I would highly recommend Celebrity, American/Hawaii, Princess and
Royal Caribbean cruise lines to you. I have never
had a problem on any of these cruise lines.

My, my what an enticing trail I have found! I was reading Fielding's when I came upon the SueS.A. saga and had to come here and read more for myself. It was worth it to find this sight and see such lively debate. I must agree with the opinion that different lines are for different clients. My wife and honeymooned on the Festivale, a former Carnival ship, and I enjoyed it. We recently went on a Holland American cruise that I can only describe as a retirementlong term care facility on water. I did enjoy it ,but only by looking forward to the next port. Old men with cigars terrifying me by walking to close to their fellow passengers oxygen bottles. Shuffle-board crazed cruisers jamming elevators to their limits, and some complaining about the noise of the "rock"band in the show lounge, were only quaint for a couple of hours. Our next voyage will take place on the Carnival Destiny in a night-owl cabin. Some genius forgot about the disco located below a few of the cabins when building the ship and created a haven for cheap bastards like myself to enjoy half-price cruising. The disco closes at 2am so we'll just be up till then BIG DEAL I say bring the noise. If the woman with the 300-400 dollar cruises would contact me I'll even sleep in an upper berth next to the turbines.

It seems that nobody is getting the point that I am trying to make. It isn't the ships, or the crew, or the food or anything else that is important here. It is the fact that we were treated so rudely on a cruise that was not a "Low Cost" venture by any means. We are not old, or anything like that. It is the fact that other cruise lines stand behind their product/services and we felt that Carnival would not do that. If you would read the very first posting on this subject, you may understand that the point that we were trying to make is that "If you have a problem, please settle it before leaving the ship, that will be the only chance you will get to air your greviences." We have sailed on other lines and admit Carnival was not our first choice, but we had been on them before and never had been treated like uninvited guests. It was not the problems that occured, but the way that they handled the situation that was the problem.

reply to S.A. You were happy with your first cruise on Carnival and the last one on the Tropicale you were upset. So what?
Now you will go on other lines and will no longer have any problems. Great.
Are you going to beat this dead horse until the millenium. What will give you some peace of mind so you can move on. It seems to me that you will only let it rest if Carnival washes you feet with tears and the cover them with diamonds.
Any marriage counselor will tell you that after the divorce, it is time to move on so you can enjoy life on your other favorite cruise lines. Stop looking back because you will drown yourself in sadness.

Here is a recent story about just how far some of the 'low end' cruise operators will go just to make a buck off of cheap minded vacationers like yourseleves.....................

There's nothing like a little systematic fraud....



MIAMI (CNN) -- On the eve of a major court battle with the U.S. Justice Department, Royal Caribbean Cruise International has agreed to admit to
polluting the sea by dumping waste oil from nearly half its cruise ship fleet,CNN has learned.
The settlement is expected to total millions of dollars, sources said. Royal Caribbean -- the world's second largest cruise line with 12 ships
traveling to ports in the U.S, Caribbean, Europe and Asia -- was scheduled to face the first of two trials in both Miami and San Juan starting Tuesday.
The settlement covers 11 charges accusing the cruise line of systematically discharging waste oil from five ships, lying to U.S. law enforcement investigators, falsifying records, tampering with witnesses and destroying
evidence. Royal Caribbean was charged with bypassing required pollution control devices that separate engine waste oil. Normally, used oil is kept in holding tanks aboard ship for proper disposal onshore. The cruise line is accused of
dumping that discharge into the sea.

The U.S. Justice Department named the following ships as part of its cases:
The Sovereign of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas, Song of America, Nordic Prince, and Nordic Empress.

Terms of the plea agreement are expected be made public before U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks in Miami Tuesday. Cruise line
spokeswoman Lynn Martenstein declined comment on the settlement. She said the company would make a public statement on Tuesday.

Evidence includes infrared video of an oil discharge made by a U.S. Coast Guard infrared camera.

