RCVoyager

FYI... off topic, but also relevant. The Carnival Mardi Gras (and its sisters too presumably) has no public spaces anywhere on the ship with less than 5 foot high glass and a double rail. It is another reason to never book that ship.

We've gotten to the point of packing as light as possible for all trips. We can generally carry on, and do take advantage of the free gate check when possible.

We met a woman who was staying in the upgraded area of the ship. They even have their own elevator and she didn't have most of the problems we had. She did say it seemed crowded in the common areas, but it didn't affect them much. She said they paid for the most expensive restaurant daily (I think she said $110 per day), and there were no issues there. They didn't attend any shows and had priority on and off the ship.

I was not going to do anything negative toward the staff on board. They were working themselves to death. It's not their fault. This is a problem from above. Why design a ship to be that crowded to begin with?

One more thing to add, we barely saw our room steward. When we did, I asked him how many cabins he had? 35. I don't know what that number should be, but there is no way to offer good service when you have 35 of them. If working a 10 hour day, that is less than 20 minutes per room per day. If working a 12 hour day, he would have had 20 minutes per room. I'll not even bother to write about the customer service response we received upon my follow-up, but it was BAD.

Absolutely. 100% way too crowded. I'm surprised whoever from a government standpoint allows that many. It was like being in a packed high school gym 100% of the time.

We were on the 2nd week of October, and although it wasn't announced, the ship had to be at capacity (6500). Oasis Class full capacity is 6700, and it is 25% larger. There were people everywhere all the time. Elevators were a nightmare (my mother-in-law was with us so had to use them). The Carnival App is a joke. Even with it, there were lines down the hall for every restaurant at every meal. The service people were doing the best they could, but there was no way to manage that crowd. Three times during the week, our entrees arrived before our appetizers. Oftentimes the food was cold, and again we did not believe the problem was from poor service, it was from an overwhelming crowd. If you weren't waiting in line for a show or comedy show at least 30 minutes prior, you would not get a seat. There were people sitting on the floor for every comedy show we attended. To make the crowd matter worse, there is a big theater in the front of the ship that is hardly used, and there is an inadequate stage that carves a bunch of space mid-ship that takes 3 or 4 decks. The seating is poor, and the flow of the ship is badly interupted. And the main theater sits empty. The roller coaster can't be used for 4 hours after the slightest rain. Needless to say, in the Caribbean, there is not much use for it. It does however interfere with important deck space, namely the walking track with is totally inadequate to begin with. People didn't even bother to try on that track. When you get that many people, the worst comes out in some of them. My m-i-l was pushed by a guy who didn't want to wait his turn. When confronted, he claimed it was accidental. I saw it, it was purposeful. What Carnival is doing is cruise malpractice, and that was the first vacation I've been on, out of many, that was a waste of money, and I felt cheated. I sent a negative review and never heard back from them, so I followed-up. Got corporate run around. Carnival does not care. I say again, do not sail carnival.

I believe there are many negative NCL reviews. Carnival too. I think in the post Covid world, the almighty dollar is more important than ever to those companies. I have not heard a lot of bad RCCL reviews, so maybe it is different. I personally carried Carnival's water up until our Mardi Gras experience in October. Unless you want to be packed in like sardines, do not, and I mean DO NOT book Carnival.

I read of this horror story for a family on NCL a few months ago. Arrived late to Vancouver. NCL and Federal Law didn't allow them to board on their 1st Alaska port of call, because the requirement to have at least one out of the US port wasn't met. To make matters worse, the financial obligation to NCL was only $500 per person which did not pay their way back home. It was NCL's air to sea, and a family of roughly 14 lost $60,000. I never read if a better resolution was ever obtained. My advice, get earlier flights now.

Congratulations. When I adopted my son, I did not know there would be a new birth certificate with me listed as the father. Being that I did not know the woman who would become my wife at the time he was born to her, I had no idea. He's a 16 year old junior in high school now. He's the equal of everyone in our family just the same as my other two children. He made me very proud earlier this month. For a Psychology class, he had to write an essay about "the greatest thing that has ever happened to you". His greatest thing was being adopted by me. He did not want me to see his paper, but my wife gave me a sneak peak. I think I barely beat out him getting his Xbox. I'll take it.

We were on the Carnival Mardi Gras in Oct. They said we could not store luggage under our bed because another family was staying there. Well, I might have made some of the above up, but I will say, never, ever, ever go on that ship or any of their new ships. They are packed so tight, it is cruising malpractice. And I was Carnival's biggest supporter on this forum.

