Honest description of a Carnival cruise

[05mak05]

No line is as good or as bad as its loyalists and/or critics would have you believe. We sailed once with Celebrity, then two on Carnival, and we did HAL in June. HAL was nowhere near as "premium" as the loyalists profess it to be, just as Carnival is not anything close to "bottom of the barrel".

I, too, ditto the comment as this is one of the more astute observations I've seen on these boards. We expected Celebrity to be a notch above Royal Caribbean and Princess and thought the opposite was true. I also think that much depends on the particular ship.

[sail7seas]

My main fear about Carnival (and Yes, we have booked and boarded to sail a Carnival ship but they had engine problems, cruise was cancelled and we all had to leave.... didn't get to sail :eek:) is Noise.

I fear the loud speaker goes all day with announcements and music is screaming loud.

 

Is that accurate? Does that describe noise level?

 

Thanks.

[morecruise4me]

We went on Carnival in April 2008. We did not see "hoards" of kids, but there were a good many. Here is what we liked/disliked about Carnival.

 

Liked:

Buffet-soft serve ice cream!

Room-bigger than RC

Servers/Room stewards-every bit as kind, efficient, and friendly as any!!

High tea: loved the trio that played every afternoon and the little cakes.

Disliked:

Entertainment--Las Vegas style--not my style

Customer service-unconcerned to rude (think eyes rolling)

Ship layout-difficult to get around

 

Just my opinion. I'd sail 'em again if the price was right.

[eggypann]

While people under 21 (kids) weren't really the problem, it was the "atmosphere" of Carnival. Seemed like everyone from 2 to 92 decided that they could disregard all manners, party at all hours, talk loudly, press their way to the front of every line, demand immediate attention to their issues or needs at the expense of everyone else... Combine that with the garish decor, the ridiculous "contests" like 'hairy man" and "belly flopping" and such..

quote]

 

My last cruise was on a European cruise line called "Festival" which I found to be very similar to what the poster above stated. I have not cruised Carnival before but will be next Feb. and I booked after reading lots of postings and reviews here on CC. Perhaps it depends on WHEN you go - I most certainly wouldn't go over spring break or in the summer just because I know there will be far too many kids (and don't get me wrong - I love kids).

[hubofhockey]

My main fear about Carnival (and Yes, we have booked and boarded to sail a Carnival ship but they had engine problems, cruise was cancelled and we all had to leave.... didn't get to sail :eek:) is Noise.

I fear the loud speaker goes all day with announcements and music is screaming loud.

 

Is that accurate? Does that describe noise level?

 

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately, this is very true. Cruise Directors believe that they are constantly putting on a show for passengers and make frequent announcements. They also do both AM and PM shows that are shown on the big screen TVs on the pool deck.

[sail7seas]

Thank you. That, in itself, is enough reason we cannot sail Carnival. I hate constantly loud just for the sake of being loud.

 

Screeching music to me is just noise and not music.

Constant babble in the loud speaker would be very unpleasant IMO

 

[happy cruzer]

Thank you. That, in itself, is enough reason we cannot sail Carnival. I hate constantly loud just for the sake of being loud.

 

Screeching music to me is just noise and not music.

Constant babble in the loud speaker would be very unpleasant IMO

 

 

I have the same issue with noise. I recommend researching the exact ship that might interest you. I like to home port cruise. So I researched each ship sailing my home port for details and if the exact detail is not in the reveiw history I then ask on the cruise line board. For example, I was worried about the buffet on the ship, I asked about food selection, seating, and even out door seating on a particular ship. I got excellent pointers on how to get a quiet relaxed spot indoors and out doors (was even warned about the wind). My point is not all ships have the same issues for example not all Carnival ships have the big screens and some Princess ones do that make just as much noise. There is a family pool and an adult pool (its pretty quiet) on Carnival ships. Just like HAL ships vary. Most noise I experienced was on the promenade deck of Celebrity, yes they had speakers on the promenade deck playing soft rock mix so loud you could not hear the sea or wind. I believe they changed that after about 5 years.

 

OP, I would not rule anything out without doing the current research on the particular ship. Also research the itenarary and time of year on that ship to get even closer to your selected cruise.

