ship--HOLIDAY.....need information

[mscreneet]

I have taken several cruises in the past and just prefer to sail carnival.

 

We will be sailing out on 1/1/07 on the Holiday.

I understand that this is a smaller and older ship but just wondering how the experience has been for some of you guys.

 

I very interested in the following areas if you can offer any details regarding your experiences

-camp carnival

-spa / fitness center

-food / restaurants

 

Im looking forward to being on a cruise this time of the year as we nomally go out during the spring and summer.

[Cotton]

Hi there. I've been on four delightful cruises on the Holiday....my favorite ship! Yep, she's the oldest and smallest of Carnival present fleet, but a great ship nonetheless.

 

There's no supper club on the Holiday, just the two formal dining rooms. I am a retired chef, F&B director, and caterer...and I LOVED the food on each of my Holiday cruises - just the same as other ships.

 

Camp Carnival, I'm sorry I can't help you with.

 

Spa - Nice, very nice. Book early if you want massages. I used the exercise bikes in the fitness room, but mostly walked around the walking track for my exercise. (No weight gain.):)

 

Enjoy your Holiday cruise!

[Montycruiser]

Have been on Holiday twice. Small ship but well kept. Dining great ,you will love the staff, they are wonderful.

 

Have a great holiday on the Holiday. We will be leaving on Glory, February 3rd can't wait:) :)

[Cruzman]

Going on my fourth cruise on the Holiday in February. Guess I must like her, huh? As Cotton said, she's Carnival's oldest and smallest, but, as they say in south La., "that don't mean a damn 'ting, I guarantee!" She has the friendliest staff and some of the best entertainment in Carnival's fleet; and did I mention the food? Oh yeah, Cotton addressed that and she oughta know! Have a great cruise on the Holiday!

[mowrider]

To the above posts. Our 3rd cruise on the Holiday is for Jan. 25th. The crew tries harder, food is as good as our last cruise on the Glory. Only down side is the ship has a bit of a vibration (not too bad) It's also easier to find your way around the ship. Not as many "bells & wistles" as the bigger ships, but still a real good cruise.:D

[RoperDK]

We've been on the Holiday 3 times. Mobile is 3 hours from our house so it is very convenient for us. I can't coment on Camp Carnival (no children) or the Spa/Gym. We just go to relax and spend a little time in the casino. As far as the food is concerned we really enjoy the dining room for breakfast and dinner. We have always had great service in the dining room. In fact, the crew throughout the ship is top notch. The buffet food is okay to us, not great, but not bad. I like the pizza very much. The ship is older and smaller, but she is in great shape. It always seems that the passengers are having a great time and enjoying themselves. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Dawn

[ihavecandy123]

My husband and I will be on this cruise with you!! Are you excited?? 11 days! :) We got upgraded... from inside to an ocean view.

[Cotton]

Yes, Dawn is correct about the dining room food. Excellent, and I have all three meals each day in the dining room. I don't much care for buffet food - same things as you can get at any buffet at home...;)

 

Also - Just ask for cappuccino or espresso for b'fast, lunch, and dinner. Not on menu for b'fast and lunch, but they'll bring it if you ask - complimentary, of course. Nice touch. I see you've been on Carnival before, so you must know how delicious the roast beef & brie on baguette (from room service) is - and the Reubens from the Deli. Can you tell I love food? LOL

[mscreneet]

Raven...Im so very excited and cant wait to go.

I keep going onto the weather website checking the weather in Cozumel.

 

I plan to start packing this weekend.

[Top-Cat]

I have not sailed the Holiday, but I did sail her sister ship the Jubilee. The two sips were identicle. As previously stated the food was Great. Gym was nice but small unless they have expanded since 2002. Get in there early because it gets crowded fast. We had to wait a bit for a machine.

[math_teacher]

 

I very interested in the following areas if you can offer any details regarding your experiences

-camp carnival

-spa / fitness center

-food / restaurants

 

Im looking forward to being on a cruise this time of the year as we nomally go out during the spring and summer.

We sailed on Holiday in October. Our two girls are 3 & 5 and went to Camp Carnival periodically. They didn't have a lot to offer that age group, but I think the older kids had more things to do. There would be several times each day that it would be closed for 2 hrs or more. That's was fine with us, it just gave us more time to have fun with the girls.

