Reviews - Sincere or Fabricated?

[petro772]

The OP and his W were constipated (if you get my drift).

[Mooneydiva]

I'm not going to repeat what everyone said about the very negative review because I think I can't add anything to the comments. I can say that when I read something that is so one-sided, be it positive or negative, I become quite suspicious. Nothing is perfect, and, by the same token, nothing is completely horrible.

 

Thought for the day after reading that post:

 

Happiness is a CHOICE we make everyday. :D

 

OK. . .How long to I have until vacation? :cool:

[Talltales]

I worked for Club Med for 3 years in 7 different villages. I always thought the Club was sort of a cruise on land. Anyway, some people can not be pleased. I remember one week when rained every day, for 7 straight days. We did our best to offer fun diversion and can't control the weather. That group of vacationers gave us the finger as they left. Anohter time I ran into people who remembered me from another village. The week they vacationed not only did it rain, but it was a new village and almost every roof leaked. The dance floor was so flooded we put windsurfers there. Guess what? They said it was the best vaca of their lives. It's all in your attitude. And the guy with the crappy review has a matching attitude! Bet most everyone else on that same cruise had a blast. Oh, he is right about the food not being so great.....but I can get great food anywhere. I love Carnival! :)

[enchantress13]

OP is a snob "oohhh my limo won't wait for me, I'm going to miss my flight" if he's in the limo by 11am and at the airport by 11:30a and barely making his flight what happend to making your flight arrangements after 2pm to avoid these issues as Carnival states you should. HHHMMM me thinks a panic attack could have been avoided if OP listened and did as he was supposed to, but alas snobs think there better than all others and the rules don't apply to them hence the reason for the panic attack and over exaggerated review of the events that actually happened. I think I will pack some valium to slip to future ship mates such as these lol Just Kidding!!!! :eek: :D

[jeffdal]

I was under the impression that not all reviews submitted were chosen for publication. I'm really surprised that cruisecritic would choose that one. It's not a balanced review at all. I have no problem with reviews that objectively show warts and all but I tend to ignore the ones that are over the top either way. I too have a hard time believing that there's absolutely nothing good a person can say about their cruise. It can't all be bad.

 

I was surprised that the review was accepted for publication. Spefically, it degrades other passengers.

[seamama1]

In all honesty, and it's because I didn't read the post above yours, I thought you were talking about the link in the OP:eek: . Had me wondering there for a moment Sea:D

 

Sorry - I should have referenced.....my bad!:(

[ILuvCarnival]

Here is another one... Just posted:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=362956

 

Can these people be real?

[Astronomer]

Here is another one... Just posted:

 

 

 

Can these people be real?

 

You do realise that Curt was... kidding.. that was a parody of a review.

[joepeka]

You do realise that Curt was... kidding.. that was a parody of a review.

Yep, CJW gotcha with that one.... it's hilarious.

[ILuvCarnival]

Ahhh... OK, no I did not know that... But I was looking through other reviews and there are a ton that definetly are not.

[joepeka]

Ahhh... OK, no I did not know that... But I was looking through other reviews and there are a ton that definitely are not.

You are absolutely right and as other posters before me have said, there are many reasons for it but just remember that for every legitimate (OK, even the illegitimate), bad review, there are hundreds (thousands?) of very satisfied cruisers. Take it with the proverbial grain of salt.

[ILuvCarnival]

Joe,

 

I agree. As you can certainly see by my past cruises (as a guest, always on Carnival), and the fact that I was a C.D. for several years, I love crusing. I really miss the days of living on board.

 

I am seriously considering getting back in the business. Since my days as a C.D. I have owned and operated an entertainment company here in the USA. As well as my wife owns a "Cruise Only" travel agency.

[rt63]

You do realise that Curt was... kidding.. that was a parody of a review.

 

Heh, it had all the content the other "review" was missing. Almost read my mind on the funnel deck stuff. He did a much better job, although somewhat more obviously a parody. Very balanced approach, using an LA departure instead of picking on the New Yorkers. :rolleyes: I laughed, I cried, I booked my next cruise!

 

(See, we can now review reviews... this cries for a new section, "Comedy", but of course then they'd have to move half the threads there.)

 

Still, I can think of (more than) a few areas that have been missed ... we need more creative writing, folks! :D

[mrw1906]

Maybe you should try another cruise line to compare.

 

Some consider Carnival to be the Denny's of the cruise lines. But a lot of people eat at Denny's

[80sramfan]

The review the OP sites is a lie and has no reason to be on this site. If you can't tell it's a lie then you have no one to blame but yourself.

