About to sail Carnival for the first time - what am I in for?

[hurricane0226]

I like walmart shopping, does that count?

[skiorcruise]

I have taken several Carnival cruises and one Celebrity, all pre-Covid.  More children/teens on Carnival.  I enjoy a few drinks, my wife does not drink.  "Free drinks" on Celebrity have to be paid for somehow, not sure that is worth the difference in the final bill.  My Celebrity experience was a little more up-scale, more elegant spaces on the ship, a few nicer educational opportunities (lectures), but Carnival has been more fun.  You can always find a quiet place on any ship to relax.  Your attitude and expectations are important indicators of the overall experience.  Rude teenagers running wild at the elevators pressing every button has always been my biggest complaint on board, with chair hogs a close second.  I've never seen a fight.

[hapytobehr]

On 1/2/2023 at 1:42 PM, BlerkOne said:

I knew I would mess that up - the casino on CELEBRATION...

I thought that was what you meant!  lol

[dan4182]

We sailed on the Mardi Gras and are scheduled on the Celebration in October.

 

The Mardi Gras was great. Our only complaint had to do with the lack of seating in the 3 story Grand Cental area for shows, especially in the evening. On the 2nd level you also had people walking in front of you constantly on their way fore and/or aft.

 

Shack’s Big  Chicken was great and the plentiful USB ports in our room were a definite plus as was the glass shower door.

[Steve_MI]

UPDATE. Well, the cruise is over. In some ways it was better than I expected, in other ways it was worse. 

 

First, the (comparatively) good: There was a minimal number of kids on board and the ones that were there were pretty well behaved. I didn't see any children running around unsupervised causing a problem. Also, no drunken disturbances, fights, or outrageous rowdiness by anyone on board (although we never did go to the nighttime deck party or the night club). The Celebration being such a new ship, it was pretty nice and in pristine shape. I must say that this part was better than I had expected. 

 

Now, the disappointment: food and food/drink service. Yuck. I didn't have very high expectations here, but I have to say that Carnival still managed to disappoint. The MDR was a joke. The food was like something out of a hospital cafeteria, and the service was abysmal. Our drink orders took forever and were usually wrong (or substituted do to inventory). Any cocktails ordered in the MDR or pool deck were horrible. This includes the saddest espresso martini I have ever seen. While the MDR staff was slow, at least they were pleasant. The same could not be said for virtually any other place we ate aside from the one night we did the steakhouse (which was actually very good and reasonably priced). 

 

The biggest turnoff for us (other than the food) was the overall vibe. Carnival calls themself the "Fun" ship, but I have very different ideas of what constitutes "fun" than they do. The ship was very crowded, and we found the packed deck parties and constant commotion, obnoxious music, and whooping/hollering from the other passengers to be nothing short of annoying. We spent the majority of our time outside up in the Loft 19 area, which was decent but lacked a bar, conventional pool, or any sort of eating area. 

 

I'm not going to disparage the other passengers or comment on demographics, etc., but I will say that there were noticeable differences between this crowd and what we are sued to on Celebrity. I won't say that it was a "problem"...but it was noticeable and awkward at times. 

 

All in all, it was an acceptable time. We were there with friends, and that made a big difference. Had it just been the two of us, I would certainly have had a much worse time. Carnival is just not for us and I can't imagine that I would ever sail with them again. 

 

 

[asalligo]

17 hours ago, Steve_MI said:

UPDATE. Well, the cruise is over. In some ways it was better than I expected, in other ways it was worse. 

 

First, the (comparatively) good: There was a minimal number of kids on board and the ones that were there were pretty well behaved. I didn't see any children running around unsupervised causing a problem. Also, no drunken disturbances, fights, or outrageous rowdiness by anyone on board (although we never did go to the nighttime deck party or the night club). The Celebration being such a new ship, it was pretty nice and in pristine shape. I must say that this part was better than I had expected. 

 

Now, the disappointment: food and food/drink service. Yuck. I didn't have very high expectations here, but I have to say that Carnival still managed to disappoint. The MDR was a joke. The food was like something out of a hospital cafeteria, and the service was abysmal. Our drink orders took forever and were usually wrong (or substituted do to inventory). Any cocktails ordered in the MDR or pool deck were horrible. This includes the saddest espresso martini I have ever seen. While the MDR staff was slow, at least they were pleasant. The same could not be said for virtually any other place we ate aside from the one night we did the steakhouse (which was actually very good and reasonably priced). 

