Carnival Cruise of Annoyances

i booked this cruise through due to the price. The old saying you get what you pay for applies. 

Our cruise left large due to the ship arriving late coming into Baltimore. We were informed by Carnival not to arrive at the pier prior to 6 pm. We arrived at 7:30. We're told embarkation would be 6-9 pm. We waited in lines for 2.5 hours to get on board. We didn't step on the ship till 10 pm. Ran to our cabin to put our luggage and carry on in the room and ran up to the Buffet.  They were just about closing

it so we quick got something to eat. We no sooner sat down than they called the muster.  drill.  We were chased out of the lido deck before we barely tasted our

food. After the muster drill, we returned, but the area was completely closed down. I asked a crew member what to do. They said call room service. We called. It took 10 minutes to get through. The food did not arrive till midnight. The only thing on the menu was sandwiches. We ordered beer. They didn't include an opener for our non twist off bottles. Luckily I had one on my key chain, Eagle Scout that I was. 

The next morning our breakfast tray included no knife with which to spread the butter and jam on our crousaints.   We called room service to request a knife. "Call your cabin steward" was their response. 

I should have have gone to the desk to complain about the fact that we were discommoded by the 2.5 hour wait, and the fact that one dinning room dinner which we paid for was taken from us without any compensation. They should have done something. 

We ate in the main dinning room second seating. 

Then in we shall talk about the dinning. First night husband orders a gin and tonic. No amount of explanation to 2 waiters can get them to comprehend the order. They wanted to bring him ginger ale and tonic water. He never got the drink. Then after dinner we stopped at the Alchemy lounge where there was an alleged GLVT gathering to take place. There wasn't a GLBT person to be found. No wonder, the bar was not secluded if ant GLBT. Wanted to keep a low orofile. There was a loud obnoxious bartender telling off color jokes. Thought my husband could now get his gin & tonic, nope we were told that gin and tonic is not a cocktail. The Alchemy bar only has "cocktails"  I wanted a beer, I was SOL in that bar. 

We ate most mornings in the dinning room. One morning I ordered the steak and eggs. No steak knife with the steak. Had to ask, by the time they briygh it the steak was ice cold.  One morning they brought a basket of bread and no butter. We had to ask for it. 

Another cocktail fiasco. On last night of the cruise husband wanted a martini. Told one of the 3 waiters who was waiting on us. He brings the cardboard drink menu to the table that is all over the ship and says order from here please. They had a smokey chipotle martini. They had an appeltini. They had a chocolate martini but no regular martini. Again no amount of explanation worked. The waiter just kept poking my husband's arm with this cardboard menu and kept saying over and over as he poked him " order from here please".   I finally called another guy over to get the drink. But really the wait staff doesn't know gin and tonics and martinis

The quality of the food in the main dinning room was okay. Out of the 5 dinners we ate 3 were pretty good. 

We did eat in David's Steakhouse one night. It was like eating at Ruth Chris except it only cost $30 per person. The food and service were excellent. 

The he ship was hideously decorated. Tacky is an understatement.  They need to strip it down and start over. I did like the size of the ship. I sailed on the Westerdam. The vista class ships are well laid out. 

Our cabin  was very nice. Issac our steward gave us new animals every night. He kept the room tidy. The bathroom was nice sized. The balcony was pleasant. The TV was really old. Carnival should replace them with flat screen TVs.  My husband got the wifi package and was very pleased with the spreed.