[mudpievelour]

Didn't the OP say he had been on this ship before? Then he complained about the decor. If he knew the decor was so not to his liking before he boarded the ship, why did he sign up for this ship again?

[cathyoo]

This one sentence gives you a clue as to the attitude of the OP (of the review) upon boarding. The OP ( of the review) was not looking for good service and therefore "saw" none. Saying everything negative is probably the OP's justification in removing the tips right off the bat.

 

 

As soon as I read this remark I knew that I would not be giving any credence to this reviewer's opinion.

[realtreebar]

original post was 3 years ago and you comment as if it were yesterday let the post die:eek:

[Traveler353]

One cruise line was paying people to write bad reviews of ships that they had never sailed on. Maybe this was one of them and maybe it is still going on.

[DocF]

I just finished reading a review of a ship belonging to a different cruise line. The poster hated the cruise, yet the only thing he could pin point was a couple in the neighboring stateroom who talked too loudly on their balcony for about an hour before sailing. This evidently ruined the whole cruise for him.

 

I think some people go through life with such a negative attitude that they expect to be dissatisfied.

 

If DW and I let every little thing bother us, we would not go cruising. There are always glitches, but most a very minor.

 

We have had four minor issues on our previous cruises.

 

One time, the invitations to the past guest party were not delivered to our cabins (on our whole passageway) until after the party. We talked to Guest Services and they investigated. They found it was their error and not the stewards. They also resolved the issue with 10 drink coupons which I felt was more than fair.

 

Same cruise, we had an issue with the a broken shade on one of the bedside lights. Called Guest Services and within a few minutes an electrician arrived with a tool kit. He said, "Broken light?" I showed him the problem and he said, "Back soon." (His English was very basic.) He came back with a shade. Problem solved.

 

Again, same cruise, A foul odor developed in the passageway outside our stateroom. We mentioned it to the steward. He decided it was coming from a locker which contained a plumbing stack. He called someone and suggested we also call Guest Services. We did. A workman showed up and poked around and said, he needed to talk to someone. An officer from the environmental department came buy, and talked to us. We had two working men, the officer, two stewards, and DW and me all discussing the issue. It was decided that nothing could be done until the ship was in port.

Later, we received a nice letter and a very nice gift from Carnival because of this.

 

On a different cruise, we had the drain on the shower back up. The whole bath had water almost 2 inches deep. We called Guest Services. This was in the middle of the night, close to 1:30 AM. A plumber showed up in a few minutes and he looked at the mess and said, the drain was plugged with long hair. He did a trick with a little plunger and cleaned in right out. He said he would have the steward come in an disinfect and restock the bath that night. We told him it would be fine if he did that in the morning. The steward did exactly that the next morning. Problem solved.

 

The point I am making is I could have overblown any or all of these into a blue funk and hated the cruise. Instead I used the available resources and resolved the problems and went on with my life.

 

Now I have two issues from our last cruise that I need to figure out how to resolve. These involve lack of follow through from a senior crew member on the ship. I have not addressed these as yet with Carnival as I am not sure how to go about this right now. I want blame placed where it is due and this person counseled to do better in the future. The lack of follow through created two issues which detracted from our enjoyment of the cruise, but they certainly did not ruin it.

 

I guess I have gone on a whole lot to say that some people need to get a life and learn to come to grips with the real world.

 

Doc

[kyrisong1]

is that i will be taking my first cruise ever with my family sept., 2. i'm already anxious about this especially with it being peak hurricane season but my family is soooo excited. reviews like that just feed ny fears of have i made the right choice. plus the obese insult, my son has a mental disorder and this has caused extreme obesity (willis-prater and tourettes), also as a middle aged mom, i have alot of extra luggage around the waist. i hope not all cruisers spend they're vacation judging the way others look. thank goodness most of what i read here puts my mind at ease and alows me to start getting excited. i wish the person who wrote such terrible things knew how it could impact first timers and how angry, cruiser or not, the obesity remarks made me. my son has had to deal with morons like this all his life. this is his graduation present.i agree with you all. noy everything could go wrong and from what i read, the captain and crew keep passenger safety priority one.

thanks for letting me vent

Hi there!!! I would not worry about what others think, if there are some people (and there are always gonna be those people) that are so judgemental that they are going to notice what other people are eating or what their weight is, well then you can just feel sorry for them.

Really what in their life is so messed up that they have to obsess over what others are doing or what weight someone is??? To be able to tell you how much food someone has on their plate, it makes me LMAO at them.

