Carnival bashing??? Why???

[BigDoug]

 

These are some of my least-favorite things about Carnival:

 

1. Refusing to confirm dinner seatings at booking. This is much like the Southwest Air practice of not reserving seats on flights. Other cruise lines will tell you prior to booking if your preferred seating is already full, so that you can make a decision about whether to still book or not. Dinner time matters a lot to some folks, less to others. But it is ironic that Carnival is simultaneously upgrading the menus with their new chef, yet claiming it doesn't matter whether or not you get to eat in the dining room. I would much prefer knowing if my preferred seating is available.

 

2. The frequent, loud announcements, much like the KMart blue light specials. I think some of these may have been in the hall, not all directly into the room, but we had a speaker right outside our door, so we heard it all.

 

3. The color game ("team spirit"), which even inpinges into the dining room experience.

 

4. Inconsistent, unprofessional customer service. Carnival is notoriously reputed for giving different answers every time one calls, so that you can't trust anything they say. In preparing for my first cruise on Carnival, I found the folks on this board were right much more often than the Carnival folks. Some of the customer service reps I talked with were also RUDE.

 

5. Lack of diversity in entertainment, with an emphasis towards the less refined (hairy chest contest, adult comedy), including a selection of daily movies that leans towards action adventures rather than serious films. Other lines offer things like lectures. (Carnival does do a nice high tea on sea days, and they are starting to offer some ecotourism trips as excursions, so it is by no means a cultural wasteland--but the ratio still favors bubba-appeal.)

 

So those are a few of the reasons why I don't consider Carnival as "nice" as other lines. But they have a (relatively) huge fleet, and a lot of itineraries that appeal to me and I can't get elsewhere (including Grand Turk, and a port less than two hours from my door), so I am sure I will cruise Carnival occasionally in the future, and just work around those things I don't like as well.

Let's break this down by number.

1). You are confusing Carnival with Princess. Depending on the number of dining rooms on the ship, Carnival offers 2 or 4 dining times. Early or late traditional seating only. Carnival will not guarantee early or late seating but you will eat in the dining room.

 

2). On my last Carnival cruise, the announcements were made twice a day. This was about the same as on Princess.

 

3). I just ignored the color game.

 

4). If you read the other forums, ALL cruise lines are suffering the same lack of customer service from the front office, including the luxury lines. Read the Oceania forum thread about bumping.:eek:

 

5). The entertainment on Carnival seems to well received by most if you read the reviews, especially from cruisers of other lines.

 

To the OP: Most of those that ask that type of question are really jealous that you are going on a cruise. They are trying to make you feel bad for leaving them at home. I just smile and tell them: To each their own. I like Carnival. You should try them sometime.:D

[sgriff17]

Let's break this down by number.

1). You are confusing Carnival with Princess. Depending on the number of dining rooms on the ship, Carnival offers 2 or 4 dining times. Early or late traditional seating only. Carnival will not guarantee early or late seating but you will eat in the dining room.

 

2). On my last Carnival cruise, the announcements were made twice a day. This was about the same as on Princess.

 

3). I just ignored the color game.

 

4). If you read the other forums, ALL cruise lines are suffering the same lack of customer service from the front office, including the luxury lines. Read the Oceania forum thread about bumping.:eek:

 

5). The entertainment on Carnival seems to well received by most if you read the reviews, especially from cruisers of other lines.

 

To the OP: Most of those that ask that type of question are really jealous that you are going on a cruise. They are trying to make you feel bad for leaving them at home. I just smile and tell them: To each their own. I like Carnival. You should try them sometime.:D

 

I HATE THE COLOR GAME! It's so freaking stupid. I like CCL better than Princess, but come on... The only people that pay attention to that are under 12 I think.

[mac4cruise]

Since I have only been on 1 cruise I can't compare Carnival to any other cruise line but what I do know is that we had great time on the Legend last Mar that when we returned home we had to booked another cruise for next year :) :)