Carnival = the worst cruise line going
 

Our first cruise was with Carnival and we thought the staff was terrible. They were completely apathetic and couldn't care less what happened to the passengers. Sure enough <BR>they have a fire on another ship a few years later and I hear passengers complaining about the same things I complained about. <BR> <BR>For those of you that liked your Carnival cruise, you really need to try another cruise line and see how much better cruising can be. <BR>With every subsequent cruise that we took, we <BR>realized more and more that Carnival really was the bottom of the barrel. <BR> <BR>I remember walking around for 15 minutes looking for the dining room. After asking 5 crew members were it was (and they didn't know or didn't care enough to stop to explain), I stopped a "high ranking" member of the crew (he had several bars on his shoulder) and asked him were it was. He looked at me with a look like, "Why are you bothering me?" shrugged, and then walked away. <BR> <BR>The crew were smoking and drinking in our hallway all through the night, we had to request earplugs to be able to sleep. The day trips were routed to vendors that paid kick-backs to the crew and we were verbally insulted by room service after they failed to bring our room service over a 2 hour period and over 4 calls. <BR> <BR>In contrast (for example), when the sole of my leather dress shoe came loose, the steward <BR>sent it out at the next port of call and had it re-soled. <BR> <BR>I will never sail Carnival again. And when I hear about their new tipping policy, it makes me laugh. One more step to make the crew less accountable. What a joke.

Scott, couldn't agree with you more re/Carnival!!! Having sailed them several times, we got fed up --tried Princess and Holland America.No comparison.Never again on Carnival,even if it was a freebie!!

Please say it aint so. We just finished paying over $4000. Canadian dollars to fly to Miami to spend 7 days of hell on the Paradise? NCL has nice cruises but the smoke is so bad, thought smoke free would be so much more enjoyable.

Amen to you both for writing the truth about that "circus arcade of a cruiseline." My mother and I traveled via "The Traveling Carnival" in '92, and <BR>I'm still upset at the thought of that awful-run organization. And I can't imagine that anyone actually would enjoy one of those cruises. I could write a whole book, but the Cliffnotes version is that: 1. They abandoned us in Miami airport. We had to bus our own luggage from airport, as opposed to Royal Carib. who took care of all that, (as it's supposed to be). Okay, so the bus leaves with all the other folks, and because our luggage had not yet arrived (it came up on the conveyor belt 2 hrs later!!) Anyway, we and 4 others were left to fend for ourselves in Miami, and alas, we got on the bus at midnight, and then the hotel where we were at, there was no food, then we filled out documents at hotel, but weren't told that that was the pre-boarding process; next morning all of us "cattle" were herded to the front of hotel; told to identify our luggage (out of hmm, about 1,000 pieces) and then tell the porter to put it on the bus; Carnival left everyone's luggage unattended overnight in the parking garage of that hotel (I think it was a Hyatt or something). Now begins the fun part -- we waited in line at the Port Terminal building for oh, 2 hours, only to be told when we got up to the front that we were actually pre-boarded, and shouldn't have waited that 2 hrs. in line at the terminal. Carnival didn't bother to tell us at the hotel that the documents that we filled out was actually the pre-boarding process, yada-yada-yada. You get the gist. I lost 8 lbs on that cruise, because food was not plentiful. One day for lunch all they had by the poolside was barbecue beef sandwiches and some potato chips. Seriously, it was a real joke. Some passengers never did get their luggage at all! Debarkation was 10 times worse than the embarkation process described. <BR>They herded the "cattle" once again all AT ONCE in the foyer, et cet. It was just awful. A fistfight broke out because people were panicking and missing their scheduled flights out of Miami, and Carnival held us all up (quote) because there had been some stowaways on the ship, and they had to hold us all until they located them. <BR>It was horrific!!!!!! So anyway, Vinnie from New York yells at this guy who decided that he was more important than all the rest of the people. The guy decided to cut in front of all of us who had been waiting for hours. <BR>Now Royal Caribbean knows how to run an operation. They called us off the ship by color-coded card groups, and it ran very smoothly. But I'm with you, I'd never even accept a freebie from The Carnival Cruiseline -- where they treat you like a Clown!!!

