Is Carnival really declining?

[Disneycruisers]

I remember when dinner was an experience... Does anyone remember when they used to come to your table with your new clean silverware and they would take a little thing that they used and scrape the crumbs off your table...

 

Disney still does that!:) They also have an adults only pool (which they enforce) and the adults only restaurant, Palo (which they also enforce.)

 

They are more expensive, but well worth it.:)

[LivingWild]

I think that the distance to the ship someone lives has everything to do with how they view value and service. An individuals per day cruise cost will be higher if they must factor in planes and/or hotels. This will have an impact on what you believe you should receive in service from the cruise line even though that money went elsewhere.

 

It is all about the bottom line with us in both time and money. If we only have a 7 day period from work/school/life for a trip we do not want to waste valuable vacation time getting to where we are going. A "7-day" Carnival cruise from Long Beach takes exactly 7 days of our time. We can walk out our front door at 11am on the day of embarkation and will walk back in that door at 11am 7 days later. Out of that 7 day investment we will receive about 6.75 days of vacation.

 

Since our land based vacations greatly outnumber the cruises we take we don't have a large enough cruise bag to say if there has been a significant decline in service. What we can say for certain is that Carnival offers a great bang for the buck opportunity for tens of millions of people.

 

We view a cruise as a casual vacation rather than a "high end" vacation and do not need/want some of the perks the older generation may be missing. We have never experienced superior dining on a Carnival (or RCCL) cruise ship and don't expect or need it when we cruise. Dinner may be plated as 5 star quality but if it is served to you 20 minutes later it becomes a Sizzler buffet.

 

Here is our 2 person budget for an upcoming August Splendor cruise.

 

8D Balcony - $1765 (includes taxes, port fees, pre-paid tips, parking)

Trip insurance - $80

Alcohol - $650 (probably less but we may spend as much as $100/day)

Excursions/Misc - $300

Gas to/from port - $35

 

$2830 for 6.75 days of vacation that requires 7 days of our time.

 

Can anyone offer up a comparable apples to apples August vacation for 2 that is priced better? If you can, please provide the details so that we can plan it in the future.

[Gypsywych]

Carnival has made some terrific changes to their ships: waterslides, large wonderful Serenity areas, bigger balconies, larger rooms than other cruise ships.... all things I sail Carnival for.

They've also made cuts in areas that really do impact my cruise: less staff is the biggest change I've seen, which means more of a workload for those left, which means less personalized service. Dirty tables left sitting for 20-30 minutes in a busy buffet area, lack of drink service in the dining room, waiters too busy to smile... and that lack of service is what people are missing. The lack of a band on the Lido deck really disappointed me on my last Caribbean cruise. C'mon Carnival, we understand your bottom line and we're willing to pay for those extras. Are you listening?

[murcielago]

I swear I am not trying to be funny, but what's a "suck and blow?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't giving MY opinion of Carnival and its clientele. I was attempting to explain why others might feel that Carmoial had declined and gone downhill.

 

Our groups ( including the Saints and Sinners) keep booking with them because we can have the most fun with Carnival and we don't have to worry about offending people who are not having as much fun as we are.:)

 

We have pub crawls' date=' poker runs, scavenger hunts, group slot pulls and often have "suck-and-blows" on the lido deck as a first-day icebreaker. We also have a group cocktail party, another private cocktail party of two hours) and would jump at the chance to get an open bar card (we had one on the Splendor last fall and it was great!) Some of us also close the piano bar and then close the disco and then go up for 4 a.m. pizza and have been known to even have some breakfast before we go back to our cabins to sleep. And that includes people of all ages, from 25 to 70.

 

So, Carnival meets our "needs". :D My previous comments were meant as a personal interpretation of why some people might be upset with the cutbacks and the declining "classiness" of its core clientele. :)[/quote']

[nytraveller53]

I swear I am not trying to be funny, but what's a "suck and blow?"

