Is Carnival really that bad?

We are taking our FIRST Carnival cruise in oct on the Glory. We were super excited to try a new line as we have only been on NCL. But seems all i read on the FB page and other review sites is negative feedback!! Is carnival really become that bad? It cost us alot in airfare to make these trips from Colorado and im kinda worried now...[emoji27]

No, it's not "that bad" - and obviously you don't think it could be "that bad" either or you never would have invested in "a lot" of non-refundable airfare if you were truly convinced it was... ;)

Enjoy your cruise! :cool:

My family and I have taken 5 Carnival Cruises over the last 7 years, and absolutely loved every one. In my opinion, Carnival is a good value for the price you pay. We have always found the service on the ship fantastic, and the food is great. Some people love to complain, but there are many positives also. So no, Carnival is not that bad, we find it to be good.

I am from Colorado too and booked my 3rd Carnival Cruise in 3 years. I love the relaxed atmosphere. I can be as busy or relaxed as I choose. I think the food is good and the value is there. If you don't like it, go back to NCL but a bad day cruisin' is better than a good day workin'.

It's all what you make of it! If your looking for negative, that's what it will be.

Go be happy, your on a cruise. Enjoy!!!!

Thanks for the input. I assumed it was just people that love to complain. But with so much of it i though id check. Any input on the Glory from recent travels? It really did have the best ports. And 1 more then ncl or royal because of halfmoon being in the mix.

Which FB page are you reading? I belong to multiple groups and see some negative comments, but not an over abundance. Carnival is a great cruiseline and value. I have taken 3 RCCL cruises and I thoght they paled in comparison to CCL. Food is better, the crew is friendlier and the atmosphere is fun. I like the Conquest class ships - which Glory is. Go into it with an open mind and don't read too much in the negativity. Some people complain just to complain.

It is not that bad to me! I have done one NCL, one Celebrity, and 6 Carnival cruises. Guess which one I prefer:D

You can only know if it is for you, if you try it once. Carnival surely is not for everyone, but check it out, you might find that you like it after all. I hope you do enjoy your cruise:)

I've sailed 4 cruise lines so far and Carnival remains the best cruise I've been on. So much so that we've just booked another Carnival cruise for October 2016! Of course which line you prefer depends on what you enjoy most about cruising, but with Carnival the food was good, the cabin was good, the public areas were good, the entertainment was excellent and the staff were wonderful. I can't think of anything negative we actually experienced, even though all we read before we went on that cruise were negative reviews. I suppose people with something to complain about are more motivated to write a review than those who had a good time.

I think a lot of people get disappointed because they go in thinking they are going to get the quality of something like the movie Titanic, all for less than $70 per person, per day. It's important to have realistic expectations. Is Carnival super fancy with haute cuisine and other passengers who are all "old money"? No. Is the food pretty good, the service friendly and are there lots of fun activities available? Yes.

My cute MIL always likens it to shopping. If you go to Target expecting the level of service and merchandise you get at Nordstrom, then you are going to be disappointed. But if you go shop at Target because they have cute stuff at a decent price, you'll be fine. It's the same here.

Thanks for the input. I assumed it was just people that love to complain. But with so much of it i though id check. Any input on the Glory from recent travels? It really did have the best ports. And 1 more then ncl or royal because of halfmoon being in the mix.

Personally never had a bad day on a cruise ship and with the exception of one all of my cruises have been with Carnival. My FIL and MIL were on the Glory in October and loved the ship. Happy sialing!

Thank you for all the insighr

My family and I have taken 5 Carnival Cruises over the last 7 years, and absolutely loved every one. In my opinion, Carnival is a good value for the price you pay. We have always found the service on the ship fantastic, and the food is great. Some people love to complain, but there are many positives also. So no, Carnival is not that bad, we find it to be good.

I completely agree with your post. We love doing B2Bs & can afford to do so on Carnival.

In 14 Carnival Cruises we've never had one that we were disappointed in.

