This was my LAST Carnival Cruise. I am so done with the whole thing. It's not like they are an economic cruise. So after I got off I started researching and booked the same cruise with NCL for November. I'm going to try all the lines and I'm going to see which line I like the best and use them. I don't want a vacation that leaves me feeling unsatisfied. I had a lot of frustration on this trip that doesn't give you the vacation vibes I wanted. To recap the ship is gorgeous, it's just not manned properly. No supervision, not enough training, lots of confusion.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Truly a mess. You had a time to get on board but ended up in this huge warehouse kind of place with little or no information. Why set a time if your just going to have to wait and wait.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The food was ok not great, I usually ate breakfast at the buffet which wasn't bad. I did mostly pay restaurants for dinner. I had friend that were on in December they sent pictures of their dinners and I booked them because they looked so good. This was not the food that was served to me. I loved the teppanyaki so fun, Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse food was not wonderful. And they rushed you thru your meal. I liked the guys burgers (free) delicious, and his BBQ restaurant was really good. the staff there was great too. I like the Capitano Italian Restaurant a lot, food was pretty good service was excellent . The staff were outstanding. I never had dinner in the dining room, I did have 2 sea day brunches there. Food was ok but what a mess in there, a big confusing mess. You had people jammed up to the elevators waiting and inside most of the dining room was vacant. Staff not trained properly, nothing flowed. Kind of a big mess.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The best part was there was live music all over the place. That was enjoyable.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
My room attendant was fantastic. He was the nicest guy and my room was immaculate. The room stewards are all great they all say hi how are you etc. Most of the staff on board pretty much doesn't acknowledge you. I really feel they are overwhelmed and overworked . Not bad people just not trained and no supervision. I don't feel that there were enough employees for a ship that full. I felt sorry for them trying to work in a mess.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is beautiful. For the whole I would say things were clean. They were always cleaning on the lido. It was sparkling up there.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
It was a good size, plenty of storage. It was immaculate thanks to my room steward. I loved the cove balcony but wouldn't get it till summer. It's cold on the way to Mexico and some high waves so I couldn't really hang there. But the cove balcony gives you sunrises and sunsets that are breathtaking. You are one with the ocean. My room was fine.
Ship tip
Eat in the little places, pizza, sandwiches, Blue-Iguana, Guy's burgers, Mongolian Wok, etc. So much better.
I love PV. I go often. It's the best! No excursion, I went to a restaurant I love and a silver jewelry store I love. I walked the Malecon and hung out. took a cab back and then shopped at the stores outside the ship. It was a really nice day.
I took a cab from the ship into the golden zone and shopped around. My cab driver gave me a tour, he was born and raised there and shared some history also. Mexican cab drivers are just the best. They love their country and want to share with you. I had never been there before so it was great. I shopped around, and walked around. Next time I will eat there for sure.
Ive been there a bunch of times, this time was great. Really good weather, it was gorgeous. I walked to the shopping area and talked to people and shopped. I wanted to eat something but the food was in a totally different section and we were only there till 1:30 so I went back to the ship. And had a guy burger which was so good!
I bought a ticket from Carnival to disembark the ship at 9 am and hop a bus to LAX. We went to the liquid lounge where no one showed up to help us. We were stuck waiting and waiting. NO ONE ever showed up! There was a lady in my groupp that said were leaving so I followed her off the ship. No one said anything. It was a big mess and I am still PO'ed about it.
Appreciate your details. Sorry you were disappointed. Good for you to try other options. That’s the beauty of the industry, so many options. I’m sure there’s something that will fit your needs.
I feel the same way you do, only it's with NCL. They've become horrible and I'm afraid it's like this all over. Not even thinking about cruising on Regent since they're owned by NCL.
I'll share another fun fact, one night we were waiting in the very long MDR on RCCL AOTS and I overheard someone say: I'm going back to Carnival because they don't have problems like this. 😳
I do not disagree with your observations, but be forewarned, you're going to run into this on most of the ships nowadays. There are some seriously grumpy crew members on NCL because they redid the housekeeping support and cut some wages.
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