"Never again" Threads

[janetz]

I have noticed the the Carnival board has the most "Never Again" threads.:confused: It seems that many of the posters saying they will "never cruise" Carnival again have taken the shorter cruises vs 7 days or longer. Do you think there is a big difference in the sailings? People cruising for the first time on shorter cruises incounter a more younger crowd, party people, more "rowdy" than most and it turns them off to Carnival? We are doing our first in September and hope we will not be disappointed. We decided to cruise from a port near home and the "Crown" is just to mega ship for us. We are not snobs, like to have a good time "food is a important factor, but not HUGE.. Service and friendliness is huge to us. We are in our 50's and young at heart... I can assume that the longer cruises have the less "party till you puke" crowd...(which we were once part of :p )

[CBXRAY]

My personal choice is is to book a 7 day cruise, and on a newer ship. I think some of these "never again" threads are cruises on smaller ships, and like you said shorter cruises.

 

I think your vacation is what you make it. Not everything is going to be perfect, but you're on vacation!!! make the most of the time away and try to stay positive. Beats the daily grind of work;)

 

Again, I like to hear both sides of the situation. But some people complain to hear themselves complain. It is what you make it. Take a deep breath and smile:)...it will make you feel better.

 

Take care,

 

chris

[mrdood]

If you lurk on all the forums, I do, there are "never again" threads there as well. The funny thing, they all list the same kinds of service issues and the poster always seems to have some pre-disposed expectation at a high level instead of an open mind to a new experience, they expect it to match something else.

 

The shorter cruises certainly have their party reputation... and typically they use older equipment.

[dpfred]

janetz - we are now in our fifties and have just booked our 9th cruise, all on Carnival. We have nothing else to compare to but obviously we are more than satisfied with Carnival. We have been on a couple of the "small" ships and have sailed the Spirit and Conquest class ships and we do enjoy the larger ships mainly because of the balconies. As for the younger crowd, we were on the Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago and it seemed almost boring because of the older crowd we experienced. As most people say on these boards the cruise experience is what you make of it.

dpfred

[cubdaddy]

It's a numbers game. Carnival has the most ships and passengers at any one time. If you watch the Carnival board you will find it moves much quicker than the others.

 

So, it stands to reason you will get more "Never again" here!

[sinkers22]

Hi Janet! It's me Linda.....:D The Legend is so beautiful and we had so much fun on our last cruise aboard her. Don't worry...just find us 40 and 50 somethings....and we'll party with you! We're bringing our own booze...so come to the aft cabin, sit and watch the wake and have a drink or two with us!

[zqvol]

I haven't yet been on Carnival, first cruise is in six weeks, but I have been on other lines, that are much smaller. I am on Elation, one of Carnival's smaller ships and my biggest concern is that the ship is going to be way too big. If anything would cause me to think before scheduling a second Carnival cruise it would be that. (This would not be a Carnival issue so much as a personal preference.) Any other problem or concern to me would just be one of those things that we that have crusied before come to expect.

[kathy32259]

Hi Janet and Linda -

 

My friends and I all 55+ have cruised Carnival and love it. A nice mix of people on board. I do try to avoid the spring breaks and summer - but if my friends want to go then - I'm in! I was so glad to find this CC board - prior to joining CC it was hard to locate anyone on board in our age group.

 

I posted a thread for Carnival 55+ on the Special Interests board - but have not received one reply. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person over 50 who 1) sailed with Carnival or 2) joined Cruise Critics:eek:

[lyttleone1977]

I have my first cruise booked in July, and I can't wait. My family is possibly planning a cruise to Costa Rica and the Pananma Canel for next year. When we were discussing it, I told my mom we could look at other cruise lines because of the dates and she looked at me like I am crazy. She has been on 3 Carnival cruises and says she never wants to go on another cruise line. Of course this is probably a "fun" loving person who goes on vacation to have fun and not look for the downfalls. :rolleyes:

[Cotton]

I posted a thread for Carnival 55+ on the Special Interests board - but have not received one reply. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person over 50 who 1) sailed with Carnival or 2) joined Cruise Critics:eek:

 

Kathy, I replied to that thread. You just haven't looked around the site long enough to find us, but - MANY of us posting there are diehard Carnival fans. It's a slow forum, but the info is there.:)

[serene56]

If I went by other peoples reviews I would not have sailed on the Liberty. Before we went 4 out of 5 reviews were not good at all. People complaining about food and service- which are two key points to why we cruise. I booked. I also was booking a friend of mine who only sailed Celebrity. I cruised and had a fabulous time. (so did our friend) Not ever finding bad service or bad food.

