9/11 Review of Holiday Cruise

As most of you know I wasn't happy with this cruise at all. So I am going to do this review from mine and my husband's eyes (which was in the Navy for 4 years so he is use to the seas)

Boarding:

I had all documents filled out before going so this was fast. The people that was in the terminal were very busy and didn't want to answer your question. And heaven forbid you forget to turn you cell phone off and it rings while you are sitting and waiting to board because the room monitors let you know that it was not acceptable. Thank god it wasn't my cell phone because I know that the way he came across I would have lost it right there. Hubby agreed that he was RUDE:rolleyes:

Ship:

For it to be one of the older ships the care and appearence was great. The floors on the Lido deck did get slippery due to humidity.

Drinks:

Those that I had was only the first day where good. A little pricey when compared to prices that they sell the booze for. Husband is a beer guy so he has no opinion on this.

Food:

On an average the food was good. I really got tired of looking at hamburgers every day and couldn't understand how some could eat them every day every meal.

Dining Room:

The servers where great. the last cruise that we went on we didn't do breakfast the dining rooms and so we tried it one morning on this cruise. The one thing that I didn't like about it is the way of setting. When we went in they placed us at a booth with two men and they were sitting one on each side. When we requested a place where we could sit together or atleast on the same side the person showing us where to sit told us that they didn't have anything at that time. When only a quarter of the room was being used.:confused: Hubby did lunch in the dining room and said it was great, I tried it the last day and it was o.k. I got the steak salad and the dressing wasn't that great in my opinion.

State room:

Oh boy this is an area that got alot of feathers ruffled the last time but here is my opinon. The steward was useless. We had ordered our beds to be put together from the beginning (now before any feathers are ruffled in my defense we were told by the Carnival agent that the beds couldn't just be shoved together that they had to be released from the wall and they had to be straps to put them together to keep from coming apart) Just so nobody thinks that we were lazy or to stupid to do this I wanted to explain. My husband asked a gentleman in the hall if he could see that this got done he said he would tell our steward that evening. It wasn't until the next day for it to be done. The capers where placed under the door and no we never had the do not disturb sign on the door. We were out to sea an extra day and when we asked for a door slip because hubby likes morning coffee we never got it.

I was in my bed for three and half days and was never interrupted by the steward. When we were on the fascination in Dec 03 I guess we were spoiled because we did have to put our Do not disturb sign up the one day I was sick because the steward we had was wonderful and couldn't do enough for us.

Entertainment

The Cd director (can't remember his name) was English and I loved his accent. Josh was from Chicago and I think they said he was an assistant but we liked him a lot also.

The shows were good One had to be cancelled on the original night because of rough seas but they did it on the last night out.

Watched most of the entertainment on T.v. because of being sea sick. Hubby was up and running and kept coming in room and saying this and that about what they were doing.

Ports:

My personal opinion: I think that if there is a chance that the cruise lines are going to use ports that they normally don't go to they need to know a little something about them. Not just pull in and say be careful and good luck. I did miss Cozumel and I did understand that they were trying to keep us safe but this was a disappointment. Did love watching the dolphins while pulling into Galveston.

Immegration:

We went to Galveston to drop off those finding their own way back to New Orleans or home. Was orginally going to stay overnight pulled into port and was told plans changed was changed AGAIN. Immegration went pretty fast and I was glad because I still didn't feel that great and you had to do this in person.

Deparkment:

We took our own baggage off and so once everybody took care of their sign and sail account we did finally get to get off. We got into N.O. port around 3 but we didn't get to get off until around quarter till five. They automatically placed the gratuities for the extra day out to everybodies s&s and some wasn't prepared. I will be honest due to the rudenes from staff in general, the being told one thing and then it not being right the next (and I am not talking about ports), and the room steward we did adjust our gratuities. Which I am glad that we didn't prepay as we had planned because we witnessed that prepaid gratuties could not be adjusted.

I can say that I will not go on any thing smaller then the Fascination because I didn't enjoy it as much. But, again my personal opinion and as long as hubby is at sea he doesn't care.

I won't say I will never sail with Carnival again but I will say that I will be looking into other companies due to the attitudes from both this cruise and the customer service that has been contacted. When their ta calls and asks how was your cruise and then doesn't want to hear the truth then don't call. I am always looking on this board to try and get my trust back in this company.:)

Hi

We were on the Holiday twice last year(once during the infamous Hurricane Lili thing). We had a good time and felt the ship was kept up well for its age. However, our room steward both times was just the "PITS" to put it mildy.NO service at all! I had to post little sticky notes everywhere,please need ice.etc etc. Then tried putting on steward's light outside door which was a real joke! He made the bed at night and nothing else dispite all the sticky notes everywhere. I left a $5.00 bill attached to a stickynote asking for some cookies in our room and he told me I would have to contact room service for that??DUH for $5.00 extra he is not willing to go get them? However, on the Conquest had a wonderful room steward who was so nice. On the Holiday when we left I tipped the minimum amount but left him a note to suggest that he might get a bigger tip if he was friendlier, more accessible and left ice etc without having to be flagged down in the hall.etc. Several occasions I even had to get ice myself.

