Christmas cruise on Freedom, A lot to process!

[cbringdrvr]

Over a year ago in mid November , my family upon recommendation from me decided to book a Christmas cruise 2023. Seventeen people, six cabins on the 10th deck on Freedom.  Yes, I realized Freedom was an older ship but I have sailed and enjoyed other sailings in the same class as Freedom and I also knew it was undergoing a quick refurbishment in October. I have used the same PVP for about six years and was in direct communication with him as did the rest of the group.  On Black Friday ‘22 I did a ghost booking and the price for my cruise had gone down significantly so I called him and after some hesitation he agreed that I could indeed take advantage of the lower price.  Regrettably I did not notice that the confirmation email of the new price also included a change of my cabin only to deck 7 on opposite ends of the ship.  I take responsibility for not noticing.  However, at no time did he mention anything about changing cabins.  It was not until I printed documents that I realized this.  I immediately called and confirmed my greatest fear.  Ship was completely sold out,  PVP apologized.  I would have never, ever agreed to change cabins completely away from my children and grandchildren for the sake of saving money,   We always stay on deck above lido no matter the ship. It certainly did not ruin my vacay but it did most definitely affect it.

There are some other issues with this cruise I want to write about. I have read many reports that the quality of food and service overall has gone downhill significantly recently.  Having sailed most recently in May with great satisfaction , I scoffed at those reviews.  Sadly, overall the food was indeed disappointing. I do not expect 5 star cuisine  but four entrees in the MDR were awful(strip loin, an entree salad, parpadelle with lamb and fried chicken, previously a favorite ). We have enjoyed the buffet at lunch in the past but the quality and drink service was very disappointing.  In particular , the meal for Christmas was simply unacceptable..  We waited 45 minutes between our appetizer and entrees and then waited another 30 minutes after entree for dessert with no plates cleared or water refilled.  One of us never received our entree during all that time with no explanation when we inquired several times.We spent two full hours in the MDR , resulting in arriving late to several Christmas evening festivities. 

 

The last item I want to address is the general feeling of safety.  The cruise started off with an aura of yuletide cheer but as the week progressed the atmosphere digressed as entire groups of very rowdy unsupervised teens and young adults roamed the ship.   They took delight in blocking hallways and stair landings, spitting on people in the atrium from above, etc.  On the last night of the cruise they boldly escalated their behavior to a dangerous level.  They were seen by my husband and others wearing ski masks while threatening people.  At one am the “Charlie” call came over the intercom system twice for security as large fights broke out on 9th deck.  

I have been extremely loyal to Carnival for many years but I am ready to spend my vacations elsewhere. For all of the PR they are doing to improve their image, they are completely failing at implementation.  The  very heavy smell of weed at all hours of the day and night( so strong inside my cabin and on balcony and through out the ship) is proof that their heavily advertised announcements of intolerance is nothing short of a lie.  Much more importantly, for the first time in 15 plus cruises, I and my family no longer feel safe while sailing with Carnival. We sailed with four beautiful  , well behaved teenage granddaughters whose ability to enjoy the ship on their own was directly affected by this atmosphere.  Freedom security needs a complete overhaul.  They seemed to be very adept at catching those who took videos of the several fights as it was reported they commanded individuals to delete videos while they watched and verified.  They were also very adept at commanding people in cabins nearby to stay in their rooms even though they were getting texts from family members trying to reach each other out of fear for their own safety. Their concern for public image greatly eclipses their actual attention to creating a safe , enjoyable family atmosphere for people to sail and spend their hard earned money to create lasting memories.  My money can be spent elsewhere.  My loyalty to Carnival has suffered a tremendous blow, quite possibly, fatal.

 

 

 

 

 

[pe4all]

Sorry your cruise was so disappointing to you.  While we have seen some of the issues you observed (slow dining room service, rowdy teens blocking stairways, weed smell on ships) we have never felt unsafe on a CCL ship.  Hopefully you went to guest services to report some of these things.  Also I would put my concerns in writing to CCL.  Mail it return receipt.  You may or may not get a response- but at least it is on record somewhere.  

[mz-s]

I hope that people will take these reports seriously. Carnival is a shadow of its former self. I am sorry you learned this all too late. I hope that people who read your review will take it seriously. We are not trying to diss Carnival - we are reporting our true experience. Ignore it at your peril.

[dabomb6608]

That kind of experience would certainly ruin it for me. I've mentioned to my wife I wouldn't mind trying out other cruise lines. It has been 3 years since our last cruise and we have only cruised with Carnival. I'm hoping our cruise in 8 days isn't anything like your experience.

 

One thing we will definitely be avoiding is 5 or less day cruises. Those shorter/cheap cruises seem to more often be the troublesome cruises. 

