Disappointed

I hate that your experience was not a good one. This will be my sixth Carnival Cruise on Saturday, and we have absolutely adored each and every one! We have taken our teenage kids, our young kids, large groups and adults only, and we have never been disappointed. We tip our steward and learn his name the moment we arrive. In return, he keeps us stocked with water, ice, and hella good service! I've never had a steward that did not know our names and the names of our children. When we are all separated on the ship, we tell our steward "If you see so-and-so, let them know we're at the buffet." When we see so-and-so, we say, "How did you find us?" The answer? Steward told me when I went to the room. LOL We always tip our waiter at the pool bar, and that waiter will move mountains to serve us! They also learn our names, come to tell us when they will be off shift and on shift, AND make the most excellent virgin drinks for our kids at no charge! As a matter of fact, our experiences on the Carnival Cruises are SO delightful, that we actually took a 7 day cruise and had the most excellent pool waiter. A year later, we took a 5 day cruise on an entirely different ship from an entirely different port. Apparently that very same waiter had been transferred to this ship. He remember our names, hollered out to us when we got to the pool area, called us by name, hugged us, and made sure he waited on us the entire time! How wonderful is that?!?! We do miss a lot of evening activities because we are 45 years old and, let's face it, 10:00 is late for us! But, we have made friends with all of the directors in charge of comedy; we find out where all of the staff is from (because we've never met an American who works on the boats), all about their homes and families. In exchange for the interest we show about them and their lives, they fill us with the best inside information on our ports and how to get the most authentic experiences while still being safe! I was impressed at the level of cleanliness on each ship. I have back problems, so I wake up at about 4 a.m. Those staffers are out there emptying and scrubbing the hot tubs every single night! Love that there are hand sanitizers everywhere! Once, I tried to clean up my own plate from a table, and two waiters rushed over, took it from my hands, set it on the table and said "You relax! We will take of this for you." LOL. Any time you are booking for Carnival, you should select Any Time Dining. You can go anytime from around 5:30 until 9:00. It's easier to get if you use an agent rather than booking through the website. Also, if you use an agent, you can upgrade to a balcony room for about $250 the closer to the day of cruise. When you say you paid a "fortune" for the cruise -- how much is a fortune? I've never paid more than $1,000 for any Carnival Cruise, and I've never taken more than $1,000 spending money (for two people and kids), and I've never spent all of it! $2,000 is reasonable for ANY vacation, in my book! We always do the Cheers program, which is $500 for two adults (total, includes gratuity) for a 5 days cruise, covers the majority of alcoholic beverages, and you get your sodas and specialty coffees, energy drinks, etc. for free. It's the way to go if you're planning on drinking, say, more than 5 alcohol beverages a day, since they can average about $10 a piece on the boat! I would suggest visiting some websites and viewing some tips for cruising from seasoned cruisers. Pretty much everyone knows that you bring a small spray bottle in which you have placed Febreeze or Odoban, and you spray your room down the minute you get in it! We also bring dryer sheets and place them in the drawers and closets with our clothes. The BEST days to use the spa is on port days. We dislike Progresso, but the spa is half-price on this day, sometimes the savings are even more than half-off, and so we get massages, our nails done, and our feet done instead of going to Progresso. But, all port days are super great deals on the spa, so it's worth looking into! Embarkation and debarkation always suck! That's just the way it is. The bigger the ship, the more difficult and chaotic. The smaller the ship (like the Carnival Elation), the faster and more organized. You have a LOT of people, often first time cruisers, and they have a LOT of questions, and a LOT of problems, and didn't bring the correct documents, and don't know what to expect, and on and on and on. So, we give ourselves plenty of time. Bathroom up. Eat well. Have water on-hand. And prepare to wait. Your time to get on the ship -- not gonna happen. And, often, even when it does happen, your room isn't ready yet. You just have to sort of come into it with a free attitude. You know, get a drink at the bar while you wait for the room! No big deal! What is always impressive to me, however, is knowing -- KNOWING -- that those staff members just got rid of 1500 people, only to welcome 1500 more with the same big, bright smiles and happy service as if they aren't exhausted! THAT is impressive to me! The staff of the Carnival Cruise ships make you feel like we're ALL on vacation, and they dance, and smile, and sing --- even though they haven't had a day off in 9 months!!! THAT'S service with a smile! I hope you'll give Carnival Cruise another try. They're our favorite ships! They're our favorite staff! The experience on Carnival is so open and fun. It's not stuffy, or snobby, or pretentious! We make friends, we relax, we eat, we experience, we sleep (oh, how wonderful is sleep!!!), we drink, we line dance, we wine and cheese taste, we go to comedy shows, we watch the dancers, we see the game shows -- it's a hoot! I think cruises....they're the type of vacation (sort of like a Sandals resort) that once you get on the boat, you really need to just let go, and let the experience move you where you need to be, meeting who you need to meet, seeing what you need to see. A cruise vacation is one where you just have to relinquish control. You've paid for the cruise. The food is paid for. The drinks are paid for (if you get the Cheers program). The entertainment is paid for. The excursions are paid for. I mean, there's nothing for you to control, nothing to do, except let go......and relax and enjoy! That's the ultimate vacation experience!

Some nights they have two shows and they are set up to allow the people who have early dining to go to the later show and vice versa. We do not like the assigned dining time and always choose the any time dining option. However there seems to be a limit on the number of people that can choose this so if you do not book early you may not get it.

Try Norwegian. We love it and sai with them only. Its called "freestyle". Do what you want when YOU want. No assigned time for dining and dress for dinner or NOT. We find the ships clean, food is the best, entertainment great and we get involved in most activities. Dont jump overboard just yet. We are sailing Mar. 2018 and cannot wait.

As a regular cruiser, your complaints don’t sound major. Most likely the person/s smoking in their room was probably fined, but that’s not something Carnival will share with anyone else, but that is the policy. But there are somethings that you can do to make the experience better. We always bring plug in and spray air freshener for our rooms/bathrooms. Also at the time of booking you can chose which dinner time you prefer instead of letting them assign it to you. As far as drinks, you can bring wine onboard with you and order a bottle or two of something else in advance and it will be waiting in your room when you board the ship. Just a few tips, we’ve gone on carnival several times and have one booked for next year. Also there are lots of YouTube videos that give helpful cruising tips.