Balcony

Suite

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Carnival Cruise Line

Port Canaveral (Orlando)

U.S.A.

Caribbean - All

Caribbean - Eastern

Dominican Republic

Caribbean - Western

Mexico - All

Bahamas

USVI

Caribbean - Southern

Netherlands

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Carnival Dream

Carnival Glory

Carnival Pride

Carnival Liberty

Carnival Conquest

Carnival Valor

Carnival Magic

Carnival Splendor

Carnival Legend

Carnival Sunshine

Carnival Freedom

Carnival Miracle

Carnival Breeze

Carnival Elation

Carnival Spirit

Carnival Ecstasy

Carnival Vista

Carnival Paradise

Carnival Sensation

Carnival Horizon

Carnival Sunrise

Carnival Mardi Gras

Carnival Panorama

Carnival Venezia

Carnival Celebration

Carnival Radiance

Carnival Luminosa

Carnival Jubilee

April 1st Western Caribbean

Monaco (Monte Carlo)

We were so looking forward to this cruise because it was traveling to a couple of islands that we had never been to. First,  Our luggage was late getting to our room so my husband could not change to go to dinner that night and speaking of dinner, very chaotic way of trying to organize people getting to their tables, very confusing how to use the app, and once they said our table was ready, it was still another 25 minutes before we were seated, our waiter was not attentive at all, I had to ask repeatedly for things that I had ordered and did not get . The rest of the week we had a different waiter who was great. That was one of the highlights if you could call it that of the trip. Our cabin was always cold when we entered and I tried to adjust the thermostat but it didn't work, I ended up having to call guest services after two days to finally get it regulated . Dinner on the fifth night, this was a disaster because when I checked in for dinner, they told me it would be an hour and a half to two hour wait, so ridiculous, which meant that we couldn't attend any of the shows that they had scheduled!  Canceled my reservations and ended up going to the marketplace, but the food was terrible there as well because nothing was hot, even in the morning when we went for breakfast the food was always cold. The center stage was very difficult sometimes to find a seat to watch a show, and with the overhang from the above deck, you couldn't see all that was going on on stage , the only time we got to see a decent show  was when we were in the Mardi Gras theater. The public bathrooms were very confusing to learn how to use, some people just didn't quite understand what to do and it was embarrassing, because sometimes you would walk in on someone because they didn't lock the door!  I know the doorways and bathrooms were supposed to be touched free, I'm assuming for health reasons, but sometimes the walkways between the pool area, and the elevators, etc. wouldn't even open as you approach them. I would definitely not go on a carnival cruise again, just very disappointing .

Never sail on Carnival again!!

We went on this cruise with my family,  12 of us. It was a C- at best

1. The dining room looks like a low class dining hall. The service  was fair the food was ok not great

2. Breakfast  in the Dining room,  need a reservation,  can't just walk in. A reservation starts with a 10 minute wait. No one was in the dining room.  No reason  for a wait.

3. Ship was crowded,  had to get to a show minimum  30 minutes  early to get a seat.

4. Room was tiny, the smallest I've been in on 10 cruises.

5. They push the paid restaurants.  They want you to pay to get better service and fancier dining rooms

6. Internet sucked, paid for premium  internet  , it was down for a number  of days. Everyone  was complaining about  ot. Carnival  does not allow  Wi-Fi calling  thru their internet System.  That putthe icing  on the cake for me.

Choose Royal Caribbean,  wifi works great. Food is awesome  , service  is awesome.  Same money  as Carnival.  No more Carnival  for me !!!

Don't Do It ! Carnival Mardi gras 

This was to be our very first cruise-so at the tender age of 67, my wife and I booked an Excel aft corner suite on the Mardi Gras. We were on deck 15-one deck below the common lounging/pool areas at the rear of the ship. While the suite was magnificent, and the wrap around balcony with our own private hot tub was beautiful, being underneath that noise machine was, in retrospect, a mistake. We won't be on deck 15 in the future.