[cbringdrvr]

2 hours ago, pe4all said:

Sorry your cruise was so disappointing to you.  While we have seen some of the issues you observed (slow dining room service, rowdy teens blocking stairways, weed smell on ships) we have never felt unsafe on a CCL ship.  Hopefully you went to guest services to report some of these things.  Also I would put my concerns in writing to CCL.  Mail it return receipt.  You may or may not get a response- but at least it is on record somewhere.  

 

[cbringdrvr]

Thanks for the return receipt tip!

[starstruck05]

I'm sorry there were so many issues on your cruise. Especially the safety aspect. The only thing I would say is there is no way for Carnival or any other cruiseline to know that people will act like that onboard. There does need to be a better system in place when it happens but they also have no way of knowing it WILL happen. I hope it went through the proper channels to put systems in place for the future.

[ledges1]

I will be on the Glory in January out of New Orleans for 7 days. I booked this cruise thinking most kids will be back in school and an older crowd. On my last cruise in early November, Security was very prevalent through out the cruise ship. I hope this is the case in New Orleans. In Jacksonville, the police were walking a dog on board during the boarding process. Again, I hope this is the case in New Orleans. We did not smell marijuana in November but have in the past. I am sorry you experienced this behavior. If you have videos, I would send to Carnival. If this happened on my cruise, Carnival would hear loud clear about the problem, especially if I had video evidence.

[vacruisin]

Sorry you had such a horrible experience; sounds like a lousy way to spend Christmas vacation with the family and you should definitely escalate your experience up the Carnival chain.

 

However, if you've previously sailed Carnival and enjoyed those cruises I would hope you'd chalk this up as an aberration and not just kick Carnival to the curb.  You said you'd enjoyed a May cruise; was it on Carnival?  Have you experienced such bad behavior on previous Carnival cruises?

 

Holiday cruises sometimes tend to bring rowdier crowds; and I've heard of some of the same kind of issues/behavior on other cruise lines.  Sometimes it is just a bad group on your particular sailing.  

 

[ninjacat123]

Yikes!! My DH, 2 DDs (21 & 23) and I will be cruising in a little over two weeks on Freedom. I experienced some rude behavior from passengers in general on our 4 day Elation Thanksgiving cruise out of Jacksonville but nothing like what you reported. I’ll be doing a LIVE on this upcoming cruise. Thank you for your review!!

Edited December 29, 2023 by ninjacat123
Ship name

[cbringdrvr]

28 minutes ago, starstruck05 said:

I'm sorry there were so many issues on your cruise. Especially the safety aspect. The only thing I would say is there is no way for Carnival or any other cruiseline to know that people will act like that onboard. There does need to be a better system in place when it happens but they also have no way of knowing it WILL happen. I hope it went through the proper channels to put systems in place for the future.

I understand that they are unable to predict behavior, good or bad but this behavior escalated as the days passed with no noticeable increase in security in an obvious way.  Twice I went to the ninth deck late evening for pizza and saw no visible security at all.  I did see very loud rowdy behavior, not just the expected high energy of young people having fun in an acceptable manner.  I am platinum so I have a lot of Carnival cruise experiences to compare this to.  

[cbringdrvr]

34 minutes ago, vacruisin said:

Sorry you had such a horrible experience; sounds like a lousy way to spend Christmas vacation with the family and you should definitely escalate your experience up the Carnival chain.

 

However, if you've previously sailed Carnival and enjoyed those cruises I would hope you'd chalk this up as an aberration and not just kick Carnival to the curb.  You said you'd enjoyed a May cruise; was it on Carnival?  Have you experienced such bad behavior on previous Carnival cruises?

 

Holiday cruises sometimes tend to bring rowdier crowds; and I've heard of some of the same kind of issues/behavior on other cruise lines.  Sometimes it is just a bad group on your particular sailing.  

 

[cbringdrvr]

I agree. We only chose a five day beco because of work/school schedules of other family members.  We much prefer 7 day cruises.  We did cruise with 20 family members over Thanksgiving in 2019 and had none of these issues but society has vastly changed since then sadly.

[cbringdrvr]

33 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Yikes!! My DH, 2 DDs (21 & 23) and I will be cruising in a little over two weeks on Freedom. I experienced some rude behavior from passengers in general on our 4 day Elation Thanksgiving cruise out of Jacksonville but nothing like what you reported. I’ll be doing a LIVE on this upcoming cruise. Thank you for your review!!

I am sure yours will be better!  

[princess76021]

@cbringdrvr thank you for your very informative review

Hugs from Texas

[ninjacat123]

3 minutes ago, cbringdrvr said:

I am sure yours will be better!  

I hope so, but it's also a five day cruise over MLK week. I was hoping that cruising out of PC would be better crowd-wise than Jacksonville, but now I'm not so sure.  My DH and I experienced a wonderful Carnival cruise out of Rome (10 day) and I'm wondering if that is because it was not a drivable port. I do think that Covid has brought out the worst in humanity with regard to manners in more arenas than just cruising.

