Has Carnival improved?

[Poppy42]

Would like to hear from those who have cruised to the eastern Carib lately. Would like to know if they've improved.

My wife and I have cruised about seven or eight times on Carnival and were very satisfied with the service and value. That is until our last cruise on the Dream (nightmare) last November. It felt cheap. On sea days the dinning room was open for brunch only. Buffet was sometimes half empty; had to ask them to refill salad items. On one morning, when in port, couldn't find clean coffee cups at the breakfast buffet. Often couldn't find clean tables in the buffet because they didn't have enough staff to bus the tables. Meals in the dining room were nothing special. At nights, after the show, couldn't find a peice of fruit - we would make sure to grab fruit during the day and bring it back to our cabin.

 

Just got off the Crown Princess to Alaska - very satisfied. None of the above problems existed.

[EZ4]

it's better than ever. I can't think of anything not to like.

[EZ4]

http://www.cruisenewser.com/carnival-rated-u-s-improved-brand/

[k2excursion]

I cruised the Dream in January, and totally loved it. However, I feel that Carnival as a whole has definitely gone downhill a bit. Not enough to run me off, but enough to make me slow down how often I cruise.

 

It all depends on what you are looking for in a cruise. For what it sounds like you are looking for, Carnival has certainly gone downhill & has not improved since you last cruised. But for me personally, I am not bothered at all by what you were bothered with. I probably wouldn't even have noticed if the same were true on my Dream cruise. (Although I do agree that the brunch-only thing is a downgrade, & that's on all Carnival ships now.) I love the amazing nighttime entertainment on the Dream, while half of Carnival's fleet has very poor entertainment. But many cruisers don't care at all about the entertainment. Some cruisers just want burgers & bars, and for them, any ship with Guys burgers and the right kind of bar will be a spectacular cruise for them. This seems to be more of the type of cruiser that Carnival is trying to reach.

 

Most of us that have stuck with Carnival are doing so because of other reasons. I like that they have low prices, good food (by my standards), a fun atmosphere, good shows (on half of their ships), & great waterslides. On any ship that has all that, such as my top 2 picks of Dream & Triumph, I look for a good itinerary or a convenient home port (Galveston).

[mousey]

Having just gotten off the Inspiration today after not having cruised for the last two years...some things have changed for the better...the comedians for one thing and I personally liked the brunch idea. And...the low prices never disappoint! We considered our cruise to be very inexpensive and then, to top things off, we got a $16.00 credit for each of the five people in our group! Yea!:D The DH asked and was told it was because the price of the cruise had gone down while we were cruising!:D:D:D Gotta love that!;) No complaints about Carnival here.

 

I'll be writing a review tomorrow for anyone interested. We had an amazingly, awesome cruise! Once again!:D

[tbbtravels]

Ditto mousey, I liked the comedy shows better now than in the past. Loved the brunch menu probably cause I am an steak n eggs person.

 

Don't like the lines for the buffet or outdoor food now compared to the past. Probably cause I can't stand in lines for long periods of time. I take a seated cane now - so I can still get some guys burgers!

 

Don't think the shows are as good as they were a few years back - just my opinion.

Edited July 22, 2014 by tbbtravels

[joeyancho]

Just got off a 3 day on the Imagination. My 30th cruise. Some things are better, some are worse. The MDR food was great. The Lido food was good, love the deli. Food was available into the late evening. The main showroom entertainment was lousy. Can't stand the tacky, campy production shows. Vegas rejects. The ship was in great shape, especially considering it's age. The music on deck seems to have been toned down, thank God. Wish they had live music instead of the DJ. No big screen on that ship, once again, thank God. All in all a good value for the money.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Just got off a 3 day on the Imagination. My 30th cruise. Some things are better, some are worse. The MDR food was great. The Lido food was good, love the deli. Food was available into the late evening. The main showroom entertainment was lousy. Can't stand the tacky, campy production shows. Vegas rejects. The ship was in great shape, especially considering it's age. The music on deck seems to have been toned down, thank God. Wish they had live music instead of the DJ. No big screen on that ship, once again, thank God. All in all a good value for the money.

 

This is good to hear! I will be doing my first Carnival cruise on the Imagination this fall. I've sailed mainly on HAL and X in the past, but this cruise hit the sweet spot of schedule, itinerary and price, so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't care much about the shows; as long as the ship is in decent shape and the food is edible, I'll be happy.

