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Do not cruise Carnival by
Tom D from Chicago, Il Sailing date: May 2009Pros: Catalina Island Cons: Service The Carnival Cruise that I recently embarked on was not a very pleasant experience. The Ship (Paradise) seemed as if it was in very poor condition and a pipe flooded many state rooms and a main dining room, also causing the main outdoor pool to drain for most of the cruise. Additionally, My room was flooded the first day, which ruined my camera and other personal effects. After 2 complaints on the first and second day, they came to my room on the final night to downgrade my room. I was told I would be reimbursed and found that they ended up giving me a $16 credit. Last but not least, the mold smell in the room got many onboard sick and when we went to the infirmary to get taken care of, they told us the insurance that we purchased wasn't valid.
I will never cruise with carnival again no matter how cheap the price is. Cruises are usually used for vacation and its not worth the stress of the poor management of Carnival while your trying to get away. Ship QualitySmaller ship, not very clean and it flooded while I was cruising. Dining/FoodThe food in the main dining room was fair. The food in the cafeteria was prison grade. Stateroom Quality
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Catalina Island, CaliforniaCatalina Island is a beautifal place. I rented a boat and did the semi submersible submarine tour, both were pretty neat. I would also recommend renting a golf cart to see the whole city while your there.
Don't Miss: N/A  2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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  Disappointing by
A Traveler from Palm Harbor, FL Sailing date: Jun 2012Pros: Relaxing on deck Cons: Food This cruise was for families. My husband took me for my 50th birthday and we were surrounded by kids. We wanted a more adult vacation. Ship Quality
Dining/FoodWas so looking forward to the food that so talked about on cruises. So disappointed. My husband was so excited about the 24hr pizza..worst pizza he has ever had! French fries undercooked. Burgers overcooked. Husband ordered a piece of carrot cake at the "Starbucks". When he bit into a piece of it, he almost cracked his tooth. There was a piece of what looked like a hard walnut shell, baked in the cake. When my husband returned it, the young lady did not even credit the amount off of our bill? Lucky he did not crack his tooth. Elegant dining food was comparable to the buffet food. Not much difference. Different selection but quality same. Stateroom Qualitystateroom was very nice and comfortable. Bathroom was good size but needs updating. Ship Staff QualityRaj in the Queen Mary Lounge was awesome. Great bartender. Had a great time with him. Also, Lloyd in the Destiny Restaurant was very good. Entertainment & Activities
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Second and last cruise by
A Traveler from Illinois Sailing date: Mar 2012Pros: Shore excursions Cons: small ship, cold pool and hot tub Small, unimpressive ship. Nothing special. Ship QualityVery small. The running track took 11 times around to make a mile! Older feel to ship. Was clean. Dining/FoodFood was just average, nothing special at all. I was not wowed by any food. Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & ActivitiesIf your kids don't go to the kids program, there is very little for them to do since the pools are crowded ,cold and the hot tubs cold. The shows are late for small kids to attend if you go to an early dining option. Activities overlap and then there are gaps of nothing planned. The basketballs were deflated on day one so there were no basketballs to use.
Long waits/lines for mimi golf and ping pong. 0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
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Breaking in new cruisers by
Ed L from San Ramon, CA Sailing date: Oct 2011Pros: Ports of Call Cons: Food Ship shows it's years of service, half of the elevators on our side of the ship were not working. I was very disappointed that you did not offer a seperate dinning resturant and we had to either eat casul or in the dinning room where we always had to share a table with strangers. We have been on many cruise lines but this was the first for our friends and I thought Carnival would be a good one to break in on. They were very disappointed on the level of service, the food in the dinning room and the long lines to board. Ship QualityElevators not working, furniture in need of repair. Dining/FoodDinning room food seemed to be reheated, we ate all three meals here and found that the casual dinning food seemed prepared fresher. Stateroom Quality
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Ensenada, Mexico
Catalina Island, Californiareally nothing to do and seemed to be a wate of travel time.
