Poor Cruise

Review Summary

I recently sailed on Carnival's Victory for the second time, and all I can say is how disappointed I was the second time around. The dining room service has gone down hill and that is phrasing it nicely. I also find the food went from 5 star to that just above a chain fast food restaurant. When I cruised on this same ship in 2001, the service was unsurpassed. I had talked 5 of my friends into choosing this line and ship as a result of this recent experience some of them are turned off from future cruising. The lines at the buffet for breakfast and lunch were long and not fast moving, there was no organization to them. For instance if I just wanted breakfast and no custom omelet, I still had to wait on line for the custom omelets to be made, this made for an endless line. The omelet statation should be placed elsewhere.
Back to the dining room, we had ordered a bottle of wine every night. The first glass was poured by the staff and then we were on our own. My glass stayed empty until I took the initiative to pour the wine myself. That is poor and unacceptable service. Not something that I have seen on my previous cruises. We had two balcony state rooms which were suppose to adjoin by the balancies. We were put in the wrong staterooms thus they could not open up the divider for us as it would block one of the entrances to the balancy, completely defeating the purpose of adjoining balcony rooms.
I have cruised 4 times and I will never set sail on a Carnival ship again, this experience has put a poor taste in my mouth. Royal Caribbean will be the next cruise that I choose.

Ship Experiences

Ports of Call

Pros: I liked the pool waitstaff and the room steward service

Cons: The dining room staffs professionalism and the maitre'd's lack of presence

Recommends Carnival Victory? No.