Carnival Long Lines for Everything

[mz-s]

34 minutes ago, CruisingFromLA said:

 

I was on the Carnival Valor at the end of May. I got in line for the Mongolian Wok right when it opened and both lines were already wrapped to the elevators. It took a little over an hour to finally get my food. I never went back there again during lunch because the line was ridiculously long every day. 

 

I was on Freedom over Thanksgiving last year, which I believe was at around 60-70% capacity if I am recalling properly. There was never a line for anything - never even had to wait for an elevator. The only exception was Mongolian Wok. There was always a decent line for it when it was open. It's just how that particular venue is I suppose.

[Ilovesailaway]

Carnival is selling some very low priced cruises and packing the ships. Too bad they have decided to do this without having the staff to offer adequate service. I cannot see how this is a good thing. They are giving there past guests a heavily watered down product and they are making a terrible impression on the blue cards.

I believe a company's reputation is everything. I know times are tough but will this approach be counterproductive? If people start posting pics and videos of these terrible experiences on several platforms who knows how much damage could be done?

Carnival has gotten an unfair bad rap for years.... this won't help.

[Ilovesailaway]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

I was on Freedom over Thanksgiving last year, which I believe was at around 60-70% capacity

I was on Legend in November, it was half full and it was awesome. I was on Sunrise in January and is was much more crowded and I noticed some service issues. 

But what is being reported now about the current long lines and horrible wait times is the problem. 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Ilovesailaway

[csm5986142]

9 hours ago, charliesdad63 said:

Currently on the Freedom sailing on my 25th Carnival cruise. This is a whole new side of Carnival that I've never seen before.

 

 I agree.  Unfortunately Carnival is taking advantage of the summer season and filling up their ships without enough crew to handle it.  We really like Carnival and are willing to deal with the current issues (and hope they are temporary). 

[Z0nker]

We were on the Miracle end of May, 99% capacity. Did not see long lines for food. Did see a very long line for bingo cards on a sea day. Also fairly long (maybe 20 minutes?) to get on a tender in Catalina. On embarkation day, the Lido deck was swamped. Not a table to be had - we ate our fish tacos sitting on the edge of the stage. But the Miracle really spreads out the food stations on Lido so passengers were spread out among many fairly short lines.

[mz-s]

15 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

 

 I agree.  Unfortunately Carnival is taking advantage of the summer season and filling up their ships without enough crew to handle it.  We really like Carnival and are willing to deal with the current issues (and hope they are temporary). 

 

I am choosing to believe that their staffing issues are temporary but many of the other post-covid "changes" that are being blamed on COVID and staffing and moon cycles and whatever else they want to blame it on will be permanent I think.

[cruisegus]

On 6/19/2022 at 11:55 PM, csm5986142 said:

 

 I agree.  Unfortunately Carnival is taking advantage of the summer season and filling up their ships without enough crew to handle it.  We really like Carnival and are willing to deal with the current issues (and hope they are temporary). 

Can you blame them for filling the ships, they went 18 months with no income and still had to maintain the ships.

Every single cruise line is experiencing the staff shortage.  I have been told some of the issue is the US State Dept being slow on issuing visa's (don't know that for sure but i respect my source).  That said next summer should look significantly different, that should then reflect our new normal.

                          Just try to be patient and enjoy the fact that we can cruise again!!

[JP350]

On 6/23/2022 at 6:12 PM, cruisegus said:

Can you blame them for filling the ships, they went 18 months with no income and still had to maintain the ships.

Every single cruise line is experiencing the staff shortage.  I have been told some of the issue is the US State Dept being slow on issuing visa's (don't know that for sure but i respect my source).  That said next summer should look significantly different, that should then reflect our new normal.

                          Just try to be patient and enjoy the fact that we can cruise again!!

That's what I've heard too, but the same people also say that the cruise lines have the applicants so that's good.

[JP350]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:58 PM, mz-s said:

 

I am choosing to believe that their staffing issues are temporary but many of the other post-covid "changes" that are being blamed on COVID and staffing and moon cycles and whatever else they want to blame it on will be permanent I think.

I don't want to say this, but I think that these staffing shortages will become long term, and morph into other problems that will inconvenience the cruiser. 

[JP350]

On 6/19/2022 at 10:26 PM, Ilovesailaway said:

I was on Legend in November, it was half full and it was awesome. I was on Sunrise in January and is was much more crowded and I noticed some service issues. 

But what is being reported now about the current long lines and horrible wait times is the problem. 

 

This is a whole new side of cruising that iv'e never seen before. I really pray that it's not here to stay.

[JP350]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:07 PM, JT1962 said:

This is what I observed on the Ecstasy last week. I never saw more than one person working at the pizza station. There was always a line of several people each time I went.
 

