We strayed to Carnival...NEVER again!

We are a couple in our 60's who are pretty loyal to RCCL because we like the product despite cutbacks over the years. But we wanted to sail out of NOLA, so we chose to go on the Carnival Dream. First let me say, we had a great time (we were cruisin'!), met some lovely people and enjoyed ourselves. We are totally aware that you can have good and bad experiences on any cruise line, any ship anywhere. Having sailed Carnival once before, we were well aware there would be differences. So we went into the cruise with an open mind and tried really hard not to compare. We go with the flow.

Things we liked...

Cabin and steward....was fine! Actually I think our balcony cabin was a bit bigger getting around the bed. Towel animals EVERY night!

Entertainment... Production shows were excellent! No complaints!

24 hour pizza...very good!

Bar service was very good.

It was the little things that made the difference....

People....We encountered SO many rude people on this ship with poor social graces. It is hard to go into much detail but just the total lack of concern for others. 1100 kids on this ship, as well. MY fault for booking a summer cruise :eek: SO many people inappropriately dressed...letting it all hang out in a bad way. Some didn't seem to understand the difference between "casual" and "slob".

Food...MDR selections were not very good at times. For example, I ordered "tiger shrimp". I expected the waiter to come over and cut the shell off my shrimp as Rccl does. NO need! I got 4 tiny circular shrimp sitting in tomato sauce. THAT was my tiger shrimp! Prime rib was good, but that is the only meal all week I could rave about. AND we totally missed the bread choices! Only 2 types...Italian and a white roll. That's it! NO savory bites, seeded or wheat rolls! Buffet food was ok...but we missed all the selections RCCL has. No pineapple all week, very little watermelon; one of 2 kinds of cheese and lunchmeat on buffet. No pre-made sandwiches. Few salad offerings. All the stations had long lines which were chaotic. Even to get a hamburger, you had to go all the way out by the pool...then go back in to get the rest of your food. I really didn't like that all jellies, jams, cream cheese, etc were open large containers and not under a glass cover.

Room service...they only serve a cold continental breakfast.:(

Pop card...same price as RCCL....but you always had to sign a receipt! Big pain! And no pop stations as on some RCCL ships.

MDR Wait staff...We had a really bad team! Even our tablemates who are avid Carnival cruisers were so disgusted. All around us were waiters doing an awesome job and had the guests up dancing and having a great time. Our's just wanted us out of there...so they rushed us thru every evening. If you ordered a 2nd entrée, they put it on the table with the first . Served us cold coffee one night; dirty butter dish; served from across the table; never offered us anything else to drink or coffee at the end of our meal even tho' we wanted it and had to ask; the waiter had the ass't serve our whole meal 3 nights while he set a table for the next day; they only had 2 tables! It was an eating extravaganza, not a dining experience! They made the first couple order immediately before the 2nd couple arrived 5 min. later...so they had their food before 2nd couple even ordered. It was ridiculous. We know you can have a bad waiter anywhere, but it just added to the list. Not once did our waiter fill us in on the next days activities, ports, etc like they do on RCCL. Guess Carnival doesn't do that.

General Lack of supervision....on RCCL, you always see supervisory staff wandering around whether you are at the pool, MDR, Buffet, stateroom area. We hardly saw anyone overlooking things. Never had a maitre'D come to our table in the MDR! Dirty tables were a frequent sight in the buffet. Un-potty trained kids in the pool...nobody seemed to care.

Pools....OMG! NO adult-only pool!!!That was pretty much a nightmare. The pools are very small for the size of that ship and kids overtook the pools and hot tubs. There is a Serenity deck...but only whirlpools.(And you have to climb 2 flights of stairs to get to it since the elevator doesn't go that far.) Carnival need to change that big-time. And the pools are only 4 ft. deep and kids were jumping over our head with no place to go.:eek: There is NO kids pool area. No steel drum music around the pool...in fact , no live music at all!

