Carnival hit new low

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Just when you though that it could not get any worse, Carnival now serves Peach pie, blueberry pie, and cherry pie that consists of 90% Gelatin and a few bits of peaches blueberries and 1 cherry in their desert pies that were served in the main dining room. Pies were shown to maitre'd who acted like he was unaware that it was mostly gelatin but did or said nothing about it. I am a diamond member on Carnival with over 300 days sailing and every time I have sailed in the past year each time something new gets taken away from the passengers. Other cruise lines are going forward but Carnival seems to be in reverse. I now consider other lines as my first choice when booking cruises, and give up my few perks as a diamond club member. Another surprise was my FREE DRINK Coupon that cost me $1.09 because the coupon was only good for $8.95 in the brunch (which is the only place I could use it) and the Bloody Mary's were $9.95 plus tip and many drinks that have been raised to $9.25, were charged $.24.This is that worst proof of penny pinching on a cruise line I have ever seen. In my opinion Carnival has got to improve these givebacks for me to consider cruising with them again. I am so sorry to have to say this after 25 years of cruising with them

And you're just finding CruiseCritic NOW? Please, DO go onto other lines and explore. And find something positive to bark about.

Carnival use to be the best in entertainment, food, amenities, and customer concerns. Over the past years with 2 new CEOs, the line has made the bottom line priority. I continued to cruise Canvival while I cruised othe lines to compare them. I found that the other lines have improved greatly in their commitment to its past passemgers. Each time I have cruised Carnival another takeback was discovered. There comes a time when enough is enough. It took me this much time to realize that Carnival is not getting better. This is not a complaint but but information that others can use to compare lines. I realize that I have a choice to cruise any line. I will cruise any line that I feel is going to treat is passengers with them in mind and not their bottom line. Carnival will change in time, they have in the past, as other lines as well.when this happends It will be on my list again. This is not to give Carnival a bad name, but to try to make them aware that its most loyal customers are not happy with these changes and maybe fix them so their customers can go back to enjoying cruising with Carnival again.

Everyone has their breaking point. FYI I don't remember any fruit pies in the dining room on other lines except maybe apple. If it's important be sure to check first.

How about ordering something other than the Pie if you don't like it? Plenty of other options.

I really like CCL and have always enjoyed myself on all my cruises - heck, I was even one of those poor, mistreated, underpaid employees on 3 of their ships back in the day. BUT, when the OP said CCL use to be the best in entertainment, food, amenities and customer service, I knew there was something just not quite right. Like I said I am a loyal customer and love the product, but come on now, the best??!!

Hmm. Going to a restaurant and something doesn't come out as expected. That never happens. (Sarcasm)

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1. Just order a different dessert if the one brought to you doesn't meet with your approval.

2. But you still saved $8.95 on a drink...or whatever the amount was.

3. If you/re this unhappy, cruise elsewhere.

But what do I know?

I would recommend RCCL, their food and entertainment is better and the prices are not that much different

I would recommend RCCL, their food and entertainment is better and the prices are not that much different

And you can go to the Royal Caribbean board and read the same complaints :cool: Yes, entertainment is better. No, the food is NOT better to most that sail both lines without bias. Carnival does MUCH better with their included options than Royal does. You cant even compare to that frozen garbage they serve at Sorrentos to a fresh made Carnival pizza. Royals included Windjammer burgers are horrid, their desserts are also about 100% gelatin crap too. The MDR is a tie to me and the Windjammer is a little better than Carnivals Lido Marketplace. Carnivals steakhouses blow Chops out of the water. Period.

Carnival use to be the best in entertainment, food, amenities, and customer concerns. Over the past years with 2 new CEOs, the line has made the bottom line priority. I continued to cruise Canvival while I cruised othe lines to compare them. I found that the other lines have improved greatly in their commitment to its past passemgers. Each time I have cruised Carnival another takeback was discovered. There comes a time when enough is enough. It took me this much time to realize that Carnival is not getting better. This is not a complaint but but information that others can use to compare lines. I realize that I have a choice to cruise any line. I will cruise any line that I feel is going to treat is passengers with them in mind and not their bottom line. Carnival will change in time, they have in the past, as other lines as well.when this happends It will be on my list again. This is not to give Carnival a bad name, but to try to make them aware that its most loyal customers are not happy with these changes and maybe fix them so their customers can go back to enjoying cruising with Carnival again.

