Carnival Triumph March 19/05

DH, two granddaughters ages 10 and 7 along with myself were on this sailing in a cat. 11 suite. This wasn't our first Carnival cruise but it certainly will be our last. While many things went well those that didn't far outweigh the good.

This sailing had over 1100 children under the age of 18 on board. I was prepared for that but our biggest problem was with the college aged crowd. They slept all day and partied all night, mostly in the hallways, not caring about anyone else around them who might be sleeping. I didn't have a single night's sleep that was uninterrupted. Security seemed oblivious to it all until called. To Carnival's credit, my call resulted in a 10% discount on a future cruise. I wasn't expecting it nor will I be using it.

We had many, many unpleasant things happen in the middle of the night such as an unwanted room service order being delivered at 3AM and very small children running and screaming in the halls after 2 in the morning. Although I didn't look out, they sounded to be about 10 years old. Where were their parents???? And more to the point, where was Carnival's security???? I have been a defender of Carnival in the past but no more. I have come to the unhappy conclusion that they indeed do deserve the negative comments leveled at them. In the future, we will find another cruiseline. Carnival is no longer for us.

Sorry you had a bad experience.... this is one reason I will NEVER take a cruise during Spring Break... I don't think my nerves could take it!!!!!!! I have only had to call security twice, but both times, they were pretty prompt. Could be that during SB, there are an awful lot of calls!!!!! LOL! I have also noticed that too many parents let their kids run wild on the ship, I can imagine during SB that would be worse, since many are not there with their parents. Sorry you had to deal with it!! Good luck on your future cruises!!!

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We were on the same cruise and ours was great! We were on the Veranda Deck Aft cabin 8414 and must not have had too many partiers near us. Some friends of ours that were on Veranda Forward cabin 8277 did say there were some partiers near them, but I don't think it disturbed them too much. There certainly were kids everywhere. It amazed me that so many little kids were allowed to run around freely. Mine were not.

that is why when i go on my cruise i, iam bringing ear plugs

We were on the Empress deck midship in cabin #7275. Granted some of the problems were most certainly related to SB, others were not. I saw several people in the London dining room wearing shorts - on formal night. These people weren't students. Far from it. This particular cruise was for me, totally classless. My 10 year old granddaughter even called it the Walmart of cruises. Out of the mouths of babes! She was right on the money.

This particular cruise was for me, totally classless. My 10 year old granddaughter even called it the Walmart of cruises. Out of the mouths of babes! She was right on the money.

So are you saying the people that shop at Walmart are totally classless or just Walmart itself?

I am sorry that there were unruly people on your cruise, but I do take offense at your rather snobbish slight of Walmart customers in general. I suppose I could drive the 40 miles to shop at Target and be considered classy, but if I spent all of my money on gas I wouldn't be able to cruise with fancy folks like you. :rolleyes:

I'm sorry, I just don't get how some people are dressed could affect my enjoyment of an evening. I was in the London Dining room each formal night and didn't notice anyone dressed inappropriately, of course I wasn't looking for them either. I simply enjoyed being with my family and friends and enjoyed a great meal. I thought there were way too many kids around to expect a luxurious experience, it was far more of a family atmosphere and that's exactly what we wanted on this cruise. Sometime later (when my wallet has recovered) when I want a luxury cruise I probably won't choose Carnival and I know I won't take my kids.

Just out of curiosity, How does what somebody else wears, effect you being able to enjoy your time? I know I am wearing a tux, and my wife is wearing a fancy formal dress when we cruise next month, but I don't think it will hinder our ability to enjoy ourselves should others choose not to dress accordingly. Understandable that Carnival should enforce their rules, but we are dressing up because we enjoy it and it makes it fun for us. I could care less what somebody else decides to wear. I think it's all in the ability to look for things to bug you, or go with the attitude that you are on a cruise for crying out loud. How bad can it really be?

Ditto Gunner!

I have one more question. Did your grandchildren have a good time? I figure that you went at that time of year to be with them, so that should have been the most important thing right?

It may have also been that since you were in a suite you were higher up in the ship closer to all the action i.e. bars and kids center.. the children you heard may have been coming back to their cabins with their parents at that time of night.. babysitting is until one or two am I believe. Maybe next time choose a cheaper cabin and don't go at spring break. I went on the triumph last year at spring break with my two daughters and we had a great time, but this year we chose the Miracle just to get a different experience I do think the Triumph gives a lot of bang for the buck though, I wouldn't call it luxurious or classy just fun.

Before you get your panties in a wad, the expression Walmart of cruiselines was not created by me. It has been used on CC by many others. For me, this cruise lacked class. You may feel otherwise but I do not. And again, I have cruised Carnival in the past, many times and at the same time of year. I have also cruised other lines and there was a vast difference. This was a completely different and unpleasant experience. Yes this cruise was booked on Carnival for the express purpose of our grandchildren and yes they did enjoy themselves. But keep in mind, they have not cruised before and anything that floated would have made them happy. Plus they were with us and since we only see each other a couple of times a year, that also made them happy. In the past I have defended Carnival vigorously - no more. I'm sorry you take offense to that.

