Is Spirit as bad as the CC reviews?

[STEVE-O]

Almost booked an 8-day RT from SD for March 2006. Then I read the review section of Cruise Critic. The negative reviews were vicious!

 

Everything from being served food that had been served to someone else first to raw sewage smell for the entire cruise.....Yuck!

 

The common thread on these posts is....

 

No one in guest relations seemed to care. Many "quotes" that were anything but customer friendly.

 

I've cruised RCL and Celebrity and I'm not real tough to please...but these reviews are so graphically scary that I'm not sure I want to try Carnival.....at least not the Spirit.

 

Any responses you could share would sure be appreciated. We plan to sail with another couple celebrating our anniversaries and 2 birthdays. The other couple has never cruised before...I want them to be thrilled.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Steve-O

[cruznon]

Wow! I haven't been on the Carnival board for a while. We took this cruise in Nov and it was one of the best experiences we've ever had. I know there's been a change in CD since then, but we found the staff to be great. The food and service were fantastic. There were no sewage smells. I wonder what happened?:confused:

I sent my parents on the Spirit in Feb. They loved the ship, but reported poor food and service in the dining room!

[conwakr]

We sailed on Carnival this year, not the Spirit, and had a nice cruise. There are subtle differences between Carnival and other lines, but nothing that hindered our enjoyment. We felt the food was good and equal to perhaps RC, the wait staff was equally professional, the difference at dinner was there was no wine steward and the bar tender was unfamiliar with the wines. Our room stewards kept the room clean, but were not easy to find when we needed towels and in fact one day told us to wait until morning. I did not care for the towel program but loved their robes and staterooms. People in general did not dress for dinner, not even sport coats so if that's important to you you would be bothered. We could have saved some luggage space and brought less "dinner clothes". It was not in my experience resort casual or country club...it was casual. The pools closed at odd times, like in the middle of the day which I found peculiar as ours was a Carribean cruise. We also paid less per person than we have on other lines, so we took all in stride and had a nice trip that went where we wanted to go and stayed in port longer than the other lines. We are contemplating Carnival for Alaska next summer for those very same reasons and have not dismissed it for a possibility. I, too, had read some horrific reviews and was nervous, but like many have said, you make your own vacation and we felt we got our money's worth. You haven't said if this is a family cruise, but I can say that my younger kids voted Carnival's programs head and shoulders above Disney. I had avoided Carnival for many years because I thought it was going to be the cruise equivalent of a Nascar race...it was not for the most part that way.

[CruiseIsGood]

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but CC is picky about what reviews they post. They don't all make it. I don't know why the overly nitpicky awful ones make it more than the good ones... hmmm...

 

Here's mine of my May Spirit cruise: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=180837

 

I've been on Spirit three times and loved it. It's a gorgeous ship. This was the first time I had a less than stellar waiter, but others I met on the cruise had great ones.

 

No sewage smell at all!

[yogimax]

It's human nature that we are much more vocal with a complaint than with praise. Take all those reviews with a big dose of scepticism. Even if they are true, they are far and away the exception, not the norm. Don't be intimidated by what others are saying. I think you'll be happily rewarded!

[LHP]

July 6th!!! (and I can't wait) As far as the food, the 10 different Carnival ships (since '98) have all been the same "food wise" in the dining room and I expect the Spirit to be the same.

 

I just spent all day packing for our departure on Thursday ( a little interior travel before we board the ship) and I am exhausted from trying to get all those clothes for 4 people into 4 suitcases for 2 weeks. (and not exceed the 50 pound airline limit for each suitcase)

 

I'll let you know how it went.

[musicmansmom]

i love the spirit.

 

i just sailed her in may to the glacier bay ( for the 2nd time ) and had a fanatstic time. no bad odors anywhere, the food and service were excellant and i cant say enough for the hard working employees that treat you like a royal guest. it is too bad right now that they are having engine or propellor problems and had to miss some ports. i understand why some passengers are upset but machanical things do go wrong sometimes. the spirit will be going into dry dock next spring ( i hope i am right about that time frame ). it is a gorgeous ship now and i cant wait to see how she will be changed when the work is done. i would not be afraid to book on her today if i could afford to cruise again so soon. go and have a great time.

[Chat Noir]

There's not a thing I'd complain about regarding the Spirit... and in fact, we had a good ship experience, EXCEPT for the mechanical failures. Missing all the glacier cruising, skipping one port altogether, and spending only half the time at a second port is not the first-rate cruise I expected from Carnival. I began planning this trip with great respect for Carnival.

 

I would've been the first in line to commend them for handling a bad situation with immediate grace and concern if that had been the case. It wasn't. In fact, it is coming to light that they quite possibly KNEW we had problems before we even embarked.

 

According to Carnival Guest Relations, documention is being made of calls regarding this cruise, and forwarded on to corporate. As of right now they stand behind their original decision.

 

Our family alone, 8 of us in 2 balcony cabins paid $13,600+ in cruisefare and airfare alone to see Alaska on this one way southbound cruise. We basically had a one way inside passage, with NO glaciers. Thus far, Carnival corporate has deemed $50pp in returned port charges compensation enough. Alaskan cruises aren't something we can afford to repeat on a whim, just to see what we have already paid for once.