I was wondering that as well...:eek::eek::eek:

[cathyz]

I think it really depends on the ship and the crew, they all have different personalities like us. Over our last 11 cruises, we have had good and bad in all areas. We just got off the Paradise yesterday and had a great cruise. All the crew was very friendly, our waiters had time to chat because they were efficient, so had a few extra minutes, we heard all about Croatia, etc. Our cabin steward was friendly and efficient even tho we didn't see him very often. All bar waiters were chatty and told us about their home lands, their families, etc. There was never a dirty table problem that I saw or experienced and in fact, they would clean our trays from our table regularly as we were finishing our drinks, very efficient. I have seen no changes in quality of food or service over the years overall, as I said, each is a person and has a good and bad day, just as we all do, so you might run into someone who isn't a chatty or friendly, but that's just life, you can't really blame that on Carnival. There was a 2-piece band on the Lido many times we were there, so I don't think that was lacking either.

[WeBeCruisin']

I swear I am not trying to be funny, but what's a "suck and blow?"

 

 

They are flavored vodka-jello shots which come in a tube about 8 inches in length. A team consisting of (usually) a male and a female attach their respective mouths to each end and one commences to "blow" into the tube while the other "sucks" out the concoction from the other end. It requires extreme skill, timing and coordination. :D One of the rules is often that you can't announce to your partner whether you're a "sucker" or a "blower". If you both are trying to do the same thing, it can get very messy and entertaining. It's even more fun when one or both of the partners have no idea what's going on and don't have a clue as to what they are supposed to do.

 

It's a fun ice-breaker with a name just naughty enough to be intriguing. :)

[nytraveller53]

They are flavored vodka-jello shots which come in a tube about 8 inches in length. A team consisting of (usually) a male and a female attach their respective mouths to each end and one commences to "blow" into the tube while the other "sucks" out the concoction from the other end. It requires extreme skill' date=' timing and coordination. :D One of the rules is often that you can't announce to your partner whether you're a "sucker" or a "blower". If you both are trying to do the same thing, it can get very messy and entertaining. It's even more fun when one or both of the partners have no idea what's going on and don't have a clue as to what they are supposed to do.

 

It's a fun ice-breaker with a name just naughty enough to be intriguing. :)[/quote']

All righty then.

Anyone else have thoughts? What about the choice "All the major cruise lines are declining"? Any examples from other lines?

[friedshrimp]

You're sort of logically all-over-the-place' date=' aren't you? :D

 

I think we are basically in agreement on the same concepts.

 

One thing puzzles me, though. I can understand your preferring "better", but I'm not sure why you feel you "deserve" it.[/quote']

 

You don't deserve to get what you think you are paying for? I am paying for a cruise and with that comes certain expectations. If I don't get those expectations, i feel I am being cheated out of my money and will take my cruise dollars to a company that gives me what I expect. I don't have a problem spending a few dollars above the lowest bid if I'm going to get the quality I want/expect/deserve for those dollars.

 

And where was I all over the place, logically speaking? I was only referring to some things that are gone that may have more intrinsic value to some cruises that the previous poster was applying.

[halos]

All righty then.

Anyone else have thoughts? What about the choice "All the major cruise lines are declining"? Any examples from other lines?

 

Don't know if this is a good judgment or not since I have only been cruising NCL since 2007...I have NO idea what they were like before that so maybe they have declined...however for us, our 1st NCL cruise was good...nothing exceptional, but very nice. I came home still prefering CCL.

 

Then we cruised NCL again and the cruise was better so we booked a third...and I have sailed them 5 times now and each cruise exceeded the one before it. After the third one, I really didn't think it COULD get any better, and it did. When the last cruise was even more superb than the 4th cruise my DH (who hung on to CCL being his favorite longer than I did) was convinced that NCL was indeed better (for us anyway)...because while each of our NCL experiences kept getting better and more fun, our CCL experiences were not coming close to comparing.

There have been a couple LONG standing CCL cruisers....with far more CCL cruises than I under their belts, who have recently tried NCL...they posted their reviews over on the NCL boards and pretty much reflect my feelings on this, so I know I'm not alone in my opinion.

My next NCL cruise may still even top the last one because on that one we have a suite...and from what I hear, the perks that go along with that are just so outstanding that no other main stream line comes close....I can't even imagine how great that cruise is going to be. I'm just sorry that it's only for 7 days.