They had the same issue with the deli. Usually only one person working and always a line. I did see 2 people working at the deli a few times, but even then it was slow. It seemed  to take 2-3 minutes for them to make each sandwich. If 10 people were in front of me, and only one employee was working, it took 20-30 minutes to get a sandwich and chips. 
 

I think they could solve some of the issues with lines at the pizza / deli by opening the buffet an hour earlier at lunch & dinner 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM instead of Noon and 6:00 PM. The hour before the buffet opened seemed to have some of the longest lines.

How was the Estacy I'm thinking about booking her for her retirement cruise. Does the fantasy class feel small and broken up. How's the crowd management. 

[JP350]

On 6/17/2022 at 4:14 PM, ATL_Miami_Cruiser said:

We got off the Sunrise on Monday and experienced the same problem with hour long lines and spotty room service availability. We've chosen to pause sailing with Carnival due to these and other issues we encountered on this past sailing.

That's what were doing as well (well maybe that estacy cruise is tempting.) How did sunrise compare to other carnival cruises you've been on.

[JP350]

On 6/19/2022 at 2:02 PM, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

Just back off Carnival Pride. The ship was almost full. THe only queue I experienced was for dinner with anytime dining. It was often 60 minutes but we just joined the queue in the app before our pre dinner drinks.
 

There was no real queue for embarkation, disembarkation, lifts, drinks, buffet food, burger, burritos, guest services, or coffee.  Occasionally somebody might be being served before you but you were next. I did not try the pizza though. When returning back to ship from port you might have to queue a few minutes but hardly a wait at all.  
 

I have cruised on many ships with many lines from budget to luxury, and I have probably never queued for less time. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

How was the carnival pride, I've heard a lot of people say that the pride was their fav ship, and I just don't understand why.

[JP350]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:47 PM, cruisr said:

Wow.  I hate lines.  I still have time to cancel my August Miracle cruise and only have a $200.00 penalty.  I’ll keep watching this thread and TIA for the helpful posts.

What' so special about the spirit class many people love them, but I don't know why.

[JT1962]

9 minutes ago, JP350 said:

How was the Estacy I'm thinking about booking her for her retirement cruise. Does the fantasy class feel small and broken up. How's the crowd management. 

The ship itself was fine and in good shape. The only issues I had were some long lines at food venues that  appeared to be due to a combination of a full ship (107% of double occupancy) and staff shortages. 

Edited June 25, 2022 by JT1962

[Sailor75]

14 hours ago, JP350 said:

I don't want to say this, but I think that these staffing shortages will become long term, and morph into other problems that will inconvenience the cruiser. 

I wonder if the staffing shortages are just a way to save money since most cruise lines are offering good deals to entice bookings.

[Badfinger]

15 hours ago, JP350 said:

I don't want to say this, but I think that these staffing shortages will become long term, and morph into other problems that will inconvenience the cruiser. 

Not an inconvenience for us....more of a deal breaker.  No more cruises for us until I hear accounts of shorter lines and faster service.  We encountered lines most everywhere we went, even on seemingly "off hours" for food.  One Sea Day it took 1 hour and 50 minutes from the time we did the online check in until we had food on the table for the Sea Day Brunch.  Totally unacceptable and absolute vacation buzz kill.  And what made it worse were the two couples we were seated with...just people I did not want to be around (but cannot blame Carnival for that).

[Hoosierpop]

3 hours ago, Badfinger said:

Not an inconvenience for us....more of a deal breaker.  No more cruises for us until I hear accounts of shorter lines and faster service.  We encountered lines most everywhere we went, even on seemingly "off hours" for food.  One Sea Day it took 1 hour and 50 minutes from the time we did the online check in until we had food on the table for the Sea Day Brunch.  Totally unacceptable and absolute vacation buzz kill.  And what made it worse were the two couples we were seated with...just people I did not want to be around (but cannot blame Carnival for that).

We just did B2B on the Glory. At 9:00 in the morning, it never took more than 15 minutes for 4 of us to get a table. So there are definitely differences between the ships.

 

As I said before, I didn’t think the lines were all that long compared to before. I just got a feel for when things were long and adjusted. Never took me that long to get food.

 

The Deli would get the longest in terms of wait. I’m guessing because it was made to order stuff compared to other venues.

[txcruiser1234]

Happy to report one data point of good news on this topic:

 

Its just one ship, one cruise, one perspective - but I observed absolutely no staffing issues on the Jun 10-20 2022 Carnival Miracle to Alaska. Full ship - 2088 guests according to Frankie the CD - minimal lines the whole trip as explained below.

