Worst carnival cruise ever!

[funinthesun1964]

Please explain how they are getting bamboozled when tips are included in the price of the cheers?

 

You pay 15% tip up front when purchasing cheers. 350 Bucks per week x 15% = about 52.00. Which works out to a lesser amount of money if you drink 10-15 per day and pay a 15% tip for each drink on the pay-as-you-go plan. Say 10 drinks per day for a week, 10 bucks each 700 x 15% tip = 105.00.

[TerReuv]

Don't get me wrong. Cruises are like pizza and women. They are all good, it's just that some are better than ever. :)

 

I've been on 9 cruises, all with Carnival. For me, it was the worst ever.

 

I did complain at dinner to the Maitre d' who took our cabin # down. Nothing became of it.

 

Carnival makes you prepay tips. Tips stands for "to ensure promptness". When you don't get your drink it should = no tip!

 

I don't like to complain on vacation. I try to make the best of it. I feel at least, I should receive all of my 15% on the cheers card, and a portion of what I paid on the cruise.

 

This is incorrect. Carnival does not make you prepay tips. They are charged to your S&S card usually by the second day, but you can go and have them removed at any time. I certainly do not think you can request to have them refunded back to you after the cruise. The time for that would be while you were on the ship.

[Out to sea!]

Just wait until it's you and then see how funny you think it is.

 

There is no doubt that CCL service and product has gone down hill. Obviously the board felt the same; isn't there a new CEO?:banghead:

 

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I don't know about others but if I get fed up with a cruise line that last thing I would do is come here and complain about it. I'll just spend my dollars elsewhere. No biggie. :rolleyes:

[Cinders411]

I cruised on the Paradise in 2012 and got pretty much what I expected from a small, older ship. I agree the Cruise Director was great playing, When The Devil Went Down To Georgia!

[Jenhem31]

The Paradise was my first cruise in April. We had an absolutely amazing steward and found all of the crew to be fantastic. The ship on the other hand.... Very disappointing. Old, gaudy, needs desperately to be refurbished!!

[Vanessa L]

IMHO, this is yet another case of unrealistic expectations not met. Carnival is a great cruise line, and for what they charge, they deliver a lot. But let's be realistic here. You booked a cheap cruise on a budget cruise line. You can't expect attention to detail, or flawless, personal service. Carnival is great when you're price conscious. But if you're at a point where the "less than perfect" experience outweighs the money saved, it may be time to try a different cruise line.

 

OP: It's not uncommon for people to become more discerning and discriminating as they age and become more traveled. Things that you may have (consciously or unconsciously) overlooked before may be more noticeable and obvious as you cruise more. You may be at a point in your "cruise life" where you may want to dig a bit deeper in your pocket and pay more to sail on a more upscale cruise line where service will be more polished and attentive.

 

 

 

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OP, this is the best response you've received.

 

FWIW, we have done 48 cruises, 28 with Carnival, and our Breeze cruise in September was truly the worst ever for service, food, everything. Seriously, in 28 cruises. Worst ever, on the newest ship. Contrast that with the Pride, which we just debarked 1/25, and was the exact polar opposite of the Breeze with exceptional service from every single crew member we encountered. Of 28 Carnival cruises, it ranks #2. IMHO, and this is truly just my opinion, to say you would never cruise again or probably won't cruise again, over one bad cruise, seems kind of extreme to me. We cruised the biggest, newest and supposedly best ship they have and it was a miserable week (as it relates to the staff and service). Followed that up with a smaller, much older ship and it was very nearly perfect. Imagine what we would have missed if we'd stopped cruising any given line over 1 bad cruise?

 

Your opinion is your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, but I think asking for anything at this juncture is a bit ridiculous. Carnival has a vacation guarantee for a reason and we could have invoked on our Breeze cruise for sure. But I am just so happy being on a ship, no matter how horrific the crew is, that, that was not an option at all. You most certainly could have used it, however. As with everything in life, I learn from things and know that sailing the Breeze is not for me. Doesn't mean I wouldn't try again with a different ship, as you pointed out yourself, you're at a 90% happiness rate. I'd say that's pretty darn good :D

[YorN]

Please explain how they are getting bamboozled when tips are included in the price of the cheers?

 

Simple mathematics really.

 

Let us assume we have two guests that each orders 15 Long Island Iced Teas (LIIT) per cruise day. Guest A pays per order. Guest B purchased the Cheers! program.

