I like to cruise enough, I dont really have that strong of a preference. I do like to be able to drive to cruises, despite my signature which is out of character and I plan on going back to more drive to cruises going forward.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

Keith

[PCHENG]

The article states: "The inaugural report measures cruise line customer satisfaction based on seven key factors (in order of importance): service; stateroom; food; embark/debark; entertainment; cost; and excursions".

 

Not saying the report is wrong, but it is concerned primarily with the opinion of affluent cruises who doesn't care as much about cost as others (cost is the second least important factor in the report), it is only natural then DCL wins the award. It is like saying that a Lexus has higher satisfaction rating than a Toyota, which isn't saying much.

[OCruisers]

The important thing is how YOU like the cruise line!

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Sargent_Schultz]

It would appear NCL is a cellar dweller.

 

All the scores look like B's to me, so not much difference between all the brands.

 

They were honest enough to state that Price was the number one factor in choosing a cruise line but wasn't a factor in the ratings. Disney would certainly get an F in that category and Carnival an A+.

[rjrpar]

We've been on 3 Carnival cruises and think we get good value for our money. However, we all know Carnival is the least expensive cruise line, so what does one expect. Our Carnival cruise next month to the Baltics is $215/nite/cabin for a balcony - Celebrity is $350/nite. If Celebrity didn't provide a better experience, they would be out of business.

[PolieTara]

Carnival should look at Disney to see what they are doing right??? I'm glad some people mentioned that DCL is a more expensive cruise. My DH and I are cruising on the Carnival Dream in two weeks for less than $900 per person, and that is in a balcony room. For the week we are going, DCL (Fantasy) was asking $1900 per person, and that was for an oceanview room. I've been on both cruise lines, and have enjoyed both immensely. I would place DCL a notch, maybe half a rung (though not a full rung) above CCLl. The rotation dining, Disney characters, and Disney themed production shows were very nice. It's not that DCL is worlds apart from CCL; rather, the econometrics are totally different. DCL has no casino, and the people who cruise might tend to drink less (especially since you would have a higher proportion of underage people). Most importantly, there are only four DCL ships, and not unusual for only one of them to be doing seven day Caribbean cruises. It all comes down to supply and demand. Although I have sweet memories of that line, I am priced out at this time.

In any case, we are very happy to be booked on our Carnival Dream cruise. Having been on this line already, I don't understand, for example, why some people complain about the food. I enjoyed almost every meal, and I'm pretty tough on food. Why do some people say that the food is "not gourmet" when there are indeed gourmet items like "delice of the sea" and "shark and lagostino firecracker roll"?

[poison7fl]

JD Power is a scam company, and their ratings are scam based on bad info and whoever pays to get their logo. Kinda like the BBB pay to play scam.

[jimbo5544]

They're simply reaping the "rewards" of their past actions and debacles. Let us hope that they pull themselves up in the future. I have personally witnessed abysmal customer service from them, as well as some of the best. They need to become move level across the fleet in that regard.

 

Tom

 

They can certainly be more consistent. Hopefully this is the turn from the bottom. There has been some positive signs recently.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[DaveRRT]

looks like Carnival Corp went 3rd 5th and last to me