Cabin from Hell
Carnival Glory Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
7 Night Exotic Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 13, 2016
Ship: Carnival Glory
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 1393
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
We had a terrible experience aboard the Carnival Glory ship. The first night on the ship, we were kept awake all night by very loud noises coming from underneath our cabin. It was so loud that my (very heavy sleeper) 10-year old woke up in the middle of the night crying because she thought the boat was sinking. We tried calling Guest Services but no one answered the line... so we just waited until the next morning on 3 hours of sleep to complain at the Guest Services desk. We talked to one of the representatives and she mentioned that they had previous guests of the same cabin complain about noises. We were appalled to learn that Carnival would knowingly keep booking this cabin when they are aware of such circumstances. Apparently she got frustrated with our questions, so she very rudely told us there was nothing they could do since the ship was full... that's it... good luck! We asked for the manager. He then said that we needed to wait until the ship arrived at port (the following day) and see if any cabins came available then... until then there was nothing he could do. He also mentioned that the crew's sleeping conditions were worse... like that helped. They also asked us to "monitor" the noises and call them when we heard them. Who in their right mind is going to ask a guest to tally disruptions in the middle of the night? There was no empathy for our situation... no 'we are very sorry, let me treat you to something for your troubles'... NOTHING. We were asked to come back after the ship left the 1st port after yet another terrible night of no sleep. Every night we called, and every night we heard the same thing. Nothing we can do. They even had someone come to our room at 3:00am in the morning to "evaluate" the noises. After chatting us up as we laid in bed, she confirmed that in fact they were very loud and she was going to talk to Guest Services. We never heard anything... we never received a phone call apologizing, not even a letter. I have never felt so unappreciated as a guest. The way I perceived it was that they had a full ship so for all they care we were SoL. At the end we got some credit on our account... and a swift kick out the door so they could make way for a new guest to enjoy the midnight swoosh, bang, clank of stateroom 1393.
I will never ever travel with Carnival again... and will make it a point to tell everyone I know (and don't) to travel with Royal Caribbean instead... I've heard nothing but great things about them.
PS. Carnival - if you care at all for your guests... you should flag this type of room as people are booking them and offer them at a discount. There is no reason someone should pay full price for discount accommodations.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
6 Comments
noname111 8 years ago
As previously noted, careful research on cabin location and previous issues pays off in avoiding situations like this. When I am considering a specific cabin, I simply google the ship and cabin number. IF there has been trouble in that cabin, a search often provides a the history about it.
Cruise lines look for revenue for every square foot of a ship. They continue to make cabins available (despite past reports of problems) because people's threshold for tolerating noise varies greatly. What might bother one person isn't even noticeable to another.
As for anchor noise, there is something to the issue of bow cabins catching a lot of the noise of the anchor dropping. We just spent a month on the Island Princess on the Caribe deck (port side forward). We heard the anchor noise more this time around than we remember hearing on previous cruises. Did it ruin our vacation - heck no! I didn't even mention it in my reviews.
JusMe 8 years ago
Kennicott the anchor woke up 3 mornings on a 7 day cruise on teh Glory I thought it was an earth quake, could hear every rung of that chain going out of the ship. Clang, clang, clang..........
Kennicott 8 years ago
Respectfully disagree with the anchor chain noise argument? You hear this used as reason to stay away from the bow location cabins quite often. Maybe I'm going deaf but I contend, in fact, you have to work hard at hearing the anchor chain in the morning? My gosh, one would think they drop it "every" morning, even when we are at a pier. In my opinion, nothing but a myth.
But really, even if it is heard, how often does the average cruise involve tender ports? Not that often. Actually, I prefer cabins forward of midship for a number of reasons. So our cabins are almost always the forward ones, the least of our concerns is hearing the anchor rode play out. The last cruise, a month ago, we were on the Regal Princess in a cabin as far forward as you can get, directly over the bridge, and I had a very hard time hearing the anchor during the rare occasions we dropped it.
If one wants to make an argument in this regard, the bow thrusters make a lot more noise. Same goes for the stern thrusters. Actually, some think the thruster noise is anchor chain noise. But even then, even before the anchor goes down, they are making the tenders ready, winches, cables etc. are making the most racket as the tenders begin to deploy and these noises are located more midship, yes, they stick those tenders out away from the hull even before the anchor lets go.
Furthermore, when they drop the hook at tender ports, it usually occurs after 8:00 AM , if I'm still cutting zzzs at that time, somebody please shoot me.
JusMe 8 years ago
I can also suggest that you do not book cabins at the front of the ship, you hear the anchor go down every morning.... A ship cabin is like real estate... Location, Location, Location.
I would not give up on Carnival for one bad cabin. I would just be more picky on cabin location in the future.
Kennicott 8 years ago
Careful research is most important to accomplish before you book, particularly with respect to cabins. Following are a couple of relevant links to threads on our forum here, most posts provide good suggestions and words of wisdom.
This morning I was looking at a review of the Regal Princess where somebody just had a similar experience to yours with noise, this time from above, in their mini-suite. They weren't near as put off with their two week cruise in general as you appear to be but still the negative imposition upon their sleep quality was pretty bad.
What got me was they were on the Marina Deck, and condemned all cabins on the Marina Deck as being noisy. Now, that is not true. Obviously, they didn't do their homework before accepting that cabin assignment nor, for the entire cruise, did they take stock of how cabins were situated on that ship on the Marina Deck.
Fact is, not quite two thirds of the Marina Deck cabins are under the buffet, pool and other action areas on the Lido deck, some of which can be subject to a fair amount of noise. However, over one third of the cabins on the Marina Deck are forward and under the same layout of cabins on the Lido Deck directly above, they are very quiet.
Just so happened we got off the same ship just a month ago. We booked rather late and found that the only mini-suite to be had was on the Marina Deck. I could see it was under the Lido Deck tables and chairs, so declined. What I eventually booked was a "premium" mini-suite on the Marina Deck as far forward as one can go, but still under the Lido. Above us was an identical cabin, all was quiet and serene for the entire two weeks. Sure glad I paid attention to "location, location, location".
http://cruiseline.com/forum/post/how-much-research-do-you-do-before-you-sail
http://cruiseline.com/forum/post/cabins
CrusinTim 8 years ago
Unfortunately, YOU chose to book a cabin on the lowest possible deck the ship has to offer. The deck under your cabin I can expect that there was some sort of crew WORKING area like engineering since the deck above that (the Riveria-Deck 1) is where passenger cabins start. I wouldn't be so quick to blow off Carnival (sailed with them 5 times of 12 cruises and had no issues) but I would in the future, have deck plans open to view what is above and below you while you talk to your agent. And stay away from the lowest deck. Sorry but this one is on you my friend. ALL ships have cabins in locations that are less than desirable. It is up to you to research and book what you know you will be happy with.