 

Guest A, our pay per order guest, orders a LIIT at $8.75. The server receives a 15% gratuity from that transaction, $1.31. Every time Guest A orders a LIIT, the servers receive $1.31. Guest A orders 15 LIIT for the day, so the total gratuities servers will receive for the day from Guest A is $19.69.

 

Guest B, our Cheers! guest, orders a LIIT. Since Guest B purchased Cheers! at $49.95 per day plus a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, the servers will receive $7.49 for the day regardless of the number of drinks ordered (this is assuming no additional tipping). The servers are even or ahead if Guest B orders drinks at or under the breakeven point (which is Cheers! Purchase

Price / Menu Price of Drink), which in this case, would be 5.71, or 6 drinks per day. Anything above that, and the servers are receiving less than had the customer paid per order. As we stated earlier, our guests drink 15 LIIT per cruise day. A $7.49 total gratuity the servers received for the day divided by 15 LIIT orders is a per $0.50 gratuity per order.

 

Sure, Guest B paid a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, but not on the price of the drinks they actually ordered. With a menu price of $8.75 and a $0.50 gratuity per order (assuming 15 orders), the servers are actually receiving a 5.7% gratuity, far from the 15% gratuity Carnival applies to its non-Cheers! purchases.

 

These are just one day calculations. Imagine this over a 7-day cruise. If you are a server, which guest are you going to make your priority, Guest A or Guest B? This is why I advise that if you purchase Cheers!, you give your server $1.00 per drink for every drink ordered beyond that breakeven point.

 

So how do you change the program to not lessen gratuities to the servers? Leave the purchase price at $49.95 per day, but instead of putting a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, put it on the price of the drink purchased. For example, Guest B, every time they ordered a LIIT, would sign a receipt for $1.31. ($8.75 drink price x 15% gratuity.)

[Out to sea!]

Simple mathematics really.

 

Let us assume we have two guests that each orders 15 Long Island Iced Teas (LIIT) per cruise day. Guest A pays per order. Guest B purchased the Cheers! program.

 

Guest A, our pay per order guest, orders a LIIT at $8.75. The server receives a 15% gratuity from that transaction, $1.31. Every time Guest A orders a LIIT, the servers receive $1.31. Guest A orders 15 LIIT for the day, so the total gratuities servers will receive for the day from Guest A is $19.69.

 

Guest B, our Cheers! guest, orders a LIIT. Since Guest B purchased Cheers! at $49.95 per day plus a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, the servers will receive $7.49 for the day regardless of the number of drinks ordered (this is assuming no additional tipping). The servers are even or ahead if Guest B orders drinks at or under the breakeven point (which is Cheers! Purchase

Price / Menu Price of Drink), which in this case, would be 5.71, or 6 drinks per day. Anything above that, and the servers are receiving less than had the customer paid per order. As we stated earlier, our guests drink 15 LIIT per cruise day. A $7.49 total gratuity the servers received for the day divided by 15 LIIT orders is a per $0.50 gratuity per order.

 

Sure, Guest B paid a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, but not on the price of the drinks they actually ordered. With a menu price of $8.75 and a $0.50 gratuity per order (assuming 15 orders), the servers are actually receiving a 5.7% gratuity, far from the 15% gratuity Carnival applies to its non-Cheers! purchases.

 

These are just one day calculations. Imagine this over a 7-day cruise. If you are a server, which guest are you going to make your priority, Guest A or Guest B? This is why I advise that if you purchase Cheers!, you give your server $1.00 per drink for every drink ordered beyond that breakeven point.

 

So how do you change the program to not lessen gratuities to the servers? Leave the purchase price at $49.95 per day, but instead of putting a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, put it on the price of the drink purchased. For example, Guest B, every time they ordered a LIIT, would sign a receipt for $1.31. ($8.75 drink price x 15% gratuity.)

 

The problem with this example is that your numbers are based on a lot of assumptions. This pretty much is a worst case scenario. There are many cases where a server would come out ahead with the Cheers package as well.

[griz400]

Carnival paradise ...lets see ..we ailed on last May, it was a good ship, crew is constantly cleaning something, take it as you will, but we had a great time, when we arrived, we had fttf, and when we boarded, room was ready, opened the door and guess what ... no bucket of ice, so wife got busy putting everything away, and i took a walk on ship to pool deck bar, and asked for a bucket of ice, he asked just 1?? so i said 2 and took them back to room, cause we bring a small cooler with some coke zeros and some waters ... on the way back to room i was stopped twice, by people who wanted to carry it for me, but , the blue collar roots in me i said no, the room steward kept cooler full every day with ice, never asked ..