[boating girl]

I've been on 5 Carnival cruises. I was disappointed with only one of the cruises; we unfortunately did know that spring vacations differ in different parts of the country and ended up a cruise with lots and lots of unsupervised children (8-14) who ran up and down the hallways all hours including after midnight. That said, I don't think the food, entertainment, or activities are significantly different than the other cruise lines. In fact, the cabins are larger than on Princess and the staff is much friendlier. I still prefer Princess or Royal Caribbean. And, in my opinion, Carnival is a step up from NCL.

[yogi2929]

...............

 

I typically do not take Carnival (as well as others) due to the rigid dining times. I try to take only cruises that have some type of anytime, freestyle (or whatever it's called) dining.

 

My suggestion is if it works, you'll enjoy Carnival just fine though.......

 

Carnival has Anytime Dining on several (most?) of their ships now. It is supposed to go fleetwide soon.

[beachchick]

I truly don't understand the idea that Carnival = Masses of screaming children. That is to say, I don't understand it when Carnival is being compared to other mass market lines. There are just as many children on RCI and NCL, and probably more on Disney. There are certainly fair numbers on Princess and Celebrity. I don't know about HAL though.

 

Is it the belief that the children of families who cruise on Carnival are "worse" than those who cruise on the other lines? If so, it seems to me to be part and parcel of the knee-jerk "Carnival = Low class" reaction many people have. There can be (and members here can attest to the truth of this) masses of screaming children on RCI (and other mass market lines) when school is out of session, over holidays, and spring break. Just go to any of those forums and search for threads about the subject. You might find where someone was on a Christmas cruise on RCI and there were 1,200 children onboard. Most of them will have been well behaved, but some will have been little terrors. You might find a thread about a pack of children who made a spring break on NCL a living hell for the other passengers. There are any number of similar stories on most other lines, even Princess, which places a limit on the number of children onboard (or at least, they used to do so).

 

The number of children and how much they will effect a cruise has far more to do with time of year, length of cruise, and itinerary. On Caribbean cruises of 7 days during spring break, there will be hundreds and hundreds of children onboard. Period. On long off-season cruises, there will not.

 

The "party" atmosphere will be much higher on any short cruise, especially weekenders. And that is true regardless of whether you're on Carnival or another similar line. The older, smaller ships of all these lines will not have the amenities or layout or other "modern" things that the larger, newer ships have. Of course, maintenance is an issue, and I can't speak to exactly how Carnival maintains their ships in comparison to RCI, NCL, or Princess, but that's because we've cruiseed with those three lines and haven't yet cruised with Carnvial.

 

We absolutely would consider a cruise with Carnival, but it would be with the same "requirements" that we choose our other cruises: Off-season (not summer, not spring break time, not over the holidays); at least 7 nights; mid-size or larger ship with good amenities and preferably some adults-only areas (caveat: we have absolutely no interest in the truly huge ships--no Freedom or Oasis class on RCI for us; we'll stick with Radiance or Voyager class, our faves, or even Vision class, which is nice); variety of food options; casual dress option for dining in case we don't care to dress formally that cruise; price and itinerary.

 

I should probably note that my DH and I are self-confessed cruise line sluts who are not loyal to any one line. We know that no line is perfect and doubt that any line is horrific. I hope that everyone has great cruises on all the cruise lines.

 

beachchick

[alejorubi]

Ok, I read most of the posts and I didn't find the obvious that you read on most of the posts:

 

The first thing you have to do is define what type of cruise are you looking for. As it's said, HAL is for a very relaxing trip with almost no kids, Princess more romantic and a lot of pools to spread crowd and Carnival for party active people who although wants to relax also to have a blast on board.

 

I think all cruises are amazing when you find what are looking for. If you want to read a book and sleep on the pool deck, don't go on Carnival but if you want activities through all day long book it. You will have an awful time and complain about everything if they aren't the vacations you spected

[DanJ]

Unfortunately, this is very true. Cruise Directors believe that they are constantly putting on a show for passengers and make frequent announcements. They also do both AM and PM shows that are shown on the big screen TVs on the pool deck.

