disappointed

I have been cruising on Carnival for 15 years.  It used to be an amazing experience, not only because of the destinations, but because of the service.  the last two cruises I have been on were nothing like that.  The staff just doesn't seem to care, they ignore you at best and are rude at worst.  I don't know what changed this.  The staff in the casino bar were exceptional, they didn't keep you waiting, they were friendly.  At the Cay island, owned by Carnival, people waited way too long for bar service and the starf were clearly overwhelmed.

On our first day off ship, the de-embarkation process was a nightmare.  Hundreds of us were held hostage in a stair well, waiting for a tender to shore.  We waited an hour before any staff even talked to us.  We didn't even know if we were in the right line in the right place.  People were hot and frustrated.  Finally a staff member said they were "waiting for a tender"  She didn't say how long, what the hold up was, nothing.  After another hour, people started shouting, "tell us what's going on>"  She finally said that people wanted to come back to the ship and that was holding them up.  It was raining.  Apparently they have never dealt with rain in the carribean or how to get people on and off the ship.  That used to work like clockwork.  We shouted for the Cruise Director or someone in charge to at least organize the mob and tell us what was going on.  The CD arrived and shouted from the bottom of the stairs where none of us could even see him and said "there's a hold up from people returning, you'll be off shortly."  and waked away.  No apology, no explanation, nothing.  Just didn't care.

I guess I can understand if quality of service just isn't a priority any more, but then the prices should go down accordingly.