Your least favorite cruise?

[boating girl]

I don't really have a least favorite cruise. On a Panama Canal cruise, we had a poor dining experience for 2 weeks. Our waiter was finishing his contract and said he would never work on a cruise ship again. He was unfriendly, rude and totally didn't care. However, everything else on the cruise was great.

[ontheweb]

Carnival Victory roundtrip from NY City with ports in Canada.

 

First, we were assigned late dining when we requested early. (This was prior to the days of anytime dining.) We waited on a long line to talk to the maitr'd to get this changed. Lots of folks had been assigned the opposite dining of the one they had requested. One couple had not even been assigned dining. (We did get it changed starting the second night.)

 

And then DW broke out in a rash all over her body. She had recently had dental surgery, and it turned out that she was allergic to a drug that was prescribed to her to take after the surgery. (One good thing about the cruise was that the doctor did know his stuff.)

 

Also, although Halifax was fine, the ports were not as exciting as our other cruises (half of which have been to Europe).

[wichitastatecruiser]

Oasis of the Seas. I took my then girlfriend, we broke up less than a week after the cruise. The relationship was going downhill before the cruise. I should have cancelled her out before I left!

[gooch47]

Baltic Cruise on the Grand Princess. Didn't like the ports, bad weather and I was very sick with bronchitis. We disliked St. Petersburg so much we cancelled out of a two-day, very expensive tour after the first day. I think our tour guide was ex- KGB.

[SuiteTraveler]

HAL - Oosterdam - Alaska in September - Everyone on the cruise was at least 30+ years older than us. Going up we hit rough seas the first night, first full day and second night and we were the ONLY people in the dining room both nights - which was actually kind of fun. Entertainment had to be cancelled, of course. Getting around the ship was difficult. That was the good part of the cruise! Then people came back to the dining room it was like eating in a complaints department with all the older people droning on and on about the rough seas and detailing how sick they were - at dinner - yuck! That is not appropriate talk for mealtime. Food was average hotel banquet food - very mediocre compared to any other cruise we've been on or perhaps my perception was skewed after hearing the details of my table mates seasickness. No one fun to talk to at all and we did try very hard to find some nice people. We spent most of that cruise hanging out in our suite so we didn't have to listen to them complain. But the complaining continued on shore excursions and at every meal. When we ventured out for food, it was only to be confronted by more whining and complaining. Hello, it's a cruise to Alaska. It's meant to be an adventure. Rough seas are not unusual. Come prepared. At least my husband and I had fun together onshore. But that was such a terrible cruise, I really have avoided HAL ever since. Sadly, I really liked their suites and maybe if it was a different cruise, things would have been better. But I really don't want to take the chance of being on a ship of seasick whiners detailing their illnesses again.

[tweetypie_67]

I have been on 30+ cruises and each and every one of them have been amazing.... If I had to pick one as the "worst" it would have to be Christmas, 2001 on ncl's Norway. We got an amazing deal on this cruise, I think each child was $50.00. I guess it was because it was right after 911? The ship was the last ocean liner afloat and unlike any ship I have ever been on! Just stunning.... Of course, alittle on the old side, but I found it charming. The ship was decorated and the mood onboard was somewhat festive. I think everyone was alittle heart sick since 911 was just a few months before. What made it the worst was the service onboard. They had just replaced most of the staff and the new staff coming on board had no clue! Our waiter forgot my daughters dinner one night....and just didn't bother to come back for a good 45 min! I try very hard not to nit pick and to be greatful just to be there, but this staff was just awful!

 

 

 

A few years after this cruise there was an explosion on board ( I think it was in dry dock ) and was taken out of service. Such a shame, she was one classy ship!

[rkacruiser]

My most disappointing ocean voyage was a 1980 trans-Atlantic crossing on the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2.

 

My traveling companion and I had completed a New York to Copenhagen crossing followed by a North Cape Cruise on the Royal Viking Sky. We traveled to Hamburg to embark the QE2, just ending a North Cape cruise before returning to Southampton, and then sailed trans-Atlantic to New York on her. We were traveling on QE2 in Tourist Class, but our per day cost was slightly in excess of $100/day that we had paid on the two Royal Viking Line cruises. (Thus: it was expensive.)

