First Time Carnival Cruiser on Freedom for NYE Trip Report

[Reds4life]

Hello, just got back from our first cruise on Carnival and thought I would share some thoughts on our trip. Background - we are a family of 4 with two teen daughters 19 and 13. We have cruised MSC and RCCL multiple times and once on HAL. This cruise fit our timeframe after Christmas and before having to head back to work and school and we thought we would give Carnival a try. Overall we had a great time and would definitely cruise with Carnival again. Below are the Good, Bad, Great, and Not So Good parts of our trip and a few questions.

 

Great:

 

- Cruise director Todd (T-O-DD). That guy has endless energy and works hard to make sure everyone is having a great time. Best cruise director we have had and we appreciate his efforts.

 

- Room Attendant Achmad. He immediately explained when introducing himself that he was told (probably by corporate - more on that later) that he is to only clean and refresh the room once per day in the morning. However, he was always there to get us fresh bath and pool towels and came in a few times to vacuum on port days after we came back when we went to dinner. Outstanding service and attitude. 

 

- Waiter Fernando. He was working shorthanded most of the time (we didn't seem to have a full-time assistant waiter only "helpers") but still kept us served and remembered special requests. Very nice guy to talk to and knew a lot about the Carnival line in general.

 

- Pizza Pirate - This was a pleasant surprise. Only MSC has better pizza than the Pizza Pirate. Very fresh thin crust and lots of varieties. 

 

- Guy's Burgers - Fresh and juicy. Excellent and tasty. 

 

- Mongolian Grill - Very good. Reminded me of BD's. Was always very busy

 

- Ol Fashioned BBQ - What a hidden gem! The chicken was awful but the pulled pork and slow smoked brisket were awesome. 

 

- Water Slide, Mini Golf, and Games - These were a lot of fun. They had several different things to do outside and appealed to different groups and ages. Lived up to the "FUN" reputation.

 

- Playlist Performers - 4 very talented vocalists and 4 skilled dancers. Great shows although some variety would have been nice as each show was not current music - 80s, 90s, and Motown mainly. My teens were a little lost but agreed the shows were solid and vocals on point. 

 

- Comedians - Family friendly shows and Adults Only gave something for everyone. Very funny and enjoyable

 

- Grand Turk - A beautiful destination. Easy walk to the beach right off the ship. Lots of local options to sightsee - golf carts, ATVS, cars, etc. 

 

Good:

 

- Dining Room Food - We had some exceptional dishes like the Filet Mignon and Chicken Parm and Garlic Shrimp. But there were a few duds like the Southern Fried Chicken - probably an insult to the South with overly fried dark meat served as an entree. Appetizers were just ok and didn't seem to go with the mains very cohesively and desserts were limited but very good in general. 

 

- Buffet Food - The remainder of the buffet food was pretty average and not very exciting. Breakfast was limited - They "rotated" breakfast meats, so no bacon on at least half the days which was just weird. (Again, corporate budgeting maybe?)

 

- Gym - Small and limited but they did have a sauna and steam room and a decent amount of cardio machines. Need more free weights and an area to lift in. It was very crowded. 

 

Not So Good:

 

Disembark at Ports and at the End - Lots of chaos. For some reason Carnival does not like to have many signs posted. It was hard to tell where to go unless you ask other guests or an employee if you could find one. There was an odd period between being rushed out of the cabin at 8:30 and not having our luggage available for pickup. We ended up fighting the carry off luggage and lines to grab a few bits of food at the packed buffet but this could have went better. 

 

Picture Deals - The photographers took more photos of us than on any cruise and printed out every single one, yet they had really crappy pricing on the pictures. We would have bought a lot more if they would have had some type of decent special. Not very good compared to other lines. 

 

Smoking - The casino and entire 5th floor into the theater and atrium reeked of terrible cigarette smoke. Carnival needs to work on this. 

 

Pools - They only had one small pool in the center and an adults only pool. It would have been nice to have another option to swim.

 

Amber Cove - this is a manufactured port and felt like a money grab. They built this far away from a lot of attractions so we had to travel awhile to any excursion. No walkable beach. Just not really the "Caribbean experience" at all.

 

Bad:

 

TV Channels and Sports - There are more ad channels from Carnival than actual programs. The TV in the room was the size of a computer monitor circa 1995. The worst thing was that they had NO sports channels. You had to venture into the smoky casino or cramped Heroes bar to even check a score. They needed more areas to relax and watch a game. No excuse for this. 

 

Corporate Being Cheap - There was an overarching theme that Carnival tries to get by with the minimum in some areas. The room attendant being told clean only in the morning, no full time assistant waiter, No BACON lol, and the poor guys at the Pizza Pirate - all TWO of them due to a lack of staffing - working crazy hard to manage huge lines of people the entire cruise. Oh, and bread at dinner was only "by request" and not offered unless you asked.  All seemed to be budget related and looked very bad to a customer who had been on other lines.