 

The biggest turnoff for us (other than the food) was the overall vibe. Carnival calls themself the "Fun" ship, but I have very different ideas of what constitutes "fun" than they do. The ship was very crowded, and we found the packed deck parties and constant commotion, obnoxious music, and whooping/hollering from the other passengers to be nothing short of annoying. We spent the majority of our time outside up in the Loft 19 area, which was decent but lacked a bar, conventional pool, or any sort of eating area. 

 

I'm not going to disparage the other passengers or comment on demographics, etc., but I will say that there were noticeable differences between this crowd and what we are sued to on Celebrity. I won't say that it was a "problem"...but it was noticeable and awkward at times. 

 

All in all, it was an acceptable time. We were there with friends, and that made a big difference. Had it just been the two of us, I would certainly have had a much worse time. Carnival is just not for us and I can't imagine that I would ever sail with them again. 

 

 

Yes, that is exactly what I expected if you loved Celebrity. Your description is very accurate of most Carnival Cruises. I am really hoping that the measures that Carnival is trying to implement now curb the kind of guest that has been attracted to Carnival lately. People who appear to be intent on making their fellow cruisers angry and pushing every boundary. I feel it has gotten much worse post covid. I was in the nightclub last month on the Pride and left because it was very clear that fights in this location were just a matter of time.  

[asalligo]

Oh, and thank you so much for coming back and updating us. So many people never do. Please try to ignore all the cheerleaders who are going to think you a bad person for not loving their preferred cruise line. 

[steveknj]

I've sailed CCL twice and I noticed that the crowd and vibe was much different between our New Orleans departure and our New York departure.   We are sailing Carnival from New York in July which should tell you which crowd we enjoyed better.   I'm all for partying and having fun, but we just found the vibe closer to what we enjoy sailing out of NY than we did from New Orleans.   And of course that could be a cultural thing too, since we are from the Northeast and I am a native New Yorker, and we've mostly sailed out of Northeast ports (did one other non-northeast cruise out of Seattle, which was on NCL and more laid back than usual.)

[4hunters]

20 hours ago, Steve_MI said:

All in all, it was an acceptable time. We were there with friends, and that made a big difference. Had it just been the two of us, I would certainly have had a much worse time. Carnival is just not for us and I can't imagine that I would ever sail with them again. 

 

 

Thank you for the update!! 🙂

[Momto3girlsintheCarolinas]

On 3/9/2023 at 7:55 AM, asalligo said:

Yes, that is exactly what I expected if you loved Celebrity. Your description is very accurate of most Carnival Cruises. I am really hoping that the measures that Carnival is trying to implement now curb the kind of guest that has been attracted to Carnival lately. 

 

This.  All of it.

 

I don't mind Carnival if I prepare myself first.  We would never go on Carnival for just the two of us, but our college-age and high-school-age kids enjoy it.  I have a much harder time finding people I can strike up a conversation with on Carnival, as compared to other lines.  It seems we have far less in common.  I also have a greater expectation of poor behavior among passengers and am prepared for it to be louder and less couth.  The food is definitely more tailored toward Carnival's average passenger.

 

As I said, as long s I set my mind right before we board, we have a great time.  I don't walk into Mickey D's expecting the food to be much more than cheap, hot, and plentiful.  Carnival is great for a quick spin from our home port.  For an important trip, though (graduation, anniversary, etc.), we would not consider a Carnival cruise.... and we're willing to spend a lot more.

[2teach2cruise]

We sailed Carnival as college students and as a young married couple. We loved it! Later tried Royal, which was  fine, and NCL, which we said we’d never do again. We found Celebrity and thought it was our perfect match and have enjoyed it since. Last fall, we cruised CCL again only because that was our adult kids’ preference. We were so nervous to go, but we loved every minute. Sure there are pros and cons to both, but we savored every minute and appreciated all that CCL had to offer, which was honestly much better than we had expected. We were in the Havana area, which may or may not have played a part in our enjoyment. We’ll only know that when we choose Carnival again. Celebrity tends to be more expensive, but we found a great deal for next winter that is far less than anything Carnival was offering. Happy Cruising, Everyone!