For those who say they'll never sail Carnival again:

[Bruce&Pam]

As you can see we cruise often, have tried NCL once and continue to sail Carnival. You can say that we're firmly Carnival cruisers. We sailed the Triumph Western in May and things didn't go as smoothly as usual. If we had never sailed Carnival before we might well say that we would never sail Carnival again. But we know better. We know this was the exception instead of the rule.

 

It all started on boarding. We were taking our 22 and 19 yo kids with us, this time. They didn't have a S&S card for our daughter. We had to deal with getting her on the ship without one and getting it for her after boarding.

 

Then Pam's S&S wouldn't unlock the cabin door. Fortunately mine did. She eventually had to have a 3rd card made before she had one that would work.

 

Then Pam's luggage was late. We were all laughing about it because Pam is the one who is paranoid about lost luggage and her suitcase was the only one that was missing. The kids went on a scavenger hunt and eventually found it near the elevators with the pieces that hadn't been delivered, yet.

 

Then the kids beds needed to be separated. We had a lot of trouble finding our cabin steward to get it done. After several calls on the phone, we finally got the beds separated late in the evening.

 

Then our shampoo dispenser didn't work. We had to beat on it to get anything out of it. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had packed our own shampoo, but since we're regulars we knew we wouldn't have to worry about that. We reported it each day, but it took them 3 days to get it fixed.

 

Then we got short sheeted. They must have been out of queen size sheets because our bed was made with 2 twin sheets turned sideways. That was a little weird. During the night when I would move around in the bed my feet would eventually slide under the lower sheet so that I would wake up trapped between the upper sheet and the lower sheet. I asked them to use actual queen size sheets the next time, but I only got them the next day and got short sheeted again the day after. Just annoying.

 

Then only our daughter got an invitation to the past guest party, so Pam called the purser's desk to have one made for us. Ours said the party was going to be on Wednesday. We quit what we were doing and got dressed for the party only to find out that the doors were locked. On further study we notice that our daughter's invitation was for Thursday. Apparently they had put the wrong date on several invitations and a lot of folks were trying to get to a past guest party that was going to be tomorrow.

 

Then thought we had a comfortable dining table near the middle of the dining room. Apparently our waitstaff had a regular rotation and we just happened to be the last table in their rotation. So, whether we were the first in the dining room or not, we were always the last table served. We were always among the last family in the dining room every single night. A little annoying when you're on time and still waiting 20 minutes between courses.

 

The point of this story is that you can't grade Carnival (or probably NCL for that matter) based on one cruise. We know this stuff almost never happens and here, we had all this on the same cruise. In spite of this experience, we still had a great cruise and look forward to our Conquest cruise in two weeks and our Valor cruise in November.

 

---Bruce

[S.S.Oceanlover]

This all sounds so familiar. lol

 

We cruised the Liberty on June 17th. When we got to the check in station they couldn't find my wifes card. This was her 1st cruise as Platinum. The other 3 cards were found no problem.

 

We had to get her ticket stamped and explain the story to every person we encountered on the way onto the ship.

 

We got on the ship and 1 piece of luggage didn't come. It was my sons girlfriends and everything she had was in this 1 suitcase. It finally turned up a couple hours later.

 

We also got to the dining room within 5 minutes of opening every day and were last ones out. We hardly ever saw our asst waiter. Our waiter took our orders, poured our water, gave us the rolls. The only time the ast waiter did anything was after dinner he would bring coffee.

 

We still had a great time.:)

 

Bill

[Cotton]

:D Really, I don't recall too many threads on here the past few years that said that!

 

Hey, 'stuff' happens on every cruise. If I think back really hard, I could probably come up with a few incidents....but I have the attitude that if something happens, get over it. I won't let small things ruin my cruise, either. Life's too short, and so are cruises.:D

[Sandi149]

:D Really, I don't recall too many threads on here the past few years that said that!

 

Hey, 'stuff' happens on every cruise. If I think back really hard, I could probably come up with a few incidents....but I have the attitude that if something happens, get over it. I won't let small things ruin my cruise, either. Life's too short, and so are cruises.:D

 

I'm with you on that Cotton. :D Something has to be really terrible for me to say "never again". Some people just go on vacations/cruises to find things wrong and when you look hard enough you might just find something wrong. The only thing I look for is to HAVE FUN!! :D which I always do because of my attitude. I love vacations and like you said they are way too short. Nothing is perfect because we don't live in a perfect world....although my Miracle cruise last month came pretty close to being perfect.

[Mikel1733]

We've had things like this happen on our cruises and at the time were unhappy not so much when confronted with a problem, but instead unhappy when requests to rectify the problem were ignored. In retrospect nothing ever happened that was really that important and we have nothing but good happy memories of our cruises. I agree with Cotton that you just need to have the right attitude when the glitches happen.