Look out, you are treading on sacred ground here. I posted a smiliar complaint a few years ago about Carnival and after over 100 resposes (both pro and con) I got slammed for daring to put down a wonderful (?) line. <BR>If you look back on this board, you will find the post. <BR>But I couldn't agree with you more. <BR>Wouldn't sail on that line if it were free, it isn't worth the effort. <BR>SA

First off: Dana, try a paragraph break once in a while, it makes it much easier to read. <BR> <BR>Wahoo! I'm so glad to hear we are not the only one's who got screwed by that dreadful cruiseline. We were wondering if we were an isolated event, but by reading these, we aren't. <BR> <BR>Our cruise included these highlights: <BR> <BR>1. We tried to book the scuba tour that <BR>Carnival offered but they said it was "sold out." We were told to go another tour. The other tour had snorkling on an island (Stingray Island) that had only one outfitter and one food stop. We talked to other people on this trip and they said that they were virtual prisoners. <BR> <BR>We decided instead to charter our own scuba trip and walked down the dock. We found a scuba boat that would hold about <BR>60 divers. We paid (about 1/2 of what Princess was charging) and then got on board. The boat sailed right over to the princess ship to pick up, guess what? The princess divers. The princess officer says to our boat captain, "Sorry, no one signed up for the scuba trip." What? We were told it was sold out. <BR> <BR>When we told the scuba outfitter that we were told the trip was sold out he was livid. He said that for the past 2 months he had his business from Carnival <BR>shrink to only a few divers when they came into port. He said that he was still very busy with the other cruise lines. He also told us that "stingray island" offers kickbacks and bribes to cruise line employees to send business to them but the other cruise lines refuse because they put their passengers first. He asked us to please complain to Carnival and let them know about this. <BR> <BR>I wrote the president. No response. Called and left a message. No response. <BR>Emailed them. No response. <BR> <BR>2. Embarking took about 4 1/2 hours. It was pure hell. All other cruise lines have taken us from 2 minutes to 1/2 hour to board. <BR> <BR>3. Drunken teenagers screaming down halls and playing grabass until 5am every night. Fun ship my tail! It's an orgy ship. <BR> <BR>I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES <BR>IF YOU ARE A SINGLE MALE, AGED 19 AND HAVEN'T BEEN WITH A GIRL IN 6 MONTHS. You will likely get lucky on this cruise line and you don't have to worry about disturbing your neighbors. <BR> <BR>4. The crew was LAZY at best. Help was hard to come by. Government workers at the Federal Level have more attention to their jobs than these people do. <BR> <BR>Entrust my live to the CIRCUS Cruise Line again? No way.

I agree Carnival isn't the best line in the world but in all fairness to some of the crew, they were great and took excellent care of us. The best story I can share is the on-board priest (yes, I did say priest) partying it up with the young girls at the pool (and it wasn't pretty - use your imagine!) Although we were in our mid twenties when we took this cruise, I personally would never sail Carnival again. I agree the food was horrendous (especially on deck) and I couldn't wait to get a real meal when when departed in Miami.

Kiddingru---Sorry if I have given you the "shakes" re/your cruise on the Paradise,but look at the bright side-- even if you're on a ship full of nuts for a week, at least they can't smoke!!! <BR>That has to be worth something!! <BR>If you go on the western route, around 11p.m. or so,go up on deck and watch the drunks come back to the ship!It's fun-fun-fun!I have seen them come back in wheelchairs,carried back, crawl back, <BR>etc. <BR>Seriously, go with an open mind and a good attitude and you will have a great time. <BR> Happy Sails to you.

Kiddingru-- Re/ Paradise-- I had advised you to go on deck and watch the drunks come back to the ship around 11 or 11:30 p.m.--I forgot to mention I was referring to the port of Cozumel, Mex. <BR> Happy Sails

Thank you! We will have a great cruise on the Paradise, doing the Eastern circuit. Some of the boards refer to Carnival as the lowest bottom of the rung cruiseline with the lowest of all creatures. Another board has snobs bickering over whether people who cannot afford beaded gowns and tuxes should be able to leave their cabins on formal nights. Go figure! I can not decide which is worse. I'm just a middle-class Canadian, going on a well deserved vacation, who will follow all guidelines and rules. We could have been booked on the Dolphin's Seabreeze, (our 2nd cruise we took 7 yrs ago) which is now on the bottom of the ocean floor. That would put a damper on things. I guess I really believe you get what you put into a vacation so here's to positive thinking y'all!