Have you looked at any of the other cruise line boards? If you look at my signature you will see that I am not loyal to any line because I don't really care about the perks or "status" and choose based upon itinerary alone most of the time. I have been on 4 different cruise lines and I can tell you each time when I am on the boards I see the same type of complaints on each one. This is the first time to see complaints about pie though. You may want to try Celebrity or Holland America.

You are upset about a Bloody Mary that was less than 10.00? LOL! Please give Royal a try :) You will pay 14.16 cents for that Bloody Mary. I know, I had several on Freedom of the Seas.

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Just when you though that it could not get any worse, Carnival now serves Peach pie, blueberry pie, and cherry pie that consists of 90% Gelatin and a few bits of peaches blueberries and 1 cherry in their desert pies that were served in the main dining room. Pies were shown to maitre'd who acted like he was unaware that it was mostly gelatin but did or said nothing about it. I am a diamond member on Carnival with over 300 days sailing and every time I have sailed in the past year each time something new gets taken away from the passengers. Other cruise lines are going forward but Carnival seems to be in reverse. I now consider other lines as my first choice when booking cruises, and give up my few perks as a diamond club member. Another surprise was my FREE DRINK Coupon that cost me $1.09 because the coupon was only good for $8.95 in the brunch (which is the only place I could use it) and the Bloody Mary's were $9.95 plus tip and many drinks that have been raised to $9.25, were charged $.24.This is that worst proof of penny pinching on a cruise line I have ever seen. In my opinion Carnival has got to improve these givebacks for me to consider cruising with them again. I am so sorry to have to say this after 25 years of cruising with them

Never truer were the words: "you get what you pay for."

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And you can go to the Royal Caribbean board and read the same complaints :cool: Yes, entertainment is better. No, the food is NOT better to most that sail both lines without bias. Carnival does MUCH better with their included options than Royal does. You cant even compare to that frozen garbage they serve at Sorrentos to a fresh made Carnival pizza. Royals included Windjammer burgers are horrid, their desserts are also about 100% gelatin crap too. The MDR is a tie to me and the Windjammer is a little better than Carnivals Lido Marketplace. Carnivals steakhouses blow Chops out of the water. Period.

We can agree to disagree on that one then

I don't get the pie but a man at our table on the 4/30 cruise got pie every night and said they were full of fruit and amazing.

Here is your review:

Just when you though that it could not get any worse, Carnival now serves Peach pie, blueberry pie, and cherry pie that consists of 90% Gelatin and a few bits of peaches blueberries and 1 cherry in their desert pies that were served in the main dining room. Pies were shown to maitre'd who acted like he was unaware that it was mostly gelatin but did or said nothing about it. I am a diamond member on Carnival with over 300 days sailing and every time I have sailed in the past year each time something new gets taken away from the passengers. Other cruise lines are going forward but Carnival seems to be in reverse. I now consider other lines as my first choice when booking cruises, and give up my few perks as a diamond club member. Another surprise was my FREE DRINK Coupon that cost me $1.09 because the coupon was only good for $8.95 in the brunch (which is the only place I could use it) and the Bloody Mary's were $9.95 plus tip and many drinks that have been raised to $9.25, were charged $.24.This is that worst proof of penny pinching on a cruise line I have ever seen. In my opinion Carnival has got to improve these givebacks for me to consider cruising with them again. I am so sorry to have to say this after 25 years of cruising with them

Yes, the pies are awful! My husband had one on our last cruise and the crust was disgusting. Too bad they don't allow you to send it back and choose something different! Oh wait, they do! Perhaps if more people just sent back the stuff that was bad, they would get the clue.

All lines have cut-backs. You just have to decide which cutbacks bother you the most. I for one am glad of those cut-backs. It has kept the cruise price low and allows me to take a cruise every year with my family of 5. Had the prices risen with inflation from my first cruise I took in 1992 with all the perks they used to offer, an interior room on a 7 day cruise would be over $2000 per person. Give me the cutbacks and I will eat pie elsewhere, and pay for my own drinks with lots of money left over.