That being said, the ship was amazing. The restaurants and casino were terrific (I won some nice $$)-the food was almost perfect (I am not easily pleased) and the service was great. There was always something to do, and we never even made it up to the toys on the roof! Maybe next time. Loft 19- the private adults only getaway was serene and I couldn't get enough of it. The spa was great and the steam room was a cleansing experience. I would, with some amendments, highly recommend it.

The ports of call were extremely tourist trappy-I've invented a new word, and maybe I should copyright it. But we were nonplussed at the knick knack shopping and the off-resort travel was definitely third world, and not very interesting. In fact, I may just stay on the ship for the entire cruise next time. Why not? It's safer, cleaner, and Carnival has spent oodles of money to make it as perfect as possible.

I am definitely doing this again, now that I've got some time on ship behind me.

Ports of Call aren't all that....

This was my second   Carnival cruise.Boarded at Port Canaveral easy drive from Orlando so consider hiring a car if you have a few people in your group.

Loved the overall look of the ship  the Mardi Gras but not as easy to get familiarized and find your way around. Many dining options included and loved the layout of buffet area in smaller rooms. Dining room experience less than I am used to different servers every day  less connection and missed the tablecloths which adds to the decor of the room 

 Not enough seating for main entertainment shows which were mostly musicals Lots of game shows if you like that kind of thing, not my interest but fun deck parties when not rained out. Would  have been better if there was a large place on the ship to move these to instead of just missing out due to weather

Overall had a good time but I personally prefer the Royal Caribbean for experience dining  and entertainment quality and variety. Will be going back  to Royal next time.

Great look of the ship in the Mardi Gras theme  great variety  of dining options included

I last sailed about 12 years ago on Carnival and loved it.  I was shocked at how much Carnival has slipped.  The cruise was totally boring - I will not sail with Carnival again.

There were weird cost-cutting actions.  There was no aspartame (equal) or flavored coffee creamers.  The coffee cups were small and the coffee not very good.  No juice except in the morning.  Water, ice tea and lemonade were the only drink choices, again in tiny cups. Bacon appeared only every other day. Even the salad dressing was watered down. The ice cream wasn't very sweet and there were no sprinkles or other toppings offered. About the only things in abundance were people trying to sell drinks and photographers.

I was shocked at how small the buffet was and that it was often closed when I wanted to eat dinner.  Some of the specialty restaurants were okay, but without a buffet, we had to carry our food around to different places to get any variety. Many of the speciality dining places were only open for lunch, not dinner.  The main dining menu was limited and the same every day.  If you wanted ethnic food of any type, there might have been one Indian or Mexican entree on the main menu.  I'm a vegetarian, and the choices were abysmal.   The wait to be served in the main dining room was looooong. 

It seemed like there were more people than seats everywhere. The pool was overcrowded.

The cruise was boring.  There was only one lesson offered all week (disco dancing) and it took place during shore excursion time.  One craft activity (make a mask) was poorly managed.  There were endless trivia contests - that's about it.  The shows were not professionally produced and were terrible.  It's like they asked the cabin cleaners: "Who wants to be in the show?"  There was a lot of hand-waving and costume changing, but little production and horrible dancing.  There was a magician who featured in almost every show and he was terrible.  Not enough seating.

They lied about bingo prizes which we discovered only after we bought expensive cards.  The $1,000 prize turned out to be if you picked the right envelope.  The $5,000 prize was only for a bingo within so many numbers.  Since the cards were entered in the computer and the same computer generated the balls, it isn't surprizing that no one won that prize.

Even the comedians were terrible.  There was one that was almost good, but he gave the same half - hour show over and over. They wouldn't even let anyone into the lounge to sit but made us stand in line until shortly before the show.

The roller coaster, the main attraction, cost almost $20 to ride and it only ran on the first and last day. The only pickleball available was during two 'tournaments' where partners played to 5 points. I hit the ball exactly once.  The rest of the time, the court was used for basketball.