 

Anyway, I don't think NCL has declined...I can only assume by reviews/comments from CCL cruisers that tried NCL once or twice years ago and hated it, that it couldn't have possibly been all that great back in the years when CCL was Off-the-Charts awesome....so I will assume that instead of declining, they are doing the opposite. They certainly have improved each and every cruise for us over the past 4 years.

[WeBeCruisin']

You don't deserve to get what you think you are paying for? I am paying for a cruise and with that comes certain expectations. If I don't get those expectations, i feel I am being cheated out of my money and will take my cruise dollars to a company that gives me what I expect. I don't have a problem spending a few dollars above the lowest bid if I'm going to get the quality I want/expect/deserve for those dollars.

 

And where was I all over the place, logically speaking? I was only referring to some things that are gone that may have more intrinsic value to some cruises that the previous poster was applying.

 

Lighten up, please. :) Your post was sort of all over the place because you were making comparisons and setting up paradigms that were not based upon what was actually said, but upon your interpretation of those statements and your subjective perception of the way you think things ought to be.

 

Of course, the $50 "value" of the lost perks was an arbitrary evaluation and was possibly even hyperbolic to make a point. Since some of us are affected by certain perks and others are not affected by those, but devastated by the loss of others, it stands to reason that a finite number cannot be assigned to every person for the value, real or perceived, of that which they feel they have been "cheated" (to use your word) out of.

 

And I was curious as to why you thought you automatically "deserved" better. The implication was that you deserved better but others did not. I was simply wondering why you were more entitled than others. I feel that a lot of the decrease in civility in our society today is the result of a "me, me, me" orientation in which people feel entitled and deserving simply because they exist and want something which they may not necessarily already possess (or deserve). :)

 

Almost all cruise lines are making adjustments and cutbacks in an attempt to keep prices relatively low and yet still maintain an attractive vacation option. As someone wisely pointed out many posts back :), you can't have it all and there's no point in bemoaning the fact that you're not being given what you once were or what you think, for whatever reasons, you "deserve".

[WeBeCruisin']

Don't know if this is a good judgment or not since I have only been cruising NCL since 2007...I have NO idea what they were like before that so maybe they have declined...however for us, our 1st NCL cruise was good...nothing exceptional, but very nice. I came home still prefering CCL.

 

Then we cruised NCL again and the cruise was better so we booked a third...and I have sailed them 5 times now and each cruise exceeded the one before it. After the third one, I really didn't think it COULD get any better, and it did. When the last cruise was even more superb than the 4th cruise my DH (who hung on to CCL being his favorite longer than I did) was convinced that NCL was indeed better (for us anyway)...because while each of our NCL experiences kept getting better and more fun, our CCL experiences were not coming close to comparing.

There have been a couple LONG standing CCL cruisers....with far more CCL cruises than I under their belts, who have recently tried NCL...they posted their reviews over on the NCL boards and pretty much reflect my feelings on this, so I know I'm not alone in my opinion.

My next NCL cruise may still even top the last one because on that one we have a suite...and from what I hear, the perks that go along with that are just so outstanding that no other main stream line comes close....I can't even imagine how great that cruise is going to be. I'm just sorry that it's only for 7 days.

 

Anyway, I don't think NCL has declined...I can only assume by reviews/comments from CCL cruisers that tried NCL once or twice years ago and hated it, that it couldn't have possibly been all that great back in the years when CCL was Off-the-Charts awesome....so I will assume that instead of declining, they are doing the opposite. They certainly have improved each and every cruise for us over the past 4 years.

 

Three of four years ago, NCL was taking a lot of hits..... they were still working out the kinks in the Freestyle Dining concept and had received a lot of negative publicity over their "All-American' crews and the problems associated with that on their Hawaii itineraries.

 

In the past couple of years, though, I have heard nothing but good things and I am looking forward to cruising again on NCL. My only previous trip was in 1986 on the 16,000-ton Southward and it was my honeymoon with The Psycho and my first cruise ever.

 

I, too, read Don's review of the Epic on the NCL boards and it sounded amazing... and very affordable. Also, a friend of mine is trying to organize an official CC group cruise on the NCL Dawn out of Tampa for November of 2012.