Out of order!!....I have never seen SO many things out of order on a ship! This included elevators...(3 or 4 at a time), urinals in men's bathroom(per hubby, they were "out of order for beautification"...HUH?), drink machines in the buffet (so you have a plate of food and have to cross the whole dining room to get something to drink without spilling it of being knocked over by someone pushing!)

Hygiene....There were hand sanitation stations near every buffet, near the MDR, etc but we hardly saw anyone use them. I know some people prefer not to, but this was pretty much the way it was always. We are used to RCCL encouraging the use of them. Kind of concerned me at the lack of hygiene, even tho' many people claim they wash their hands. (BTW, I am not a germ-a-phobe!) Just an observation.

Casino....no non-smoking nights. The smoke was SO disgusting every minute of every day and even unbearable for my husband who usually doesn't care....we couldn't even go in there...plus it penetrated all the gift shops and a nice music bar area...sadly, we had to stay out of ALL these areas.

Extras....we missed the ice shows. They showed a movie every night at the pool, but we were always at dinner. Evening Bingo was always during our dinner as well.

Loyalty...We did not get invited to a Welcome Back Party...they changed their levels that qualify...but each got a 1 liter bottle of water. I think with RCCL, we are Emerald and still only get a 20 oz water...WOOHOO! Carnival has you beat RCCL:!

Disclaimer....these are all my opinions, so no need to flame me :-) There are good things about every cruise line and every ship. WE just came off the ship feeling like Carnival wasn't what we want in a cruise line. They pushed FUN, FUN, FUN in your face constantly. Music was SO loud all over the ship ALL the time. Maybe if we were in our 20's......

Just when you think RCCL isn't worth the extra money, we decided you get what you pay for....and for that little extra money, it is worth it.

Thanks for the review, I'm going back on RCI after a 2 year hiatus, LOL. :D

Thanks for the comprehensive post. Interesting for someone like us that has not tried anything but RCI/Celebrity. that is not what I would consider an old ship either.

We sometimes look at the Carnival and other lines, but when we do price comparisons over in Australia, we do not find RCI to be more expensive a lot of the time. Getting the balcony discount does help, as well as the Diamond lounge benefits, but they are often more expensive for similar itinerary and cabin size, for smaller ships from the 90's anyhow.

From an Australian perspective I would never go school holidays here either. They let way too many children onto the ships as a ratio of passengers. Even the staff on RCI were getting worn down by it.

Thanks for your review, you are not alone about Carnival's cliental and service.

Thank you for your review. I realize no cruise line is perfect but your post title matches my signature line.

Agree with OP, we went on the Dream last year just to give Carnival another try after 12 years. It was the same........We did like the MDR, and had a very good wait staff though. Glad to have other choices, but sorry RCL left NOLA.

Interesting to read of your experience on the Dream.

We have sailed Carnival 6 times and enjoyed every one- no complaints at all.

One of our favorite things about Carnival ships is the adult only pool area called Serenity. I thought all of their ships had this area so went to check. The Dream had a Serenity pool area on Deck 15. Sorry you didn't find it since it would have been great to have a place away for all of the children on your cruise.

Thanks for your comments!

Thank you for your Carnival review! We sometimes throw around the idea to try Carnival now that our kids do not sail with us. We love sailing out of NOLA too and loved our cruise on NCL Jewel so hopefully NCL will stick around!

Had you chosen a fall or winter cruise with much fewer kids, do you think the cruise would have had a different feel? Still contemplating.....

Thanks for your review,

Lauri

Interesting to read of your experience on the Dream.

 

We have sailed Carnival 6 times and enjoyed every one- no complaints at all.

 

One of our favorite things about Carnival ships is the adult only pool area called Serenity. I thought all of their ships had this area so went to check. The Dream had a Serenity pool area on Deck 15. Sorry you didn't find it since it would have been great to have a place away for all of the children on your cruise.

 

Thanks for your comments!

While all of Carnival ships may have the Serenity adults area not all have a pool including the Dream. They only have the hot tubs.

We're going on RC next year after 3 cruises on Carnival. We never had a bad experience on Carnival, service was top notch, food was excellent, but doesn't some people say food is declining on RC due to cut backs. If you didn't like your experience on Carnival, you could've gone to Guest Services and they would flown you back home at no cost to you.