So, boring and not worth the money.  I felt like a cash cow.

All Done With Carnival Cruising

Please if you are an international couple going on one of the newer ships I recommend you don’t. I leave a detail review on the BBB but I had nothing but racist interaction from the workers and plenty from the guests. For example me and my girl was dancing and some random lady pulled her off of me and said no. Like what is the actual heck? Or when you sit down at the casino and the only black guy there and he ID your chips but nobody else and says, I quote . “It’s not like I don’t trust you, but you know” there was so many . Ship is beautiful but that was bull. Carnival how about make it know to your mostly caucasian visitors to stop judging and asking me am I some type of basketball player every 15 minutes. I even went to guest service just to discuss my issues. Just waste of time. But carnival will not do anything because 90 of their guest is caucasian, maybe a protest will make them care.

Interracial couples watch out

I was overall disappointed in this cruise ship, seemed they made it bigger to hold more passengers, but less about making the actual cruise experience more enjoyable for the cruiser...the ship is compartmentalized into small sections, no grand center no high ceilings, small theater, small or low ceilings in dining rooms, events had small venues had to wait in long lines if planning to attend...entire cruise felt disorganized.  Food was mediocre, seems this ship is more about the "extra" fee dining experiences, drink machines were often out of service.  Not the wonderful trip and memory I was hoping for.  I would not recommend this ship--entry to ship was easy, in that they got you on board quickly, but information as to what to do once on the ship was just lots of people sitting around in dismay.  Events all seemed haphazard and disorganized ...music at events was played ridiculously loud, one guest even asked the staff to turn down and he got told NO this was an event and if he didn't like it too bad...it was so loud you couldn't even be in the venue...even if you wanted to participate. SAD

Disappointed--bigger doesn't always mean better

January 13 Carnival Mardi Gras  Spa Suite

I usually do not have much bad to write about when it comes to our cruises over the years because I believe you can find problems with any vacation experience if you want to. My Wife and I have been Cruising Since 1987 with our original cruise on NCL Southward.  We now have 28 cruises under our belts and for the most part I can say we have had some wonderful experiences.  Of the 28 Cruises, nine have been on Carnival with this review being written on the Carnival Mardi Gras. 

The Good:

The booking of the cruise was simple as usual and the ship was clean and my room is comfortable, that is where my review changes.

Here is what has changed in the years we have been cruising and why I will never cruise again with Carnival.

When you book a Suite you are directed to a nice room where Suite guests / Platinum members and Diamond members have access to early check in.   Always in the past there was a nice water station to get a drink of water.  They do not do that anymore, must cost too much and you get a drinking fountain in an awkward area that has warm water.  

When you get on the Ship, your room usually is ready around 1:00 which it was, but for approximately 25% of the Ships guests, we did not have keys waiting at our room.  We were given no information other than "this has never happened" We were not given any instructions other than stay in your room and we will bring the keys when they are available.  The problem with this is you can't do anything because you don't have a key, you can't leave your room because you have to find someone to let you in.  We had a spa suite which the elevator would not work because we did not have our key.  One of us would leave the room to eat and then the other would leave to eat.  Guest relations had a VERY long line so I just went to bed and had all hopes that in the morning we would have keys brought to us...... Nope!   I had to go get my keys that morning at Guest Services, they had no intention to bring it to me.

The Ship is way over crowded and very noisy.  The promise to get a chair to sit on is a joke.

The Spa is not managed well, the aroma steam room never had eucalyptus in it even after I told the spa manager twice.  You pay more to have a spa experience room and this was not cool along with the fact that I could not even use the spa the first day and night of our cruise because I did not have my key.

The Room Stewards keep our room clean but do not expect anything to be done to your cabin after the morning cleaning.  We did not have but one toilet paper roll and when I asked for more at the end of our cruise it was never done, as I type this we may be out tomorrow but no one has taken care of this. 