[luv2sleep]

Just got off a 3 day on the Imagination. My 30th cruise. Some things are better, some are worse. The MDR food was great. The Lido food was good, love the deli. Food was available into the late evening. The main showroom entertainment was lousy. Can't stand the tacky, campy production shows. Vegas rejects. The ship was in great shape, especially considering it's age. The music on deck seems to have been toned down, thank God. Wish they had live music instead of the DJ. No big screen on that ship, once again, thank God. All in all a good value for the money.

 

 

Interesting about the shows! Just came off of the Inspiration last week and had several people rave about the shows. They still didn't seem good enough to see so I didn't try them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[islandatsea]

I recently did a 5 day cruise on the Paradise last month. Everything was fine except for the scrambled eggs at the buffet, they stuck to the spoon. Other than that 1 thing, I enjoyed that cruise & every Carnival cruise I have taken. I am Platinum on Carnival & Princess ,so will continue with each cruise line since they have never disappointed me in the product/service I get.

[gkrnjlr]

We were on the Liberty 2 weeks ago and it was a nice cruise but I do feel that Carnival ha gone downhill in some sense. The MDR isn't open for lunch anymore - except for on the sea day we had. We didn't experience any difficulties with finding cups, but the ice cream machine was frequently out of cones/cups. To me that's not a surprise, but just happened to be something I noticed.

 

MDR dinner (to me) is lackluster now compared to what it used to be a few years ago.

 

Like you, we had ZERO complaints on our Princess cruise! There's definitely a big difference!

[golfadj]

Just got off a 3 day on the Imagination. My 30th cruise. Some things are better, some are worse. The MDR food was great. The Lido food was good, love the deli. Food was available into the late evening. The main showroom entertainment was lousy. Can't stand the tacky, campy production shows. Vegas rejects. The ship was in great shape, especially considering it's age. The music on deck seems to have been toned down, thank God. Wish they had live music instead of the DJ. No big screen on that ship, once again, thank God. All in all a good value for the money.

 

In general have to agree.

 

Food is good overall service fine.

 

Entertainment has gone downhill with the new style production shows just awful. Comedy club though is very good.

[Cruzaholic41]

Would like to hear from those who have cruised to the eastern Carib lately. Would like to know if they've improved.

My wife and I have cruised about seven or eight times on Carnival and were very satisfied with the service and value. That is until our last cruise on the Dream (nightmare) last November. It felt cheap. On sea days the dinning room was open for brunch only. Buffet was sometimes half empty; had to ask them to refill salad items. On one morning, when in port, couldn't find clean coffee cups at the breakfast buffet. Often couldn't find clean tables in the buffet because they didn't have enough staff to bus the tables. Meals in the dining room were nothing special. At nights, after the show, couldn't find a peice of fruit - we would make sure to grab fruit during the day and bring it back to our cabin.

 

Just got off the Crown Princess to Alaska - very satisfied. None of the above problems existed.

 

My feeling were similar to yours after cruising the Dream. I hated the ship, the crowd, pretty much everything about Carnival after that cruise. I was sick and tired of the the Farcus designs, the low space per passenger ratio, and the overal sameness of Carnival ships, so I swore them off until they improved - and I'm a Diamond member.

 

But then I got talked into cruising Breeze and I really enjoyed it. It's amazing what difference can be made with only an improvement to decor. Other than the fact I hate Carnival did away with Lido bands and they rely too much on that overbearing tv screen, I would still cruise Breeze again in a heartbeat.

[Poppy42]

Let me add to my thread - Comedy Club was great and the production shows were good but I don't like shows using fellow cruisers - i.e. dating game type shows.

 

We had a cove balcony - they seemed to be constantly dragging or dropping items above us on the third deck. We liked the privacy of the cove balcony as it let us work on our overall tan.

 

When we complained, to a semi-important looking little man in uniform, about the empty buffet items, he looked at us like we had a nerve to complain. We like going to dinning room for breakfast and lunch for two reasons; it gives us the opportunity to meet fellow cruisers and we tend to eat healthier.

 

Room steward was good and our room was always cleaned while we were at breakfast.

[near the beach]

What did I miss about the statements that the main dining room was not open for lunch on sea days?

 

It is called brunch and is open from breakfast to one or two o’clock. Seems like enough time to get both breakfast and lunch. We do.

 

The food in the main dining room was better than the food on the Disney cruise we got off of to get on the Sensation.

 

We have been on both the Breeze and the Dream and found neither crowded. We could always find chairs near the pools.