 

QE2 at that time was having employee/union problems. A rude cabin steward (who fortunately was not ours, but who injected himself into a concern that we had in speaking with our own Steward), items ordered in the Restaurant that were totally different from the menu descriptions, graffitti in the public restrooms, one wash cloth from Hamburg to Southampton--none from Southampton to New York, a visit from a Hotel Officer as a result of our complaints, but nothing changed. In the Yacht Club Lounge at "Happy Hour" before dinner, my friend kept asking: "When does this garbage barge get into New York?"

 

We expected far more than we received.

 

There were positives, though. The morning that I was sitting in a deck chair on an open aft deck and ordered a Bloody Mary from a Deck Steward. It was windy; when the gentleman brought my beverage on a tray, the wind caught hold of the tray and dumped it on him! He apologized and soon returned, in a clean uniform, with my Bloody Mary. (I think I tipped him well!)

 

And, I booked a cruise on QM2 with my fingers crossed. And, fortunately was not disappointed.

Edited April 15, 2015 by rkacruiser

[GUT2407]

For me no contest P&O Pacific Jewel, just a real disappointment, but at that stage had only ever been on P&O UK and Princess.

[pghsteelerfan]

We've had all good cruises, love them all. If I have to play "favorites", there are two that rank #1 (tie) but if I have to pick a least favorite, it would have to be on Carnival Liberty last year (April 2014) and the reason for that had nothing to do with Carnival Liberty, her staff, or the itinerary. Mother Nature is the culprit and gets all the blame. :D We have been extremely lucky on all our our prior cruises in that the weather was decent, for the most part, and the seas have been fairly calm. This one was a 7 day cruise with four port stops, one being missed due to high swells and strong winds. Those same weather conditions also made it the roughest cruise we've ever been on. I admit that I've seen video and pictures of conditions that are much worse and am aware that the "motion sickness bags" are put out in those situations. Ours was nothing in comparison and I never saw "motion sickness bags" out, but I was definitely feeling it and I know others were too. I'm prone to it and usually take Dramamine but decided to try ginger, which worked fine the first half of the cruise. I ended up taking the Dramamine, which I brought along...just in case. Good thing. When down in the "Fun Shops" (the gift shops for those who haven't sailed on Carnival) the day we missed our port to get post cards and browse, many others were buying sea bands and Dramamine and we later found out the Dramamine available for sale was sold out within a few hours. Still a good cruise, and we still had a lot of fun, but it's just our least favorite of the cruises we've been on. Liberty does rank #1 of the ships we've been on as our favorite for her interior decor and those Guy Burgers were the best. :D

Edited April 15, 2015 by pghsteelerfan

[Beachdude]

We won a free five day Carribean cruise on what turned out to be on a party ship. We are pretty easy going people, but we will never do that again.

 

Burt

[trixiegal]

I've learned from experience to only cruise when I'm excited about the cruise and that involves me booking and planning the cruise. I'm obsessed with all things about travel, so I'm very OCD with the planning process. It's true that the anticipation is part of the magic. I even got married on my first cruise when destination weddings were just starting to become a thing. I planned every minute detail and it was amazing. Cruising became a fun way for my family to travel.

 

Anyway, I let my little sister convince me to go on a 9-day cruise on RCI's Explorer of the Seas. The ports were okay and we didn't have to fly to get to the NJ port. She took care of the details. My heart just wasn't in it because of some personal issues but I tried to be excited for my kids. The balcony room on Deck 7 was teeny tiny for 2 adults and 2 kids. The room stunk of sewage, probably from a toilet backup. We called every day for service and begged them to move to another cabin. They claimed to be sold out. Service was spotty and the majority of the passengers were rude and, at times, unruly. I couldn't wait to get off that ship and vowed to never cruise again.

 

Six years later, I spotted a deal on a Carnival cruise leaving around the time I planned to visit colleges with my daughter in Orlando. We sailed the Dream and my love of cruising was reignited. I'm stuck on Carnival but I've tried Disney again and went on our first Princess cruise last Fall. We are doing an 8-day on the Sunshine in June and I'm over the moon excited. And, yep, I'm planning the whole cruise for my family. [emoji4]

[cruisemom42]

First and only cruise on NCL.