 

I certainly didn't experience that last week on the Pride. There was a morning announcement sometime just after 10am with a rundown of the upcoming activities, a noon announcement from the bridge on sea days and another mid afternoon announcement for upcoming activities again. That was it. No "bingo starts in 10 minutes", "art auction in 15 minutes" etc announcements I remember on the Caribbean Princess last year.

 

There was a band at one of the pools and you heard them at that pool. The only other music you heard was the background piano music along the lower public decks.

[megr1125]

Unfortunately, this is very true. Cruise Directors believe that they are constantly putting on a show for passengers and make frequent announcements. They also do both AM and PM shows that are shown on the big screen TVs on the pool deck.

 

Yes I agree..although a relative has been in a rehab/nursing home for 2 weeks now and to be honest..THEY make more announcements here than I have heard on ALL 9 of my cruises added together!:rolleyes::eek: People here are supposed to be building strength to go home...i do not give a rat's bottom that there is a marshmellow festival! (and you do NOT have to tell me that 6 times in a hour!):mad:

[hubofhockey]

I certainly didn't experience that last week on the Pride. There was a morning announcement sometime just after 10am with a rundown of the upcoming activities, a noon announcement from the bridge on sea days and another mid afternoon announcement for upcoming activities again. That was it. No "bingo starts in 10 minutes", "art auction in 15 minutes" etc announcements I remember on the Caribbean Princess last year.

 

There was a band at one of the pools and you heard them at that pool. The only other music you heard was the background piano music along the lower public decks.

 

Yes, it may be different on the older class ships. The new Conquest Class and Spendor and Dream with the big screens I assume all have the AM and PM shows by CDs and Assistant CDs shown on those big screens. I found it intrusive as well as bingo, art auction, and other announcements. That may not be the case on the older or smaller ships. You may disagree. But there is a huge difference between the role of the CD on Carnival (in your face & announcements) and their counterparts on Princess.

[Clutterlady]

I certainly didn't experience that last week on the Pride. There was a morning announcement sometime just after 10am with a rundown of the upcoming activities, a noon announcement from the bridge on sea days and another mid afternoon announcement for upcoming activities again. That was it. No "bingo starts in 10 minutes", "art auction in 15 minutes" etc announcements I remember on the Caribbean Princess last year.

 

There was a band at one of the pools and you heard them at that pool. The only other music you heard was the background piano music along the lower public decks.

 

You were lucky! The CD on the Carnival cruise I was on was really annoying! Constant announcements all day long......honestly heard very few announcements on any of our Princess cruises. Perhaps just the luck of the "CD draw":)

[sail7seas]

Ok, I read most of the posts and I didn't find the obvious that you read on most of the posts:

 

The first thing you have to do is define what type of cruise are you looking for. As it's said, HAL is for a very relaxing trip with almost no kids, Princess more romantic and a lot of pools to spread crowd and Carnival for party active people who although wants to relax also to have a blast on board.

 

 

One major correction if I may:

 

To say HAL has almost no kids is not so.

Sure, on a 110 day World Cruise, you will not find many children. DUH!!! ;)

 

On a 65 day Pacific Rim cruise, there will be few children (Maybe some home schoolers.)

 

But on any holiday cruise, Easter cruise, many/most seven day Caribbean cruises, you will find a fair representation of children. Holiday cruises on HAL are filled with many generations of family cruisers. Groups of 15-20-30 etc of all ages gather their families and they all cruise. Lots of kids!

 

Spring break on HAL ships in the Caribbean, loads of kids.

Short cruises of ten days and under will have just as many kids as Celebrity, Princess, etc

 

Been there, done it, seen it any number of times and know it to be true.

[wwinfl91]

I'll add our one experience on Carnival on the Legend in September 2007. We sailed from Tampa and the cruise began with a bad experience when money and travelers checks were stolen from our carry-on luggage while it was sitting in the main lobby of the ship. My wife had to use the restroom and I must have been distracted as someone got into one of the carry-on's and took the carry-on which was later found. Luckily they left our passports. Because it happened after we had boarded the ship it almost had to be one of the other passengers. I will also agree it was my fault for not keeping my hands and eyes on all the carry-on luggage but it has never happened on any of our other 18 other cruises on other cruise lines.