[halos]

Three of four years ago' date=' NCL was taking a lot of hits..... they were still working out the kinks in the Freestyle Dining concept and had received a lot of negative publicity over their "All-American' crews and the problems associated with that on their Hawaii itineraries.

 

In the past couple of years, though, I have heard nothing but good things and I am looking forward to cruising again on NCL. My only previous trip was in 1986 on the 16,000-ton Southward and it was my honeymoon with The Psycho and my first cruise ever.

 

I, too, read Don's review of the Epic on the NCL boards and it sounded amazing... and very affordable. Also, a friend of mine is trying to organize an official CC group cruise on the NCL Dawn out of Tampa for November of 2012.[/quote']

 

 

I think what I like about NCL is something that bothers a lot of cruisers.

On NCL you can purchase your basic cruise at a decent fare and then IF you want to experience something a little better, you can add on...by paying extra for the restuarants or upgrading to a suite. Many people find paying for anything extra on a cruise a bad thing...and that's OK, I can understand that feeling. For me though, it means I can take an affordable cruise and make something extra special out of it, according to my budget. To me, this is a win-win. I can get all the frills and have a fun cruise...because some of the luxuries I would enjoy on a more upscale line would be great, but the stuffiness would ruin it for me....I can't imagine they have anything like The Quest on Regent...nor do I imagine they have anything like the White Hot Party, with crew all dressed in white (CDs complete with angel wings) and black lights to make everyone glow....A bartender that wears a paper hat with his nickname, BONG on it doing magic tricks. I love this stuff....Even Celebrity was just too formal for us. Every afternoon at 2pm around the pool, crew would come out in formal uniform carrying silver trays with cups of sorbet for the hot passengers.

....NOT my thing.

I prefer the bar waiters that carry squirt bottles and come over and spritz you down :D

So, I get to have fun and luxury (well, having a butler certainly will be luxury to me) all at the same time.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!

If CCL offered surcharge things so that you could upgrade your experience, I'd be all over it. The Steak house and Chef's Table are things I choose to do on CCL cruises....If CCL included more ideas like that I'd definitely be happy. I'm one of the people who thought that CCL offering better menu items in the mdr for a surcharge was a great idea....many CCL passengers on these borads thought this was NOT good.

 

...and if you do cruise on the Dawn, all I have to say is my best two cruises EVER were on that ship and I am looking forward to sailing her again in 2012 myself.:)

[Del306]

I see threads from very angry longtime-costumers, and I see threads from people who say that these complainers are full of it.

 

So, what do you think?

 

My husband and I have been on 2 cruises: One Royal Caribbean (Empress of the Seas) and One Carnival (Pride). We're leaving on the Carnival Pride in exactly one week.

 

On RCI we booked an inside room on a small ship sailing from Philadelphia (home port for us). We had a great time. It was our first cruise.

 

On Carnival the prices were so good that we were able to book balcony cabins on both cruises at the same rate as ocean view (or even interior) on other lines. An added bonus is that Carnival has options from our home port (Baltimore, now that Philly stopped doing cruises).

 

I look at it this way: We save major $$$ on accomodations, airfare, and hotel by cruising with Carnival from a homeport. The dining on RCI in 2006 was better than Carnival in 2009, but that may have been a fluke. None of it was different or better enough to rationalize spending an extra $500 for the week.

 

Last year we rented a beach condo in Delaware and paid more than we'll be paying for this cruise. Plus, we had to make our own beds and cook (or buy) our own food.

 

We just book a cruise, pay for it, then add other fun stuff once onboard budget permitting. This cruise we're planning to do at least two upgraded dining experiences ($30 for David's Steakhouse and $75 for Chef's Table). We're foodies and we'll pay for better food onboard if we get a great deal for the cruise.

 

Like many others have stated, a vacation is what you make of it. I'm not loyal to any cruise line, I just like convenience and good deals. If RCI had more frequent sailings from Baltimore, I'd be on their ships, too.

 

P.S.

For those of us who live in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast, home port cruising is the best thing ever! I can drive to NYC in about 2 hours or Baltimore in 1 hour and get on the ship and start partying!