I have to respect S.A.'s comments here. No matter what the situation, it's not the experience but the manner in which the providers handle it that really counts. Anyone looking for advice would be wise to consider cruise lines with no complaints as opposed to those with a multitude of negative comments. Sure, there are lots of folks who enjoy being unhappy, but this does not mean that their comments are not meaningful. Besides, once having paid the fare, one can reasonably expect the vendor to live up to their slick and glossy brochure full of promised expectations! Why should you settle for anything less? They're making a huge profit off your hard-earned dollars. Why cut them any slack? Would the excuses they give you ever work when you need them? Anyone whose room does not match the photo in the brochure and experience falls short of that which was promised has a perfect right to be just as bodacious with their complaints as they like...

I have found it very interesting to read all of the messages that have been posted on here about the different cruise lines. I believe it really depends on the type of person that is looking for the cruise & what kind of cruise you are expecting. I personally think cruising is great!! I mean where can you get all the food you want,room,activities,shows, destinations & everything else that comes along with it for such little money. I have been on the Carnival Destiny, Carnival Ecstacy, & The Majesty of the Seas. Carnival is what their logo says "The Fun Ships" if you are looking for a fun no hassel vacation then this is good for you. Now on the other hand if you are looking for a more serious (or as I see it boring) vacation then something like Royal Caribbean may be for you. I personally did not like RCI at all, my vacation was dull and the fact that the food was good really did not change the fact. On the other hand on my Carnival cruises I had the most fun I have ever had on a vacation!! I am sorry to hear this has not been the same for some of you, but I mean really, the Tropicale is Carnival's oldest ship,not to mention one of the smallest. I am sorry to say this, but I really think S.A. went a liitle far in saying that the cabins were flooded!! I don't know about the rest of you,but that sounds a little far fetched? I really think you can not base your decisions on what other people's experiences were. The only way to know is to experience it for yourself. As for me, I will not cruise on any other cruise line that is not Carnival. The service was great, the food was great, the shows were great, the activities were awesome, and the ports of call are beautiful!! For those of you wondering I am not a teenager, I am 45yrs old!! Thank you very much..

Hey, I am a travel agent and might as well put in my 2 cents worth. I see I am respondent #48.
I have been on 48 cruises, mostly great, very few bad.
I cruise Carnival at least twice a year. I have NEVER had a real bad experience. I love the line. I am 62 years old. If I wish quiet, I fnd a quiet place on the ship, there are many. Find the piano bar if you do not like disco. Find the quiet pool if you don't like the hairy chest contest or he live band.
I find Carnival the MOST RECEPTIVE of my customer's complaints. And I do get complaints about all cruise lines.
I was on the Sensation last month.
Everything was perfect. I find the food improving monthly. The new fancy menu, just inaugarated, was wonderful. Listening to complaints, they all come from the senior Tampa, St. Pete old ladies that complain for a hobby.
I was on a Holland America Ship where the toilets backed up, what a mess. Things happen. Things happen at Marriots and Sheratons too.
Carnival is the BEST VALUE and is truly the MOST POPULAR cruise line, hands down.
Paul

We have cruised on 11 different lines on over 24 cruises and we have enjoyed most of them from Carnival to Cunard.We sailed on Carnival once (Holiday)and have chosen not to repeat,the ship was fine and clean but the service was just fair and food adequate.I found nothing really negative but also nothing that would make us repeat(we were in our 30s).There are plenty of other lines which have a better product without so much controversy,'if there's smoke something must be burning'.Also I would suggest not taking advice from travel agents who say that Carnival is the best etc. Remember they are probably shills for that company and are invited back for their free cruises every year.The best critics are the passengers who paid the full fare and want value for their money.