 

We had no air in our cabin. In the Western Med. In summer. It was at least 90 degrees in there at all times. They couldn't or wouldn't move us and could only provide us with a ludicrously tiny fan.

 

Staff were rude and condescending; Maitre d' refused to make right our dinner seating without crossing his hand with a bill. (This was long before the days of auto-tipping.)

 

AND there was a huge group of sales reps from the Canadian cosmetic company Aloette (like Avon, I think?) onboard, sitting around the pool all day and singing. Ugh, it was a nightmare. If we hadn't been very inexperienced, we'd have left the ship at the first port and flown home.

 

Never again will I sail NCL and never again will I believe someone who says the worst cruise is better than a day at work. It's not true....

[grand isle joe]

First and only cruise on NCL.

 

We had no air in our cabin. In the Western Med. In summer. It was at least 90 degrees in there at all times. They couldn't or wouldn't move us and could only provide us with a ludicrously tiny fan.

 

Staff were rude and condescending; Maitre d' refused to make right our dinner seating without crossing his hand with a bill. (This was long before the days of auto-tipping.)

 

AND there was a huge group of sales reps from the Canadian cosmetic company Aloette (like Avon, I think?) onboard, sitting around the pool all day and singing. Ugh, it was a nightmare. If we hadn't been very inexperienced, we'd have left the ship at the first port and flown home.

 

Never again will I sail NCL and never again will I believe someone who says the worst cruise is better than a day at work. It's not true....

 

 

 

"I feel your pain"........plus I, for one, LOVE my job.:)

[Cruzaholic41]

The worst cruise I ever took was on Pride of America (NCL), followed by a cruise on Norwegian Dawn (NCL). I really wish I could include NCL in all the cruise lines I enjoy, but they have failed me in way too many ways.

[Imalismom]

My least favorite was Carnival Conquest out of Galveston - except for meeting one great couple on the balcony next to ours, there is NOTHING at all I liked about that cruise.

 

In fact, it was because of that cruise that I will NEVER (I know, never say never) cruise Carnival again.

 

I hated the people we sat with at the dining room table - it was assigned seating and the only other choice we had was room service (not even a buffet :(...).... They had a six year old with them, and just "assumed" my daughter would watch and entertain their child as we ate.

 

I hated all the smoke that was in the casino, and you had to go through the casino to get to most places.

 

I hated how so many people would over indulge in alcohol and not care how they were acting in public.

 

The water was so rough (I know, this was not Carnivals fault)

 

The Broadways shows were so risque that I took my 14 year old daughter and left - I was embarrassed for her to see what was on stage.

 

After the 3rd night (out of 7) we just stayed in our cabin and watched or sat on the balcony and read.

 

Needless to say, good thing that was not my very first cruise, I woudl have never gone on another ship :)

[mpace58]

This on Celebrity Constellation. The ship and crew were wonderful as always. But the food was just off this cruise. Bland, incorrect menus, meat temps way off. The worst part, and the one thing that had my DW so excited was St. Barts. We had to use a tender, and St. Barts doesn't provide them so we used the life boats. What a disaster. SLOW doesn't begin to describe the process. We got our tender ticket 10 mins after the ticket office opened and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get on a tender. Once were there it was obvious that the people on the island really didn't like use being there. Lots of ugly looks. Many of the stores were closed. After we walked the front street DW was so disappointed that we walked back to the tenders and went back to the ship.

 

There were so many complaints that Celebrity dropped the port a month later.

[Aquahound]

Never again will I sail NCL and never again will I believe someone who says the worst cruise is better than a day at work. It's not true....

 

That's one of the dumbest cliche's on cruise Critic.

 

NCL was also my worst experience. In my case, it was Norwegian Dawn.

[karenlovesparis]

Worst ever was on the Costa Mediteranea. The itinerary was amazing. Out of Venice to the Greek Isles. As an American, we have never been so blatantly discriminated against. We were last off the ship for tenders, etc. We were treated rudely by staff. All announcements were in 4-5 languages and many times NEVER in English. I have read accounts of the English speakers on the Concordia that NEVER heard the "Abandon Ship" in English!