[WeBeCruisin']

 

...and if you do cruise on the Dawn, all I have to say is my best two cruises EVER were on that ship and I am looking forward to sailing her again in 2012 myself.:)

 

Now I'm even more pumped up about my potential Dawn trip.:)

 

I agree with what you said about the added "enhancements" offered now by many of the cruise lines. What so many people whine about as being "nickeled and dimed" to death, I see as welcome additional options which enable me to tailor my cruise to my personal interests. The more, the better, and yet a person still has the option of skipping all the options and just enjoying a great cruise at a very low rate.

 

It's pretty much the best of both worlds and probably the best solution to the "raise prices or cut back on amenities" dilemma. :cool:

[WeBeCruisin']

I'm not loyal to any cruise line, I just like convenience and good deals. If RCI had more frequent sailings from Baltimore, I'd be on their ships, too.

 

 

I was on Celebrity's Horizon on one of its last trips to Bermuda. We sailed out of Norfolk, Virginia, and it was easy and quick getting on and off the ship.

We drove about 5 hours from Charlotte, NC, and stayed at a Holiday Inn which gave us free parking for the 8 days we were gone and a free shuttle to and from the port.

 

I'm not sure how active that port is now, but we loved it.

[friedshrimp]

Lighten up' date=' please. :) Your post was sort of all over the place because you were making comparisons and setting up paradigms that were not based upon what was actually said, but upon your interpretation of those statements and your subjective perception of the way you think things ought to be.

 

Of course, the $50 "value" of the lost perks was an arbitrary evaluation and was possibly even hyperbolic to make a point. Since some of us are affected by certain perks and others are not affected by those, but devastated by the loss of others, it stands to reason that a finite number cannot be assigned to every person for the value, real or perceived, of that which they feel they have been "cheated" (to use your word) out of.

 

And I was curious as to why you thought you automatically "deserved" better. The implication was that [i']you[/i] deserved better but others did not. I was simply wondering why you were more entitled than others. I feel that a lot of the decrease in civility in our society today is the result of a "me, me, me" orientation in which people feel entitled and deserving simply because they exist and want something which they may not necessarily already possess (or deserve). :)

 

Almost all cruise lines are making adjustments and cutbacks in an attempt to keep prices relatively low and yet still maintain an attractive vacation option. As someone wisely pointed out many posts back :), you can't have it all and there's no point in bemoaning the fact that you're not being given what you once were or what you think, for whatever reasons, you "deserve".

 

Lighten up, really? Just because I don't answer a question the way you want it answered you think you have the right to tell me or even ask me to change my response?? Don't think so. If you only want a specific answer, ask yourself the question so that you get the response you want/are looking for. If you're going to ask me a question, you'll get the response I feel like giving, whether you like it or not. :rolleyes:

 

I have never stated what others expect or want. I deserve better than what it seems that Carnival is offering immaterial of what you think. I am "entitled" to anything and everything I have worked for, I am not entitled to anything else. If you don't "deserve" to get your money's worth, so be it, feel free to throw your money away. I don't throw my money to the wind and I spend with a tendency towards frugal and expect to get what I pay for. To me, Carnival is no longer offering that (aka 'the best bang for my buck").

[WeBeCruisin']

Lighten up, really? Just because I don't answer a question the way you want it answered you think you have the right to tell me or even ask me to change my response?? Don't think so. If you only want a specific answer, ask yourself the question so that you get the response you want/are looking for. If you're going to ask me a question, you'll get the response I feel like giving, whether you like it or not. :rolleyes:

 

I have never stated what others expect or want. I deserve better than what it seems that Carnival is offering immaterial of what you think. I am "entitled" to anything and everything I have worked for, I am not entitled to anything else. If you don't "deserve" to get your money's worth, so be it, feel free to throw your money away. I don't throw my money to the wind and I spend with a tendency towards frugal and expect to get what I pay for. To me, Carnival is no longer offering that (aka 'the best bang for my buck").

 

You're special. You're amazing. You're wonderful. And you're about two or three days late in your snarky response. :D

 

The rest of us have moved on to better and less-contentious things. Care to join us? :)