Interesting to read of your experience on the Dream.

 

We have sailed Carnival 6 times and enjoyed every one- no complaints at all.

 

One of our favorite things about Carnival ships is the adult only pool area called Serenity. I thought all of their ships had this area so went to check. The Dream had a Serenity pool area on Deck 15. Sorry you didn't find it since it would have been great to have a place away for all of the children on your cruise.

 

Thanks for your comments!

There was no pool in Serenity. Everybody complained about that. There were only hot tubs. Some ships have a Serenity pool, but not Dream.

My experience with the Carnival Dream kept me from trying Carnival again for 5 years. The main thing I remember from that cruise (besides the crappy food and service) was that there was a long delay on embarkation day because the idiots didn't check to make sure that the gangway was compatible with the ship. No place in the terminal to sit except the floor while they sorted things out. I guess people started to complain about food and drink after a couple of hours so they rolled out a cart with drinks/chips/hot dogs to SELL to us. I was used to Royal's system for delays where they bring food and beverages from the ship and it's all complimentary.

Thank you for your Carnival review! We sometimes throw around the idea to try Carnival now that our kids do not sail with us. We love sailing out of NOLA too and loved our cruise on NCL Jewel so hopefully NCL will stick around!

 

Had you chosen a fall or winter cruise with much fewer kids, do you think the cruise would have had a different feel? Still contemplating.....

 

Thanks for your review,

Lauri

I doubt having less kids would have made too much difference except in the pool area. Yes, kids were running in the halls at night, banging on doors at 4 am and someone turned our "cruisin'/snoozing" tag on our door around so our room wasn't made up one day....frustrating, but can happen on any ship.

It was just a general dislike of the atmosphere that Carnival creates and much of the passenger base. WE are past the FUN, Fun, Fun! LOL

With saying that, we thoroughly enjoyed sailing the Mississippi and NOLA. Would I go on the Dream if I REALLY want to experience sailing out of NOLA...sure! It's a cruise...how bad could it be? That would be the only reason I would choose Carnival, tho...if I have no other choice, which is what we did. We were hoping for a better experience, but you do get what you pay for. PS...this was NOT a cheap cruise b/c it was in the summer :rolleyes:

I had done a carnival cruise a couple of years ago they had some things I miss on rccl, towel animals every night, chocolates on every pillow, robes in every room, and some U.S. TV channels

Thank for the review. We took the Legend out of Tampa in April 2014 as we were there for a wedding and I could not have put in better about the clientele. We were taken aback as well. Actually some of the behaviors were rather gross lets leave it at that.

The ship itself was clean but it was a mess decor wise and I can see why CCL fired Joe Farkas.

Our service was ok but not up to the standards we have seen on X, Princess and Royal.

No more CCL unless its one of their newer ships and it has the itinerary we want which would be probably from Europe somewhere.

SO many people inappropriately dressed...letting it all hang out in a bad way. Some didn't seem to understand the difference between "casual" and "slob".

 

You can say the same about some recent RCCL cruises we have taken

You can say the same about some recent RCCL cruises we have taken

Well on the CCL Legend some guy came to dinner with a big fuzzy hat that was supposed to be a hot dog and it had tassels hanging down all around. :eek:

We've sailed with Princess, Royal and Carnival - and we've seen good and bad on both. You just can't control the other passengers, and sometimes you just aren't lucky.

We've typically had great service on Carnival, and have met some great people on those cruises. I'm not crazy about the MDR food or the shows. I do like the pizza and the comedy club, and I like the relaxed atmosphere. Pretty much every ship I've been on has had the aft pool an adult only pool. We've found there is more going on during the day on Carnival, so if you like to stay on the ship or have multiple sea days there is always something to entertain you. Concerts or trivia on the screen at the main pool, etc.