Can you say control issues? LOL

Take that son on the trip and ignore the ignorant. Have a great time and enjoy what the ship offers, turn your son on to all those wonderful discoveries made by cruising. Remember that other peoples problems are indeed their own and you do not have to own it for them.

Have a ball!!!

Carole

[GOLDENBONNY]

Many of you know that I used to work on a cruise ship in a senior (non-officer) role. I can honestly tell you that everyone on board works very hard to make sure that every guest has a top notch vacation.

 

For years, I have been coming on the internet to read reviews from actual guests. I always find some that seem puzzling...

 

I understand that first time cruisers sometimes come on board not knowing what to expect and television can raise your expectations (Many people think the Captain will always be around to handle their needs personally, that there are elaborate buffets everywhere, all day long, etc).

 

BUT... May times I read reviews from guests who claim to be "experienced" cruise lines, and give very detailed accounts of their experiences...

 

BUT... In their review, they hated LITERALLY EVERYTHING about their cruise, in every detail...

 

Check this one out for instance: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=18578

 

Now... being in the business for a long time, I know that their cruise could not have been THIS BAD. So I am wondering...

 

1. Are they really NOT experienced cruisers and just have a very high expectation of what they should have expected?

 

2. Did they just board with an already soured view of how things would go, and it just affected their view of everything? Or did the very first thing that made them angry (Travel agents going first) sour the whole cruise for them?

 

3. Did the Carnival just really mess their vacation up, singling them out, and offending their vacation tastes at every turn?

 

5. Are they just not able to be satisfied in general?

 

I just find it very hard to believe that any cruise line experience can really be this bad... Especially when all of the reviews around them are exactly the opposite, everything is fantastic!

 

Again, knowing that everyone works very hard to make it the vacation of your dreams, I understand that no one is perfect, and sometimes mess up, but to have EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that you come in contact blow what we called "Good Show", and have your entire vacation ruined? Hmmm...

 

Could it really have been this bad? I am just curious about your opinions about reviews like this one.

 

LOL REally I think its a bull from top to buttom,if other cruise lines hire people to wright this bull,they shoul find someone better.On Costa board I just saw revie of person who had 250 cruises:rolleyes: but it was his firs post post on CC:D

[Poomah]

All I can say is phony baloney....

[Stacey779]

I love reading ridiculously exaggerated reviews. I just think they’re hilarious. DH and I like to go through them to find the funniest bits. Two examples from reviews I recently read:

 

(1) The reviewer complained that the closet was “only big enough to fit our clothes.” Um… what else did you expect to put in there? Last time I checked that’s what a closet is designed for.

 

(2) The reviewer claimed the food was “inedible” and they “survived” on only french fries all week. Really? Come on now, it can’t be that bad. These people act like they’re on an episode of Survivor.

 

I think most of these complaints (legitimate or otherwise) could be eliminated if people simply had realistic expectations, did their research, and brought a good attitude on board with them. Happy cruising everyone! :D

[G'ma]

As a "seasoned cruiser" with over 250 cruises (67 on Carnival) over 32 years, here's how I look at reviews:

 

I know there is no such thing as a totally awful cruise. There is no incident or occurance that can totally "ruin" a vacation. There are so-so cruises, fabulous cruises, enjoyable ones, great ones, etc.

 

When I read a review, I'm first wanting to know how many cruises the writer has experienced and, preferably, which cruise lines. (There's a big difference between cruising on Windjammer Barefoot, Freighters, river cruises and huge glitzy floating palaces).

 

If the reviewer is an inexperienced cruiser - or new to the cruise line, I take most with a grain of salt....good, bad, indifferent.

 

What I look for is....how was the food, entertainment. What was enjoyed, what was only so-so. What was good about the ports...or what was not liked. Did the ship seem in good repair.

 

If there were truly problems, what were they and how were they solved...and by whom. (not enough ice in your bucket isn't a problem. Neither is your menu selection that you didn't like).

 

Someone who spends the whole review complaining about everything...or one or two things and doesn't give some sort of balance looses me, for sure.

 

Frankly, I don't bother reading reviews at all unless it's a ship I've not been on recently-or ever. If the reviewer isn't a cruising veteran, then I'm likely not to finish reading it.

 

Some folks have unrealistic expectations about any vacation, including cruising. Some feel that because they've "paid good money", they should be attended to day and night like royalty. Some expect ships crew, staff and officers to "hop to" and immediately attend to whatever bug they have up their nose.

 

Reviews are nothing more than personal opinions in most cases. Someone who has 10 or 15 cruises under his belt will hold my attention longer than a first or second timer.

 

This same thing goes for the whiners I sometimes see on board. I must say, however, they do provide a lot of humor.