Carnival legend just got back carnival went downhill

[hfitzger]

DW and I were wondering why we did not get a comment card on this cruise as we have always done in the past??? After reading this thread....I now know why!

 

We noticed the lack of the comment card on the Legend from our sailing a couple of weeks ago... So I was surprised to receive an email survey from Carnival about a week after disembarkation.

 

Maybe this is just an easier way to tabulate information by having it automated as a web survey as opposed to those paper versions. Only difficulty in completing it a week later is that I had trouble remembering names (and spelling!) for above-and-beyond crew members that would have been easier if I was filling it out while still onboard...

 

The online survey was pretty comprehensive and still allowed guests to write out specific comments/complaints.

[lgerrish]

Oh my goodness...why all the slamming of each other? Everyone has their own opinion and it can be stated nicely.....

 

 

.....Ok, I'm ready to be slammed :D

 

Having only cruised Carnival (except for the Norwegian Leeward in '98) I can only compare Carnival's ships, and cruising on Carnival does exactly what I want it to do...take me away from work, stress and the cold winter to awesome ports of call.

 

I have noticed very few cutbacks and they have not made an impact on my vacation. I guess I'm easy to please:D I'm not cruising to think I'm entitled to perfection...I'm not perfect, nor is any cruise.

[psbaldi]

I love to read the reviews, it keeps me on the ship from when I physically got off to when I get on again. We sailed on the Legend last September and are greatly looking forward to going again this September. As some of you have commented, I look at reviews lightly. I love to see the pics where people go and what great adventures they had. It cracks me up when people "nit pick" even to the point one critic mentioned the wallpaper curling at the corners. FRANKLY I HAVE NEVER LOOKED THAT CLOSE AT A CORNER TO SEE WHAT CONDITION THE WALLPAPER WAS! The only thing I can say is a cruise is what you make it. And believe me, we make it FUN EVERY MINUTE WE ARE ON THE LEGEND!!:)

 

I agree 100%...I will sail her July...love the pics and thoughts on shore excursions and what seems to be a good adventure at the ports...

[dwayneb236]

Oh my goodness...why all the slamming of each other? Everyone has their own opinion and it can be stated nicely.....

 

 

.....Ok, I'm ready to be slammed :D

 

Having only cruised Carnival (except for the Norwegian Leeward in '98) I can only compare Carnival's ships, and cruising on Carnival does exactly what I want it to do...take me away from work, stress and the cold winter to awesome ports of call.

 

I have noticed very few cutbacks and they have not made an impact on my vacation. I guess I'm easy to please:D I'm not cruising to think I'm entitled to perfection...I'm not perfect, nor is any cruise.

 

Shame on you for telling the truth about your cruise..hehehe..:p

[ib4cruzn]

Now and then I have a good one. :p

 

Now and then. ;-)

 

When a thread is open to opinion, I would guess that if one were to be considered credible one's opinions should be consistant. I don't know that I would call that repetitive.

 

YMMV

[weluvlife]

Hey, good job on making offensive statements about someones size. Very impressive. Your review now means nothing to me.

 

Funny, I thought the same thing. Slamming a person's size.

 

FWIW I've sailed RCCL (2006) and CCL (Holiday-2009) and am leaving on Victory in 31 days. We usually do land vacations somewhere Caribbean and different every year but every so often we like to throw a cruise in. The HOliday cruise was my DD and I and we really liked everything Carnival, even after experiencing RC. My only complaint was the tablemates we had (2 of them, the others were great) and my daughter not wanting to go out at nite, lol. There is so much to do I don't know how someone could complain. I'm not a drinker, not a gambler, not a piano bar person and we have a great time on our cruises. I cruise for the sun, water, beaches. As long as I have those, life is good :). I agree there is no excuse for bad customer service as it doesn't cost a dime. Our food was great, steward filled our cooler every day. I am low maintenance but we sure have enjoyed our Carnival Cruises. And I really didn't see a reason for RCCL to be so much more expensive than CCL...but thats just my .02 worth.

[grey's girl]

"It's just not that hard to offer a smile and a hello, even if you are having a bad day. I think the mood of the crew sets the tone for the whole cruise."

 

Substitute the word "passengers" for "crew"...I often wonder, if those who complain (not this poster, anyone ) wait until crewmembers see/acknowledge them. There's nothing wrong with being the first one to smile and say hello.

I agree, there have been cutbacks in the years between our 1st cruise and the one this year....but not enough to 'ruin' a cruise or entice me to spend thousands more on another line. JMO

[sharecruises]

I didn't say your posts irritate me...I said they're predictable.

 

In any case, I can't speak as to how the service today compares to the service of yesteryear...I can only say that I've been on all 3 major lines, only one of each, over that past 6 or so years, and they're all basically the same with the exception of entertainment. And I can't even be a good judge of that because I didn't even see ANY entertainment on my Carnival cruise cause I was with my kids the whole time and in bed early.

 

If you say the service is down, I believe you. But you say it over and over and over and over...oye vay.

 

 

If you never go to the nightly shows, how can you even post an opinion??

 

For those who like the shows the "marriage" or newlywed show just is not a good substitute. I imagine you "care" about the kids programs and would notice cutbacks there where I would not notice cutbacks as I don't have kids or pay attention to the Camp Carnival stuff.

 

However, my lack of interest would not change the fact that I could rationally recognize/admit a "cutback" in the kid's program if you clearly pointed it out to me. I personally don't use or care for the cigar bar, the latin group, or kids programs BUT if they were changed or removed I would call that a "cutback" also.

[darth frosty]

Being new to cruising with 5 Carnival cruises in approx 2 1/2 years, I do not have the luxury of comparing any cruises to the "good old days",

 

 

Yeah same here ignorance is bliss.