Just a word of advice to everyone that when you are on a cruise and you get bad service from anyone leave THEM a note and also mention it in your overall comments form. If service is real bad then ask to speak to their supervisor. Money talks you know! Just my two cents worth

Tina, I'll see if I can make my comments in bold print to repond to your comments.

I really got tired of looking at hamburgers every day and couldn't understand how some could eat them every day every meal.

??? There are so many other options than hamburgers! I don't do the buffet line, but I do know there is a variety of hot foods there every meal. And then there's always the pizzeria and salad bar.

Dining Room:

The servers where great. the last cruise that we went on we didn't do breakfast the dining rooms and so we tried it one morning on this cruise. The one thing that I didn't like about it is the way of setting.

I've always had b'fast in the dining room at my assigned table (except on port days and debarkation day) when on the Holiday. Maybe many changes took place due to the uniqueness of the hurricane cruise...?

Hubby did lunch in the dining room and said it was great, I tried it the last day and it was o.k. I got the steak salad and the dressing wasn't that great in my opinion.

I have lunch every day in the dining room (all three meals, actually), and I think they have a pretty good variety. I liked the steak salad, but asked for bleu cheese dressing on the side. No prob.

We were out to sea an extra day and when we asked for a door slip because hubby likes morning coffee we never got it.

Did you happen to check the little brown leather book in your cabin? I've always found several "do not disturb" and "room service order" forms in there.

I was in my bed for three and half days and was never interrupted by the steward. When we were on the fascination in Dec 03 I guess we were spoiled because we did have to put our Do not disturb sign up the one day I was sick because the steward we had was wonderful and couldn't do enough for us.

I'm not understanding this. Did you WANT the steward in the cabin even though you were ill? Maybe your husband told the steward you were ill and not to disturb you???

I can say that I will not go on any thing smaller then the Fascination because I didn't enjoy it as much. But, again my personal opinion and as long as hubby is at sea he doesn't care.

Tina, I'm really sorry you had such a bad cruise. MOST folks who cruise on the Holiday really enjoy her, and I'm just wondering if the "big picture" is the hurricane-caused differences, AND certainly the fact that you were seasick for most of the cruise. It's nice that your husband seemed to enjoy it, though. Hope you'll feel better on your next one, and take precautions for seasickness! :)

Hi Shang. Haven't seen you on the board lately.:)

Then tried putting on steward's light outside door which was a real joke!

No excuse, but just different stewards make a big difference in service. I've accidently hit my steward button and wow, there he is! Guess I've just been lucky on all my Holiday cruises to get great cabin stewards.

I left a $5.00 bill attached to a stickynote asking for some cookies in our room and he told me I would have to contact room service for that??DUH for $5.00 extra he is not willing to go get them?

To be fair, regardless of the $5 incentive, it really isn't his job to do room service as well as everything else he has to do. A quick call to room service gets the cookies (or whatever) there in a matter of minutes.

On the Holiday when we left I tipped the minimum amount but left him a note to suggest that he might get a bigger tip if he was friendlier, more accessible and left ice etc without having to be flagged down in the hall.etc.

I think that's a great idea. Hopefully, he'll be more attentive in the future.:confused:

Several occasions I even had to get ice myself!

OK, I KNOW we expect the steward to do this, and he certainly SHOULD be more on top of it, but...to me, it's not a real biggie to get a little bucket of ice for myself if I want more.;)

Just a word of advice to everyone that when you are on a cruise and you get bad service from anyone leave THEM a note and also mention it in your overall comments form. If service is real bad then ask to speak to their supervisor.

I agree. If the service is truly unbearable, call the head of housekeeping about the steward, or talk with the purser about other matters.

Tbrown, I am really sorry you had a bad time on the cruise especially your sickness. This was our 29th cruise and our 4th on the Holiday, so you can see we really like the ship. I will certainly admit this one was unusual beacause of the hurricane, but don't let it stop you from sailing again. Our dining room waiter was probably the best we have ever had, and while we rarely saw our room steward , he did a good job keeping our cabin cleaned, ice filled and anything else we requested. We also missed Cozumel( our favorite port), but obviously some things cannot be avoided. There was certainly confusion regarding our return to N.O., but again, they were doing what they felt was best for all of us. Please contact Carnival and let them know of your concerns, it's the only way they will be able to correct them.Again , I am really sorry about your experiences, but in my experiences on the Holiday this is the exception not the rule. In fact , we are planning on sailing the Holiday again in January or February from Mobile. Good Luck.