 

Never used the spa/fitness center but it was smaller than expected.

 

The food was great! The girls were even pleased with the selection of food and would basically get anything they asked for in the dining room even if wasn't on the menu that night.

[mscreneet]

Thanks everyone who responded

Im really looking forward to this cruise and just getting away.

I think ill call carnival to see if they can supply me with a brochure on their spa services and prices

I think im going ot book my fiance for a massage as a surprise gift.:D

[nowendy]

Just a note, the food off the menu of the night was excellant. ( oh, we just sailed on the 14th of Dec) One night we didn't like the choices and we ordered a filet, which you can order any night, and it wasn't very good. I guess we should of stayed with the provided choices. This was our 4th time on the Holiday. Two of the other times we had our children with us. At that time our little one was 4 yrs old. He loved camp carnival. Overall everything is up to par on the Holiday. It doesn't have all the glitz that the bigger ships have, but it is much easier to get around and the crew is wonderful.

 

We had a wonderful waiter, Andy from the Phillipines. He was alway cheerful and helpul and he was so cute.

 

Our room stewart, Samuel, was wonderful too. Everytime we saw him he had a big smile and a big wave for us.

 

Can't wait to go back

[ihavecandy123]

Raven...Im so very excited and cant wait to go.

I keep going onto the weather website checking the weather in Cozumel.

 

I plan to start packing this weekend.

 

Just to let you know- some of us from the cruise critic roll call are going to be meeting the first day right after the ship sails at 4:30 in the pizzeria if you and your fiancee would like to join us!

 

We haven't started packing, but I'm making my lists! :)

[waterbound]

We sailed on Holiday a few years ago as a getaway surprise for my fiancee.. We had a great time..but I am one who believes it is what you make of it.. Unfortunately I dont have much to tell you as we didnt use camp carnival on this trip because it was just me and him and no kids went that time, but I can tell you that we have used CC before on other ships and it was great.. the kids had a wonderful time!.. also we didnt use any spa services so I cant talk about that either.. but what I can comment on is the food!! Now its probably not a fair review from me and DF because as far as food is concerned we are easy to please :D.. I dont go for any of the fancy foods so I go for the buffet items at breakfast and lunch and I enjoy it, but then I always do.. DF goes for the more fancy stuff and he totally enjoys the dinners .... Never heard any complaints from him, but then as long as it doesnt bite him back, he's good to go.. lol.. This particular trip was all about relaxation and doing nothing.. it was a last minute surprise for him and really just to get away.. we did absolutely nothing on board other than shows at night.. we did some excursions in port but that was it.. it was wonderful and one of my favorite cruises..

 

Yes the ship is a little older and showed her age a little when we were on her but still a great time to be had.. I am also one who says a bad day at sea is always better than a good day at home! Now they may have done a little upgrading or so since we were on her which was a few years ago I believe but really she wasnt bad at all..

[KimtheCruiser]

Just got back yesterday - and thought I would give you the spa info - we didn't use Camp Carnival (but as the Cruise Director said - there were 500 kids on the ship, and if you didn't see them that much, they must be doing a good job!) They did have a Christmas show including the kids which was very cute.

 

I had a hot stone massage and a facial. The facial was excellent - very relaxing, and much longer than I expected. I had read on these boards that they use the hard-sell to try to get you to buy their products - they did not do it during the treatment, and I did not think it was that hard a sell. She basically told me to keep using my Clinique products, but she recommended just a couple of the products she'd used on me. I did buy a mask. The technician was Michelle, but this was her last cruise, so you'd have someone else.

 

I did not enjoy the massage as much. I have massages pretty regularly and prefer firm pressure, but Rona was just too rough - movements were not smooth, and she actually left me very sore. Again, no selling during the treatment, but she did push some of the oils afterwards.

 

Price-wise - they are about double what I'd pay at home - they did give a break for booking 2 services at the same time - came to $109 each.

 

I probably won't use the spa again - just not worth that money to me.

 

Fitness - the Aerobics instructor, Faith, is very sweet - enjoyed that very much. I did not use the fitness eqpt, but I was pleased to see that they had 4 treadmills, 1 elliptical, 2 stair steppers, a complete set of free weights, and several exercise balls. I was not happy that they charge $10 extra for each Pilates or Yoga class. I was offered 2 free classes because Faith could not get the music to work one morning for the aerobics class. I didn't go because we had other plans.