 

On our last four or five Carnival cruises there were live bands playing somewhere on the ship at night.

 

Guys burgers are great and wish they were on all Carnival ships.

 

We do prefer the regular production shows to the play list production shows.

 

I have yet to notice many tables that needed to be cleaned on the lido deck. Usually there are so many staff members around they ask to take your plate off of the table if it looks empty.

 

We have had no problems on any Carnival ship. All of the cruises left the port on time, returned as scheduled and we made it to every port of call we were scheduled to.

Edited July 22, 2014 by near the beach

[ja_martin]

Agreed on alot of the points made. Carnival has dropped off and, as a result, NCL is getting more of our business. For the last several CCL cruises, there were times we had to clean off tables ourselves just to have a place to sit. Now, on the other hand, we did Princess last year to Alaska and they were overly attentive - way too much for my liking. I couldn't sit in the buffet without waiters right on top of me. I couldn't get my own drink and couldn't finish a plate without them hovering over us waiting to grab it. I just wanted a clean table to sit at, and then relax at my own pace. Regardless, I have both CCL and NCL cruises coming up and I can't wait.

[code_d]

So far none of those issues for us. Will let you know after our upcoming one. Have noticed that there are always crew cleaning everywhere, they smile and say hello 90% of the time you pass them, buffet was always full (though only used it a couple times), Never been to a production show(not our thing), LOVED the new comedy, and the service is still the best we have encountered anywhere. We always had breakfast in the dinning room which is now just called brunch and goes during more used times (like later for me! :D). Can't wait to try the new brunch menu.

 

Only comparison we have is NCl on the Dawn a few years ago. Did not care for the multiple dinning options. It feels the whole ship is just set up for food. The service was nothing near CCL. I would say about half were outstanding, then 25% ok, and 25% poor. Wife had to be rushed to the clinic for anaphylactic reaction to Egg ingredients the first night. Carnival was soooo careful about food allergies we figured it was the same on NCL. We made sure to tell everyone and were assured the sauce did not have eggs- WRONG! The food was great in the Japanese Steakhouse($20 per person per visit though), and the grill, but nothing else was very good. Never saw the stewart, and was luck to get many smiles when passing by workers. the Lido is also very small.

[RuthlessBoss]

Would like to hear from those who have cruised to the eastern Carib lately. Would like to know if they've improved.

My wife and I have cruised about seven or eight times on Carnival and were very satisfied with the service and value. That is until our last cruise on the Dream (nightmare) last November. It felt cheap. On sea days the dinning room was open for brunch only. Buffet was sometimes half empty; had to ask them to refill salad items. On one morning, when in port, couldn't find clean coffee cups at the breakfast buffet. Often couldn't find clean tables in the buffet because they didn't have enough staff to bus the tables. Meals in the dining room were nothing special. At nights, after the show, couldn't find a peice of fruit - we would make sure to grab fruit during the day and bring it back to our cabin.

 

Just got off the Crown Princess to Alaska - very satisfied. None of the above problems existed.

 

Why mention Crown Princes with no problems? Your 7 Carnival cruises also had no problems:confused:

[S.S.Oceanlover]

So far none of those issues for us. Will let you know after our upcoming one. Have noticed that there are always crew cleaning everywhere, they smile and say hello 90% of the time you pass them, buffet was always full (though only used it a couple times), Never been to a production show(not our thing), LOVED the new comedy, and the service is still the best we have encountered anywhere. We always had breakfast in the dinning room which is now just called brunch and goes during more used times (like later for me! :D). Can't wait to try the new brunch menu.

 

 

 

Only comparison we have is NCl on the Dawn a few years ago. Did not care for the multiple dinning options. It feels the whole ship is just set up for food. The service was nothing near CCL. I would say about half were outstanding, then 25% ok, and 25% poor. Wife had to be rushed to the clinic for anaphylactic reaction to Egg ingredients the first night. Carnival was soooo careful about food allergies we figured it was the same on NCL. We made sure to tell everyone and were assured the sauce did not have eggs- WRONG! The food was great in the Japanese Steakhouse($20 per person per visit though), and the grill, but nothing else was very good. Never saw the stewart, and was luck to get many smiles when passing by workers. the Lido is also very small.

 

 

 

 

That stinks that your room didnt get cleaned all week. I would have called his supervisor and removed his tips.

