Tried Carnival, and it looks like we are Royalists

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Dave: Not sure why you quoted me when you were mentioning your Celebrity Millenium cruise. I've never been on Celebrity. When I said CCL, I meant Carnival Cruise Line. But you may have just quoted me by accident.

 

To the OP, on a couple of our Carnival cruises, we had the waiters wiping the crumbs off the table with the knife. As we said, you can have good waiters and bad waiters and good stewards and bad steward on every ship. Prime example was we cruises on NCLA in Hawaii in 2007 with friends of ours. We had an inside cabin, they had a balcony and their boss had a suite. (just so you can see the difference in category cuz people have the perceptions that service is superior in a suite-not always). Anyway, we had terrific service in our inside cheap room. Our friends and their boss had horrible room service and never saw their steward at all. I think they had clean towels and bed made twice in the 7 days. They were furious. On the other hand, we had the greatest steward (Diane) that took really good care of us.

 

Another case in point, we went on the Carnival Elation weekend cruise in May & October and had different service on both...same ship...same itinerary. Different waiters and stewards.

 

So it just goes to show you that just cuz that one Carnival cruise didn't live up to your expectations doesn't mean Carnival doesn't know how to provide proper service. Many attendants onboard do know how to treat pax like royalty.

[Cruzaholic41]

Okay, as an avid cruiser for many years, I have to address this thread...When you book a cruise vacation...people choose a destination, itinerary, price, personal preferences...etc. There are so many factors that enter into a cruise vacation that it can be a good or bad experience, it depends on so many things...mostly on YOUR frame of mind during YOUR vacation. When did a vacation, (which we should be so grateful in this day and age to be able to attend), become nothing more than a critique?

I can't imagine my depression era parents, who would save all year for the 2 weeks at the beach, or lake, or mountains...do anything but make the best of whatever went on...they had FUN! If it was a 2 week rain storm, etc. there is always the next time...

Let's put it to rest...YOU have a preference for a cruise line...great! Stay loyal...but never put down another line, or the people that like that line...

We are ALL entitled to our opinions..

Sea you around..each line brings something different to me..so I'll stick with them all...FYI...NONE are perfect!

 

Noted. But I think your rant is a little unreasonable if you are addressing this to the op. You said you were an "avid cruiser." Well, so am I. When local itineraries rarely change, many cruises are chosen based on the actual ship. The op didn't like Elation very much. There is absolutely nothing wrong with pointing that out, especially on the RCI board.

[Cruising89143]

Yes. Thoroughly.

 

So what was the original intent for the hull of the current QV? HAL?

 

 

The hull for the current QV was built with the intent to go to Curnard. HAL built the new Eurodam and her sister Neiuw Amsterdam is under construction for delivery this year. Who's on first????:D

[Cruising89143]

Noted. But I think your rant is a little unreasonable if you are addressing this to the op. You said you were an "avid cruiser." Well, so am I. When local itineraries rarely change, many cruises are chosen based on the actual ship. The op didn't like Elation very much. There is absolutely nothing wrong with pointing that out, especially on the RCI board.

 

I agree about the ship being the first choice at times. I do this now when it comes to the standard eastern/western Caribbean.

 

I do think that things like food and service can vary from ship to ship within the fleet. A lot depends on the management of each ship. Some are just better at doing their job than others.

[Cruzaholic41]

The hull for the current QV was built with the intent to go to Curnard. HAL built the new Eurodam and her sister Neiuw Amsterdam is under construction for delivery this year. Who's on first????:D

 

In the very beginning, I believe the hull was meant to be a HAL ship, then the whole Carnival take-over occurred. Look under the "history" section of this site:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Queen_Victoria

 

Then again, Wiki can be wrong sometimes.

[Cruising89143]

In the very beginning, I believe the hull was meant to be a HAL ship, then the whole Carnival take-over occurred. Look under the "history" section of this site:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Queen_Victoria

 

Then again, Wiki can be wrong sometimes.

 

The hull for first QV for meant to be a HAL ship then they decided to move it to Cunard and then finally P&O. The current QV was designed as the QV and now they are building a sister ship Queen Elizabeth. That is basically what that article states.:)

[Cruzaholic41]

The hull for first QV for meant to be a HAL ship then they decided to move it to Cunard and then finally P&O. The current QV was designed as the QV and now they are building a sister ship Queen Elizabeth. That is basically what that article states.:)

 

Ok - Color me confused also. ;)

[Stags14]

It always amazes me when people try one old small Carnival ship for a short 3 or 4 day cruise during spring break and say Carnival isn't for them. Any 3 or 4 day cruise during spring break or an old ship or a small ship is not going to be as good as a 7 day cruise on newer bigger ship. Just a fact. I personally like Carnival. I have read that RCI has the wow factor that Carnival may not have. Although I've been wowed by Carnival. But considering RCI cruises are generally a lot more expensive, I'll continue to sail based on cost. If RCI is about the same cost, I'll take them. I'm on the Mariner next month and I know I will have fun but I've never had a bad cruise on Carnival. There are good and bad waiters on every ship just like a restaurant at home. Same for room stewards. I actually had the best cruise ever on my last Elation cruise that was just a short weekend getaway. Best service ever in all areas. I was on the same itinerary and same ship a few months earlier and the service was good but not as good as the other. A lot of variables.

 

I didn't find this to be true. I have sailed on small ships during spring break season on both lines and found RCI to have way more entertainment and care for the passengers onbaord than Carnival did. This is actually why I stopped sailing w/ Carnival. I want to be valued as a paying customer on a 4-5 day cruise just as much as on a 7 day cruise. RCI does this for me and I didn't find Carnival did a good job at all on their short trips. The Carnival staff was rude and just didn't care about the passengers - I don't care how much cheaper they are - I personally don't need that on vacation! To me, the reason their trips are cheaper are obvious.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Just curious but how many CCL cruises have you been on? Were all that bad of service & treated you like they didn't care? I just had a different experience on all my CCL cruises (4 so far) with some treating me like Royalty. Actually the best service I've received was on a 3 day cruise on the Elation in an inside cabin. You aren't the only one to say this so it must be true but I've had different experiences. Guess I've been lucky 4 times in a row.