 

Ate at the MDR 7 nights between 8pm and 9pm (your time dining) - never waited more than 5 min from HUB app checkin to table ready. Service was spot on - never waited more than a couple of minutes between courses being served. There were a couple of nights where we wanted to eat particularly fast to make a showtime and we were in and out in less than 45 minutes.

 

Got Guy's 4 times on the trip - once on embarkation day at about 1pm with just two folks in front of me and the other 3 times literally no wait at all - just walked up and got burgers immediately - it was just about the same story at Blue Iguana.

 

The three nights we just did the dinner buffet - there were never more than a couple or three people in line at any of the stations - if there were any folks at all - again we tend to eat a bit later.

 

We did sea day brunch once and this was the longest HUB app wait we had at 15 min, just lounged in our cabin till we got the table ready message.

 

The only real line we had to wait in the whole trip was for next-day tender passes into Sitka. We needed the earliest non-excursion tender time available, so we lined up 20 min before the designated time for handing out the passes. Frankie the CD was there walking the line the whole time entertaining and letting everyone know about the tender process (and anything else you wanted to ask him - really a great CD).

 

The free drink service (Drinks on US) in the casino was insanely good. They were serving faster than we could drink, literally. There were times we had drinks in our hands, another one waiting on deck and the server would come by and ask if we were ready for another. I just started asking for cans of beer that I'd take back to the cabin. By day three, I had a fridge full of Michelob Ultra tallboys from the casino that served their purpose throughout the cruise in the nightclub, at shows, etc.

 

Because of the above - we only ordered drinks from a bar once the entire cruise - the last day after 5pm free drinks - we got them from the Alchemy bar and there was no wait.

 

All that being said - there were lines at the Lido buffet and other food outlets right when the venues opened at lunch for, say, the first 30 minutes or so. But that's not a function of a staffing issue - it's just the logistics of a few dozen people showing up at the same place, at the same time for the same thing. As long as we showed up 45 to an hour after a venue opened, we experienced lines of 0-5 people at most.

 

Only went to guest services once - to break a bill into smaller bills - and had no wait. I definitely saw some long lines a couple of times while passing through the lobby, but unless you had an issue that needed immediate attention, most of the time guest services had little to no queue.

 

All the shows seemed to go on as scheduled. They even had 4 different comedians on during the trip. Two were there for the first 5 days, they left and two new ones were brought on for the last 5 days. The entertainment programming was more robust than we had on our previous two post pandemic Carnival cruises (Oct 2021 Vista and Feb 2022 Dream). It seemed most every night had something going on 'till 11:30pm or midnight. Our previous two cruises, even though bigger ships, seemed to shut down entertainment much earlier in the evening and had slimmer entertainment schedules throughout the day. If trivia was your thing, this ship must have had 30 or so different trivia offerings. Lots of great, varied live music on this sailing as well.

 

One last note - our cabin steward was a rock star. We requested evening service and she came by at 6:30pm the first night. So, from there on we would leave our cabin at 6:15pm and every night we'd pop into our cabin to pick something up (mostly beer from the fridge) and it seemed like the room was done by 7pm every single night. Made it nice to plan our evenings knowing exactly what time she was servicing the room. If housekeeping was under staffing pressure, we could not tell from our steward.

 

So, all in all, I went into this cruise on the lookout for staffing issues but really saw none.

 

 

[Badfinger]

3 hours ago, Hoosierpop said:

We just did B2B on the Glory. At 9:00 in the morning, it never took more than 15 minutes for 4 of us to get a table. So there are definitely differences between the ships.

 

As I said before, I didn’t think the lines were all that long compared to before. I just got a feel for when things were long and adjusted. Never took me that long to get food.

 

The Deli would get the longest in terms of wait. I’m guessing because it was made to order stuff compared to other venues.

 

This was our 7th cruise on either the Magic or Breeze, and by far the worst for lines and slow service.  Of course our Breeze cruise in October 2021 was amazing as only 1800 or so passengers on board so not fair to compare to that one.  But we were on two others with over 4400 passengers (mid summer, lots of families) and yeah, this recent cruise was the most frustrating of all, right down to the god awful WCMC in the MDR.  While I like cruising, it is hardly the only vacation that I like, and we are at that stage of life where we are no longer looking for bargain/cheap/good value vacations.  So add these long lines and slow service to the fact we have been to every port out of Galveston numerous times, and have done about everything that is of interest, until lines and service approve, we will spend our vacation dollars elsewhere.

[arizdback]

Just off the Vista this morning and did see the longest lines I have ever experienced on Carnival and this is my 3rd since restart. The longest line was pizza after 11 PM. The line at several times stretched to the Seafood Shack and then turned and went across the pool deck almost to the Bar. Wait was easily an hour since several times there was one person working. I think there isn't one lone thing. The changes in hours for several food venues almost funnels people into big lines and the staffing is absolutely an issue.

