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Carnival Cruise Lines
- My personal recommendation is that you
find another cruise
line. You get what you pay for. The review below is very
similar to my cruise from hell on the Carnival CelebraSHUN.
Amazingly enough Princess Cruise Lines is owned by the same
company. A cruise on Princess cost about 15% more but is
well worth the extra price. If and when we get the
new port, maybe we will get a decent ship.
FYI: After talking to our waiter on a Princess
cruise we found out that they rarely get tipped. If you want
excellent service let them know that, you realize that,
tipping is not a city in China, (Some do not speak
English very well. Make sure they understand what you mean.)
and throw them a bone at the beginning of a cruise. We did
this after we found the best restaurant and made
reservations to eat dinner there for the whole cruise. We
were a party of ten and it worked out very well! Take care
of your service people and they will take care of you! Give
them a tip at the end of the cruise, based on the
service you received. |
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Fascination Less Than
Fascinating -
Courtesy of
Cruise Critic |
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My girlfriends and I just
got back from a three-night cruise on
Carnival Fascination. We enjoyed each others
company, but the ship had LOTS of room for
improvement. This was my first cruise on
Carnival; previously I sailed on Royal
Caribbean and Celebrity. We picked Carnival
for price and the short itinerary.
Embarkation was fine, no problems and
despite long lines, we were processed
quickly. We were four in a room, and
frankly, before boarding I was a bit nervous
about space. They arranged the room fine,
with 2 uppers and 2 lowers. Our cabin
steward brought us extra towels and robes as
requested. Two of us showered in the spa, so
we were all fine. Other than our cabin
steward, the staff on the ship left a lot to
be desired.
The buffet on boarding was
poor quality and there were
long lines everywhere. We
had originally requested a table for four at
the late seating. Instead, we were put at a
table for 10, including two children. My
friend went to see if it could be changed.
The attitude she encountered was
typical of what we experienced throughout
the cruise. Instead of a smile, and a “I’ll
see what I can do” she was berated for
asking, told the ship was full, and nothing
could be done. She persisted, and
later that day a card appeared in our room
with our new table and a note, saying “I
moved some guests to accommodate you”. One
of my friends has major knee/hip issues, and
wanted to use the elevator to get to our
muster station during the lifeboat drill.
She was told that all of the elevators were
busy taking luggage to the cabins and she
should “just take it slow” I complained to a
crew member and he arranged for her to take
an elevator.
At dinner the first night, our
waiter was harried, and hardly paid us any
attention. I sat through most of the night
with an empty water glass.
He really didn't seem to care if we enjoyed
dinner. I had wanted to order a
bottle of wine to have throughout the cruise
as is offered on other ships, but he never
asked. Carnival has a cut system where they
divide the passengers into teams for the
various games played during the cruise. Our
waiter never told us about any of this.
His treatment of our table made us
feel that we were being punished for asking
for our table to be changed. The next night
the neglect continued. We had
ordered minestrone soup and a Caesar salad
as our starters. Both could have used
parmesan cheese, but none was offered. I
assumed that none was available until I saw
our waiter bring some to another table.
Again, I sat with an empty water glass
throughout most of dinner. When the maitre'd
came by that night (he never came by the
first night) and asked how dinner was, I
told him how disappointed I was. His first
response was to say that I should have found
a supervisor the first night or earlier that
night. I said it wasn't my responsibility to
look for someone and I was telling him now
since he was there. He also said that there
were many Latin guests who came late and
"threw their rhythm off." Finally, he
offered us a bottle of champagne the next
night and to be included in a special tour
of the kitchen the next day. We took the
tour and it was wonderful. The maitre'd
ensured that we had a great table and
service at lunch (not with our waiter) and
it was wonderful. He promised that dinner
would also be fine. Alas, it was not to be.
The champagne was there, and our waiter
poured it, but didn't come back until much,
much later in the evening to refill our
glasses. In fact, I had to get up to refill
our glasses. The water was refilled
promptly upon request, but I had to ask each
time. My friend had ordered a main
course that she wasn't sure if she was going
to like. In fact, she had asked for a taste,
but was told that he had to bring her the
whole dinner. She did not like it, and we
had to wait 10 minutes to have him come over
to the table and get her new request. It
took him 30 minutes to bring the new entrée.
By the way, the maitre'd never came
over to see how things were at our table.
The bar staff also had a lot to be
desired. They had no personality,
and couldn’t mix my friend’s drink right.
She had ordered a Sloe Comfortable Screw,
which is sloe gin, Southern Comfort, and
orange juice and vodka. Even when she
explained it, they couldn’t get it right. At
one point, we were sitting in a lounge area,
when a waitress came and took her drink
order. My friend offered to write the drink
recipe down. The waitress said it wasn’t
necessary. She came back with the wrong
drink, and when so informed told my friend
(she of the bad hip and knee) to get up and
tell the bartender. The last day, another
friend was trying to find one of the
pictures we had taken. We had all searched
for the picture to no avail. When she asked
for help, she was told they were “too busy”.
These people obviously are not trained in
customer service. We were told that the ship
had a $30 million dollar renovation. It was
not obvious. The lounge chairs were not
comfortable. The bathroom in our
room smelled bad. I do not
recommend Carnival Cruise Line for its
service.
Publication Date: 08/16/08 |
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