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I hope so, but it's also a five day cruise over MLK week. I was hoping that cruising out of PC would be better crowd-wise than Jacksonville, but now I'm not so sure.  My DH and I experienced a wonderful Carnival cruise out of Rome (10 day) and I'm wondering if that is because it was not a drivable port. I do think that Covid has brought out the worst in humanity with regard to manners in more arenas than just cruising.

 

prepare for the worst and hope for the best. short holiday cruises are rough on Carnival right now.

[csm5986142]

5 hours ago, cbringdrvr said:

the atmosphere digressed as entire groups of very rowdy unsupervised teens and young adults roamed the ship.   They took delight in blocking hallways and stair landings

 

This was an issue on Celebration at Thanksgiving also - teenagers running and yelling in the halls and stairwells.  With Carnival catering to a younger crowd, I've decided this is likely on any cruise during a school break unfortunately.  

We also had 1 fight (heard code Charlie calling security to deck 8 near guest services).  We saw one person removed from the ship in handcuffs as soon as we docked in Miami (not sure if it was related though).

[kctwinmommy]

Yep, our last cruise with Carnival was a 5 day one as well. It was cheap and a quick getaway with some friends right after my husband retired. We just didn't feel it was the same. But, we did also realize it was a 5 day cruise, which has a different vibe/crowd. We've done a 3 day one before, it was the same. We usually do at least 7 days. Either way, we've decided that Carnival will be on hold for awhile. Our next one is a big one for us, totally different line/experience, which is what we want. We're not big drinkers or party people, so we don't need all of that anyway. I guess the good thing is there are different lines to try and have different vacations for all sorts of people.

[TeresaJ]

So sorry to hear about all of this! We sailed Freedom in July 2022 and didn't see anything like that! With that being said, I think the shorter cruises do have a different demographic. We did a 3-day Conquest cruise a while ago and that was a party booze cruise. 

 

Also, sailing during holidays you get bigger crowds and unruly children (parent's fault, not Carnival's). We are sticking to longer cruises on Carnival and trying to avoid times when children are sailing since our kids are in college and for now we go without them.  We went on an 8-day cruise last January on the Horizon and it was very nice, no rowdy crowds or children.

 

Seems like Carnival's security was overwhelmed with the crowds and clientele. As others have said, when Carnival was offering deep discounts on their cruises after Covid, everyone was booking!

 

 

[ninjacat123]

13 minutes ago, TeresaJ said:

So sorry to hear about all of this! We sailed Freedom in July 2022 and didn't see anything like that! With that being said, I think the shorter cruises do have a different demographic. We did a 3-day Conquest cruise a while ago and that was a party booze cruise. 

 

Also, sailing during holidays you get bigger crowds and unruly children (parent's fault, not Carnival's). We are sticking to longer cruises on Carnival and trying to avoid times when children are sailing since our kids are in college and for now we go without them.  We went on an 8-day cruise last January on the Horizon and it was very nice, no rowdy crowds or children.

 

Seems like Carnival's security was overwhelmed with the crowds and clientele. As others have said, when Carnival was offering deep discounts on their cruises after Covid, everyone was booking!

 

 

Totally agree!  My DH said if parents were fined $25 for every indiscretion, maybe the parents would monitor their children better.  I thought there was a fine for bad behavior, like fighting and not being able to cruise Carnival.🤷‍♀️ 

[Hoosierpop]

I’m hung up on the not saving money by staying away from family. That sounds like a win-win to me. 

[firefly333]

I havent seen this behavior but just a general comment there are holidays and times like spring break when there are more kids. I cruised during middle of march and we had over 2k kids onboard. Planned way in advance during covid so we didnt consider spring break. I saw Christmas week also had more kids and Thanksgiving has double the kids in general. 

 

Not saying kids are bad but in quantity they are noisy. They seem to screech while playing ping pong or mini golf. Swimming cant be done except at high decibels. Rcl is also advertising to attract families. Unless you book a more expensive line there will be kids during holidays. . Even good kids seem loud if you arent used to them. I'm sorry you had kids acting up and carnival didnt take care of the problem, just tried to cover it up. 

 

I'm booked xmas 2024, I might wind up regretting it. Some I know are moving to celebrity and virgin just because fewer kids. Or princess or HAL. 

 

 

[mz-s]

I wish someone would try to make me delete a video I took on my phone. They're more worried that potential cruisers will see what is really happening on the ships on Tiktok. Once you're on the ship and it is clear you've entered the wild wild west of drugs fights and misbehaving kids it's too late.

[TeresaJ]

46 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Totally agree!  My DH said if parents were fined $25 for every indiscretion, maybe the parents would monitor their children better.  I thought there was a fine for bad behavior, like fighting and not being able to cruise Carnival.🤷‍♀️ 

Oh yeah, they should do that! Maybe that would make a difference!