 

After this experience started our cruise I will say the pursor's staff worked with us in getting in touch with AmEx to cancel the travelers checks and the cruise staff did find the bag in one of the restrooms on the ship.

 

We had booked a suite for this cruise which was a 7 day western Caribbean leaving from Tampa because my wife was under going chemo treatment and we weren't sure she would be getting out and about a lot and a cabin with more space and more amendities seemed the way to go.

 

The cabin was large as was the balcony and did have a slighly bigger bathroom with a tub. Other than that there were few extras in getting a suite. Other cruise lines offer special lounges or special ammenities for suite passengers but Carnival doesn't seem to follow this trend. I knew this before we boarded but still hoped for a little something extra but didn't seem to find it. The cabin steward did a good job of keeping the cabin clean and although the cabin and its decor were in need of some refurbishing everything seemed to work.

 

The ships decor was very strange and even at times weird. The lido dining area is decorated with scenes from medieval europe. Other parts of the ship has scenes from various Greek and Roman legends. There are urns everywhere in the public area. It was almost funny to see them in as many places as they were.

 

We had been on Costa's Atlantica which has the same deck plans and design as the Legend several years earlier and although it wasn't our favorite cruise the ship had a much better interior decor.

 

One of our biggest complaints was the food in the dining room mainly. At times it was almost unedible. My wife got a steak one evening that was so tough we couldn't cut it so we sent it back and they sent back one just as tough. We tried chicken next which was at least edible but it meant we were the last people other than the servers in the dining room. You can imagine how popular that made us with our waiter and his assistant. Every night the waiters would parade around the room singing and dancing for some reason we never could tell why. Once a cruise this is fun but every night is overdoing it. Several nights we had a really hard time to find anything we really wanted to order off the menu which is really unusual for us on a cruise.

 

Another main complaint was the ship was just not well maintained. There was a really nice glass chandileir in the main dining room with light bulbs out and cow webs all over it and it stayed that way the whole cruise. We would take a walk in the afternoon each day to the library and there were two or three glasses that sat on a window sill for at least 4 or 5 days. I finally mentioned it to one of the few cleaning people I saw in the common areas and they finally got removed.

 

Another problem was the other passengers. Many of them did not seem to be able to read or they wouldn't have been lighting up their cigarettes and even cigars in areas that was marked as not smoking. It was the most smoke filled casino I have ever been in on any ship or even on shore. Generally many of the people seemed to be trying to do everything as fast as they could and if they had to stomp over you to get there they would. My wife was having some balance and walking problems so she was using a cane and we were walking slow with me helping support her and we were bumped into numerous times with almost never a "I'm sorry" spoken.

 

Anyway we have been on HAL, Princess, RCCL, Celebrity and Costa as well as Carnival and the only one we will NOT book another cruise on is Carnival. And yes I understand that Carnival corporation owns HAL, Princess and Costa. I also own Carnival stock but I won't cruise again on a Carnival ship unless they give me the cruise and I would have to somehow con my wife into going.

 

Anyway Carnival ships have a following and they can be very vocal so I'm sure my opinions will result in a few additional flames for this thread.

 

To each his own and have a great next cruise (just not on Carnival).

[davenew]

Can anyone tell me about your experience on a Carnival cruise. We see some good deals on them in comparison to other lines, but I always heard that they were the "bottom of the barrel" in the cruise pecking order and never considered taking one.

 

To be honest, kids are cool, but we have visions of hordes of screaming kids all over and a ship with a decor like day care. (flame suit is on)

 

If you look at members reviews for Carnival ships, the negatives are in a small minority an usually follow some personal grievance with Carnival or pre cruise event and not the actual cruise.

 

We've only been on 3 previous (all Balconies) with a fourth in 30 days -2 x Valor, 1 x Pride, with Feedom to come.

So far, they have been great value for money. The dining room, food, selection and service have always been of a high standard. The buffet food is good for buffet, even when passengers obliterate the presentation. The Supper Club is as good as any top quality restaurant ($30 supplement).