 

Attitudes of Some Staff - We had a few run ins with staff who were very rude and unprofessional. Most were good to great and we appreciated them, but Carnival had way too many disrespectful employees sorry to say. We had a guy tell us rudely to read the program when we were confused about why the late buffet wasn't open. Thelma Morneau the hotel manager told me I couldn't use the handicapped restroom even though the mens room had an overflowing toilet and I have a medical condition which requires me to have restroom access because I wasn't "in a wheelchair". A guy at the Burger Joint refused to refill the mayonnaise for a lady and asked her why she didn't just use something else. My wife lost her jacket on the way off the ship and a lady with a walkie talkie "faked" reporting it over the radio (her coworker gave her up on this and said that no one could hear her and asked her who she was talking to) to get us out of the port and yelled at me when I tried to describe the jacket. Carnival needs some coaching here. 

 

Odd Times for Food - We found out that there are several times a day when food is not available or limited. It is very much a challenge to plan you day if you want to eat at a particular venue. For example, Guys and BBQ aren't available until 12, although the Blue Iguana is open for breakfast and through lunch. The entire buffet closes at certain points in the afternoon. You are limited to only the Deli, Pizza Pirate, and ice cream from 9:30 to 11:30. The Pizza Pirate is open almost all the time but you can't get something simple like cookies unless the buffet is open. This really took away from our vacation and we would have liked to see something like Cafe Promenade on RCCL or just a small section of the buffet always open like on MSC at all times.   

 

 

Questions from us:

 

- Are all the ships this much fun? We felt like Todd was probably more the exception than the rule.

 

- Are there usually this many "difficult" employees? We really don't see this on other lines in our experience and hope that we just ran into some people not having the bets day working with guests. 

 

- Do all of the ships have the odd dining times where venues are shut down?

 

- Does Carnival typically limit things with corporate policies to save money? I would gladly pay a little to have bacon for breakfast or bread without asking. 

 

 

All in all, Carnival was a hit with our family. We always were entertained with Todd making even trivia a blast, food was great, and plenty of options for fun in the sun on the ship and Grand Turk. There were a few hiccups, but nothing is perfect and the good certainly outweighed the bad by a considerable margin. We will be back for sure and we are glad we went on our first Carnival cruise! 

[dallasdan]

Bacon is served every day in the MDR for breakfast.  I have been on 20 Carnival cruises and have yet to encounter a difficult employee.  The room attendant does only clean once per day, but you can choose if you want morning or evening service.  They tend to push for morning service.  I have always been offered bread in the MDR for dinner, so it may just have been the lack of a helper.  

[pcvtmom]

In my experience, Carnival cruise directors go out of their way to provide FUN for the masses! I've cruised 32 times with them, and have never had a dud. I also find the staff overall to be friendly,  pleasant, and helpful. 

 

Since the mandatory Covid shutdown, more pennies are being pinched by Carnival, to make up for the massive debt they accrued. Since their corporation has more ships under their umbrella,  it will take some time to recoup, unfortunately.  So yes, there have been new policies put in place to chisel away at the debt.

 

I'm glad your family enjoyed the Carnival product, but sorry for the negative experiences.  In my opinion, THEY would be the "exception to the rule". Happy sailings, going forth! 😃

[jimbo5544]

I am sure some will chime in on the bacon comments.  Carnival cruises are always fun, they thrive on that.  I have to echo the other poster, I actually have never encountered a negative employee, but that is me.  Some other comments on your questions.  In terms of the limited (bacon) and how busy the pizza was, and the cheapness comment, Carnival is 30 Bill in the hole.  Some things had to give, these might be a part of that.

 

Timing on food options has always been there.  When the cattle grazing begins, it continues until the food disappears, simply a fact.  Other cruise lines do similar but a little different.  

 

Thanks for doing the review.  It always interest me when experienced cruisers try Carnival and their thoughts on the product. 

[dallasdan]

One more thing to add about the timing of the food options.  When the buffet is closed there is usually at least one other food option open. either Pizza, the Deli or Guys burgers.  late at night you are limited to Pizza or the new late night snack buffet.  

[dallasdan]

My cruise a couple of months ago was during the World Series.  Since I couldn't miss the games, I ended up not going to dinner on 4 of the nights.  I ordered food delivery to the Hero's sports bar. Wings and Quesadillas for a fee.  I think they were $5 or $6 each plus tip.

[Reds4life]

Thanks to all for the information. We did not eat breakfast in the MDR just the buffet. Everything was very good as far as taste just surprised not to have bacon. I'm from Bob Evans country so sausage and bacon are the expectation around here, but maybe so much everywhere. I did ask for biscuits and gravy unsuccessfully as well 😄 

 

Glad to hear the employees are usually positive. That's generally what we saw but there were the few that made me question. 