See I guess I misunderstood your comment, because I thought you said that your granddaughter called the cruise the Walmart of cruises, and that your 10 year old granddaughter thought the cruise lacked class. My main point was that assuming that folks that shop at Walmart lack class in general is wrong and teaching your granddaughter this concept really lacks class. I guess I was just concerned that your granddaughter was getting the impression that it is acceptable to judge folks by what they wear and where they shop. Glad that I was mistaken. I would hate to think that a 10 year old could be that misinformed.

Just to let you know, we cruised Royal Caribbean last year during Spring Break, and we encountered the same thing you did on your Carnival cruise. There was a very large group of unsupervised (or so it seemed) teens onboard, and they made life miserable for everyone. And security did nothing about it. So I don't think you can necessarily generalize and fault just Carnival and say you will never cruise Carnival again, because it can and does happen on other lines as well.

Our first cruise on Carnival sounded very much like your experience. We swore we'd never cruise Carnival again. I wrote to management to complain, never expecting anything in return, just needed to get it off my chest. They responded with a letter apologizing and offering 15% off a future cruise. We had no intention of using it, and then relented. We wanted to take our kids on a cruise and we figured, what the heck, might as well do it on Carnival's dime. Well, our next experience was totally different. And we've cruised Carnival many times since and not had a problem. I think you're making a rash decision to say you'll never cruise Carnival again. We took our four sons on the Legend out of NYC last year at the end of May and it was the most sedate crowd I've ever encountered on any cruise. When it's just my husband and I cruising, I do prefer Princess, but with the kids, I still think Carnival offers great bang for the buck.

If you are really deadset against cruising Carnival again, I might suggest that if you plan on cruising during Spring Break season, you try Princess or Celebrity. Princess limits the number of kids they allow on each sailing, and Celebrity in general just has fewer kids.

But I wouldn't kiss Carnival goodbye entirely. Why not try them again but at a different time of year? You would probably encounter an entirely different atmosphere.

I think everyone would agree that Wal-mart is all about rock bottom prices, no frills, massive stores with lots of stuff in straight relatively narrow aisles. Wal-mart is not Neiman Marcus and never pretends to be. with I'm crusing Carnival for the first time because the price was significantly lower than cruise lines I have previously cruised. I'm not expecting the same service, the same quality of food, the same type of people and many other things. I'm looking forward to my cruise, but know you get what you pay for. I'm assuming I'll have good food, the crowd will be younger, the pool more crowded and a few other things. Once in a great while I go to Wal-mart...usually because they have the best price on something I want. I don't recall anyone in this thread saying that Wal-mart shoppers were class-less. I believe she said "this was the Wal-mart of cruiselines". It's entirely possible she's right. Is that a negative thing...not necessarily, depends on what you want and what you want to pay for.

Too bad they aren't the Wal-Mart of cruiselines, cause then we could use my DW's employee discount card and cruise more often!:D

On a more serious side, I think many times it is luck of the draw as to the mix of passengers on board, and is not necessarily under control of the cruiselines. Like others have stated, certain weeks will have more kids, some will have an older crowd, etc. To blame the cruiselines for who happened to book the same week you did does not make sense to me.

If we were taking our grand-kids, we would probably go during a more traditional 'kids' week, and enjoy the heck out of them. If it is just us, we would most likely choose a different time of year, itinerary, etc. Either way, we would make the best of it, and enjoy the cruise.

think about it people, she had a suite and not everyone with a suite expects world class service, but some of them do. when you complain about every little thing, and to make the walmart comment, these people want and need world class service, nothing wrong with that, but don't expect for everything to go right all the time. remember it's a vacation, have FUN!!!

I'm offended about the Walmart remark... Walmart has dang great deals & I make dang good money in a dang good profession... I live in a dang good house with a dang good wife & 2 dang good kids... If my dang 14 or 12 yr old made a remark like that after one of our many dang cruises, they would be required to shop at the dang Walmart every day for a dang month spending their way too high dang allowance money!! They would also pay for our next dang cruise on Carnival... We have traveled on 2 other dang "upscale" cruise lines... They sucked!! Carnival is the only dang way to go!!! Now, if we could only get dang Walmart to sell dang Carnival cruises, dang man, I would be in dang cruise heaven!!!... GET THE DANG POINT!!!!! Carnival & Walmart are A1!!! :p

Well...

DANG!!!

Where do you get that dang fancy countdown on your post????:confused:

Well dangit! If you go to the cruise forums and go to the "help using the forums" (something like that), there is a link to the countdown clock... they can give you some dang help dangit :p Let us know if you need some dang help!!!

Well, thanks for the dang info... I will give it a dang try!!! I hope you have a dang good cruise... I will be on the dang Triumph on 4/9 celebrating my dang 20th wedding anniversary... My dang wife gets so dang tired of me saying dang... Must be the dang Georgia boy in me... Again, dang thanks!!! :D

Well I'll be garsh danged! LOL!!!! Tell wife that it's just the dang thing to do... and you are just too danged cool! :D thanks for giving me a good laugh tonight!!!! LOL!

I think I dang figured this clock thing out... I will know once I post this dang post... Thanks for all your dang help!!! Crossing my dang fingers... Here we dang go!!! :rolleyes:

IT DANGED WORKED!!! YEAH!!!!!!!! THANKS A DANG BUNCH!!! HAVE A GREAT DANG NIGHT, DAY & CRUISE!! (I EVEN HOPE YOU GET DANG LUCKY TONIGHT!) :D