 

You'll have a great trip! We're all excited to book again.

[LuvChowDawgs]

I have cruised on three newer, much larger ships with longer voyages since I was on the Holiday. I liked Holiday much better! Hope that helps! Why not get the same amenities with one third the people? It is my fav too! Mike :D

[bri9646]

Going on the Holiday for the 4th time Jan 1. The 1st time was in 1992! She is a fun ship for sure! I have been on may other Carnival ships and other lines and this ship is one of my all time faves! The staff is always great.

 

The spa is nice and the kids seem happy in CC although I have never used that service.

 

I'm sure you will have fun!

[mscreneet]

ok.....now Im really excited, Just a few more days till we sail.

 

:p

[cruisindoggie]

I sailed on her in 1985 when she was the 4th largest cruise ship in the world behind the Norway, QE II and the Rotterdam. Wow! What a ship, I have sailed 10 times since on other Carnival ships, Sensation, Fascination twice and several RCCL ships and she is still my favorite.

 

Have a great time.

[mscreneet]

We just returned from a 5 day cruise on the Holiday.

I must say that I did truly enjoy my stay upon this ship.

 

The ship was definitly a lot smaller than the other ships Ive cruised on in the past however it did not spoil the fun.

 

Food:

The food was GREAT.

It almost seemed as if the menus / food choices on this ship were much better than the others.

 

Clubs:

There was really only 1 club to go to at night.

It was ok. They played a pretty good mix of music.

It wouldve been nice to have a few choices of clubs to go to.

 

Camp Carnival:

My son is 11 years old and my bestfriends daughter is 7.

They really did not care much for Camp Carnival except for the night when they had the late night slumber party.

On that night, you did not have to pick your kids up, they were bought back to the room by the counselors around 3:30AM

I went down to get my son around 1am and he did not want to leave, that was the only night he enjoyed at the camp.

Now on the last carnival cruises on the much larger ships, he really enjoyed Camp Carnival, he said the other ships had more activites.

 

Our Stateroom Steward "Bambang" was Awesome.

He was right on the dime with everything and left us needing "nothing"

 

Our dining room attendand "Ma Rachel" was also Awesome.

She moved pretty quickly and constantly had jokes to keep us entertained.

 

The only big difference we noticed was the feel of the ship.

We pretty much felt every move

I guess this is due to the age and size of the ship in comparison to the newer larger ships.

 

Still ..I cant complain, we had a ball!!!! :D

[eLav8]

Clubs:

There was really only 1 club to go to at night.

It was ok. They played a pretty good mix of music.

It wouldve been nice to have a few choices of clubs to go to.

 

When i sailed there were a few open at night...

 

Reflections - Dance/rap/club music most of the night

Doc Holidays - Mostly Karaoke through the evening

Tahitti Lounge - Live band usually for a good part of the night

 

All the while the shows are going on in the Americana Lounge, and/or parties on LIDO.

 

I don't think a ship this size could handle much more. I would love to have a larger variety in music, but the clubs were fairly empty as the hours got later.

[mscreneet]

When i sailed there were a few open at night...

 

Reflections - Dance/rap/club music most of the night

Doc Holidays - Mostly Karaoke through the evening

Tahitti Lounge - Live band usually for a good part of the night

 

All the while the shows are going on in the Americana Lounge, and/or parties on LIDO.

 

I don't think a ship this size could handle much more. I would love to have a larger variety in music, but the clubs were fairly empty as the hours got later.

 

 

The Tahiti Lounge was not used during the time that we were on the ship, with the exeption of a few private meetings I saw going on.

We tried going to Karaoke a few nights however there were no more than 10-15 people in the room (Doc Holidays)

So we pretty much stuck with the 1 club.

[conjr]

We are sailing on the Holiday in March. Before I resign the kids to Lido Deck for dinner every night, can someone tell me if they offer a kids menu in the dining room? (I'm thinking formal night so we can all get our pics taken dressed up).

[conjr]

We are sailing on the Holiday in March. Before I resign the kids to Lido Deck for dinner every night, can someone tell me if they offer a kids menu in the dining room? (I'm thinking formal night so we can all get our pics taken dressed up).