I love Carnival! We just completed my 23rd with 2 more booked for next year. We have only done one other one with HAL and I like Carnival way more. We did the Freedom repositioning a couple of weeks ago and I was in the pool and there was a lady that spent 10 minutes complaining about everything! She loved HAL.....etc....etc. I told her IMO Carnival was way better but she was 70 and I'm 56. My friend is 69 and she loves Carnival. Each line is not for everyone. That said IMO you can't find a better vacation then Carnival. We did the Glory less then a year ago and loved it!

Well said katiebug! Think of it this way..... Over 20 millions people are on cruise ships each year. That's 20,000,000++! There is no way you are going to please that many people! Lol. Some people are quite easy to please and some are, well, just not going to be happy no matter what they are doing in life. Carnival is probably the cheapest cruise line you will find and also the best value for your money, IMHO. My last cruise was on a Princess ship. Do I expect the AMAZING food they had? Nope. Do I expect some yummy food? You betcha! And I'm sure I will be satisfied!! I guess it all just comes down to expectation too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Carnival is nice. I toke a cruise in Jan with carnival. That now I am trying to make plans with my little girl. She is 27 years old. And I would not take my little girl on a cruise if I did not think she would be safe. What I read that it was a free for all. But it was nothing like that.

Carnival (the cruise line) is #4 in market share with 8% of the cruise market worldwide. Carnival (the corp) is #1 with 42%.

Carnival (the cruise line) accounts for about 33% of all US cruise passenger nights and Carnival (the corp) accounts for 54% of all US cruise passenger nights.

They must be doing something right.

Statistics are from 2011 and from the us DOT web site.

I have not read all your postings that you received, but this is MY opinion.

I see you did NCL, and we did the same on the Star, a brand new ship years ago. To say the least, we will NEVER go back (there were so many that felt the same way) to NCL, unless we would get it FREE, and I doubt that.

As for Carnival, I have done it many times in my 25 years of cruising. I will say some people will "nit pick" ,and that may have been some of the reviews that you read. As someone had mentioned earlier, you get what you pay for. If you expect GOLD, but pay in silver, well........

My family absolutly loves Carnival. It has always been a great vacation for us. Now some cruises I will admit have been better then others for one reason or another. Every single cruise we have gone on we have enjoyed and cannot wait to go back. There is a TON of loyal cruisers who choose Carnival over and over again. Sit back, grab a drink, RELAX and enjoy the cruise!

I enjoy carnival good value and a party!

DW and I have only sailed with Carnival. We have had a great time on all 3 of our cruises. I am a firm believer that vacations are what you make of them. We went to the world of the mouse last year and it was in the 30s and rainy most of the trip but we still had an awesome time.

You should use reviews as a guideline and remember more people post a review of negative experiences than positive ones.

Enjoy your cruise.

Carnival is not for everyone. My family & I enjoy Carnival. We've tried many of the other lines & Carnival fits us best. We keep coming back anyway.

Hope you enjoy Carnival as much as we do.

I never believe Carnival is the best cruise line. But we keep coming back. The record was 3 Carnival cruises in a year, Spring break, Fall break, and Christmas. That's how bad Carnival is.

You are going to love it!!! I am jealous that you are going to experience your first cruise. I think the majority of the people let down are people who have cruised for years and notice the cutbacks. But there is a lot more positives than negatives.

We are taking our FIRST Carnival cruise in oct on the Glory. We were super excited to try a new line as we have only been on NCL. But seems all i read on the FB page and other review sites is negative feedback!! Is carnival really become that bad? It cost us alot in airfare to make these trips from Colorado and im kinda worried now...[emoji27]

If you have enjoyed NCL I believe you will have great time on Carnival. I enjoy Princess for a subdued vacation but I love the energy a carnival ship has. NCL I hear is energetic but I have not cruised. There are complaints about lido buffet by many but I think that's in par with everyone's buffet. It's your vacation and I hope you love it and I wouldn't worry about a negative. There are plenty of positives you will read about here on same subject. Happy cruising and I hope we all get to hear what you think afterwards!