My wife and I have cruised Carnival for 15 cruises and are platinum, this might be our last Carnival cruise. We still love to cruise but it will be with another cruise line. The service, food and little perks have been declining for the last several years.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
We arrived approximately 10:00am and were let in the gate, followed the maze around all of the cones and dropped off luggage. We were then told to go to the next people and pay for parking which we did, then we were told we had to leave the parking lot because they were not letting us in to board yet. There is no place to park inside the lot at the port, we had to keep driving around until they let us back in the lot. We parked on a side street until noon and they finally let us in the lot, followed the arrows to somekind of empty warehouse where we able to park our vehicle. Not close to the ship so we had to get on a shuttle bus to take us back to the ship. Not a very good port to leave out of and the last time we will sail out of Charleston.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Carnival food has been going down hill for the last couple of cruises and this may have been the worst. There were no specialty restaurants on this ship. Buffet was ok not the variety and quality of past cruises. We went to to dinning room 4 of the nights and the wait staff we had was very good. One night at the buffet my wife ask for ham and the guy gave her a very small piece about the size of my finger so she ask for another piece and he gave her a small scrap that was on the side of the board about the size of my finger nail it was sad. The desserts were very disappointing, small selection and what they did have wasn’t the greatest tasting.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
There is very little on this ship compared to other cruises we have been on.
Serenity
1 out of 5
First thing Serenity deck is supposed to be 21 and over. The couple of days we went to the Serenity there were a group of teenagers there and most of the time they were in the hot tubs. Carnival employees never said anything to them. Long waits for anyone to ask if you wanted drinks, and even longer for anyone to clean up dishes and glasses from the tables.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
We went to an adult comedy club the guy was not good, also we went to the Brits show again it was not very good.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Out cabin steward was nice, we did not see him very much, wait staff at dinner was good. Other than that everyone else was just ok at best.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
I am not sure if Carnival is cutting back on staff but this ship is lacking, we were close to a stairwell and for the last four days of the cruise there was a cup someone layed on the hand rail, for four days it was never cleaned up. We noticed room service trays were sitting out in the hallway a lot longer on this cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was pretty standard nothing out of the ordinary.
Ship tip
If you are new to cruising don’t do this cruise it is not the greatest.
My wife and I are both platinum so we were some of the first on the tender and some of the first ones to get to Half Moon Cay. We walked to the beach for a relaxing day at the beach and we were so disappointed. The beach was covered in seaweed no chairs were set up. There where some workers at the end of the beach raking some of the seaweed up. Everyone was just getting the chairs off the stacks and setting them on the beach. We heard the workers yell at someone they were not setting the chairs up correctly they were to be set up in three rows deep. Carnival should have had that beach cleaned up and chairs organized before the people got to the beach. Very poor for there “private island”. We turned around and got back on the tender and went back to the ship.
We where told that beach chairs and umbrellas were free of charge, as soon as we got to the beach we where immediately told if we wanted two chairs and an umbrella it would be $25. We went and had a couple drinks before going back to the ship.
We along with the other platinum and diamond customers went to our location, no carnival employees where there to give any directions. There where regular passengers trying to sneak in so they could get off sooner. After waiting for a while a carnival employee showed up and said to follow her, so we followed her to the elevator again several people (not platinum, diamond or fast to the fun) were sneaking in to get off early and carnival employee did nothing.
Carnival also owns Seabourn, Windstar, Costa and Holland America. Each is a very unique product and has nothing in common with Carnival other than stock holders. Doesn’t change the fact that Carnival Cruise Line is an entry level product.
I am glad it is not just us because when we went on Carnival in early Dec we had another couple go with us that had never been on a cruise before and thought that everything was amazing. My husband and I kept saying to one another that things seemed to have gone downhill a bit. We were wondering what the Royal Princess would be like for our Dec 30 sailing and like I said what a difference in every aspect of cruising right down to the buffet. The entertainment was hit or miss on Princess but again that is down to anyone's personal preference. But everything else was far and above better than Carnival. Like you said sad really because we always thought Carnival was better than Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, we have sailed 4 cruise lines now going back 28 yrs and other than the SS Norway back in 1990 the service on Princess was exceptional.
I have to agree. We aren't platinum but we sailed Carnival twice 16 mths apart and had sailed 7 previous with them and have noticed a big change in the food, service and general overall feeling from the staff. We just sailed Princess on the Royal on Dec 30th and what a difference. I am pretty sure we are converted to Princess Cruisline based on sailing both Carnival and Princess 3 wks apart. There is an overall upscale feeling as soon as you step on board the Royal. From staff to the food to the service to the ship in general. On Carnival, especially this most recent sailing, Dec 3 -9, we noticed a downgrade in service. The food in the dining room was just okay nothing exceptional. The service just seemed to be a step down from what we experienced on the Royal Princess on Dec 30-Jan 9. This was out first Princess cruise and we even felt guilty going to the specialty dining because the service and food in the dining room was exceptional. While I still enjoyed our Carnival Conquest cruise and always enjoyed our previous Carnival cruises there was a upgrade feel to Princess and I have to say the experience reminded me of when we took our first cruise 28 years ago before cruising became so popular. I think we will be sailing Princess from here on out and even our 2 girls, 16 and 17 years old, said the same thing. They said they prefer Princess to Carnival and they loved Carnival all along.
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