Carnival, what happened ? (CARNIVAL GLORY april 15th)

[fvandewouwer]

After our TA Carnival Vista cruise last November, which was so wonderful we though we would sail Carnival for all our upcoming cruises but after what we have seen on this cruise, I don't think so.

 

Lido : During dinner we saw more than once people getting food in their wet bikini / swim shirts

staff stood there, looked and did not say anything.

Casino : I saw a lady playing a slot machine with her child ( aprox 3 years old ) playing with toys under her chair, security asked her to leave after some guests started to complain. she said "no" and kept on playing, she left when people started starring at her.

Swimming pool : I saw people smoking at places where it is not allowed to smoke and what upsets me the most was that a girl threw away her sigaret over board she stupidly said "what?" when I said she just killed a dolphin.

I saw a bartender giving 2 gin-tonic drinks to a young boy nearly 12/13 years old. this is for your mom or dad .... right .... he said ... even not waiting for an answer

I saw/heard so many things that upset me so much, people slamming doors, loud music on the balcony, stateroom war zones, Lido food waste which became disgusting

this holiday was no vacation anymore.

We tried to relax but in this case it was hard not to get upset.

 

we tried to figure out what was going wrong on this cruise, probably the lack of staff combined with the age of guests ( spring break ? ) anyhow the behavior of many guests was not acceptable and staff looked, saw it all but turned the other way.

Eric the CD and the entertainment team became a little light in all the darkness of this Exotic Eastern Caribbean cruise.

I do hope carnival reads this report as they really need to do something about their tolerance

Fun ? this was not funny anymore .....

We will think more than twice when we search for another cruise

Carnival what a shame after 8 cruises,

we probably say goodbye forever.

[shof515]

spring break brings out the worse of people on the cruise/vacation/anywhere

[fvandewouwer]

I will never forget "spring break " anymore

spring break brings out the worse of people on the cruise/vacation/anywhere

[Brad1972]

Its not against the rules to be in bikini or swim suits or swim shirts at Lido buffet. It is for MDR though.

[1025cruise]

Its not against the rules to be in bikini or swim suits or swim shirts at Lido buffet. It is for MDR though.

 

I believe it is required that they be in a coverup, and not dripping wet.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

OP

I've stopped booking balcony cabins for the exact reasons that you mentioned.

 

I now only book OV. I also book them on the Riveria deck, which in my opinion, seems to be a little more quiet.

 

Everyone has their own opinion on balcony cabins, but I don't miss them one bit.

 

Additionally, try sailing during late October and right after Thanksgiving. Also certain times in January are less stressful. I sailed on the Paradise January 26 sailing and it was less crowded and crazy compared to Spring break and Summer.

 

I also enjoy the Fantasy class ships much more than the larger ships with all of the bells & whistles.

 

Everyone has their favorite class of ship so it's just a matter of what features are most important to the cruiser.

😊

 

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[fvandewouwer]

not very polite sitting at a table during dinner soaking wet

Its not against the rules to be in bikini or swim suits or swim shirts at Lido buffet. It is for MDR though.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

People are people no matter where you go. Some are uncouth, some are loud, some are obnoxious, some are selfish, some are just plain stupid. You find them at public swimming pools, amusement parks, many are at sporting events, some stay at the same hotels you do, some eat at the same restaurants. I learned a long time ago that I won't let the antics of others ruin my vacation. Nor do I think the "host" should be the people police. Sure it is a bit aggravating when you see or overhear things that people say but it is best just to ignore it. And to condemn the "host" for behavior issues that they can't control is a bit over the top in my opinion. It would be nice if everyone we come in contact with could be as sweet and rule following as we believe we are but that just doesn't always happen.

[fvandewouwer]

@Cari : after this cruise we cruised the Freedom of the seas TA to Barcelona We had a balcony and never ever heard one of our neighbours. occasionally a door was slammed but people tried to avoid noise even when we had no reason to get up early due to a relaxing sea dey.

 

I do not want to create a discussion : what is allowed or what is not allowed I only wanted to know what went wrong and if we need to avoid certain ships, certain time, certain itineraries ....

 

on our first day our stateroom attendant came along and asked if we needed our room to be cleaned in the morning or evening He explained that due to a new Carnival policy there were not enough people to take care of all the rooms to be checked and cleaned twice a day that is why all rooms were cleaned only once so in the morning or in the evening and as we are clean and "normal" people we didn't mind if our drapes were closed or not ( the towel animal was made in the morning which was a little strange in the beginning of the cruise ) but also this was something new we never have experienced

I wonder if this really is a new policy of carnival or has this something to do with the" spring break thing " ???

[fvandewouwer]

Nor do I think the "host" should be the people police..

 

we haven't say one word except for the very stupid girl who threw her sigaret overboard

..... I wonder what would have happened if she created a fire

 

goodnight everyone

[uprivermama]

Its not against the rules to be in bikini or swim suits or swim shirts at Lido buffet. It is for MDR though.

Actually it is against the rules. There are signs posted at the entrance to the buffet area from the pool stating this, and I have seen a white-uniform employee telling a bikini clad teenager that she needed to cover up in the restaurant.

[easyboy]

Sorry about your experience. Hope you enjoy cruising again on another time or line.

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

When management doesnt feel it is necessary to enforce their rules this kind of thing will happen.

[LMBB]

I think the common denominator here is that the cruises you enjoyed were TA. You will definitely get a different crowd on a TA than other itineraries. As others have mentioned the timing will also matter. You'd likely have good luck with journeys itineraries and sticking to the off season.