Went to Seaday Brunch yesterday and order wasn't taken for 35 minutes. We were talking so time wasn't that big a deal but over 60  minutes for breakfast (several mistakes on our order as well) is a bit much.

Eventually something will give. Came across several staff members who were frazzled to say the least. We way over tipped just in the hopes of letting them know we get it.

Edited June 26, 2022 by arizdback

[lazydayz]

We did the Liberty last weekend and only complaints were about a 20 minute wait for Guy’s Burgers and an hour wait for pizza.  Tried to have it delivered instead but the service was not available.  So I am hoping with the addition of more staff, service and food options will improve. Other than that, great cruise with good service.  

[Dadofsix]

Just got back from a cruise on the Ecstasy with an announced guest total of 2350 people. No real lines to mention. Oh maybe a few times at peak lunch hour there might be 10 people waiting for pizza or Guy's Burgers but nothing long or time consuming. Had Your Time Dining and never more than a ten minute wait for a party of four. If the smallest ship in the fleet with the least amount of venue choices and at max guest capacity has hardly any lines or wait times I find it hard to believe it on other ships without proof, not just "take my word for it".

[pzsdd6]

On 6/19/2022 at 9:52 PM, Ilovesailaway said:

Carnival is selling some very low priced cruises and packing the ships. Too bad they have decided to do this without having the staff to offer adequate service. I cannot see how this is a good thing. They are giving there past guests a heavily watered down product and they are making a terrible impression on the blue cards.

I believe a company's reputation is everything. I know times are tough but will this approach be counterproductive? If people start posting pics and videos of these terrible experiences on several platforms who knows how much damage could be done?

Carnival has gotten an unfair bad rap for years.... this won't help.

I agree 100% with your gracious description. We have been on 5 since the restart. In the beginning the low capacity made the cruises enjoyable, however now with most ships sailing at or near full capacity, the holes in their “post pandemic” business plan are showing. It’s my opinion, one which I shared in a very detailed letter to the CEO. Their plan, and their recent boasts about having all their ships back at sea shows just where their focus really is. If they would have chosen to fully staff ships with enough staff to provide the experience they sell and advertise, I believe the cruises would be much better. Our last, 2 weeks ago on the Liberty highlighted all of the complaints posted. Mongolian wok- 1.5 hrs, pizza 1 hr, and the worst was the deli line min. 1.5 hrs. 
In addition to the shortage of staff is the staff that they are currently placing are in areas where they don’t seemed to be trained to work. Many times I witnessed employees that couldn’t answer basic questions about simple menu’s things. 
I have cruised for more than 40 years, 50+ cruises on Carnival, over a hundred total including other lines. For now, we are going to shift to other lines that in my opinion, are doing much better in the area of customer service and experience. Next up is Celebrity for 9 days. This will be our 2nd with them since the restart. Our experience is that they really are focusing on the customer and appreciate them much more since the restart. Don’t get me wrong, still a Carnival fan and will cruise with them again…..once the get their $#it together.

[1kaper]

10 minutes ago, pzsdd6 said:

I agree 100% with your gracious description. We have been on 5 since the restart. In the beginning the low capacity made the cruises enjoyable, however now with most ships sailing at or near full capacity, the holes in their “post pandemic” business plan are showing. It’s my opinion, one which I shared in a very detailed letter to the CEO. Their plan, and their recent boasts about having all their ships back at sea shows just where their focus really is. If they would have chosen to fully staff ships with enough staff to provide the experience they sell and advertise, I believe the cruises would be much better. Our last, 2 weeks ago on the Liberty highlighted all of the complaints posted. Mongolian wok- 1.5 hrs, pizza 1 hr, and the worst was the deli line min. 1.5 hrs. 
In addition to the shortage of staff is the staff that they are currently placing are in areas where they don’t seemed to be trained to work. Many times I witnessed employees that couldn’t answer basic questions about simple menu’s things. 
I have cruised for more than 40 years, 50+ cruises on Carnival, over a hundred total including other lines. For now, we are going to shift to other lines that in my opinion, are doing much better in the area of customer service and experience. Next up is Celebrity for 9 days. This will be our 2nd with them since the restart. Our experience is that they really are focusing on the customer and appreciate them much more since the restart. Don’t get me wrong, still a Carnival fan and will cruise with them again…..once the get their $#it together.

 

Have you read the "Carnival Stock Below $10" thread?
They are in bad shape. I don't think they can afford to sail less than full capacity at this point, even risking making people angry.