silverbk Posted September 28, 2004 #1 Share Posted September 28, 2004 OK in message board fashion I will list the bad then the good. Bad: Australian social hosts, very annoying accents to listen to (sorry I'm from NYC) Very small pools, often crowded to the point you can't get in, Carnival please fix this. You can't swim, only dunk yourself No interent access in rooms at any price. You will have to go to the cafe, then you have a choice of either wireless (bring your own laptop) or using their computers. You cannot mix the two. The wireless does not extend out of the cafe (I had visions of reading email while in the sun on the Lido deck) Sorry Carnival, this sucks! Surprising for a ship launced in 2002. Internet is also expensive about 55 cents a minute depends on the plan you pick. Crew pays about 10 cents a minute, so shame on you Carnival for gouging on this part of the cruise also. The TV in your room will only receive three channels of commercial programming. No CNN or othe rnews type channel. NBC, ABC and CBS only, then your free movies which suck and of course PPV which is expensive. So bring your own DVD player if your thinking about relaxing with a movie in your room. The sports bar kinda sucks because you can't watch any sports unless they are on network TV. So use the internet if you are a sports junkie. Beds are uncomfortable, did the job but uncomfortable for 7 nights. Karaoke selection sucks, cheap brand, and scratched disks. If you want to sing karaoke, bring your own disk with you, which is what a lot of people did on my cruise, be prepared to get your own drinks because service sucks in the Firebird lounge, and in the Follies lounge also. Another annoying thing I found on this cruise is that because the crew bar has last call at 1:15AM the crew literally disappears at 1 AM. They all immediately close up karaoke, piano bar etc and run out no later than 1 they will not stay and converse with you an extra minute. They can't wait to get to the crew bar. Carnival you could stand to let the karaoke go on at least another half hour. Band on the Lido deck is very loud, this can be fixed by moving to one of the other pools. Guitar music by John: Carnival please release this guy from his contract. I've seen better acts in the subway in NYC. It's pathetic watching a 50 something washed up guy standing there playing guitar to backing tracks. Service on the Lido deck SUCKS Carnival fix this. The waitstaff, which are really only bus persons take forever to bus anything, they hate working up there. The lines are always long for food up there. One reason is the crappy cheap tongs. You have to wait for people to try and load food onto their plates with the cheapest tongs you ever seen. Noone on planet Earth should have to wait for pizza. In NYC that's why we get pizza so we don't have to wait. Carnival why can't you make enough pizza? You know everyone's gonna come up afetr the bars close, so have some pizzza ready DUH. OK now the good: Food great, service even better. Armand, Kamal and Elizabeth were excellent in the dining room. I actually shed tears when they sang the goodbye song on the last night (and I'm a firefighter from NYC). You get to know and love these people, as they do for you, they know what you like when you want it. Great job here Carnival. Cabin service was excellent. Miriam our steward was great. Carnival give her a raise, it's a hard job, and she does it with style. Crew in general was very friendly and forthcoming with info and insight about Carnival and cruising in general. Carnival seems to pick a certain look for it's employees and subcontractor employees, and it works well. I found it amazing that the people selling jewelry outside the gift shop actually stood there all day, without any chairs. I'm sure they took breaks, but I don't know when, because they were all there smiling everytime I walked by. Shows and comedy I would rate very good. Spoiled in NYC. but I guess it was pretty good for being at sea. Some of the stuff is kind of cheesy but it entertains you. Music Zone Band very good. Mike Lawless in Piano Bar very good except for one annoying quirk. He does not know Bennie and the Jets by Elton John, and openly refuses to learn it. I made it a point to request that song every time I saw him. He took the joke well. So If you see him, request it and tell him that Phil from NYC told you to do it. OK some more misc items you should know: Room service is good, free but unpredictable with how long it takes. The soft drink fun pass is only good if you drink more than 5 or six sodas a day. It has the side effect of making you invisible to the service staff looking to serve drinks. Carnival you could stand to lower your soft drink prices a bit, we know what it costs, come on. If you bring FRS radios with you to stay in touch with your kids. Highly recommended, beware many other people had the same idea like 100 on my cruise. So get the good ones and read the book and learn how to set the privacy codes. Otherwise you will hear other people all day long. Do not book a room on deck 