[zaandam_2]

i won't say never again, but it is highly unlikely i'd sail with carnival again.

[kgk]

I have never been on a vacation -- land based or cruise -- that didn't have a few things wrong. The difference - on land, you just don't go back to that restaurant/hotel/amusement park etc -- if the food is bad, you don't blame the hotel (assuming you aren't eating in the hotel's restaurant). Onboard, all of your "experiences" get lumped together. The whole ship is bad because (insert venue here) was bad. Do we think our entire trip to Disney is bad because Space Mountain is closed? Or the wait for dinner is too long? I think it's better to count what's right, rather than the few things that are wrong. Glad to hear the OP had a good trip.

[Thirsty Cruiser]

i won't say never again, but it is highly unlikely i'd sail with carnival again.

 

Sounds like you must have had a lousy time. I personally love to see these kind of posts, as it keeps the ships from getting too crowded, and hopefully keeps the prices low. We wouldn't want Carnival getting a swelled head like Disney and charging triple what they do now. :)

[cruzy-sue]

i won't say never again, but it is highly unlikely i'd sail with carnival again.

 

 

Just curious - then why are you reading and posting on the carnival threads?

[Cotton]

:D I've kinda wondered about that, myself.

[marthalt]

Me too :confused:

[Sandi149]

And make that another one. :confused: I see plenty of people on the Carnival boards who don't like Carnival at all and yet they post.

[MJ25]

I agree with zaandam_2. And for those of you wondering why I am here - it is because I find it very intertaining to hear people like the original poster share all of thier bad experiences and still say they are loyal Carnival people. I want to study this and learn from it so that I can give terrible service to my customers and yet still have their loyalty and repeat business. LOL

No seriously, I am hear because even though I did not like the Carnival cruise line I enjoyed my cruise and enjoy reading the experiences of others who enjoy cruising also. There will be times that I will post something on this board that is not Carnival friendly, but it is not intended to pursuade others to dislike Carnival. It is only me sharing my experience and opinion. Hope everyone can accept it and take it as that.

Fins Up! :cool:

[dc-snoopy]

I for one am hesitant to cruise on Carnival again after some of our bad experiences. However, if I am with a group going on Carnival, as I was this time, I would go again, but I wouldn't select Carnival on my own.

 

That said, the Carnival CC board has been very helpful changing my mind from "never again!" to "only under certain circumstances". The information about the other ships in the line being better than the Destiny and some of the differences between the ships has helped. I will continue to read/post in the Carnival boards because I am a recent Carnival customer and because I may learn something that may influence my opinion. Anything that helps me make a better vacation decision in the future is not all bad.

[Sandi149]

I agree with zaandam_2. And for those of you wondering why I am here - it is because I find it very intertaining to hear people like the original poster share all of thier bad experiences and still say they are loyal Carnival people. I want to study this and learn from it so that I can give terrible service to my customers and yet still have their loyalty and repeat business. LOL

 

No seriously, I am hear because even though I did not like the Carnival cruise line I enjoyed my cruise and enjoy reading the experiences of others who enjoy cruising also. There will be times that I will post something on this board that is not Carnival friendly, but it is not intended to pursuade others to dislike Carnival. It is only me sharing my experience and opinion. Hope everyone can accept it and take it as that.

 

Fins Up! :cool:

 

From your sig I see that you sailed one Carnival ship.....how do you know that you won't like another ship? I'm not loyal to any line because I'm basically a cruise newbie. I have only been on 3 cruises....two of them were only 2 night cruises to nowhere and the last one was an 8 day aboard the Miracle which was fantastic. I understand things can happen on any cruise line or any hotel on a land vacation. Just because you had a bad experience on one ship, doesn't mean you will encounter the same bad experience on another. This, of course, is just my opinion, but I wonder how some people can write off a whole cruise line after one cruise that wasn't so good. Bad experiences can happen on ANY line. Even though I am a newbie to cruising, I am not a newbie to reading these boards. I don't only read on the Carnival boards, I read on all the mass market lines boards and I have read plenty of bad things about other ships also.

 

Just my two cents. :D

[NoPiratesPlease]

And make that another one. :confused: I see plenty of people on the Carnival boards who don't like Carnival at all and yet they post.

 

It's called COMMUNICATION!

 

Quite frankly, had I had the OP's experience, I would be livid. There is NOTHING worse than waiting forever in a restaurant, especially if you are there with kids and even worse with small ones at that. First in, last out? Want a tip? Learn how to wait tables or find a new profession!

[janetz]

i won't say never again, but it is highly unlikely i'd sail with carnival again.