 

But the worst of all was the food! It was inedible. I was served shrimp in the MDR that was actually green and slimy. We sustained on the pizza which was the only thing we could stomach. We couldn't wait to get off of the ship to eat the local food.

 

We took the ship's excursions and was delayed by hours because the English speakers were last off the ship. Because of that our 6 hour excursions turned into 3 1/2 hours.

Edited April 17, 2015 by karenlovesparis

[sykimball1498]

Worst ever was on the Costa Mediteranea. The itinerary was amazing. Out of Venice to the Greek Isles. As an American, we have never been so blatantly discriminated against. We were last off the ship for tenders, etc. We were treated rudely by staff. All announcements were in 4-5 languages and many times NEVER in English. I have read accounts of the English speakers on the Concordia that NEVER heard the "Abandon Ship" in English!

 

But the worst of all was the food! It was inedible. I was served shrimp in the MDR that was actually green and slimy. We sustained on the pizza which was the only thing we could stomach. We couldn't wait to get off of the ship to eat the local food.

 

We took the ship's excursions and was delayed by hours because the English speakers were last off the ship. Because of that our 6 hour excursions turned into 3 1/2 hours.

 

We had the same experience with Costa. I think they just cater to Europeans and don't care if they discriminate. It was our least favorite cruise on the Atlantica as well. We actually were on the Costa Atlantica when the Concordia went down. We were worried for a couple of days after about our cruise as we were getting conflicting reports of what had happened, but soon found it was Captain error so that eased our worries.

 

Even though it was a Caribbean cruise they did all the announcements in other languages before English and it was hard to find English speaking excursions on our cruise as well. Most were in Spanish or German.

[Jay Sam]

The worst cruise I ever took was on Pride of America (NCL), followed by a cruise on Norwegian Dawn (NCL). I really wish I could include NCL in all the cruise lines I enjoy, but they have failed me in way too many ways.

 

Seems like a pattern for me too re: NCL. Just not up to the standards of the other lines. Never a bad cruise, just not one of my favorites. I am hoping the 3rd time is the charm, as I am taking a cruise on Sky for my birthday at the end of the month.

[grand isle joe]

Seems like a pattern for me too re: NCL. Just not up to the standards of the other lines. Never a bad cruise, just not one of my favorites. I am hoping the 3rd time is the charm, as I am taking a cruise on Sky for my birthday at the end of the month.

 

 

 

 

......I will pray for you.......;)

[Jay Sam]

......I will pray for you.......;)

 

Lol, thanks. And thanks for the chuckle.

 

I hear fairly good reviews about Sky. I will post a review after the cruise. The reason I chose this one, is for me and my friend traveling, includes 2 new ports, Freeport and Great Stirrup Cay, and not a bad price either. Haven't been to Nassau in decades.

[navybankerteacher]

If I may ask, which ship and line was this?

 

That 2012 T/A from Rome to Galveston sounds like our Royal Caribbean Mariner OTS crossing -- they simply started running out of things half way across; and perhaps many of the crew were leaving the ship, but for some reason there was a growing "don't give a damn" attitude. That - plus the size of the ship has put us off RC for future sailings unless there is a really good deal on a really good itinerary.

[letsgocruising10]

Have never had a bad cruise, but have had some Memorable ones!

 

Our first cruise was in the Caribbean, chased around the Caribbean by a hurricane, 30 ft+ seas and missed all but our first port. Made the best of it and had a great time.

 

We left for our cruise 2 days early ( flight from Canada ) and spent over 1 1/2 days snowed in at the air port. Missed our embarkation but eventually made it to the ship at the first port of call. Left on Friday morning and we were on the ship Tuesday Afternoon. It is amazing the fun you can have with 6 good friends in a bad situation as long as there is some place to get a drink.

 

The "Karma" gods made it up to us, my wife won a free cruise for two at the Jackpot bingo on a cruise...............twice! ( This is the only time she ever plays bingo! )

[cbr663]

Our least favourite cruise, bar none, was on HAL's Eurodam in a Neptune Suite. It was just one mishap after another. You can read the review here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=96447