Carnival - Best Value for the Money

This tends to be more prevalent on the cruises that are 7 days and less in duration. Cruises that are 10 days or longer tend to draw a different group and class of passengers.

Be aware. Some of those WalMart customers are now cruising on Norwegian, and probably Royal Caribbean. Our last trip on the Gem had a lot of, ummmmmmmm, what's the word(s)........rude,classless.........think bleacher bums in owners suites........

This stems from larger ships, lower pricing, and the me me me all about me generation cruising. I may just have to drive over to NJ to pick up a Celebrity ship.

That's what kept me away from Carnival when I first started cruising.

I just got off the Victory and she is in good shape, we had a delayed boarding until 1:30 so they can put new carpeting in some of the cabins. The balcony cabin we had was in great shape. Yes the cabin bathroom was out of date tile color, but I don't cruise for bathroom tile. It was in good repair and clean. The MDR service was great and the food was very good (the Veal Parm, grilled Salmon and BBQ ribs were great.) We also had great cabin staff and a good Cruise Director. She is older and dated but that did not stop us from having a fantastic time and enjoying our meal in the MDR.

Ecstasy was a great ship when I sailed her in 1996. I can't give you any recent news on her, though.

If it is any indication, the Sunshine (a slightly newer ship than Ecstasy) was a bit ragged when I sailed her last year.

Well toontes, I can, from recent experience, speak on the Carnival Conquest experience. In Jan we sailed and it was exactly as you outlined in your post. I am not sure junkers is the right term I would use for them but they have certainly lost focus of important stuff and are only trying to put bodies in cabins. When we were on the conquest, there was an ever present smell of sewer at the front of the ship, the MDR food was warm at best, the entertainment was average and the same as previous years. There were some areas where service was awesome and others where it stunk.

At then end of the day though, your vacation means a lot to you and you want it to be the best that you can possibly have. Having said that, if you go in with low expectations and they are exceeded, then that is a bonus. However, awareness is key and for us, when we book Carnival, we know what to expect and we know how much we paid for it and therefor make the lemonade out of lemons.

I guess 1 way to look at it is, for the cost, your in the Caribbean or wherever, you ware waited on hand and foot, the food is still better than my cooking :) and I am not at work.

I guess it is all about perspective? I hope that you have a great vacation either way!

I have been reading some disparaging things on another site about the Ecstasy and was curious to know your opinions. From the posts, it appears that a few of the Carnival ships are dubbed 'junkers': poor ventilation, sewage smells, poor quality of food and services, and general poor condition of ship. We have saved for 2 years for a vacation due to financial issues & now that we are finally going (September) we would really be disappointed if the ship was mediocre. We can still change ships & sail date because it is before final payment. Any thoughts?

No need to apologize! Hope you enjoyed your cruise, and welcome back to reality!

I was talking about the Carnival Concert Series and the "Journey" concert. It was great to have such a small venue for a concert, sounded great, close up so you can see things, not a bad seat in the house. Well worth the $75.00. Sorry for the delay, just got off the ship this morning and now sitting in Orlando Airport.