My brothers and I did the Barenaked Ladies 1 & 3. Most of the ship's regular entertainment was given the week off. There was about 25 bands on board. They started as early as 10AM around the pool and went until about 3 AM. They played everywhere a stage could be set-up including the casino. These were not cover bands, but regional lesser known bands with BNL being the headliner. Upon embarkation, there was a long line... we did not know why. When we finally got to the end of it, a pair of double doors opened. We walked in. There, set in pose was BNL. A photo was taken, and every passenger received an 8x10 photo of their party with the band. It was a very nice touch. That was also the cruise where the now famous Barenaked at Sea photo took place. 700 people posed naked for a photo on the Lido Deck. You can look it up. At the sail away show by the pool, the band mentioned they were on board with their families. Their request was if we see them about the ship alone or with other band members to approach to say hello. When with their families, please give privacy. And that's exactly what happened. The bands we accessible, and would sign stuff if you wanted. That's where we met our now favorite band: Gaelic Storm. One afternoon at lunch by the pool, a member of GS asked if he could sit with us for lunch. He said, "I saw you at our show last night. Thanks for coming out." We had a nice 30 minutes with him. This was the best cruise experience I've had.

Indeed, I eagerly completed my survey with 2s and 3s rather than my normal 9s or 10s. I even gave a 0 to one restaurant for abysmal service, cold food, and entrees that arrived before appetizers. I noted that in my opinion, the people attempting to serve us did what they could. Two of them had 8 tables and the food came from 2 decks below via escalator. It's been almost a month since I completed it. I haven't heard anything and doubt I do.

My observation is that technology allows less, and in fact almost no, person to person interaction. Once you lose that, hospitality goes with it. Less staff can serve more people, and technology is the crutch that allows it. On the Mardi Gras, we only saw our stateroom attendant two or three times all week. In one of those interactions, I asked him how many rooms he "has". His reply was 35. I don't know what the norm used to be because I never asked that question before. But 35 seems extreme and is a number that disallows any extra attention to be paid to any of them.

Nice response Jason. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think "not our cup of tea" is correct. We did a VRBO beach house with our family a year or so ago. We had our own pool and a little used beach, though there were several walkers passing throughout the day. We did the local restaurants and avoided the 5 to 6 PM rush. There was plenty to do in the area. It was great for our family group. We also, just the two of us, have done two of the best trips we've ever done in the last couple of years. One was a VRBO in Providenciales not near the Beaches Resort but still on Grace Bay. That beach is gorgeous and when not near the big resorts sparsely used. The other was in St. Croix. The beach wasn't great, but there is sea glass there by the bag full. We're hooked on that. This past trip reminded us, we want less cruising and more of St. Croix!

I tend to agree with your points. Maybe, at 58, I've become an old codger. We have discussed the smaller lines, and that will probably be how we continue, assuming we do. With regard to My Time Dining, we have used it in the past without much of an issue. However, on the Mardi Gras, there were people lined up the length of a football field, on their phones, at both My Time and traditional, waiting to be notified their table was ready. I get your point about shuffleboard... not many play. There is no excuse for that sorry walking/jogging track that is always widely used on every ship I've been on. And while my original rant about the technology still stands, and as the biggest Carnival apologist on this board over the last 10 years or so, 6500 passengers on that ship is cruising malpractice. I no longer recommend that line at all, and everyone here can correctly say "I told you so". I joked to my wife that when I pulled my suitcase from under the bed the last day, there was a family sleeping in it. She rolled her eyes, but I heard her retell it to one of her friends.