Keep in mind, this was our first cruise , and, talking with alot of other people we knew it wasn't a super sized ship, and our expectations were not crazy high, but, they exceeded our expectations for 5 days ...if you read the first post, they knew exactly what they were getting into, and they set their expectations too high from previous cruises ... problem is with people , take us for example, wife and I are from blue collar roots and was taught along time ago that you will never miss what you never had in life ...

Back to the Paradise, We prepaid tips, also started with room steward extra .. this may not be the way to tip steward but, when we met her, we gave 10.00 and she seemed happy, couple days later i gave 5.00, next day wife gave her 5.00 and i guess she also gets a cut from prepaid ...was only a 5 day cruise, but i tell you what, when we leave room, came back, cleaned .. lol

daily, maybe 2 or 3 times, animals from towels, ice, clean beach towels, every day, was wondering if she was in the closet ...:)

We will be sailing Paradise again i think late summer this year, convenient for us, living 13 miles from port..entertainment is good (comedy,karaoke,shows)

only grip we had was cig smoke .. but, understand that this ship when it was built was Carnival's smoke free ship, i wish they all were smoke free ..the ventilation for smoke not like other ships

and when we were in grand cayman we bought 2 6 packs of rumcakes and 4 bottles of rum from a ship affiliated store, and last night when you get you stuff you bought elsewhere, there was only 1 6 pack of rumcakes, so, we showed receipt, they filled out form and they were mailed to our home ...

Carnival Paradise .. old ship, cleaned all the time, I think is due for drydock I hear, good entertainment and good food, clean pool, and the grilled Rubens late night are the BOMB ..:)

Edited February 7, 2015 by griz400

[YorN]

The problem with this example is that your numbers are based on a lot of assumptions. This pretty much is a worst case scenario. There are many cases where a server would come out ahead with the Cheers package as well.

 

The servers are even or ahead if the orders drinks at or under the breakeven point (which is Cheers! Purchase Price / Menu Price of Drink), Anything above that, and the servers are receiving less than had the customer paid per order.

 

I think we can safely assume from these forums that those that purchase Cheers! are looking for maximum benefit versus breaking even...

Edited February 7, 2015 by YorN

[nissach]

Personally I'm a glass half full person. Do things go wrong? Absolutely. But I also know that I get what I pay for. I don't expect a steak on a hamburger budget. If I want perfection I'll cruise with a company that charges more than anyone else and I'll expect that everything be perfect. But when I cruise Carnival I know that I'm paying the cheapest price of all cruise lines and they still do a damn fine job of giving us an amazing experience. We have an amazing time whenever we are fortunate enough to go and if things come up so be it. I'll bring it to someones attention and give them the opportunity to fix it. Generally they do. Remember, the worst day cruising is still better than the best day at work.:)

 

Could not have said it better myself!

[nissach]

No ice bucket and only one glass......oh the inhumanity of it all!!!!! :eek:

 

 

 

 

But throw me some money and I'll come back. Go figure. :rolleyes:

 

Funny and accurate!

[jp12687]

Simple mathematics really.

 

Let us assume we have two guests that each orders 15 Long Island Iced Teas (LIIT) per cruise day. Guest A pays per order. Guest B purchased the Cheers! program.

 

Guest A, our pay per order guest, orders a LIIT at $8.75. The server receives a 15% gratuity from that transaction, $1.31. Every time Guest A orders a LIIT, the servers receive $1.31. Guest A orders 15 LIIT for the day, so the total gratuities servers will receive for the day from Guest A is $19.69.

 

Guest B, our Cheers! guest, orders a LIIT. Since Guest B purchased Cheers! at $49.95 per day plus a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, the servers will receive $7.49 for the day regardless of the number of drinks ordered (this is assuming no additional tipping). The servers are even or ahead if Guest B orders drinks at or under the breakeven point (which is Cheers! Purchase

Price / Menu Price of Drink), which in this case, would be 5.71, or 6 drinks per day. Anything above that, and the servers are receiving less than had the customer paid per order. As we stated earlier, our guests drink 15 LIIT per cruise day. A $7.49 total gratuity the servers received for the day divided by 15 LIIT orders is a per $0.50 gratuity per order.

 

Sure, Guest B paid a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, but not on the price of the drinks they actually ordered. With a menu price of $8.75 and a $0.50 gratuity per order (assuming 15 orders), the servers are actually receiving a 5.7% gratuity, far from the 15% gratuity Carnival applies to its non-Cheers! purchases.

