Just off Freedom, 2 out of 10.

[ema773]

Virgin Voyages earliest embarkation time is 1:30-2:00.  If Carnival waited until then for embarkation the rooms would be ready as well, but people would be complaining that boarding is too late.  If you want your room to be ready and your cards waiting for you then board at a later time.

[StephPS79]

7 minutes ago, ema773 said:

Virgin Voyages earliest embarkation time is 1:30-2:00.  If Carnival waited until then for embarkation the rooms would be ready as well, but people would be complaining that boarding is too late.  If you want your room to be ready and your cards waiting for you then board at a later time.

 

Just about to post this.  Not really an even comparison.  If you schedule boarding for Carnival for 2p or later, you can generally go right to you room.  VV just eliminates boarding before rooms are ready.

 

Edited April 9 by StephPS79

[nydney1]

I’m sorry you did not have a good vacation. We all work to hard to spend our money on something we didn’t enjoy. 
 

However, this is the posters opinion and people shouldn’t bash them for sharing. This is what the boards are for. 
 

Some of my cruises have not been the best since Covid. I have enjoyed some more than others and try to find something on each I enjoy. 
 

Thank you for sharing and I hope your next trip goes better. 

[Saint Greg]

41 minutes ago, jerseyjjs said:

I'll never understand people's praises of the "pizza" onboard Carnival.   I was just on the Legend (the sailing before the bridge collapse) and gave it another shot even though I swore off it about 8 years ago.  Waited 20 minutes for it, because the server would always walk to the back oven room for EVERY order,  took one bite and left the rest of the slice on the buffet table. BTW, the Deli went way downhill too.  So, I have to concur with the posters who feel the food has suffered a big decline.

 

I don't like the pizza. But sometimes it's all they have. I've been able to avoid it for the most part by eating a later dinner. I did just get a reuben from the deli on Spirit in February and it's not the same reuben I got a couple years ago.

 

It depends on the ship. Excel class has great food options. Freedom probably not so great.

 

 

Edited April 9 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Our senses of smell and taste are closely linked.

 

Or we could have Tim Robbins on the board. You never know....

 

 

[stobe1]

41 minutes ago, nydney1 said:

I’m sorry you did not have a good vacation. We all work to hard to spend our money on something we didn’t enjoy. 
 

However, this is the posters opinion and people shouldn’t bash them for sharing. This is what the boards are for. 
 

Some of my cruises have not been the best since Covid. I have enjoyed some more than others and try to find something on each I enjoy. 
 

Thank you for sharing and I hope your next trip goes better. 

 

I havent seen anyone bashing the OP.

[pc_load_letter]

Well, we generally avoid cruising at spring break time due to the crowds.

[pe4all]

You don't need to carry your boarding pass around to get a drink, etc. when you first board.  Just give them your cabin #.  They input it, your picture pops up on their screen, and you are good to go.  

[kpwhalen830]

2 hours ago, ema773 said:

Virgin Voyages earliest embarkation time is 1:30-2:00.  If Carnival waited until then for embarkation the rooms would be ready as well, but people would be complaining that boarding is too late.  If you want your room to be ready and your cards waiting for you then board at a later time.

I have no problem with a 1:30 boarding. I just feel it is a bit archaic that carnival still makes the process extremely long and that they haven’t figured out how to streamline the process like Virgin and some other lines have. 

 

5 hours ago, Robpuffdaddy said:

1.  The reason they do not give you your sail and sign card is now it is your cabin door key. This way you can not access your rooms till they are ready.  At least you can use that sheet of paper to start drinking

[kpwhalen830]

I have yet to go on the perfect cruise but this one was exceptionally awful. 
At one point I asked my wife if she thinks Carnival ever sends their executives, cruise directors or, higher up decision makers on the competitions cruises. Or if they ever actually sail onboard their own brand incognito to compare processes. It appears that they do not and they should .

[mz-s]

27 minutes ago, kpwhalen830 said:

I have yet to go on the perfect cruise but this one was exceptionally awful. 
At one point I asked my wife if she thinks Carnival ever sends their executives, cruise directors or, higher up decision makers on the competitions cruises. Or if they ever actually sail onboard their own brand incognito to compare processes. It appears that they do not and they should .

 

Carnival competes on price, they cannot compete on experience.

[Jeafl]

16 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Or we could have Tim Robbins on the board. You never know....

 

 

My all-time favorite movie!

 

[StephPS79]

14 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Carnival competes on price, they cannot compete on experience.

