Instead of doing Key West, etc, we did the Western ports - no choice was offered to us. No refund - no reschedule - nothing! I was disappointed - it wasn't our fault Hurricane Irma came up the coast of Florida, but Carnival didn't offer any rebate or anything. Or even say, we're sorry, no discounts, nothing! Pretty crappy customer relations!
We've done the Western ports a few times already and were looking forward to the Eastern ports - we understand about the storm and needing to change direction, but a choice would have been nice. Too much to ask for, I guess.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
It was fairly easy and OK.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food was excellent, as was all the services. Hard to go wrong with either the Posh restaurant or the buffet on the Lido deck. Something for everyone!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Usually I use the fitness centers, but this one just didn't have enough "weight training" equipment. Yes, there were machines and some dumb bells, but not really weight training equipment. I did use the walking track - that was good - 9 trips = 1 mile. Did a few laps on this baby!
The Library was a joke - no money spent there by Carnival. The casino's did a pretty good of ripping everyone off - again, not a lot to do, except eat, drink, gamble, walk (did a lot of this), sleep or listen to music on the decks.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The ship had some pretty good entertainment - especially the singers and dancers. They worked their butts off! Some of the other performers, stationed around the ship - OK, but not great.
Children's Programs
No kids.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Excellent service from staff personnel, from the cabin stewards to the dinner staff - looked after you like you were the only people in the place - gained 4.5 pounds! Ugh! On the Lido deck, service personnel were always handy when you needed a refill or a drink. Excellent service!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
I keep getting turned around - this was my issue, not the ship - they had detailed "ship's maps" on every level, plus you could always ask someone where something was. For the first time, we had a cabin on the 8th level (deck), just under the lido deck - won't do that again, too close to the food!
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
First, the bed was quite comfortable and the bath was nice; we had enough closets and drawers for all of out clothes, but the room itself was tight. Small in size - the smallest room we've ever had on a cruise. It was an interior stateroom, but on past cruises, even on Carnival, the rooms were larger. Someone needed to be seated if the other person was moving around - just too small. Our cabin steward did an outstanding job of keeping the place tidy and the towel animals were just too crazy!
Ship tip
Make use of the facilities - go to the shows, eat dinner at the Posh restaurant, enjoy breakfast and lunch on the Lido deck - explore the ship and its shops. This is really a big, beautiful ship - it's not a boat, it is a ship and yes, there is a difference. There will some disappointments, but don't let those get in your way while you have the time of your life!
Being from Texas, we have visited Galveston before and explored it's many excursions. It is wonderful to have a port to cruise from and return to, without having to fly here and there, just to catch a ship.
We chose to have our bags removed the night before we disembarked at Galveston - we had to be out of our cabins no later than 9AM, but that meant you had to find a place to wait until you could leave the ship, which we did at 10:15AM, but getting our bags and then through Customs took another two hours! 8 agents to check out over 3,000 cruisers! What a pain this was! Have to rethink this part again.
Irma wasn’t carnival’s fault either. Also, if you read your contract, you will see it says they can change ports if necessary. Would you have rather cruised into the hurricane??
You're right. Carnival should have asked you what ports you wanted to go to in lieu of going to hurricane damaged ports. Or maybe they should have gotten as close to the port as possible and then let you take a life boat the rest of the way. They would, of course, wait for you to come back to the ship before moving to the next port of call. Never mind the millions of people that have had their lives turned upside down as long as YOU were happy and went where you wanted. I can understand being disappointed about plans changing. But I am so sick and tired of people pissing and moaning because their vacation plan had to change a bit. I personally think the cruise ships should go to the affected islands carrying passengers who would be happy to go to work helping these poor people who live on these islands that we all love so much. GROW UP.
You weren't offered a choice??? lmfao. Yea sure...let's have the cruise line poll 2000 passengers to decide where to go. Nevermind the planning, fuel, fees, taxes, etc. etc. My gosh what a d1psh1t with first world problems.
If you're set on a specific destination, fly there. My husband has lung problems, so instead of flying, we're cruising. If ports are changed, we'll go with the flow. Our cruise is in November and hopefully we'll we able to go to the original ports.
"It wasn't our fault Hurricane Irma came up the coast of Florida...." Um, it wasn't Carnival's fault either. Your cruise contract states ports can be changed, for any number of reasons, and at any time, even after you have departed. It happens, and not terribly infrequently. Gotta be flexible if you cruise, ESPECIALLY if you choose to cruise during storm season. It IS disappointing when your dream itinerary changes (been there) or your cruise gets shortened (and been there) but I do hope you managed to enjoy your vaca and have a great time.
Maybe they're losing too much revenue with all the cancellations so they didn't announce the itinerary change....but I find that odd you weren't notified. However, All cruise lines reserve the right to change the itineraries.
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