Cotten, Sorry you took such offense to my OPINION which is exactly what my review of our cruise was MY OPINION.

I didn't say I ate the hamburgers everyday I just said I didn't understand how people could eat them everyday.

and I did take precautions on the seasickness just didn't help any.

Wasn't taking offense. Just doing what everybody does here every day...responding to a post.:)

Hi Shang. Haven't seen you on the board lately.:)

 

Then tried putting on steward's light outside door which was a real joke!

No excuse, but just different stewards make a big difference in service. I've accidently hit my steward button and wow, there he is! Guess I've just been lucky on all my Holiday cruises to get great cabin stewards.

 

I left a $5.00 bill attached to a stickynote asking for some cookies in our room and he told me I would have to contact room service for that??DUH for $5.00 extra he is not willing to go get them?

To be fair, regardless of the $5 incentive, it really isn't his job to do room service as well as everything else he has to do. A quick call to room service gets the cookies (or whatever) there in a matter of minutes.

 

On the Holiday when we left I tipped the minimum amount but left him a note to suggest that he might get a bigger tip if he was friendlier, more accessible and left ice etc without having to be flagged down in the hall.etc.

I think that's a great idea. Hopefully, he'll be more attentive in the future.:confused:

 

Several occasions I even had to get ice myself!

OK, I KNOW we expect the steward to do this, and he certainly SHOULD be more on top of it, but...to me, it's not a real biggie to get a little bucket of ice for myself if I want more.;)

 

Just a word of advice to everyone that when you are on a cruise and you get bad service from anyone leave THEM a note and also mention it in your overall comments form. If service is real bad then ask to speak to their supervisor.

I agree. If the service is truly unbearable, call the head of housekeeping about the steward, or talk with the purser about other matters.

There is nothing better than a real person on the ship I was on trying to get me inline? I dont mind getting ice if I someone would tell me where to get it?

Thanks again

Sara

Tina, I too am really sorry you had such an unhappy cruising experience, but it's over; why can't you chalk it up, change your signature line and get over it? Frankly, having read several of your posts and responses to posts, it seems to me you are always looking for something to complain about and stir up some kind of dissention. Don't mean to be rude, just expressing my opinion. And I wish you would explain to me where you got the word "deparkment". Did you by chance mean "debarkation"?

Tina, I too am really sorry you had such an unhappy cruising experience, but it's over; why can't you chalk it up, change your signature line and get over it? Frankly, having read several of your posts and responses to posts, it seems to me you are always looking for something to complain about and stir up some kind of dissention. Don't mean to be rude, just expressing my opinion. And I wish you would explain to me where you got the word "deparkment". Did you by chance mean "debarkation"?

I thought that these boards were to let people know what we thought about our cruise and what the next people could be looking forward to both the good and the bad. The problem is that I have noticed that many on this board can not handle the bad because they think that Carnival does no wrong. I waited to write my review until I had settled down to were I could really think about what had happened and to see if there was anything that we could have done to change things. On the majority of the posts that I have responded to I was not complaining as such I was expressing my opinion just like you are in your post. Now the ones that are true diehard Carnival fans don't want to hear the negative side of anybody and I have noticed that on quite a few post if you don't agree with them they take offense to it. Unfortunatly I have noticed that there is a click on this board and they seem to be the ones that always reply when you don't agree with something that the company does. I have also read enough post that not everybody thinks that Carnival is the greatest. I have posted that I am not going to say that I will never cruise with Carnival again but I can say that we had one good cruise with them and one really bad one.

Sorry about the confusion of words.

Oh and I will work on changing my signature line

Tina, kudos to you for your new signature!! Much nicer! Didn't mean to come across as a "true diehard Carnival fan" and I surely don't belong to any such clique. I realize that things happen on-board that are not always pleasant but you were reflecting some real angry vibes that came across as argumentative. Last year, we had a waiter that left much to be desired, but I told him about it quietly and he improved to some extent; not enough to warrant an extra tip tho, and I let him know it. A couple of problems arose with our group of 15 during embarkation and I wrote Carnival about it. But I saw no point in dredging it all up on these boards and perhaps cause newbies to be defensive when they got ready to cruise. Things happen and you just have to roll with it and keep your good humor. See, you and I would probably be friends if we met. At any rate, I would hope so. Once again, sorry you didn't have a good cruise but hope you will have happy seas ahead - on Carnival or not - don't give up on cruising.