Don't Miss: Nothing to really see 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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an ok cruise by
Deb M from Arizona Sailing date: Apr 2011Pros: ports of call Cons: food We have cruised Carnival twice before but not on spring break or on this ship. I don't know if it is just the paradise or if carnival is cutting back on all their ships but the quality is just not there anymore. Our room was in definate need of a vacume and there was a storage area at the foot of our bed for life jackets that made getting to the window or going around to the other side of the bed very difficult. The only way was to step on the storage cabinette or the bed. It would have been very difficult for an elderly person. (carnival, just take the darn thing out!) the quality of the food was definately not good. Gone are the days of beef wellington, filet mignon, or escargo. Now on the menu is chicken, fish, pork chops, and flat iron steak. If you wanted someting better you were charged an extra $18 for the food. I wouldn't have minded if it was in another private dining room but that was the charge in the regular dining room. I wonder how long it would have taken them to cook that special and if the rest of the table would have been finished with their meal by the time it was served. We didn't try it. The staff seemed very tired and it seemed there was less of them. During dinner when they were supposed to do their little dances and songs most were frantically trying to get their service done instead. I think this will be the last carnival for me, it should be renamed the circus. Ship Quality
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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home town buffet on a boat by
steph i from california Sailing date: Jan 2011Pros: relaxing Cons: food, the smells, entertainment Food: we were so excited to try the food everyone raves about. the quality is that of a sizzler or hometown buffet. honestly, i felt like i was at a hospice eating food that had no love in it. the cups are all dirty plastic. in fact the first cup and roll of silverware i grabbed had chunks of food on it. at night, in the restaurant, everyone at our table ordered a lot! at first we were shocked but then jumped on the bandwagon since the portions are small. the wait staff almost seemed annoyed, but this food was so much better than the buffet so we took advantage!
entertainment: the main show was a joke. my high school plays were of better quality. i felt embarrassed for the performers. we actually walked out of the show and when we talked to the people at our dinner table, so did they! the cruise "fun crew" actually put on the best shows. their personalities were probably the best part of the cruise. the comedy itself was a joke.
overall, i guess you get what you pay for. we were often bored. we met some awesome people, but other than that i think this ship left a bad taste in our mouth when it comes to taking another cruise. we are told this is a "starter cruise." personally, this made me never want to go on one again. Ship Qualityjust dirty. i just didn't feel like anyone took pride in this ship. it was like a motel 6 on the water. Stateroom Qualitythe rooms were a decent size. as soon as i got in my room there was a hair hanging on the towel rack. how could someone miss that? it was like it was purposely put there!!!! Ship Staff Qualityif it weren't for the "fun crew" i think i would have nothing good to say. the cruise director had an outstanding personality. so did the rest of his crew. carnival is lucky to have them! Entertainment & Activitiesread above
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Ensenada, Mexicoi think after a day of being stuck at sea, it was nice to get off the boat. everyone will hassle you, trying to sell you the same thing the last guy just tried to sell you for either a lot more or less! when we got off the ship, all the shuttles asked us if we wanted a ride. when we declined, they said "good luck" as if we were in danger! it's literally a 10 minute walk and never for a second did we feel unsafe. a lot of other cruisers will be making the walk too so you aren't alone.
Catalina Island, Californiawe just rented an electric bike and rode along with the golf carts! we made our own fun. not much to do, but pretty.
1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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A big dissapointment by
A Traveler from Los Angeles Sailing date: Oct 2010Pros: The chocolate moulton cake Cons: Dealing with the staff regarding lost luggage This was a very frustrating cruise experience. They lost my husband's luggage and he
had no clothes to work out in or go to the pool. They would not provide a clothing allowence to replace the missing items, They offered a 20 percent discount in the gift shop.