 

 

Ditto..We all have different tastes. With that said, I read all the boards and find this board very friendly. I did love my bed on the Legend! So far the best bed at sea! :D

[firefly333]

lol you mean Im supposed to get complain about those things. I think all of them have already happened to me. Caribbean Princess lost my luggage with all my clothes. They finally found it but way way after dinner, so I had to eat in shorts.

 

We gave up on the Ecstasy separating our beds and just slept that way, but have tried to make sure since then we ask for them.

 

Cards that didnt work. etc. All part of cruising.

 

Even had what I consider a bad/slow cabin steward on Princess Grand. We never got the capers before we went to bed to read he was so slow. He was kinda new and I doubt he is going to make it. He even came into our cabin the last morning with a "do not disturb" sign on the door and when asked about it said he needed the extra time to get ready for the next cruisers, didnt even say he had not seen the sign. I felt like asking him who he thought the sign meant?

 

But you just get over it and enjoy the cruise, doesnt do anyone any good to get upset about little things.

[firefly333]

Ditto..We all have different tastes. With that said, I read all the boards and find this board very friendly. I did love my bed on the Legend! So far the best bed at sea! :D

 

Yep, Carnival wins for the most comfortable beds and the best Pizza, and my sister loves the ruebans (sp) those deli sandwiches.

[Sandi149]

It's called COMMUNICATION!

 

Quite frankly, had I had the OP's experience, I would be livid. There is NOTHING worse than waiting forever in a restaurant, especially if you are there with kids and even worse with small ones at that. First in, last out? Want a tip? Learn how to wait tables or find a new profession!

 

And this is what the OP said in the end.

 

In spite of this experience, we still had a great cruise and look forward to our Conquest cruise in two weeks and our Valor cruise in November.

 

So obviously they liked Carnival. Hey things happen on EVERY line and if you think they don't, then you are just fooling yourself.:rolleyes:

[Kurbanfan]

We have been on 10 Carnival cruises and we have had a different experience on each one. They can't all be the same. Different management to different crew members. Sure they serve the same food. But each has different chefs.....

We have had bad experiences on 2 of Carnival ships. Bad enough where we won't sail those particular ships again. If we would have said we will never sail Carnival again after those bad experiences we would have never had the chance of making great memories on the other 8 great ships......

[Cotton]

......... even though I did not like the Carnival cruise line I enjoyed my cruise.

 

I think this is the part I'm not understanding....:confused:

[shortstop95]

Lots of cruises here and we've seen it all.. good things & bad things.... we've gone through hurricanes.. tropical depressions... ship's listing.... illness aboard.. no luggage all week (courtesy of southwest).. good service.. poor service... there's just so much that can happen on a week's cruise... but through it all.. we never get down to griping and complaining about a few isolated incidents... do you people not have fun the other 100+ hours your aboard? If not, maybe it's cruising you don't like and not necessarily Carnival.

[Sandi149]

Lots of cruises here and we've seen it all.. good things & bad things.... we've gone through hurricanes.. tropical depressions... ship's listing.... illness aboard.. no luggage all week (courtesy of southwest).. good service.. poor service... there's just so much that can happen on a week's cruise... but through it all.. we never get down to griping and complaining about a few isolated incidents... do you people not have fun the other 100+ hours your aboard? If not, maybe it's cruising you don't like and not necessarily Carnival.

 

You have the right attitude. A cruise ship is basically like a hotel....the only difference is that it's at sea. If people go to a Hyatt or Marriott or Holiday Inn in one particular place and they have a really bad experience, will they write off the whole hotel chain? Maybe some people will, but I know I wouldn't. Just because I had a bad experience at one hotel/ship, doesn't mean the others in the fleet/chain will be bad. Like I said in my previous post.....things happen at times. Yes I know we spend lots of money on vacation. Unfortunately sometimes things don't always go perfectly and that's because we don't live in a perfect world. Although when I'm on vacation, I have the attitude that the glass is always half full. I don't look for problems and usually don't find them. :D If a person is going to waste their vacation looking for problems, then they will find them and you know what.....they should just stay home. Carnival is by no means a 5 star line but on my 2 cruises with them I had a fabulous time. The service was excellent, the food was excellent, the cabin and the ships were extremely clean. I had a load of fun....I was with my wonderful husband and I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. As a matter of fact, the cruise aboard the Miracle last month was so close to perfect and the best vacation I ever had and I have been to many places on land vacations. :D Just go in with a positive attitude and you WILL have a great time. :D:D

[zaandam_2]

Just curious - then why are you reading and posting on the carnival threads?

 

:D I've kinda wondered about that, myself.

 

Me too :confused:

 

because this board can be very entertaining sometimes.

 

if the food would've been better, the waiters stopped the 'entertainment' and john heald had rolled overboard it would've been a very good cruise. after 28 nights, those issues got very old.