Carnival Cruises - V - P&o

[Scorpio1411]

Just come back from a weekender cruise on new ship Carnival Splendor. The ship was fantastic and the rooms were nice (although lacking tea/coffee making facilities). However, the service in the restaurants and bars was absolutely dreadful - no managers around to make sure things are being done properly, queuing to get served at the bar with just one barman, 1 or 2 waiting staff who wait at tables in some bars but not all, running out of Malibu and restaurant staff who ask what you want when they haven't even given you a menu to look at!!!! Never again. Having now tried another cruise line to see how they compare with P & O, I am so glad it was only for 3 nights and not a week or two. I will definitely, definitely be booking with P & O for all future cruises as they know how the British like things done and what they like regarding entertainment etc. The Carnival staff say their cruises are "fun cruises" - more like "chaos cruises". Sorry if this offends some people who have been on a good Carnival cruise but for me it will be "better the devil you know" from now on.

[English Tim]

Just come back from a weekender cruise on new ship Carnival Splendor. The ship was fantastic and the rooms were nice (although lacking tea/coffee making facilities). However, the service in the restaurants and bars was absolutely dreadful - no managers around to make sure things are being done properly, queuing to get served at the bar with just one barman, 1 or 2 waiting staff who wait at tables in some bars but not all, running out of Malibu and restaurant staff who ask what you want when they haven't even given you a menu to look at!!!! Never again. Having now tried another cruise line to see how they compare with P & O, I am so glad it was only for 3 nights and not a week or two. I will definitely, definitely be booking with P & O for all future cruises as they know how the British like things done and what they like regarding entertainment etc. The Carnival staff say their cruises are "fun cruises" - more like "chaos cruises". Sorry if this offends some people who have been on a good Carnival cruise but for me it will be "better the devil you know" from now on.

 

 

Don't you think your post is a little unfair?

 

CS has just debuted and will doubtless have a rusty crew.

 

I am sure your post would go down less well on the Carnival forum!

 

I am about to cruise on Carnival Freedom, but as Carnival have withdrawn from the Med next summer, I am considering Ventura or Grand Princess and hopped to this forum for information.

[StLucia]

We went on Carnival and had a wonderful time, but might hesitate to go again unless it was a good deal. We had excellent service in the restaurant. We also enjoyed Ocean Village, in fact it got us hooked into cruising. We're now working our way through the cruise lines to see which we prefer. RCI next, then P&O, then Celebrity, I suspect we will actually prefer Celebrity? They say variety is the spice of life, but you also tend to get what you pay for and the more you pay the more you expect?

[lostinvegas]

I went on the same cruise with Carnival and my only previous cruise experience was with P&O on Oceana. I agree on the bars situation.

 

I disagree with the resturant comments. We asked to see the hostess on the first night as my girlfriend has a gluten alergy. She delt with all our needs and was fantastic for the whole cruise.

 

In the US most hotels don't have tea and coffee, that seems to be a british thing

 

I found Carnival and P&O very similar in standard. I would say the P&O crew were slightly better but the quality overall was very similar. The nice thing about Splendour was the big casino even if you couldnt get a drink ;)

 

I have booked P&O again but that really was based on itinery more than anything else.

 

Chris

[Taffygirl]

Hi,

 

 

 

Only having cruised with P&O/Princess we did not know what to expect from a Carnival cruise--so went with an open mind.

 

I would agree with some posters that there were a few glitches on this ship--mainly slow service.

 

The food,entertainment and the fantastic staff would knock spots off my last cruise with P&O(31st May 08).

 

I would not hesitate to book Carnival again,so different to P&O-but a great cruise never the less.

 

Taffygirl