I think the key here is S.A.'s first statement that instructs "please look carefully..." You should look carefully into anything you purchase whether it be a travel related product or any other consumer product. Anyone who understands economics knows there is no free lunch and an efficient market will regulate itself...you do not get Halekulani service from Motel 6. Why anyone would expect that there would be no differentiation between cruise lines when there is such a wide range of prices....come on S.A., I suspect you shopped price and either Carnival was the cheapest you could buy or your consumer research was faulty and inadequate...face it..they Carnival makes money on volume...you know,like McDonald's .... don't they say "billions served" rather than billions satisfied? I myself have cruised on the old Sitmar line and Carnival...I was completely satisfied on Sitmar but I had a good time on both lines...this year I want something a little nicer so we are going to try a Celebrity Transcanal (with a killer 56% off deal)...moral, find the product that suits your needs, then and only shop price. If you cannot afford the price, then you have to make some compromise on which product you purchase.

So I put my 2 cents in and I get beat up. No, I do not receive a larger commission from Carnival. Also travel agents do not get any free cruises. We just save our commission, which on Carnival is small, due to the fact that it is priced so reasonably. While I am on the subject of reasonable cruises, try Costa, their prices are comparable to Carnival and sometimes cheaper. Of course passengers will have something to complain about Costa also. I find cruisers who complain about cruise ships complain about everything. I had a customer who just came back from Europe on the Grand Princess. The flight left late due to bad weather. People missed their connecting flights and Princess had to put them up in a hotel (with food). Do you know, most people complained and blamed Princess.
Do you all want to know why I have so many Carnival customers? It is because the name of my company is "Affordable Cruises & Travel." I would love to book more Crystal Cruises, I would make a few more bucks. NO ONE complains about Crystal, but then the cruise is the cost of an automobile.
Happy sailing, Paul

HEY PAUL I LIKE YOUR ATTITUDE. MY FIANCEE AND I ARE TAKING A CARNIVAL CRUISE FOR OUR HONEYMOON ON THE IMAGINATION NEXT YEAR. THIS WILL BE OUR FIRST CRUISE AND WE'RE GOING INTO IT WITH THE ATTITUDE THAT YOU MAKE YOUR OWN FUN!!! CAN YOU OFFER ANY FURTHER ADVICE?

Just returned from 7 days on the Sensation and had a wonderful time. This was our third cruise and we are 50. The food was better than Royal Carribean or Norwegian, the room was much larger than Royal Carribean, about the same as the Norwegian Crown. Sometimes a situation is what you make of it but we felt the staff went out of their way to make our cruise a real vacation.

My goodness. A year and a half and this debate is still going on. I can hardly believe I ran into it by chance. It is amazing to me the ones who answer but didn't really read the initial posting close enough to understand it.
I originally posted this because we had just returned from a horrible Carnival Cruise from Hawaii. We had our cabin flood with sewer water, everything we owned became wet, and lots of items ruined. Carnival did absolutely nothing to compensate us even for the items that were no longer useable. Compensate heck, they didn't even want to hear about it. Then there was the horrible entertainement, the food, the very rude staff.........I could go on and on, but will not start this debate again.
My initial post was just to let future passengers know that if there was ever a REAL problem aboard a Carnival Ship, take care of it before you disembark because they will not even want to hear from you when you return home. Thats all I was trying to do was to pass the word to save someone the frustration that we went through.
Just for information purposes. That cruise was my 8th cruise and I had never complained before about any other cruise that I had taken. Since then I have been on three more cruises (2 Princess and one Premier) and had a fantastic time, not one complaint. BUT, I will never sail on Carnival again, at any price.

Hi S.A.
I do not understand why Carnival did not address your complaints. This is a first for me as a travel agent.
Since I was not your travel agent, I can not go to bat for you but my advice to you would be to sit down and document each an every bad instance of your cruise from hell and draft a letter to:
Bob Dickinson, President
CCL
3655 NW 87th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178-2428

Be sure to list your booking number and date of sailing.

I'm sure you will receive a positive response.