 

Bill

 

 

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[Cruising Rules]

We were on the Liberty 2 weeks ago and it was a nice cruise but I do feel that Carnival ha gone downhill in some sense. The MDR isn't open for lunch anymore - except for on the sea day we had. We didn't experience any difficulties with finding cups, but the ice cream machine was frequently out of cones/cups. To me that's not a surprise, but just happened to be something I noticed.

 

MDR dinner (to me) is lackluster now compared to what it used to be a few years ago.

 

Like you, we had ZERO complaints on our Princess cruise! There's definitely a big difference!

 

We were once strong Carnival supporters with 27 cruises to date. Over the last 2-3 years we have noted a myriad of changes (I'll refer to them as "cutbacks") In our eyes Carnival's long time strong point of being a value oriented carrier has been diminished. We feel they have evolved to only being a price driven option and have put themselves into a corner. The more they try to maintain a price advantage, the more they must find ways to reduce overhead. We have become very excited about the Princess product. What a difference!! Much nicer ships, good quality food and staffing levels that truly make a difference in the overall experience. All this for prices that in reality are not much more then CCL's. Now with seven Princess cruises, we don't see ourselves going back to Carnival.

[Cruzaholic41]

We were once strong Carnival supporters with 27 cruises to date. Over the last 2-3 years we have noted a myriad of changes (I'll refer to them as "cutbacks") In our eyes Carnival's long time strong point of being a value oriented carrier has been diminished. We feel they have evolved to only being a price driven option and have put themselves into a corner. The more they try to maintain a price advantage, the more they must find ways to reduce overhead. We have become very excited about the Princess product. What a difference!! Much nicer ships, good quality food and staffing levels that truly make a difference in the overall experience. All this for prices that in reality are not much more then CCL's. Now with seven Princess cruises, we don't see ourselves going back to Carnival.

 

I agree with everything you just said. Just like my namesake, I am addicted to cruising and I'll pretty much sail with any company. There was a time when Carnival was my favorite, but the loss of live entertainment was a big hit for me. That, and the ever increasing crowds and beligerent behavior have put Carnival close to the bottom of my list of favorites in the past few years. Like you, I have come to love Princess, but even moreso, I love Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. All these lines have made cutbacks, but none have affected my overall cruise enjoyment like Carnival's cutbacks.

[Cruising Rules]

I agree with everything you just said. Just like my namesake, I am addicted to cruising and I'll pretty much sail with any company. There was a time when Carnival was my favorite, but the loss of live entertainment was a big hit for me. That, and the ever increasing crowds and beligerent behavior have put Carnival close to the bottom of my list of favorites in the past few years. Like you, I have come to love Princess, but even moreso, I love Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. All these lines have made cutbacks, but none have affected my overall cruise enjoyment like Carnival's cutbacks.

 

I agree we also have two cruises with Celebrity and they do provide the "wow" factor! I did not mention them because I knew someone would emphasize the price difference. Princess has provided us great cruises with similar pricing to Carnival (in a few cases even cheaper) and they always make us feel special.

[Disconnections]

We were once strong Carnival supporters with 27 cruises to date. Over the last 2-3 years we have noted a myriad of changes (I'll refer to them as "cutbacks") In our eyes Carnival's long time strong point of being a value oriented carrier has been diminished. We feel they have evolved to only being a price driven option and have put themselves into a corner. The more they try to maintain a price advantage, the more they must find ways to reduce overhead. We have become very excited about the Princess product. What a difference!! Much nicer ships, good quality food and staffing levels that truly make a difference in the overall experience. All this for prices that in reality are not much more then CCL's. Now with seven Princess cruises, we don't see ourselves going back to Carnival.

 

Agreed. After 8 Princess cruises, we don't see ourselves running back to Carnival anytime soon.

[NO1LKME]

 

Only comparison we have is NCl on the Dawn a few years ago. Did not care for the multiple dinning options. It feels the whole ship is just set up for food. The service was nothing near CCL. I would say about half were outstanding, then 25% ok, and 25% poor. Wife had to be rushed to the clinic for anaphylactic reaction to Egg ingredients the first night. Carnival was soooo careful about food allergies we figured it was the same on NCL. We made sure to tell everyone and were assured the sauce did not have eggs- WRONG! The food was great in the Japanese Steakhouse($20 per person per visit though), and the grill, but nothing else was very good. Never saw the stewart, and was luck to get many smiles when passing by workers. the Lido is also very small.

 

 

We have never had the issues on NCL that you described. Both of our cruises with them have been top notch. The staff was very friendly on both.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

You mean they can get better than they already are?? Cool!!