[zqvol]

Again...and again and again. :rolleyes:

 

Nobody is saying their vacation was ruined or they had a horrid time. All any of these posters are saying is the product is not the same.

 

Comprehension on this board is atrocious.

On my last CCL cruises I had a very good time....the places I went to and more importantly, the people I cruised with all created wonderful vacations for me. I have another CCL cruise coming up and I know it will be wonderful as well....HOWEVER, I also know that the cruise following that next CCL cruise, on NCL, if it is anything like the previous NCL cruise I have taken, I will have a more than fabulous experience and I won't have to 'make it'... that it just will be.

 

Comprehension in America is atrocious. People can't read, and those that can can't comprehend what they read.

 

That is what happens when teachers have to teach to standardized tests.

[H82seaUgo]

Comprehension on this board is atrocious.

 

 

i'm beginning to see this more and more here lately. is it only on these boards?

[coolbolts]

I have been on 20+ Carnival cruise and if you had a bad time or bad cruise you had to work hard at ruining your cruise. That's not to say that something out of the oridinary can happen to "ruin" your cruise. Last cruise I was on a lady slipped on the pool deck and had to have two fingers amputated now that is a "bad cruise". But I have seen people saying their cruise was ruined because the coffee was bad.

 

Yes services have declined over the years I think that Carnival is looking at the bottom line and will constantly tweek things.

 

My two biggest complaints are:

Lack of live rock band on some of the ships.

Lack of different food late night. You can just eat so many hot dogs and hamburgers. I did notice that on the NCL ships they had a 23 hour buffet area that had stir fry and other offerings. Yes I know there is pizza and room service but I also remember the old Carnival midnight buffets. They can say they where wasting food but I always waited in line.

[halos]

i'm beginning to see this more and more here lately. is it only on these boards?

...that's a good question.

[CrusingGolfers]

I sailed her in Feb and enjoyed it. Service was great, food was good, I don't go for entertainment but enjoyed the comedians. Motown show was fun. Everyone was friendly our room steward was a sweetheart.

 

Maybe I'm just not so picky and treat all the employees with respect but I never had one issue. I guess I go on a cruise to enjoy my time and be on vacation not really going to let little things get on my nerves?

 

Just my two cents for people trying to figure out if they want to book the Legend. We had a blast and loved it all.

[Silverscreencruiser]

In my view, there's a big difference between cuts in amenities and declines in service. Cutbacks in entertainment and in the amounts and types of food served are cuts in amenities. Rude, indifferent, or slow service is a decline in service.

 

I've noticed a number of cuts in amenities over the last couple of years, some of which (the nighttime Newlywed Game) bothered me more than others (the unlamented Midnight Grand Buffet, aka Grand Waste of Expensive Food). I have not noticed a decline in service. In fact, our waiter on the last cruise was the best we've had in six cruises.

 

I can deal with cuts in amenities far better than declines in service. I've never quit patronizing a restaurant because they've discontinued a dish I've liked. I have quit patronizing them because the service declined.

[zqvol]

In my view, there's a big difference between cuts in amenities and declines in service. Cutbacks in entertainment and in the amounts and types of food served are cuts in amenities. Rude, indifferent, or slow service is a decline in service.

 

I've noticed a number of cuts in amenities over the last couple of years, some of which (the nighttime Newlywed Game) bothered me more than others (the unlamented Midnight Grand Buffet, aka Grand Waste of Expensive Food). I have not noticed a decline in service. In fact, our waiter on the last cruise was the best we've had in six cruises.

 

I can deal with cuts in amenities far better than declines in service. I've never quit patronizing a restaurant because they've discontinued a dish I've liked. I have quit patronizing them because the service declined.

 

I really think that you have hit the nail on the head. I have not seen any cut back at all in service. I have not seen fewer stewards or waiters, or anything else that would effect the level of passenger service and defy anyone to prove to me that has happened. (Those costs are some of the smallest on the ship since they are positions that are to a large extent compensated by gratuities).

 

What I have seen is a big decline in the quality of the food and entertainment, and in tangible things like bathroom amenities, mints, past guest pins, etc.

[mumzy1]

Being new to cruising with 5 Carnival cruises in approx 2 1/2 years, I do not have the luxury of comparing any cruises to the "good old days", but I was on the Legend 2 weeks ago...

 

We were generally impressed with our experience compared to having only been on the older Fantasy-class ships, however our biggest disappointment was in the steakhouse. Service was quite apathetic and the food was on par with quality in the main dining room.

 

The ship was clean and in good working order, but the staff didn't seem quite as friendly as we experienced on the Fantasy a couple of years ago. Everyone did their jobs whether it was food service, housekeeping, etc.-- there just wasn't the smile or "hello" in passing that we had come to enjoy on our previous cruises. (Exception: our all-female MDR waitstaff was awesome! Never had a woman headwaitress before...)

 

We would definitely go Carnival again, but the only decline I have seen in our cruises since 2008 has been in the area of genuine friendliness...

 

I was on the same cruise with hfitzger and I have no other cruises to compare to unless you can call the one I took in 1979(probably not). We had a group of 8 in 3 different rooms and we all ate together in the MDR at our assigned time(8:15). We had a great time. We all thought the ship was beautiful, our teenage boys found plenty to do. There are parts of the ship I never made it to. We never encountered one rude staff member. All of them called us by our names even out by the pool area. Our dinning servers were awesome, when they realized how much my 15yr DS loved shrimp cocktail, they served him 2 everynight, just like my cappucino. I only had to ask for one the first night, everynight after that I had one after dinner without even asking. Anything we asked for we got it, whether in our room, in guest services or out on the lido and all with a smile. We are booking the same cruise again in March and taking more friends with us. Anytime I don't have to cook or clean, thats a vacation!:)

 

Mumzy1