After our poor experience on the Carnival Mardi Gras last month, my wife and I have talked several times about what we didn't like. I think the biggest overall disappointment is the evolution that has come not just to Carnival, but all of mainstream cruising. We don't want an "app" we have to schedule everything we do. In fact, other than touching base with the people at home once or twice during the week, we want to put our phones in the safe and leave them there. We don't want "My Time Dining". We much prefer the same table with the same waiter and assistant, a paper menu in a nice folder, at the same time each night. We like a daily ship newspaper and schedule on our bed each night and announcements delivered by the Captain at noon each day. We are forced to live our lives on our phones and laptops. Vacation is a way for us to get away from technology. Several years ago, we had to come to grips with the idea of automatic gratuities. We didn't like it at first because some passengers took advantage of the workers by poorly tipping or not tipping at all. We adapted and now see that is better. We still be sure to bring a few extra 20s on board for those we recognize for good service. To us, this new way of cruising is not better. We will, in all likelihood, become "former" cruisers rather than adapt. There are lots of land based vacations out there. Technology does not make the cruise line better able to serve its current customers. It allows the cruise line to jam more people onto the ship and "serve" them with less staff. Sad to us. As an additional rant, who in their right mind builds a new cruise ship without a Shuffleboard Court and an unusable walking/jogging track but with a roller coaster at sea that can't be used most days? Carnival, that's who. The others are sure to follow. Anyone agree? Or are we just spoiled Americans?

Buyer beware for sure. There was an article a couple of months back (which I can't find now) regarding two families traveling NCL with NCL purchased air. One family had insurance, the other didn't. In both cases, the NCL purchased flights did not get them to the cruise in time. In both cases, the families were denied the opportunity to board at the next port. The one family was out like $60,000 (large group). The other lost all but a few hundred dollars of their money because the insurance only paid like $500 per person. I'd like to think RCCL would handle a similar situation differently, but I'm not sure.

They used to be $25. We passed on the purchase on the Mardi Gras at $69.

Only until April 24 when it moves to San Juan. No more Voyager Class or Radiance Class in San Juan. Sad. Carnival not there at all. No Princess. That and the fact the new Carnival ships are unsailable, makes me want to move to land based trips only.

As mentioned above, this was my 20th cruise, my 9th with Carnival. As Anders11 and JB17 pointed out above, there are statistics that show how utterly crowded this ship is. The Mardi Gras, and all the others in it's class, are an insult to cruising. Someone at Carnival needs to take a look at what's going on with those ships and make changes. This is coming from the guy who is the biggest Carnival defender on this board or anywhere else the topic comes up. No more.

I turned my survey in for this cruise last night. Something I've never done before is to give several 2's and 3's (on a scale of 0-10), but I did here. I actually gave out a 0 for one of the restaurants. In the comments section I made sure to emphasize that my issues were not with anyone on board. My issues were based upon the fact this ship cannot handle to crowd that was put on it. When asked the chances of me booking another cruise within 12 months, I scored it a 6. When asked if it would be with Carnival, a 2. I doubt anyone cares, but as a customer with 20 cruises under my belt (9 of which are on Carnival), they should care. I didn't get nasty, stomp my feet, or say never again. I did make my points which are valid. It will be interesting if I hear anything from them.

Absolutely Tony, I am thankful that we are able to do trips like this. My post was not meant as a complaint. It was meant as a question as to whether or not this stuff happens on Royal's big ships. We did this on the cheap and took inside staterooms because this was our second major vacation of the year (did 2 weeks along the Pacific Coast, Yosemite, Muir Woods, and Lake Tahoe and some of those places were incredibly crowded as well). During the course of the week, we learned of ways to avoid some of the bottlenecks, but much of it could not be avoided. My wife, son, and I did a lot of stairs. My m-i-l can't, so oftentimes we would be sure she was safely on a lift, and then we would take the stairs, but when going from deck 6 to deck 14, it's not always what we wanted to do. I did not mention in my first post that my m-i-l was pushed, at one point, by a male adult able bodied passenger who did not think it necessary to wait his turn. I saw it happen and since she didn't fall, I chose not to escalate the situation. It almost appeared as though he wanted me to do so. Had she fallen, I would have not had a choice in the matter. We are no doubt blessed to have these opportunities, but don't want to be in situations where we have to rely of the goodness, or even proper behavior of others, in order to take a vacation and not be inconvenienced or in my m-i-l's case assaulted in huge crowds of people. If this is what mainstream cruising is becoming, we will probably pass or take small ships like Windstar, ect. We would have to go less often due to cost.

Sorry Scott. That reply was meant for Columbia who said the 5' rail seems standard.

ScottD, the 5 foot rail has not been standard on on any of my previous 19 cruises. In the photo you will see the inner rail which was approximately the standard of every other ship I've been on. It is about chest high to me. When you add in the secondary rail and the glass, it's up to my chin. It cuts a full 1/3 of the view for a person my height (5'7") It would cut more if you are shorter, and less if you are taller. I am a person who would spend time each day looking at whatever there is to see off the rail. It was a major limitation for me.