They said they couldn't do anything until they checked all the cabins. The luggage arrived Saturday night after the formal affair. They did offer a tuxedo but they were all too big for
him. One of the staff members went the extra mile to find my husband something to wear.
Something that I ate didn't agree with me so I spent a lot of time in the bathroom.
The safe in the cabin wouldn't unlock and we had to call someone. Then we couldn't
relock it.
At dinner they couldn't find the champage that our cousins brought but managed to locate it after much complaining. They brought the wrong cake to the anniversary celebration.
Usually on a cruise you can order what ever you like but they had items on the menu that
they charged extra for. Ship Quality
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Ship Staff QualityAt Guest Services we became extremely frustrated in the inability to help or be empathetic to
our situation.
The woman in the tuxedo shop really went the extra mile. The rest of the staff were friendly
and cooperative Entertainment & Activities
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Cruise Review by
Christina S. from Chicago, IL Sailing date: Sep 2010Pros: Catalina Island, drinks Cons: Sewer smell in the hallways. I think that the ship needs a new decor or at least an updated one. I think that it is starting to look it's age (especially inside). Also, the staff needs to speak and understand English better. It was difficult to understand them and thus, the procedures of the ship and answers to questions were not clear or conveyed well. Part of my luggage was lost and I found it in the hallway in a pile of luggage, upside down. It was evident that because I did not tip the porters upon arrival in the shuttle, that one of my cases were "conveniently" lost and the stateroom tag was ripped off. Ship QualityClean, but again, the sewer smell in the hallways and our room was disappointing. Dining/FoodThe food was just OK, but the bread seemed to be stale because it would fall apart after 2 bites. Stateroom QualityWomen need more than one outlet!!! with all of the electronic devices we have nowadays - one outlet is not sufficient for 2 people. Ship Staff QualityBesides the language barrier, they were very nice. Entertainment & Activities
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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I wished I would have known by
A Traveler from SLC, Utah Sailing date: Apr 2010Pros: Food, friendlilness of waiters and other staff Cons: noise, noise, noise We wanted a weekend on a cruise ship where we could relax and enjoy the sunshine and the ocean. Instead, it became very apparant that it was a "booze cooze" and we were surrounded by mulitple groups of loud and beligerant people whose main purpose was to see how drunk they could get and how vulgar their dress and language could be.
I will blame it on my own naive. But I would have thought that the staff of the ship would have controlled it better. We had to change our dining time from the late to the early because we couldn't even hear each other talk at our table because of the rudeness and shouting of the drunk groups around us.
The facilities were nice. So, I guess I would rate the ship about a 3 star. But the atmosphere was defiinitely a "Party" one. As we sat one evening, a group of drunk men walked by and one of them vomited right in front of us. Come on. Don't you think this went a llittle too far?
Yes, it was a "carnival" all right! Ship Quality
Dining/FoodOur waiters were excellent and very accommodating. Stateroom Quality
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Couldn't wait to come home! by
A Traveler from Los Angeles, CA Sailing date: Oct 2008Pros: The gym, bed, and casino Cons: The food was equivalent to a school cafeteria. Overal, the ship was outdated. Ship QualityThe pool area smelled like urine. Dining/FoodSushi was served, unfortunately no one told the staff how to make it. Smoked salmon on rice is not sushi...This would have been better servied on a bagel with cream cheese. Stateroom QualityThe bed was comfortable. Ship Staff QualityStaff was courteous, but noisy at night. Could not sleep a single night. Entertainment & ActivitiesBingo was expensive ($20/game and one prize). Activity prizes were plastic boats. Possibly for the future a prize could be a "fountain fun card". The vegas style (a la 1980s) show at the Normandie was unimpressive to say the least. Multiple people walked out. The showing of Iron Man and Indy 4 was a plus.
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Ensenada, MexicoThere's nothing to see in Ensenada. This is a bad representation of the beauties of Mexico.
Don't Miss: Please miss Ensenada. 3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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