We used the Steak House for dinner one night and had the Surf and Turf for $50 per person.  I have paid that in the years past and felt that we got a very nice dinner for the price.  This time the steak would fit in the pam of my hand, it was very tiny and NOT worth that kind of price.  I have had a better meal at local chain steak houses.  It was very apparent that Carnival is cutting service and being cheap.

My over all impression is that service has gone way down, ships are larger and WAY too crowded, food is disappointing and service is non existent anymore.  

I believe that my Wife and I will look at Resort Destinations that have a more intimate feel and service.  

Carnival is a machine to take money and provide you with a mass produced experience.    There are too many things wrong with the vacation experience to write about on this ship.  Bigger is NOT better.  

BTW, no one has said one thing to us about the first day experience, no note, no email saying we apologize, business as usual.

Carnival has gone down hill

I was nervous about sailing on a ship with this many people. Some of the areas are definitely too small for this many guests. Specifically center stage,  the Mardi Gras theater, Punchliner comedy club and the limelight lounge are all too small for this many guests. They try to alleviate this by having multiple showings of the same shows. Unfortunately the times don't always work out with how long dinner takes in the main dining room.  On the plus side,  the variety of food options and the layout of the buffets actually resulted in smaller lines at most eateries than I have experienced on smaller ships. It can be both a good and bad thing that the venues are separated.  It does help with crowds but it's a challenge if one person wants a salad (deck 16) and one wants pizza or sandwiches (deck 8). I thought the crew was very good as I expect from Carnival. The shows were terrific and the comedy shows were very funny. The weather was terrible and seas were very rocky. No big deal for me but there were a lot of people with bored kids since the pools and water slides were off limits the first 2 days due to the rain and wind. We had decent weather for the ports. Rocky seas again for the trip home. Overall despite being sick 2 days and not getting to go ashore in Amber Cove or Grand Turk I still enjoyed the cruise and would cruise Mardi Gras again though I usually prefer longer cruises than the typical 7 day Mardi Gras cruise. The roller coaster was only open one day in Grand Turk and we could not get tickets. Next cruise I would hope we could ride it. I wish Shaqs Big Chicken was open later as that was my daughter's favorite but it closes at 5 so it isn't a dinner option. The new digital debark seemed to work fine. They changed our time we chose a few days before in the app by 15 minutes the morning of debark but they were just about right on and called us to depart right on the beginning of the revised window.  The birth certificate line was huge but we had passports so our line was much shorter. Getting out of the terminal if you pay a porter you can get right out but if you don't they siphon you through a much longer line. Still it wasn't too bad moved pretty well.

Mardi Gras was large but fun

The ship is fabulous!  Plenty of things to do!  HOWEVER!!!!!!!!! The HUB app is the WORSE and FANTASTIC at the same time.  Pros is you can see your photos and it alerts what time events are happening when it’s working!  The HUB has a chat feature that was always disconnected so messages didn’t go through when needed.  Everyone had to pay $5 for this horrible feature.  I didn’t need messages to pop up hours or the day later when trying to keep up with my family and friends.  Then there’s the dinner CHECK IN feature.  No more a specific dinner time and you show up.  Everything is about this app.  It was frustrating for the staff as well as for us.  You have to sign for each drink and several times added gratuity was on my final bill.  With this new app system I felt like I was on the ships schedule and not my own.  If trying to disconnect for awhile from technology sorry you have to be glued to your phone! Restaurant closed very early like 5:30 or didn’t open when you thought they would be.  After paying a nice price for the cruise, the arcade, roller coaster, kids drinks (only water, soda, tea) virgin drinks were extra.  Everything costs and that’s where the nickle and dime feeling comes in.  This my first time in 16 years cruising with Carnival again.  I know from this experience I will continue with Royal Caribbean.  Hopefully they will see the upgrade and improvement fail of carnival and NOT follow suit!

Beautiful Ship…..Nickled and Dimed! 

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