 

 

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[A&Jfamily]

You hit a rowdy spring break cruise. Plain and simple. We have been on Glory multiple times in the past and zero issues like these. Where we had our issues was a 4 day Victory cruise - totally adult party ship. People holding hall parties at midnight and our neighbors under "arrest" with the door propped open and security outside one morning. In fact we have observed that the adults are often worse than the kids and even more so on a short cruise.

 

But as other posters have suggested, some of this you simply have to ignore. The 12-13 yo isn't yours and if he is drinking that is Carnival and his parents problem. Likewise with the woman and child in casino.

 

Some of it is controlling where you go and when. We almost always eat in MDR to avoid the lido - just don't care for the crowd. And if we go there, it is choice. And I am not going to worry about wet bathing suits etc.

 

The cigarette overboard is another issue and perhaps rather than worry about the dolphin, it might have been better to explain the fire hazard.

 

Lastly, on any of the serious issues, did you notify security or customer service? We have had to call a couple of times for various issues and always had a great response.

 

 

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[cheggy]

I am happy you enjoyed the Vista as we are booked for October. Spring break is a mistake unless you are a party animal. Especially in the Caribbean . Everybody has spring fever. All the schools are out and families are cruising as well as college kids.

If possible , pick your cruise time when you know school is in session. We use to go in January, September and October . Now granddaughters are with us so we pick cruises that are longer than 7 days mostly so it cuts down on being overwhelmed.

[riclop]

That is what you get for cruising during spring break.

[blondietink]

Unless I missed something, you should still be able to get twice a day service in your cabin. It is supposed to be an option, not just once a day. If your cabin steward refuses to do twice a day, you can call the housekeeping supervisor to complain and request twice a day.

[lazydayz]

OP, we just debarked the Glory on Saturday and I think this ship has two very different kinds of problems. Management is missing in action. It was the worse muster drill I have experienced in 50 cruises. Everyone had to go to deck 4 and they had the outside doors closed. So before getting to muster we had a traffic jam on the stairs. They finally opened the doors and made us stand outside for 45 minutes. If you are going to scan room keys, do it where we can sit down. Unreal start that made wonder how prepared this crew would be in a real emergency. Then same fiasco at debarkation. Totally disorganized.

 

When went embarked, the elevators were not working. Nightmare for crew trying to get luggage onboard. This likely explains why we were one and a half hours late leaving Miami. Then on a sea day morning, there was an announcement that the AC was out. This ship just came out of dry dock but it is having electrical problems?

 

We enjoyed most of the cruise but I don't think we will ever sail the Glory again. Too many other choices out there to accept these issues.

[sfaaa]

Actually it is against the rules. There are signs posted at the entrance to the buffet area from the pool stating this, and I have seen a white-uniform employee telling a bikini clad teenager that she needed to cover up in the restaurant.

 

Also very unhygienic. No bare feet allowed either.

[lizzyplague]

What bartender would serve an obviously underage child? Even I get carded and scrutinized by all the staff and I'm almost 30! I could pass as a teenager but still.

[impeccablekaos]

we haven't say one word except for the very stupid girl who threw her sigaret overboard

..... I wonder what would have happened if she created a fire

 

I guess it's a good thing that the cigarette was surrounded by an ocean.

[impeccablekaos]

We just got off the Breeze and some guy sparked a doobie during the Dive In movie. ;p The more exotic Carnival cruises have a much more subdued (I'm being polite here) crowd than the typical 7-day or less cruise. I'm at the point where I won't book Carnival for anything other than a Journeys cruise.

 

Did he get caught? Asking for.. uhh... a friend;p

[impeccablekaos]

OP, we just debarked the Glory on Saturday and I think this ship has two very different kinds of problems. Management is missing in action. It was the worse muster drill I have experienced in 50 cruises. Everyone had to go to deck 4 and they had the outside doors closed. So before getting to muster we had a traffic jam on the stairs. They finally opened the doors and made us stand outside for 45 minutes. If you are going to scan room keys, do it where we can sit down. Unreal start that made wonder how prepared this crew would be in a real emergency. Then same fiasco at debarkation. Totally disorganized.

 

When went embarked, the elevators were not working. Nightmare for crew trying to get luggage onboard. This likely explains why we were one and a half hours late leaving Miami. Then on a sea day morning, there was an announcement that the AC was out. This ship just came out of dry dock but it is having electrical problems?

 

We enjoyed most of the cruise but I don't think we will ever sail the Glory again. Too many other choices out there to accept these issues.

 

I recall reading that the delay in leaving was due to some inspection out of Carnival's control, and that they were emailing their passengers to come to the terminal a few hours later. I'm leaving on the Glory on Saturday. First time cruising with my 2 year old daughter. I'm really hoping the muster drill goes a bit more smoothly than you described. I get anxiety just thinking about keeping her calm while pressed so close to others that you can smell what they ate for lunch.

[Joseph2017China]

Thanks OP for posting. It's always refreshing when people share their bad experiences on Carnival and not sugarcoat things.

 

Spring Break is not the issue. Every cruise line sails ships in March and April, but only Carnival has the bad reputation that you describe. It's easy to "blame" things, than to accept that this is pretty much normal behavior when you have a lowest cost Cruise line, and major cut backs in service. The crew just gives up, and let's it happen, because, Carnival won't supply enough employees to monitor and police the guest. So you get almost anything goes attitude on the ship.

 

Most people already know Carnival won't enforce the smoking and eating rules. They gave up on enforcing no kids in the adult areas. Basically, they just change the rules so they no longer need to enforce them. They have a long history of this type of management.

 

Try other cruise lines. Many people have, and found that cruises are extremely enjoyable when the right ships are picked.