8, unless it's all the way forward or aft. Carts, dropped plates and other objects on the Lido deck above me either kept me up or actually woke me. According to Miriam, we're not the first passengers to complain. Do not book an inside cabin unless you are really cheap, are getting the cruise for free, or you like living in a dungeon. I had a balcony which was great, but when we visited the inside cabins it felt like a time warp down there. Whatever you do don't threaten to stab the cruise director in the eye with an icepick no matter how annoying they are. Security really doesn't like that. Actually Brett Alans did a pretty good job, but he should lose: some weight, the aussies, and please lighten up on the Diamonds International hard sell. Also the hairy chest contest and survivor are lame try something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hstrybuf Posted September 28, 2004 #2 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Oh my! Glad you found something good to say about your cruise. We sailed the Legend in April and couldn't find anything BAD to say about the whole experience (except the prime rib and Bret Alans). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herb Posted September 28, 2004 #3 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Strange, but only part of your review shows up on the message board. The rest of the review is shown only when I looked up your 3 previous posts. I'm glad you did enjoy some things on the Legend. Edited to say, ok, now I get it...you posted twice!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coevan Posted September 28, 2004 #4 Share Posted September 28, 2004 You truely showed your colors. The word sucks must be a mainstay in the NY vocabulary. Quite astonishing how you New Yorker's reputation preceeds you. Put away your computer, turn off the TV, watch a movie on the big screen when you get home, and be on vacation. Next time you are out west, visit Telluride, Co. They have a button made just for you, RELAX, IT'S TELLURIDE. RELAX, YOU ARE ON A CRUISE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurab23 Posted September 28, 2004 #5 Share Posted September 28, 2004 You do sound like you are from NYC.I was on the Legend cruise in May and loved it. I'm from upstate NY which is a world away from NYC. I could almost always tell the people from the NYC area because they were the loudest complainers. Not all of them,we met alot of nice people from the area.(Nancy and Louise you guys were the best) but most NYC's always seemed to be in a hurry and demanding everything.Maybe thats why when we told people we were from NY we always made sure to explain we were from upstate and not the city! I found the internet cafe to be very handy to keep in touch with people back home and had no time to worry about the movies. I can watch movies all winter long while the snow piles up. I just wanted to be on the deck in the sun.I found room service very quick. As far as long lines at the buffet,they moved very quickly.The service on lido deck was very good.I found the beds to be very comfortable. We were on deck 8 and heard very little noise. Well enough for now,I have to get to work to pay for my next cruise on the Legend next May. Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myangel Posted September 28, 2004 #6 Share Posted September 28, 2004 sounds to me like you are very hard to please. Next time you are on a cruise, RELAX!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1stimekruiser Posted September 28, 2004 #7 Share Posted September 28, 2004 I have to say I agree with the original poster. I am not a hard to please person, but I felt the level of service in some areas were pretty lacking. The lido deck is pretty bad when it's busy. I couldn't find clean silverware anywhere on the deck when it was busy. Long buffett lines, then it takes forever to find a place to sit, especially outside. I think some of that has to do with it being a bigger ship. The Sensation was totally different, never had a crowd problem or service problem on that ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosnobunny Posted September 28, 2004 #8 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Interesting read. I sailed on the Legend last March and one thing about your review jumped out at me. The beds. Although this wasn't my favourite cruise, I have to say the beds were marvelous! And I have an extremely bad back. What were you sleeping on? A chair on the balcony??? :confused: Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJS2K3 Posted September 28, 2004 #9 Share Posted September 28, 2004 What's with all the NYC stereotyping? I'm pretty sure not everyone in Colorado walks around with their heads in the clouds singing 'Rocky Mountain High' :rolleyes: It's his vacation! Do you think that just MAYBE what is important to me or you may not be important to someone else and vice versa? Does anyone actually think that because THEY had a particular experience everyone else should have had the same experience? The beds are a great example. Not only