All lines have cut-backs. You just have to decide which cutbacks bother you the most. I for one am glad of those cut-backs. It has kept the cruise price low and allows me to take a cruise every year with my family of 5. Had the prices risen with inflation from my first cruise I took in 1992 with all the perks they used to offer, an interior room on a 7 day cruise would be over $2000 per person. Give me the cutbacks and I will eat pie elsewhere, and pay for my own drinks with lots of money left over.

This. I am glad that they have made some cutbacks to keep things affordable. I know that sometimes you can get last minutes deals on other lines...but usually there is some other issue...like ports I don't want to visit, too many sea days, dates don't work, can't get flights, pet sitter is busy,etc. I like being able to plan ahead and get a good price.

We even tried to do a land based vacation instead this year. I priced out the cost for two of us to go to Disney World, stay in a cheap off site hotel, gas, cheap fast food meals, etc and it was more expensive than a cruise, so we chose the cruise again lol.

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This. I am glad that they have made some cutbacks to keep things affordable. I know that sometimes you can get last minutes deals on other lines...but usually there is some other issue...like ports I don't want to visit, too many sea days, dates don't work, can't get flights, pet sitter is busy,etc. I like being able to plan ahead and get a good price.

 

We even tried to do a land based vacation instead this year. I priced out the cost for two of us to go to Disney World, stay in a cheap off site hotel, gas, cheap fast food meals, etc and it was more expensive than a cruise, so we chose the cruise again lol.

 

 

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LOL, we did Disney a couple years ago because all my kids' friends had been and "all we had ever done was go on cruises" (or land vacations like Grand Canyon, New York, etc.). So we finally went to Disney. It cost more, and all the kids said was, "this is fun...but I wish we were on a cruise again!"

I just read a thread on the Royal Caribbean board that has the same flavor as your post. The author complained about Royal's cutbacks. Even on the Celebrity board I read about cutbacks. Carnival's, though, are pretty bad. I agree the pie is horrible. In fact, most of the desserts are horrible on Carnival. Princess wins for their desserts, imo.

Our last Princess (Ruby in January) cruise the desserts were lousy. Either no taste or odd texture. The Miracle's desserts last week were an improvement.

On another note, all of Princess' danish and croissants were very dry, like day old.

Completely agree that food complaints are similar across the boards.

lol.

Another surprise was my FREE DRINK Coupon that cost me $1.09

Like they say, everyone has their breaking point.

Your breaking point is $1.09

Now you know.

And you can go to the Royal Caribbean board and read the same complaints :cool: Yes, entertainment is better. No, the food is NOT better to most that sail both lines without bias. Carnival does MUCH better with their included options than Royal does. You cant even compare to that frozen garbage they serve at Sorrentos to a fresh made Carnival pizza. Royals included Windjammer burgers are horrid, their desserts are also about 100% gelatin crap too. The MDR is a tie to me and the Windjammer is a little better than Carnivals Lido Marketplace. Carnivals steakhouses blow Chops out of the water. Period.

Our two most recent cruises were on RCI and we enjoyed both (especially the concierge lounge) but I think I have to give all your points above a big (y) because I agree. Chops was quite a disappointment.

Our two most recent cruises were on RCI and we enjoyed both (especially the concierge lounge) but I think I have to give all your points above a big (y) because I agree. Chops was quite a disappointment.

I love Royals ships and entertainment. Their food overall is a huge disappointment and their drinks are outrageous.

Over the past years with 2 new CEOs, the line has made the bottom line priority. .

Thankfully, Carnival is run by business savvy CEOs who know what's best for the company and its shareholders. The consistant annual earnings and quarterly dividends speak for themselves.

LOL, we did Disney a couple years ago because all my kids' friends had been and "all we had ever done was go on cruises" (or land vacations like Grand Canyon, New York, etc.). So we finally went to Disney. It cost more, and all the kids said was, "this is fun...but I wish we were on a cruise again!"

Lol. Glad I'm not the only one. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney! There's just something about spending all day walking around in the hot sun, followed by fighting tourist/angry local drivers in traffic to go and stand in an overly crowded pizza place to pick up a luke warm dinner...which we then take back to our hotel and awkwardly eat over the small desk space...

I will gladly take an elevator ride down to the MDR and have a full service meal at no extra cost. If I order a dessert I don't like (impossible because I always get melting cake ), I will go get myself a bowl of ice cream...also at no extra cost.

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Never truer were the words: "you get what you pay for."

 

 

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I most certainly hope so.