 

Also, glad the cruise directors are so much fun. We had a few who were not so much on other lines and none as much fun as Todd. 

 

I do very much prefer the 24/7 Cafe Promenade and the 6am to 2am MSC buffet to be completely fair. I don't like to think too hard on vacation 🙂 

[pe4all]

Glad you enjoyed your first CCL experience, and did not let the things that were not great ruin your vacation.  I really have never had a bad experience with any of the crew on any of our CCL cruises - just lucky, I guess.  Not a big fan of bacon, so if it is not on the buffet it is not a make or break for me.  Neither is the Cruise Director.  Usually don't pay much attention to them. I am glad you liked your cabin steward - they have sooo many more cabins than they used to, and are definitely overworked, as are some of the dining room staff.  More tables to serve, less help.  We have never gone hungry on a CCL ship, and if we can't find something we like when we want it, we order room service.  Some stuff on the menu is free, but some have a small charge.  Their chicken wings and chicken tenders are really good! ($5-$6).  I have to agree with the debarkation at some ports, and off at the end of the cruise.  The stairways are jammed, elevators unavailable, and lines everywhere.  I haven't had a smooth debarkation in a few cruises- and we usually hang on the ship until 9-9:30.  The casino smoke on CCL ships does usually permeate the deck the casino is on.  I am very sensitive to smoke, and I totally agree that CCL needs to do something on those ships that don't have a smoke-free casino annex.  Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed observations.

[Justagirl2327]

Grand Turk is tied with Grand Cayman as my favorite Port!

[mz-s]

On 1/3/2024 at 12:40 PM, Reds4life said:

Questions from us:

 

- Are all the ships this much fun? We felt like Todd was probably more the exception than the rule.

 

- Are there usually this many "difficult" employees? We really don't see this on other lines in our experience and hope that we just ran into some people not having the bets day working with guests. 

 

- Do all of the ships have the odd dining times where venues are shut down?

 

- Does Carnival typically limit things with corporate policies to save money? I would gladly pay a little to have bacon for breakfast or bread without asking. 

 

 

All in all, Carnival was a hit with our family. We always were entertained with Todd making even trivia a blast, food was great, and plenty of options for fun in the sun on the ship and Grand Turk. There were a few hiccups, but nothing is perfect and the good certainly outweighed the bad by a considerable margin. We will be back for sure and we are glad we went on our first Carnival cruise! 

 

I will answer down the line from my perspective:

 

Some "Fun Squads" are better than others - but on the whole, that is what sets Carnival apart.

 

In the past, a crewmember that talked to a guest like you described would be escorted off the ship on the next port. Not anymore. I am not really sure why. I would only be speculating.

 

Yes, Carnival "optimizes" their food service hours to save money.

 

The cutbacks have gotten really bad and noticeably affect the cruise product in my opinion. Carnival needs to reverse many of them. But their ships are still sailing full so I doubt they will until they start to run shy of customers. I will say that you can get your 2 strips of bacon every day in the dining room for either port breakfast or seaday brunch.

Edited January 4 by mz-s

[bg2310]

Thanks for sharing your review! Glad you and your family enjoyed your vacation with Carnival. 

 

As to your observation and comments on the pictures and prices of them, in my experience if you grab the daily FUN Times pamphlet (which are located at various areas around the ship such as the cafe, atrium bar, Guest Services, etc.) or even look in the app, toward the end of the cruise there are discounts and certain specials on some of the picture packages (2 free wallets, etc.). This is usually when I try to buy mine if I like any enough to warrant a purchase.

 

The app or pamphlet will tell you the times and location the special happens at. Usually it's wherever the Pixels Studio is located on your ship.

Edited January 4 by bg2310

[Reds4life]

10 minutes ago, bg2310 said:

Thanks for sharing your review! Glad you and your family enjoyed your vacation with Carnival. 

 

As to your observation and comments on the pictures and prices of them, in my experience if you grab the daily FUN Times pamphlet (which are located at various areas around the ship such as the cafe, atrium bar, Guest Services, etc.) or even look in the app, toward the end of the cruise there are discounts and certain specials on some of the picture packages (2 free wallets, etc.). This is usually when I try to buy mine if I like any enough to warrant a purchase.

 

The app or pamphlet will tell you the times and location the special happens at. Usually it's wherever the Pixels Studio is located on your ship.

That's kinda what we were hoping for with a deal towards the end, but actually the best we got was 10% off and a tumbler. They were excellent pictures and we would have bought the whole package if offered a deep discount at say 30% or 40% off. If I were Carnival then I would rather make $300 off the pictures they were going to throw away anyways, but I am not in their marketing department I guess ?

[CoasterGuy]

Nice review! Glad you and yours had fun.

[JourneyMan89]

I'm glad to hear Freedom has a Mongolian grill.  We haven't been on Freedom yet, but we sailed on others that had Mongolian and it has always been one of my favorites.  The only downside is the line is always extremely long.