I like Royal's food and shows better. Again, service has been mostly great -though on our last cruise when we asked for wine glasses the waiter went over to a table with people eating and asked them if they were using their glasses and tried to give us those instead of fresh ones. Not so much, thanks... We also met one of the drunkest people we have ever met on a Royal ship - who would have thought?

Princess was also a good experience for us. I love their ships, but I don't love their prices. Service and food were both great. We discovered my time dining on Princess, which was good because it was the same sailing we had the absolute rudest and unpleasant dinner companions we've ever had on a cruise.

We are Platinum on both Royal and Carnival and tend to choose the best itinerary at the best price. Our next 2 cruises are on Royal, who had the best overall value when we booked. After that, who knows. We wouldn't rule any of the lines out - they all have something to offer.

Sorry you had a bad cruise on the Dream. I've sailed almost 50 times, almost equally on Carnival & RCCL and I have to say the Dream is the only cruise I can actually say wasn't a good one. Seems people either love or hate that ship. The food was terrible the week we went and service not go good either. Unfortunately I've seen rude passengers and slobs on both lines.

Just to add - the aft pool should have been adult only. Not the entire area though - just the pool and hot tubs. Still can't figure out why they put the pizza place by the adult only pool.

I have sailed Carnival just once (a long time ago). Reading your review brought back the memories of that cruise. I agree with your review. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise - some are always better than others. But, I mostly remember the food (food is always subjective, not objective ;)). IMO, I was not impressed at all with the food on Carnival. Without a doubt, I prefer RCCL and HAL.

I felt your overall review was fair and honest.

Thanks for sharing.

I did not know that the Serenity area did not have pools on all Carnival ships! Thanks for correcting me.

Oddly enough we have found the food to be much better on Carnival than on RCI. Especially the pizza. And the MDR food has always been great for us.

And I wish RCI had a Comedy Club! We loved that on Carnival.

But we sure do have great perks on RCI being D+.

[quote=dixieva;47607821

And I wish RCI had a Comedy Club! We loved that on Carnival.

But we sure do have great perks on RCI being D+.

Comedy club on Oasis class ships on RC is great!

Princess was also a good experience for us. I love their ships, but I don't love their prices. Service and food were both great. We discovered my time dining on Princess, which was good because it was the same sailing we had the absolute rudest and unpleasant dinner companions we've ever had on a cruise.

 

I am having the reverse with pricing, we are paying almost the same for a balcony 7 day on FOS that we paid last year for a mini-suite on the new Royal Princess, same time frame We love carnival also. The only bad cruise we had was on RCI years ago and the most drunks we have ever seen also. Will give it another try hoping for better this time, we shall see.

I often sail out of Galveston and RCI and Carnival both leave port about the same time. There is definitely a different look to the clientel of both lines. Wife and I find it easy to guess when encountering people in the parking areas what ship folks are taking.

Not being snooty, it is what it is. I am a really casual guy, but there is a line between casual and sloppy, and to me there is usually a clear visible distinction when looking at the lines of passengers entering the two terminals. Texas can be very laid back and casual, but when half the line looks like they are going to mow the lawn or maybe shoot pool at a biker bar, I don't think I'd fit in as well with that crowd. I hear all the comments that the two cruise lines are so similar, but to me mixing with other passengers is a big part of the cruise, and I will gravitate toward the one that better fits my comfort zone.

This does not mean that both cruises are not tons of fun for those going on them, just that I feel I have more in common and fit in better with the RCI crowd. Maybe I am just a bit older and past all the louder party times I may have enjoyed 30 years ago...

We're going on RC next year after 3 cruises on Carnival. We never had a bad experience on Carnival, service was top notch, food was excellent, but doIf you didn't like your experience on Carnival, you could've gone to Guest Services esn't some people say food is declining on RC due to cut backs. and they would flown you back home at no cost to you.

Seriously? How many people know within 24 hours of getting on the ship that their cruise is so bad they want to go home?

I had done a carnival cruise a couple of years ago they had some things I miss on rccl, towel animals every night, chocolates on every pillow, robes in every room, and some U.S. TV channels

I believe chocolates on the pillows are also history on CCL now as well.

Bill