 

The theatre shows have always been good (better on Valor).

 

Lets face it, where else can you get a balcony room, great dining, service and entertainment for $750 for 7/8 nights.

 

I dont think Carnival do a bad job!!! :)

[Happy ks]

My honest description of our one Carnival cruise is not full of positives, but there were a couple.

 

The food was better than we expected, but we don't expect much from cruise ship food. The photographers were the best we've ever encountered on a cruise ship.

 

The negatives for us were: the stench permeating the whole ship of stale cigarette smoke, the decor of the ship was butt-ugly, the cabin was hideously ugly, we called it our camper shell. Not very good service in the dining room nor our cabin. Constant blaring of announcements and loud music at the pool, but I don't go to the pool much, so you can avoid that.

 

One of the pullman beds was cracked where it was attached to the wall and we feared it would break in the middle of the night, so we called to have it repaired. They did repair it and left sawdust all over the cabin, a lot of it, we called to have it cleaned up and they didn't clean it until we were at dinner (we had late seating). Problem was, the repair had been done while we were at breakfast, so we had to deal with sawdust after returning from shore and getting the 4 of us ready for dinner.

 

Other days, the cabin steward came and turned down our beds at 3:00 in the afternoon :rolleyes:

 

This was in 2001, we have gone on several other lines since and my family glares at me if I even mention Carnival.

[momofmeg]

I have taken 4 Carnival cruises. Only 1 I disliked. My third cruise. That was because the non smoking lounges had little to no entertainment-this was after Carnival went to the smoking and non smoking lounge policy. The smoking lounges we found unbearable, since smokers were concentrated there, because of the new policy. However, before this policy, when one side of a lounge was smoking and one side nonsmoking, we had no problem.

 

We took one more cruise with Carnival after this. Carnival Miracle. This ship, we found had good entertainment in the non smoking lounges-so we enjoyed it.

 

As far as "butt ugly" decor-nope I don't like Canrival decor-but I have been told it is very "Vegas." I have never been to Vegas, my hubby and daughter went twice, but I have never had a desire to go to Vegas.

 

Honestly though, I have been on 3 ships that I really found the decor beautiful. Two HAL ships and one Disney. The other ships, not Carnival, the decor was okay, nothing special.

What I find ironic, is many that love Vegas, often comment on the Carnival decor. Is the decor really Vegas?

 

Bottom line, Carnival is not my favorite line. Would I cruise them again? Yes, if the itinerary and price was right. But if the itinerary and price are similar with a line I prefer (such as HAL or Celebrity) I will pick the other line.

[CC Help Michell]

Can anyone tell me about your experience on a Carnival cruise. We see some good deals on them in comparison to other lines, but I always heard that they were the "bottom of the barrel" in the cruise pecking order and never considered taking one.

 

To be honest, kids are cool, but we have visions of hordes of screaming kids all over and a ship with a decor like day care. (flame suit is on)

 

Depending on the time of year you sail any of the major cruiseline's ships may have "hordes of screaming kids." I recently sailed Carnival again after several years and I was very impressed at the overall experience.

 

I think mainstream cruises are more alike than different, though -- and nothing about my Carnival cruises this summer changed that view. It was good, the service was fine, the entertainment was enjoyable, the food was very good in most cases -- a good, solid cruise experience. But I purchase cruises based on itinerary and price, in that order -- when those things are equal then I think about the cruiseline.

[momofmeg]

 

I purchase cruises based on itinerary and price, in that order -- when those things are equal then I think about the cruiseline.

 

Michell, I am at the point that I am sick of cruising Cozumel, Nassau, and Grand Cayman. So I am more interested in the different itineraries. I noticed Carnival offers several 8 day/round trip Ft. Lauderdale cruises that are southern caribbean ports. They interest me. So perhaps, I will cruise Carnival again, to do different Caribbean ports.

 

Princess does offer simliar ports on a 10 day itinerary. If I can get a good price on Princess (and I go by price per day-NOT per cruise) I will go up to $30 a day more-for Princess (or Celebrity or HAL)-but when it gets to be more than that-it is not worth it to me-just to have a nicer line with the better itinerary. I fit is that much more per day,then I will consider the Carnival 8 day or the NCL 9 day southern caribbean ports cruises.

