Carnival is cheapening the crusing experience

Carnival Freedom Cruise Review to Caribbean

rickkcsa

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 44

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 22, 2016

Ship: Carnival Freedom

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1301

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The most outstanding thing of the cruise are the people and staff aboard the ship.

The ports of call were quite enjoyable, however the favored one on this cruise was Ocho Rios, Jamiaca. The people of that town stood out in friendliness, helpfulness, and an overall sense of welcome they projected to the visitors.

The Carnival corporation, however, has seriously tarnished the cruising experience in several ways. The most outstanding is the doing away with simple table cloths on the tables, other than 'Cruise Elegant' nights.

On the 'Cruise Elegant' nights, I saw everything from blue jeans to tee shirts and ball caps. In other words, there was no support from management regarding those of us who wished to participate in the elegance that was at one time, prevalent in cruising.

Carnival has cheapened the cruising experience by doing away with evening shows and entertainment in the big theatre. Carnival has degraded the food quality by changing to a different brand butter, and to add further insult, Carnival keeps drastically increasing prices for staterooms, and charging more and more for things on the ship.

In other words, Carnival Corporation is now stooping to nickel and diming every cruise passenger to death, just to fatten their pockets.

Carnival is certainly no longer the "Fun Ship".

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

The food was quite good, but it is the cheapening of the experience that Carnival has brought about by implementing their poorly thought out "American" plan.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

After cancelling the evening's entertainment in the theatre, the 'seaside' movie screen is in terrible shape with poor/no maintenance and many of it's display panels not working properly.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Carnival has done away with evening entertainment in the big theatre. Another cost cutting measure to cheapen the whole experience.

Children's Programs

Can't evaluate as we had no children with us.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

I cannot say enough good about our headwaiter, Ni. She and her team were excellent, and I recommend them highly.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The ship was kept clean and tidy, however, the Freedom is showing some serious signs of wear.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

The cabin was kept quite clean and orderly by our steward, 'Agung'. He saw to our every request, immediately. I recommend him very highly.

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

5 out of 5

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

10 Comments

cganesh 8 years ago

The cruise mentioned may have been impacted by weather. There were many cruises that for the safety of the cast Carnival cancelled a lot of the shows. I just don't pay attention to what others wear to dinner. We like to clean up and put on clothing that we would wear to dinner in a nice restaurant and dress up a little more on elegant nights. We stopped doing the full formal wear to allow us to take less luggage. Used to have one suitcase for hubby and my formal wear/suit, dress shoes, etc. Now we have one less suitcase.

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cruisingrayman 8 years ago

Nice post twangster! I enjoy formal nights too but don't notice and could care less about what my fellow cruisers wear. Let us enjoy and let them enjoy.

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twangster 8 years ago

Plus I'd rather share a table with someone in jeans laughing and smiling than a grumpy person in a suit.

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twangster 8 years ago

While I tend to dislike folks showing up to formal night in jeans and ball caps, I don't blame Carnival for that. There is a saying in the service industry, the customer is always right. While not meant to be taken absolutely literally, it is very difficult to market an affordable cruise experience for anyone but demand formal attire. There are other lines for that experience.

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nanalynn 8 years ago

We are loyal Carnival. Have not been on any cruise that did not have shows in the theater every night. May not have been to my liking, but there was something. And I have yet to go hungry on a cruise.

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cruisingrayman 8 years ago

The good news is you have a choice and sounds like it's time for you to move on. For us Carnival still offers the best price value on the seas.

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kknorr0320 8 years ago

I have friends who are CCL loyalists and they said there was only 1 show on their recent 7 night cruise on Magic.

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banaford 8 years ago

Texashammer3, Google says 1.5 hrs

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Katievp 8 years ago

We had shows all 7 nights in the big theater and someone elses clothing in no way changes the way my food is served or how it tastes. The lack of table cloths doesn't change the taste of the food either. My butter tasted very buttery. 😄

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nanalynn 8 years ago

I call BS

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