We do hope that your cruise is wonderful. Just remember that we are all stating our opinion, from bad experiences that we have had. It doesn't happen to everyone. I am sure that you will have a fantastic cruise and don't forget to have a toast to all of us Carnival Haters out her. <BR>You will be on a ship and we will all be sitting here on dry land, there is something to say about that. SA

I can add to the misery - took the Jubilee a few years ago right before it was going into dry dock. But instead of waiting for dry dock, repairs started early during our cruise - wonderful paint fumes, areas blocked off (like one of the pools because tiles were coming loose so we got gyped there), and the best one was laying on deck and having construction work going on above you and getting sawdust blown down on you - when you are covered with sun tan lotion...get the picture? Of course wrote and complained and complained and re-wrote and only got a discount on a future cruise (ha!) and $50 check for 'dinner on them'. What a joke.

If you think Carnival is terrible-try its sister line-Costa. The Costa Atlantica is absolutely beautiful. The <BR>staff(front receptionists)absolutely <BR>HORRIBLE. They absolutely don't try hard <BR>enough to make people happy with their <BR>cruise line. They could care less. I <BR>would never go nor recommend the Costa <BR>Cruise lines(which I just found out is <BR>part of Carnival's line)Whatever.

<BR>If any of you readers believe all this nonsense, you must have your head in the sand. <BR> <BR>Paul

It is obvious that the only reason Carnival stays in business is because they either have lower fares (by cutting service) or by offering big incentives to travel agents to book their cruises. <BR> <BR>By Pauls responses, I think the latter is true. Yeah Paul, we all have our heads in the sand and we don't know what we are talking about. I think you need to take off the greenback shades and get a reality check. <BR> <BR>If anyone wants to talk to me personally about this cruise line, email me and I'd be happy to call you on the phone (my .20 cents ) and share my experience with that dreaded cruise line personally. <BR> <BR>Hey Paul, I don't get paid to slam Carnival, you get paid to sell it. So I wonder who has the most credibility here.

We took a 5 day Carnival Triumph cruise out of NYC in fall of "99. It was absolutley wonderful-food ,service,entertainment, cabin size were all terrific. Our TA recommended it and I trust her.

I am in total agreement with you Scott. Travel Agents have an incentive to sell different cruise lines. We as the consumer are just reporting what has happened to us, no incentives there in any way. <BR>Carnival is a great "first cruise" in my opinion, but then it is time for bigger and better things. Although I have known some that took their first cruise on Carnival and swear, because of their experiences, that they will never cruise again. <BR>It is really ashame that out of 10 cruisers that have gone on a Carnival Ship that about half will have had a bad experience. Those odds are not good, and sailing with them once was all I could handle. <BR>Bill, who wouldn't sail with Carnival if the cruise was given to me. <BR>

4000 bucks(even canadian) is a lot for a 7 day caribbean....shop around...got a killer deal to Northern Europe 1466.50 US per person for 14 day cruise on Celebrity departure mid-june, outside guarantee...have to do my own air but at these prices I'll use my own miles

Carnival is just different...its pretty much a drunken party boat if that is what want, then go...just don't be steered by self serving agents like Paulie who get override commissions and comps from bob dickinson....he has the least credibility of any poster on this board...research his dribble about Ren, Carnival and what is available online...

Sorry Folks, Carnival can't be the worst cruise line going...The worst is Orient Lines with that dreadful tub, the old Russian troop ship, Marco Polo. If you want to experience chronic depression, just book the Marco Polo. Our cruise from Hell was 3 weeks from Singapore to Sydney, the absolute worst vacation of our lives. The food,(I knew we had hit a new low when they served up cold mutton and cold baked fish in the buffet, an effort to recycle dinner from the night b/4) service, godawful cabin, and rotten attitude of the staff combined to create a seaborn nightmare. <BR>We took the cure to lingering awfulness a few months later on the inaugural of RC's Rhapsody. Oh Joy! What a contrast! Rhapsody gave us the best ever.