 

These are just one day calculations. Imagine this over a 7-day cruise. If you are a server, which guest are you going to make your priority, Guest A or Guest B? This is why I advise that if you purchase Cheers!, you give your server $1.00 per drink for every drink ordered beyond that breakeven point.

 

So how do you change the program to not lessen gratuities to the servers? Leave the purchase price at $49.95 per day, but instead of putting a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, put it on the price of the drink purchased. For example, Guest B, every time they ordered a LIIT, would sign a receipt for $1.31. ($8.75 drink price x 15% gratuity.)

 

bartenders and waitstaff also receive part of the automatic gratuities. which have recently been up'ed to more per day.

[edsbiggbuck]

Had to snicker when I read this. I am 46 and I have stayed in hotels in the past that I would not even walk into now.

 

 

DITTO!

 

 

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[PanamaKay]

I just returned from the final Fort Lauderdale -- Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Freedom. I booked a suite but got crap instead. I had no hot water in my cabin for four of the eight days on board and on top of that, the bathroom smelled like an open sewer the entire trip. I had to pack up my stuff and go take a shower at the Spa showers. I gagged every time I entered the bathroom. And, yes , I did inform Guest Services to no avail. It was awful and now I am really sick and have been running a fever and coughing terribly ever since stepping off the boat.

 

I feel for you because my experience sucked also.:(

[firespud]

I just returned from the final Fort Lauderdale -- Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Freedom. I booked a suite but got crap instead. I had no hot water in my cabin for four of the eight days on board and on top of that, the bathroom smelled like an open sewer the entire trip. I had to pack up my stuff and go take a shower at the Spa showers. I gagged every time I entered the bathroom. And, yes , I did inform Guest Services to no avail. It was awful and now I am really sick and have been running a fever and coughing terribly ever since stepping off the boat.

 

I feel for you because my experience sucked also.:(

 

This sounds like it would be awful. I believe had this happened to me I would have gone further than guest services to try to have this taken care of. Sounds like this might have been a good use for the vacation guarantee and tell them you wanted off at first port. Bet they would have done something for you then.

[fourkittys]

You should have invoked the Carnival Vacation Guarantee. :rolleyes:

 

Don't you have to do that within 48 hours or so and be willing to leave the ship mid cruise?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Don't you have to do that within 48 hours or so and be willing to leave the ship mid cruise?

 

24 hours and leave at the first foreign port.

 

Bill

[YorN]

Everyone is different. You do raise some valid concerns in your negative column, but some of them are also things that should never make it on the radar. It was negative because you didn't get a free kotex sample in your cabin bathroom?

[iheartzombies]

I know we are all entitled to our own opinions but I've heard of much worse stories.

[LMaxwell]

There's really no excuse for the lack of performance by your room attendant. It doesn't matter what the cruise cost; Carnival advertises certain services and amenities and they should be provided without chasing them down or excessive waits.

 

Turndown service, ice on request (2 hour wait is not reasonable to me), room service cards daily are things advertised by Carnival and should have been provided without further question. I'd have removed my automatic gratuity too and tipped directly to those providing good service.

[LMaxwell]

Simple mathematics really.

 

Let us assume we have two guests that each orders 15 Long Island Iced Teas (LIIT) per cruise day. Guest A pays per order. Guest B purchased the Cheers! program.

 

Guest A, our pay per order guest, orders a LIIT at $8.75. The server receives a 15% gratuity from that transaction, $1.31. Every time Guest A orders a LIIT, the servers receive $1.31. Guest A orders 15 LIIT for the day, so the total gratuities servers will receive for the day from Guest A is $19.69.

 

Guest B, our Cheers! guest, orders a LIIT. Since Guest B purchased Cheers! at $49.95 per day plus a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, the servers will receive $7.49 for the day regardless of the number of drinks ordered (this is assuming no additional tipping). The servers are even or ahead if Guest B orders drinks at or under the breakeven point (which is Cheers! Purchase

Price / Menu Price of Drink), which in this case, would be 5.71, or 6 drinks per day. Anything above that, and the servers are receiving less than had the customer paid per order. As we stated earlier, our guests drink 15 LIIT per cruise day. A $7.49 total gratuity the servers received for the day divided by 15 LIIT orders is a per $0.50 gratuity per order.

 

Sure, Guest B paid a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, but not on the price of the drinks they actually ordered. With a menu price of $8.75 and a $0.50 gratuity per order (assuming 15 orders), the servers are actually receiving a 5.7% gratuity, far from the 15% gratuity Carnival applies to its non-Cheers! purchases.