Paul

We just returned from the carnival tropicale this week. We have sailed on Royal Carib and Celebrity. Never, never again said my husband. Staff seemed to be in a daze and some of them I would not have asked anything of for my life. Our dinner waiter and busboy were great and we had a good bar waiter (good thing since Carnival won't let you have any booze in your room). Overall we had a bad experience. The phrase "you get what you pay for" certainly applies here.

To Paul: The reason Carnival would not do anything is because we were amoung hundreds on this cruise that had problems. Our entire deck flooded, along with most of the cabins. Everyone was skipping meals or bringing food back to the ship to eat from the Islands. I mean most of this stuff was non-eatible that they were serving. The staff was so rude, just for instance. If you were trying to have breakfast out on deck, you often had to stand with your food and wait for the crew to finish and vacate a table so that you could sit, and they definitely didn't hurry. If you attempted to talk to anyone about the problem (the flooding or the food) they would tell you that there is no one available but they would send someone to your cabin within the hour that was in charge. One afternoon we waited for three hours and no one came, when we called to check, they would just tell us, they didn't have time. I could go on and on. It was an absolute nightmare! The passengers on the ship came up with a greeting when they would me you that quickly spread throughout the ship. "Camp out in style-Go Tropical". That is because a large number of us had agreed that we had more fun camping with a lot less water in our tents.
The real funny thing was after we returned home, while shopping in a large department store, I overheard a lady telling the clerk about her cruise from hell. I had to ask. She was on the same ship, the cruise before ours and had the same experiences. What a coincidence.
to dbeck: My sympathys go out to the two of you. As the old saying goes "Been there, Done that" but will never do that again!

Hi Sue.
This is getting more like the "twilight zone" everytime you write.
I book hundreds of customers on Carnival and I have NEVER heard of anyone not having their problems rectified.
If so many passengers had this terrible experience, I can not understand why the press did not pick up on the incidence.
Also, Carnival would be liable for quite some damages. I'm sure some attorneys would immediately initiate a class action suit for millions.
Carnival would NOT let this happen. They would immediately make restitution.
Something is strange here. You should have received another cruise at no cost or a full refund.
This is not an ordinary complaint.

Many times there is a breakdown of some sort on many cruise lines. If it affects many passengers, some one on the ship either owns a newspaper or works for one or is in the news reporting business. This would hit the press like you know what hits the fan. Some ships have problems with air conditioning, some cruises are cut short due to food poisoning, etc. This hits the worldwide press as soon as someone gets to a phone. If the press does not get notified, all the travel agents do. WE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. Paul

Hi Paul: Let's put it this way, it was the very last time that I will book a cruise through a local company in this part of the U.S. Small town America isn't the best place for knowlegeable cruise agencies.
I did forget to mention, we started taking pictures of the ship after the flood. We included them with our letter's to Carnival Cruise Lines. These pictures totally backed up our story as to what we had to live with on this ship. Carnival kept telling us that they never received them, so I finally started to send them registered mail and got a signature as to who excepted them. Even though I sent them to the address that they gave me and had a signature as to who received them, they still told us that the pictures never arrived. Figure that one out?
Anyways, we finally just backed off after our attorney told us it would be a minumum of $5,000.00 for him to start any proceeding. We just gave up, but as you can see, we didn' t shut up.
As to this posting, I again remind whomever might read this that it doesn't really matter what happened to us. Its what happens to the next passenger that is important. Just make sure to take care of any major problems before you leave the ship, you will never have another chance.
Sorry to burst your bubble about Carnival Paul, but if I went into detail about that awful cruise, you wouldn't believe it anyways.

I've never cruised before, scheduled a late August, 4 day sailing aboard the Carnival Exctasy for myself,husband and 3 kids. It was very affordable. Then I stumbled on to a web site, Cruise2.com. and a couple others already mentioned. You get what you pay for is the underlying theme!!! CNX that trip, spending $1700 more and have higher hopes for our first cruise to be a memorable one onboard the Century Horizon to Bermuda.