 

My review is under the Alaska Board. Skip to Thursday, June 9th for the heart of why I'm beginning to not be fond of Carnival. The entire review is long, but if you read (or even just skim) it all, I'm sure you'll see it isn't anywhere near a totally negative review. We just had to take what we had and run with it. After all, it's all we had, regardless of our expectations.

 

Carnival Spirit June 8th Southbound Review (note: it grew into a novel!)

 

If you choose to go with Carnival on the Spirit, it is a wonderful ship, excellent service people, decent entertainment - enjoy! Just be aware that they obviously mean exactly what they say when they relieve themselves of any responsibility if their ship fails you.

[Sea Turtle]

Unless the condition of the ship and service have spiraled downhill since 2003, I would select the Spirit again without hesitation. I spent a total of 38 days on her that year. Service I received through the purser’s desk, shore excursion manager, maitre d' and his two assistants were stellar experiences as was service from the wait, dinner and bar staff. I prefer an outgoing, friendly cabin steward(ess), and typically I luck into one but I did have one stewardess that I had to nickname (all in fun and she of course never knew) due to her brusque ways.

 

No sewer smells (and I know what that is all about as I experienced it on the Imagination that same year--ugh). The only ‘smell’ was of stale smoke in one of my cabins from a previous cruiser. The stewardess did an extra wipe down and set the ionizing machine in the cabin while I was away for the evening, and all was well when I returned. She even offered to bring the ionizing machine back in the room the next morning but it was not needed.

 

If I had any unpleasant experiences while on the Spirit, I sure don’t remember them now so that’s a very good thing in my way of thinking! :cool:

 

Enjoy the day!

[Boatdrill]

 

Any responses you could share would sure be appreciated. We plan to sail with another couple celebrating our anniversaries and 2 birthdays. The other couple has never cruised before...I want them to be thrilled.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Steve-O

 

 

If you have any doubt about Carnival, choose another line, especially since you'll be celebrating important occasions and your friends have not cruised before.

 

Listen to your intuition :)

[heids32]

We were on the Spirit to Panama, Belize and Costa Rica. Thought it was wonderful! I don't think any of us (9 in our group) had any real complaints. The only problem we had, which we thought was quite funny, the laundry room flooded while we were in the middle of a load. I called the pursers cesk and they didn't understand quite how bad it was. By the time they sent someone up(with a bucket and mop) the water was starting to seep into the hallway:) Have a wonderful time whatever you choose!

Heidi

[MERVYN BREMMER]

It's human nature that we are much more vocal with a complaint than with praise. Take all those reviews with a big dose of scepticism. Even if they are true, they are far and away the exception, not the norm. Don't be intimidated by what others are saying. I think you'll be happily rewarded!

I totally agree it's the old squeaky wheel thing:D I don't think any of the ships out there are as bad as some of the reviews make them out to be. When we sailed on Triumph I too read all the reviews and expected to find a 4 year old rusted out hulk that was barely floating. So my advise is to take the reviews with a grain of salt. But if your still not comfortable then perhaps another ship or line might be better for you.

[Bsan1221]

Almost booked an 8-day RT from SD for March 2006. Then I read the review section of Cruise Critic. The negative reviews were vicious!

 

Everything from being served food that had been served to someone else first to raw sewage smell for the entire cruise.....Yuck!

 

The common thread on these posts is....

 

No one in guest relations seemed to care. Many "quotes" that were anything but customer friendly.

 

I've cruised RCL and Celebrity and I'm not real tough to please...but these reviews are so graphically scary that I'm not sure I want to try Carnival.....at least not the Spirit.

 

Any responses you could share would sure be appreciated. We plan to sail with another couple celebrating our anniversaries and 2 birthdays. The other couple has never cruised before...I want them to be thrilled.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Steve-O

 

 

I have been on the Carnival Spirit Twice. The latest being last month. The Carnival Spirit is one of the best CCL ships out there. ....

 

I NEVER smelled any raw sewage and the dining room food was INCREDIBLE...

 

The ship was always being cleaned and maintained. I loved IT!!!

[dan40]

We've been on over 40 cruises, about a dozen on CCL. Which means over 30 on other lines. There was something about EVERY cruise that went wrong. Something that could have generated a bad review by somebody. Like using a lifeboat for a tender and some idiot pax setting off a red smoke marker inside the enclosed lifeboat. But overall, every cruise was a near perfect vacation.

After many of our cruises I have read bad reviews of THAT cruise. Some horrible complaints [usually with the words, "Everyone on the ship was upset" and] and NOT ONCE could I agree with the review. Everyone I met onboard [usually a lot of people] had a great time.

You could sit in the lobby by the Pursers' desk on ALL cruises and eventually overhear some pax making completely unreasonable demands of the crew. And almost always in a very rude and loud manner. Why some think a cruise must be perfect or they turn into a berserker, I don't know. What I do know is that NO other vacation that anyone takes is absolutely perfect either.

But I sure never had a perfect week at work either.

 

IGNORE ALL REVIEWS, INCLUDING MINE.

 

Dan

[tacobob]

We just got off the Glory yesterday (see review on this thread). It is hard not to have a wonderful time on any cruise and I am sure that there are no perfect ships out there. what we realized this cruise however is that when folks say Carnival is becoming the Wal Mart of the cruise industry we can now realize what they mean. The little things that set one line apart from another are disappearing on Carnival. They seem to be more interested in how many people they can pack on a ship than anything else. With that said it is still a great vacation.