 

These are just one day calculations. Imagine this over a 7-day cruise. If you are a server, which guest are you going to make your priority, Guest A or Guest B? This is why I advise that if you purchase Cheers!, you give your server $1.00 per drink for every drink ordered beyond that breakeven point.

 

So how do you change the program to not lessen gratuities to the servers? Leave the purchase price at $49.95 per day, but instead of putting a 15% gratuity on the purchase price, put it on the price of the drink purchased. For example, Guest B, every time they ordered a LIIT, would sign a receipt for $1.31. ($8.75 drink price x 15% gratuity.)

 

In fact there is no way to know if your math is 100% accurate because none of us are privy to the information of how Carnival actually tips out its bar staff on cheers packages.

 

But if we are to assume your calculations and assumptions are accurate, that is not a guest problem, that is an issue between Carnival and the crew.

[ASchaff]

We were on the Paradise in September of 2013, and had one of the best cruise experiences. Our rooms were beautiful, clean and our room steward was amazing. We had the front 4 portholes on the 2nd deck, and we first met our steward more than 25 rooms down. He introduced himself, and asked if there was anything he could possibly do for us. We requested ice buckets, because we knew that there were no refrigerators, and we introduced ourselves, and let him know which rooms we were in. I came back to our room a little later to set up a surprise for my in laws, as this was their first cruise, and our steward let us into their room to set everything up(we had their key, it just didn't work for some reason). We were surprised to find that our luggage was already in the room, neatly placed, not just shoved in the door, and that we had full ice buckets in each and every room(which never got empty or melted past a reasonable point). He checked on us every night, and was by far the BEST steward that I have ever had, on any ship. He was always right there when we needed something, and if by some chance he wasn't, all we had to do was leave a little note.

 

Our dining room servers were fabulous as well. Remembered everyone's names, and who was actually who(3/5 men in our group were named Michael), so we were very impressed. The bar server in the dining room was always right there, and he was an excellent sales person. Everyone at our table got the shot glasses every night(we just wanted the glasses, the shots were a perk-they were the only drinks that we purchased on board-I managed to get my dad, and brother in laws to buy the rest of my drinks after big bingo winnings lol). He would see us out on deck during the day, and would refer to us by name, and was always attentive and available.

 

The ONLY problem we had was when we attempted breakfast one morning, just my husband and I in the dining room. We requested a table to ourselves, and were put at a table for 10. I asked to be moved, as we were ushered into places, and the hostess ignored my request, and shoved the chair into the back of my knees, not once, but twice. I was in a lot of pain, and ended up leaving the dining room crying. We did call guest services, and they apologized over and over, and even the maitre'd came over to apologize that night at dinner. He wanted me to pin point who it was, but there were two girls who looked too similar for me to say which did it, and I told him I was not sure, and did not want the wrong person punished, and told him that it was done and over with, and not to worry about it any further. I was overly impressed with how much they seemed to care about the issue.

 

Everything else went fabulously. If only it had been a 7 instead of a 5 day cruise.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

I don't mind "complaining or criticism" posts....we all complain about something to our spouses and our friends. And when I do it most of them come back at me with "sometimes you are so hard to please" or the infuriating "well maybe if you weren't such a know it all".

 

Not everyone reacts to situations the same way...and cruising is no different. Things that bother the heck out of me roll like water off a duck's back to even my closest family members. So, do I stop complaining...absolutely not. But I do try and "see" how trivial others will think my complaints are...and isn't that what these boards are all about.

 

I think it is a good thing when complaining that you are forced to defend those complaints...and without input from others challenging you it is very easy to continue to always react the same way in any given situation. NOTHING is always perfect and people are always telling me that the only person who looses when I expect perfection is me so I applaud those who know that life isn't black or white but multiple shades of gray...something that is essential to be constantly reminded about.

[Out to sea!]

Simple mathematics really.

 

This is why I advise that if you purchase Cheers!, you give your server $1.00 per drink for every drink ordered beyond that breakeven point.

 

Why???

They are getting paid anyway and the price of onboard drink is ridiculous.

If you lot (Americans, dare I say) stopped this obsessive tipping for all types of service and only rewarded good service then you would actually get it.

And yes, I am expecting Out at sea or whatever your name is to come back with a sarcastic, unfunny remark.:mad::mad:

 

Interesting you say that because for the most part, I agree. There is no need at all to tip past the expected DSC. Of course, one can if they so choose but should not feel obligated to if they have paid the DSC.