[ducklovemama]

Well' date=' don't believe what you hear and read.

 

I just completed my 66th on Carnival...with 67 coming up soon. My first cruise on them, I was around late 30's. I'm now late 60's and still enjoying the heck out of the cruise experience with Carnival. Good food, beautiful ships, friendly staff, great itineraries and the best prices in the industry.....AND, there is no "nickle and diming" with them.

 

FYI: Over 32+ years of travel, I have around 250 cruises under my belt and have been on most cruise ships....including many now defunct. Each has it's own atmosphere, it's own fun, it's own clientele. I've never had a bad cruise whether it was RCCL, NCL, Princess, Cunard or whoever.

 

Most people who yap on and on about Carnival have never stepped foot on one of their ships or haven't cruised on them since the late 70's when they owned 3 tiny little ships and had a "party boat" reputation.[/quote']

 

 

 

I agree with you 100% I really like your positive way of thinking:)

[DanJ]

One major correction if I may:

 

To say HAL has almost no kids is not so.

Sure, on a 110 day World Cruise, you will not find many children. DUH!!! ;)

 

On a 65 day Pacific Rim cruise, there will be few children (Maybe some home schoolers.)

 

But on any holiday cruise, Easter cruise, many/most seven day Caribbean cruises, you will find a fair representation of children. Holiday cruises on HAL are filled with many generations of family cruisers. Groups of 15-20-30 etc of all ages gather their families and they all cruise. Lots of kids!

 

Spring break on HAL ships in the Caribbean, loads of kids.

Short cruises of ten days and under will have just as many kids as Celebrity, Princess, etc

 

Been there, done it, seen it any number of times and know it to be true.

 

That's good to hear because we really loved our honeymoon cruise on HAL and would love to sail them again, with the kids.

[Happy ks]

I have taken 4 Carnival cruises. Only 1 I disliked. My third cruise. That was because the non smoking lounges had little to no entertainment-this was after Carnival went to the smoking and non smoking lounge policy. The smoking lounges we found unbearable, since smokers were concentrated there, because of the new policy. However, before this policy, when one side of a lounge was smoking and one side nonsmoking, we had no problem.

 

We took one more cruise with Carnival after this. Carnival Miracle. This ship, we found had good entertainment in the non smoking lounges-so we enjoyed it.

 

As far as "butt ugly" decor-nope I don't like Canrival decor-but I have been told it is very "Vegas." I have never been to Vegas, my hubby and daughter went twice, but I have never had a desire to go to Vegas.

 

Honestly though, I have been on 3 ships that I really found the decor beautiful. Two HAL ships and one Disney. The other ships, not Carnival, the decor was okay, nothing special.

What I find ironic, is many that love Vegas, often comment on the Carnival decor. Is the decor really Vegas?

 

Bottom line, Carnival is not my favorite line. Would I cruise them again? Yes, if the itinerary and price was right. But if the itinerary and price are similar with a line I prefer (such as HAL or Celebrity) I will pick the other line.

 

I don't much care for Vegas, even the newer hotels. I think it's because I'm a former smoker (21 years now) and cannot stand the smell. I'm not crazy for garish decor. There are a few nice things in Vegas, some of the shows we've seen have been great. We're just not into crowds like we've experienced in Vegas, the strip is wall to wall people. Although we've heard not this year :cool:.

 

The one Carnival ship we were on was neon lights, bright colors (a whole lot of orange and green), it was more like Downtown seedy Vegas than the Strip. The Atrium area was like being in the middle of an Austin Powers movie set, all plastic and cheesy "sculpture". Every elevator landing had the same pictures and they weren't particularly nice. Other ships we've sailed in the past have beautiful atriums, interesting art, understated elegance and the neon is only seen to the disco bars.

 

I will say that our one experience probably isn't accurate of the whole line and many people love Carnival. Although I don't care to judge the whole line on one experience, we probably will not cruise with them again unless we are a part of a group that is sailing Carnival and we want to be a part of that group.