I do not expect my cabin steward to have daily converstions with me. He has a lot of work to do and if he chatted with every cabin occupant he would not get his work done. I am on vacation and not looking for a new found friend. Lots of people EXPECT this service and I would think this expectation is not a good one.

Food is another issue-- the meals are cooked enmasse = how do you get a 5 star rating for food that is cooked that way. EVery meal we had was great.

Although we sailed the Liberty and had a great time we also know that the bigger ships are not for us. We sailed the Voyager too and saw that wasnt for us too.. (LOL)

Cruising is not for everyone.

[glrounds]

I haven't yet been on Carnival, first cruise is in six weeks, but I have been on other lines, that are much smaller. I am on Elation, one of Carnival's smaller ships and my biggest concern is that the ship is going to be way too big. If anything would cause me to think before scheduling a second Carnival cruise it would be that. (This would not be a Carnival issue so much as a personal preference.) Any other problem or concern to me would just be one of those things that we that have crusied before come to expect.

 

The first time I stepped aboard the ELATION, I was aghast, dumfounded at the pure size of this beauty (this was many years ago when she was doing the Mexican Riviera). This ship was forever my favorite Carnival ship, until I discovered the Spirit class.

You'll love the layout of the ELATION. She was a beautiful ship, too. :)

[newmexicoNita]

I hate to hear the words "Never" and yes, Carnival has those words printed more than any line because as someone said, they have the most ships. Of course the shorter cruises are not the same as 7 day or longer ones. If passengers would remember this there wouldn't be so many unhappy cruisers. We have taken 4 cruises that were less than 7 nights; none have been wonderful, but all fun. the ships were older, we didn't expect the food or entertainment to be as good, nor the decor to knock up over: because of knowing what not to expect we had a wonderful time. NMNita

[MrPete]

I've gone on long AND short cruises. And I've yet to find a "party till you puke" crowd on any of them. :confused: Maybe I've been lucky?

 

What I have noticed is, the shorter the cruise, the less personalized the service.

 

I went on one 2 day CTN, and never even found a cruise director!

[serene56]

I went on one 2 day CTN, and never even found a cruise director!

 

Isnt that the truth-- i didnt even have my cabin done- no fresh towels.. no beds made... glad it was only a weekend.. lol

[kujobie]

It's not only the shorter cruises but the time of year. I have been lurking on these boards for several years and it's funny, but not surprising, that the complaint posts increase during spring break. Most of the problems you read about (crowds, long lines, rowdiness, poor service, garbage/vomit everywhere) can be attributed to the amount of kids on board, speaking mostly of college kids here. Generally speaking, kids are slobs. I know, I've got two of them, 16 and 18. I gave up trying to get them to keep their rooms clean years ago. Now I just keep their doors shut and try not to go in there too much. Furthermore, the college kids are going to be sowing oats-partying, drinking, etc. Nothing wrong with that, I did it too. But the demands of serving them mass quantities of alcohol and cleaning up after them is going to mean the staff will be more over-worked than usual, and less service to go around. Soooo... Listen carefully, and take notes... Don't cruise during spring break. If you do, don't be surprised if you experience some of these problems. Similarly, if you are a family with young children looking for a relaxing family vacation, or an eighty year old retired couple looking for peace and quiet, it would not be wise to go to Daytona Beach during spring break, or bike week. Going on a 3 or 4 nighter during spring break will be no diferrent. Do yourself a favor and avoid it.

[Knights on the Beach]

I've gone on long AND short cruises. And I've yet to find a "party till you puke" crowd on any of them. :confused:

They were on the Emerald Seas (NOT a Carnival ship) with us on our first cruise. There was a huge group of kids who had just graduated from high school and they were drunk most of the four days. The only thing that really was annoying about that to me was all the broken glass on the Lido deck. :( We have never had issues like that on any of our Carnival cruises.

 

The reason you will see more "Never Again" threads on Carnival, is because the Carnival haters are most likely to be obnoxiously outspoken anyway. ;) Just kidding!! :D

 

Actually, for our Legend cruise this December, I am more worried that it will be a little too subdued for us. We typically cruise in late May, and there are lots of families and a wide mix of ages on board. This will be our first December cruise, and I'm wondering if it will be an older crowd.

[joepeka]

It's a numbers game. Carnival has the most ships and passengers at any one time. If you watch the Carnival board you will find it moves much quicker than the others.

 

So, it stands to reason you will get more "Never again" here!