 

Not trying to come at you, (or derail this thread), you often have good information and are quick to help answer questions, but I really don't understand why you struggle so much with accepting that people actually do enjoy cruising on Carnival. 

 

I get that it's not like the good ol' days, but dollar for dollar, I would book Carnival over Royal Caribbean everytime (I am using that here because RCI is currently the only other line I have experience with).  My experience on Carnival has always been better than my experience on RCI.  The fact that it is competitively priced is an added bonus.  RCI wins in ships, hands down, but the ship doesn't make the experience for me.  

 

I know this board is flooded with posts complaining about the cruise line which you feel might validate your opinion, but so is RCI, and I'd wager to say it's not much different on NCL boards, or even Princess or Celebrity.

 

You've mentioned Disney, and I really don't consider them a player in this game, but I'd be curious to know what other experience you have on other lines that are direct competitors that would backup such a broad statement.

[mz-s]

24 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

 

Not trying to come at you, (or derail this thread), you often have good information and are quick to help answer questions, but I really don't understand why you struggle so much with accepting that people actually do enjoy cruising on Carnival. 

 

I get that it's not like the good ol' days, but dollar for dollar, I would book Carnival over Royal Caribbean everytime (I am using that here because RCI is currently the only other line I have experience with).  My experience on Carnival has always been better than my experience on RCI.  The fact that it is competitively priced is an added bonus.  RCI wins in ships, hands down, but the ship doesn't make the experience for me.  

 

I know this board is flooded with posts complaining about the cruise line which you feel might validate your opinion, but so is RCI, and I'd wager to say it's not much different on NCL boards, or even Princess or Celebrity.

 

You've mentioned Disney, and I really don't consider them a player in this game, but I'd be curious to know what other experience you have on other lines that are direct competitors that would backup such a broad statement.

 

The fact that they compete on price is simply a fact. I know that many people love Carnival and would cruise on them even if they're more expensive, but Carnival's chosen niche is to offer the best product they can at the lowest price.

 

That is not a slight against Carnival. Walmart competes on price whereas Target competes on experience. Walmart is the biggest B&M retailer the world has ever known. Last I checked Carnival is the biggest cruise line in the world, but that might be changing as Royal has built a ton of huge ships.

 

This is Cruise Critic, if you want Carnival cheerleading might I recommend a page on social media that is run by a certain overweight brit.

[pc_load_letter]

On 4/10/2024 at 7:31 AM, mz-s said:

 

The fact that they compete on price is simply a fact. I know that many people love Carnival and would cruise on them even if they're more expensive, but Carnival's chosen niche is to offer the best product they can at the lowest price.

 

That is not a slight against Carnival. Walmart competes on price whereas Target competes on experience. Walmart is the biggest B&M retailer the world has ever known. Last I checked Carnival is the biggest cruise line in the world, but that might be changing as Royal has built a ton of huge ships.

 

This is Cruise Critic, if you want Carnival cheerleading might I recommend a page on social media that is run by a certain overweight brit.

 

Agreed, and plus 1 for the "certain overweight brit" line. That was great. OT, but not sure why Carnival doesn't have a TEAM of brand ambassadors.

 

But the wife and I are pretty firmly imbedded in the Carnival brand since we are in San Diego and they have three ships in Long Beach. If NCL had a permanent ship in San Pedro (or god forbid), San Diego, we'd probably be more in the NCL ecosystem.

 

Do I love Carnival, meh, I could go either way. But I do enjoy NCL ships, I just wish they were more readily available in socal. If I lived in FL, I might feel different. 

[jimbo5544]

15 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

Agreed, and plus 1 for the "certain overweight brit" line. That was great. OT, but not sure why Carnival doesn't have a TEAM of brand ambassadors.

 

But the wife and I are pretty firmly imbedded in the Carnival brand since we are in San Diego and they have three ships in Long Beach. If NCL had a permanent ship in San Pedro (or god forbid), San Diego, we'd probably be more in the NCL ecosystem.

 

Do I love Carnival, meh, I could go either way. But I do enjoy NCL ships, I just wish they were more readily available in socal. If I lived in FL, I might feel different. 

Life is full of choices and selecting cruise lines and ships to sail on is one of them.  That said, the way you feel about Carnival is an overstated version of how I feel about NCL.  No right or wrong, just choice.  Good luck with getting an NCL ship (on any) in San Diego.  The itin options are just so limited…speaking of meh.