does everyone have a different opinion on what makes a good bed, don't you think that with all those beds there may be some difference between them? From what I read the OP posted PLENTY of positives to go along with the negatives. It was his cruise and he gave an honest report from his perspective. Isn't that what this board is here for? Telling him to 'relax' and that he's 'very hard to please' doesn't sound very constructive to me. Anyway, thanks for the review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hstrybuf Posted September 28, 2004 #10 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Actually, I think he's nitpicking and had expectations of being treated like a king. As for the stereotyping, just like everyone thinks we here in Kansas are a bunch of hicks driving pickups and wearing overalls, the reputation of those from NYC preceeds them. I know that you can't put everyone in the same mold. I've met a lot of nice people from the NY/NJ area, but this review fits the stereotype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJS2K3 Posted September 28, 2004 #11 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Actually, I think he's nitpicking and had expectations of being treated like a king. Since the only other person who posted here that was on this particular cruise agreed with OP about the service, I tend to believe the folks who were actually there, not make assumptions based on my expectations or experiences. It seems to me that too often, when someone posts complaints about a CCL cruise, their concerns are written off as 'nit-picking' or otherwise diminished. Of course if it is a subject THEY feel is important, like dining attire, they fully expect THEIR expectations and experiences to be taken seriously. I read reviews hoping to get the good and the bad. We're not going to hear much of the bad if posters are written off and maligned for voicing them. Have a good day :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serene56 Posted September 28, 2004 #12 Share Posted September 28, 2004 As for the stereotyping, just like everyone thinks we here in Kansas are a bunch of hicks driving pickups and wearing overalls Hstry: I always pictured people in Kansas hangingout in the local bars with the Lolly pop kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolcruise02 Posted September 28, 2004 #13 Share Posted September 28, 2004 We are going on the Legend in March and most of OP bad experiences won't effect me. (internet,TV,karaoke) But, could you explain the "small pool". Isn't one large? Were there plenty of deck chairs around the pool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herb Posted September 28, 2004 #14 Share Posted September 28, 2004 I guess the OP thought the pools on the ship would be the same size, as say, the pools at a resort would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serene56 Posted September 28, 2004 #15 Share Posted September 28, 2004 But, could you explain the "small pool". Isn't one large? Were there plenty of deck chairs around the pool? What surprised most first time cruisers is the size of the pool. A ship is only so big and they have to utilize exisiting space. My SIL thought they would be olympic pools. (not even close to being that size) They are not big at all. Same thing with the mall type stores-- she thought there will be a mall onabord..lol Yes, there are plenty of chairs around the pool but you beetter get up early--like 6am so you can save it to use for 2pm. There are other chairs around too -just not next to the pool area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosnobunny Posted September 28, 2004 #16 Share Posted September 28, 2004 The main pool is pretty much the same size as those on other ships. Part of the reason they can't make them bigger is due to the instability that much water would cause. The weight shift associated with that much water would be tremendous. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJS2K3 Posted September 29, 2004 #17 Share Posted September 29, 2004 The main pool is pretty much the same size as those on other ships. Part of the reason they can't make them bigger is due to the instability that much water would cause. The weight shift associated with that much water would be tremendous. Beth Really? That's interesting - learn something new every day :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hstrybuf Posted September 29, 2004 #18 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Hstry: I always pictured people in Kansas hangingout in the local bars with the Lolly pop kids. Serene, that is too funny! We can't hang out with them or the Munchkins too long though. The voices start grating on your nerves! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judyf Posted September 29, 2004 #19 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Thanks for posting your review I appreciate your honest opinions. I sail on her out of Ft. Lauderdale in March! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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