It's definitely a numbers game - most ships, most passengers, etc. so number of negative reviews is going to be proportionally higher than other lines. I think there's something to the shorter vs. longer argument too. We've done both (enjoyed all) but it seemed like the service on the shorter trips was not as high quality or 'personal' as the longer cruises. So, put that together with maybe some unrealistic expectations by new cruisers and the 'never again' threads sprout and grow.

[Bramcruiser]

Well its been over 12 years since I did my one and only Carnival trip. Last year I returned to cruising on HAL and am lucky enough to be doing the QM2 in 2006. That being said though, I recognize Carnival for what it is and it is a good product unto itself. Would I book Carnival again should the opportunity arise? Yes! I'm realistic enough to compare apples and oranges and go with the mindset that I know what I am getting myself into to.

 

There are a couple of Carnival cruises that I have on the back of my mind as possibilities in the future.

[Happy ks]

I never say never again to a cruise!

 

However, I've only sailed Carnival once and it has been my least favorite out of 9, most with completely different lines. It had nothing to do with the other pax, the food was OK, the service was not as great as other lines we've been on, but that is a personal thing, not a cruise line thing, our servers just didn't have good training, I suppose.

 

What we didn't like about our Carnival cruise was the ship itself, it was one of the older ones, Ecstacy, simply horrid to look at. Our cabin, while roomy, was tacky and ugly, we called it our camper shell. When I look at other Carnival ships, I see the same decor in the cabins, it really turns me off, orange is probably my least favorite color for decoration. The "art" was exactly the same on every landing in the stairwells. The "sculpture" in the atrium was plastic and, I think orange and green, it looked like boxes stacked on top of each other. I remember feeling as though we were cruising on the set of Austin Powers!

 

It was, like above posters mention, a short 4 day cruise, stopping in Ensenada and Catalina. We're locals and have been to these places before, Catalina is a gem, Ensenada, we had a lovely day to ourselves on the pool deck.

 

There is an RCI (Monarch) ship that does the same run, only it stops in San Diego, a big plus for us. We can get two OV cabins on Monarch for less than the price of one OV cabin for the 4 of us on Carnival, so the choice is an easy one for us. I have to say, the food, service and entertainment are about the same on both lines. As of the last Monarch cruise we took, the pax looked to be about the same, too.

 

However, we don't care much for Las Vegas, either. It's all just too over the top and we much prefer a more understated elegance to glitz. While I never say never, it would take a really great rate for us to book with Carnival again, there's just too much competition out there.

 

It's a great thing that there is a variety for all of us to choose from, right? :)

[janetz]

Great replies..We are looking forward to our Legend cruise! :D

[zqvol]

The first time I stepped aboard the ELATION, I was aghast, dumfounded at the pure size of this beauty (this was many years ago when she was doing the Mexican Riviera). This ship was forever my favorite Carnival ship, until I discovered the Spirit class.

You'll love the layout of the ELATION. She was a beautiful ship, too. :)

Thanks, I'm sure I will and I guess if my only issue is that it is too big I really don't have any issue anyway.

[pppiglet]

After being on these boards, I also would think not to book a 3-4 day cruise, or at spring break, or during summer season. My personal preference, but it worked for both our cruises and we had a great time.

[Bramcruiser]

pppiglet:

 

Up until now I only did 4 day cruises. This year is my first ever full one week cruise. The verdict is that they can be fun and stress free with great service. I think the "short cruises are pure hell" stories are simply myths. Now I agree no one will get fantastic service on a 2 day cruise to nowhere (its hard to believe they will go all out just to go out and turn around again) but my 4 day cruises always had a formal night, great entertainment, and half decent food - even a midnight buffet in the old days. I am sure longer cruises offer more opportunities but I recommend a 3 or 4 day cruise to anyone.

 

Now as for time of year? Thats a different story. School breaks and holidays just dictates who is going to be taking a getaway. So make sure you do the timing right.

 

May be on the QM2 later this year but will still defend short Carnival cruises!

[pppiglet]

Bramcruiser....I realize it all depends on where and when you sail. Actually I would really research it well before I booked one. I think for the money, I wouldn't pay to fly somewhere just to do a three or 4day, but I have been watching the reviews on the Carnival Paradise 4 day since it's right out of Long beach for us. So far the reviews have all been great and I would probably do this cruise in the future.(not at spring break or holidays though!)

 

What other 4 days would you recommend? Have they all been with Carnival? I'd really appreciate your input on this.

Thanks

 

Debbie