 

Cruising continues to change and evolve, more mega ships doing shorter cruises, going to fewer places.  Just the cruise lines following the dollar.  Does that make me happy?  Nope, but have not been asked.  Bigger monstrosity of the Seas bigger and uglier every 10 months reaches a saturation point (at 2 billion per), has to bust….sooner rather later.  Icon is possibly the weirdest, ugliest of the bunch, but the lemmings are paying stupid rates…so 

[Butterbean1000]

On 4/9/2024 at 4:31 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

I don't like the pizza. But sometimes it's all they have. I've been able to avoid it for the most part by eating a later dinner. I did just get a reuben from the deli on Spirit in February and it's not the same reuben I got a couple years ago.

 

It depends on the ship. Excel class has great food options. Freedom probably not so great.

 

 

I love a good Reuben and heard how good Carnival's were.  I tried one and it was mostly fat.  This was a few years back on one of the Conquest ships.  I would like to try it again on my upcoming cruise.  Are they still fatty?

[Saint Greg]

Just now, Butterbean1000 said:

I love a good Reuben and heard how good Carnival's were.  I tried one and it was mostly fat.  This was a few years back on one of the Conquest ships.  I would like to try it again on my upcoming cruise.  Are they still fatty?

It didn’t have much meat at all. This is from spirit in February 

 

 

This was Glory two years ago.

 

[ninjacat123]

I agree, the Rueben we tried on Freedom in Jan 2024 was pretty meh.

[mz-s]

They might as well get rid of the Deli on Carnival, it's positively disgusting now.

[Butterbean1000]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

They might as well get rid of the Deli on Carnival, it's positively disgusting now.

The Hubs really likes the meatball sandwich.  I liked the old deli.  Some of the best sandwiches I had on a Carnival ship was on the Fantasy.

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

The Hubs really likes the meatball sandwich.  I liked the old deli.  Some of the best sandwiches I had on a Carnival ship was on the Fantasy.

 

Wife says the meatball sandwiches aren't as good. All I know is the last time I ordered a sandwich from the deli it was still frozen in the middle and the meat was an unnatural shade of gray. And the fries tasted like they were cooked in dirty oil.

[RCLcruiser2012]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:04 AM, mz-s said:

 

My personal experience is that the food on Carnival is severely below the pre-COVID standard. I get attacked on here when I opine further so I shan't.

YES!  We were SO disappointed with the quality. Do the people that rave about Carnival food eat real food. The buffet was the most pathetic I have ever soon.  

[mkcurran]

On 4/9/2024 at 5:55 AM, kpwhalen830 said:

We sailed the 4 night, disembarked yesterday. It was by far the worst cruise ever. We last sailed carnival in 2009 and that was not very good either. We gave the line one more shot and will not cruise again on carnival.

1.The embarkation process makes no sense and takes forever. In the last 24 months we have sailed royal Caribbean, celebrity and Virgin. Their process is fast and streamlined. 

2. The water on the ship smelled and tasted like sewage. It wasn’t bad but noticeable. Very annoying since I could not get more than 1 bottle of water or a drink at the same time. 
3. Lines, lines, lines and more lines. What is the deal with lines for all food? We waited 45 minutes for pizza during dining hours. My daughter waited in line 3 times over a half hour for pizza. I wanted pizza more than once but I refused to wait in the line. Guys Burger joint? Forget about it. 
4. Do they put the newbies in the my time dining room? It took 30 minutes before we placed an order for drinks on the first night. They fumbled our orders for food around. It was just a mess. The 2nd night our service was great then it was garbage again on the 3rd night. 
5. why can’t I order a alcohol drink and a bottle of water at the same time? Some servers/bartenders were cool and let us do that but a majority did not. They received handsome tips and continued visits from us. 
6. the elevators suck, why the long waits all the time? I used the stairs more than ever. It’s not always cool doing a ton of stairs with a 5 year old. 

7. the wine list for the drink package is lousy, 2 Cabernet Sauvignon are available.

8. The food was not good, maybe ok. This seems to be a trend over all the lines. 
THE Short list of good stuff:

1. Our room steward Julius was probably the best we have had in years.
2. When the line for tacos wasn’t long they were good. 
Flame away or ask away. 

If you do another one, do a longer one that's not during spring break. It's almost like cruising on a different line.

I took a 4-day cruise once. I'd never do that again. Just a total different vibe from the crew to the passengers.

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, RCLcruiser2012 said:

YES!  We were SO disappointed with the quality. Do the people that rave about Carnival food eat real food. The buffet was the most pathetic I have ever soon.  

 

It was so much better a few years ago, just before COVID and during the initial restart. After that things went south very quickly.