Thread: Your reasons for cruising or NOT cruising on Carnival?

Originally Posted by nealberk

Can't agree with you more about airports. The TSA and the airlines have turned flying into a nightmare for the most part.

I'm OK with it. It's better than the alternative! I'd rather have them do everything they can to stop shoe-bombers and others bent on taking down a plane. I just go through the scanner... avoiding the patdown ... and the whole process slows us down about 15 seconds more than it used to take. No biggie. At DFW I get in and out in no time, even coming back and going through Customs is fast.

What I dislike about the whole thing is that they are working hard at preventing the last attack and are totally clueless about the next one. Most of the measures they have in place are ineffectual at best. The 3.5 oz of liquid for example. Someone calculated that that was the minimum amount of certain chemicals needed to create a major explosion on a plane. So, 1/2 that amount would create a minor explosion, 2 bottles of the same liquid would be more than enough. Two people each carrying on 1/2 the amount could readily pour the liquids together creating more than enough. The lists go on and on.

After 16 cruises in the past 10 years we have seen Carnival go thru a couple of changes we don't care for. I guess since we are booked for number 17 with Carnival next February, we have grown to accept them.
We think the newer ships coming online are too big. Our favorite size is around 80k tons. Even the very small ships at 40 something tons are better than the new 100plus ton monsters to us.
Carnival made huge efforts in the mid 2000's to attract family cruisers. This killed the famous "funnel" deck and ruined formal nights in one stroke. Two of our favorite things that kept us coming back over and over again. The new adult area is just not the same and is not child free. Formal night even got a name change.
We don't cruise for the food so no comment there, but we do like what Carnival offers.

[QUOTE=islandgirlejfan;1692192]I'm waiting to hear what my work colleague has to say about the Pride out of Baltimore as he is on his cruise at this very moment.....


We're going on the Pride 2/20/11, let us know what your colleague says about the cruise.

We did the Pride in March and Sept. The sept cruise was a Players Club cruise. Pride is a nice ship. Only 1 and 1/2 hr ride away. No air. Only thing is in the winter you have a day of cold to cool weather. That keeps me in the casino. Last cruise we did the Chefs Table and the steak house. So the food was fantastic. Ports could be better but its a cruise and we had a good time mainly because of the people we met and winning in the casino. Its nice because we can now deceide to go on a cruise a week before it goes instead of 6 months.

Ah the joy of living close to the port. That is one reason we are even remotely considering Carnival is because they dock in Galveston.

Some of the Carnival Ships have updated the televisions to flat screen. I don't know how many times I hit my head on that TV shelf when getting up from the vanity! As far as the menu, some of the "new" entrees which I've seen on the menu are too "off the wall", too spicy, or just unappetizing. I'd rather have my old standbys, such as salmon or warm chocolate melting cake, which is usually available each day.
I agree about the color of the cabins. They go to extremes to vary the theme of the lobby or different types of bars, but the room colors are the same on every ship we've sailed on. A little variety could be more attractive, unless they are really trying to get you out of your stateroom and participate in their onboard events. Some people may only want to relax, but it's tough to do when you have to search for an open seat in the buffet or an open lounge chair!
The boarding process is usually easy for Platinum level (10+ cruises), but it was the opposite on the last cruise. The free "wash & fold" laundry for Platinum has helped to reduce packing too much. Also, the priority debarkation has been helpful in catching an earlier flight home.
As far as flying, we have to fly anywhere to cruise, since the Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen don't cruise anymore (LOL)!
We've sailed on the Pride out of Baltimore, when it was supposed to be CruisePlanner's "group cruise", but not enough people signed up. There's only so many times you can go to Nassau and really enjoy something new. That would be a port where I would now stay on board, and grab one of those lounge chairs which are hard to find!

Originally Posted by reggierail

I've done a 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 night cruise on Carnival and enjoyed all of them.

Since I made Platinum the perks are great.
I'm booked again on Spirit for 8 days in just 2 weeks and a 15 night Hawaii
cruise next December.

I've added a 5 and 9 night Mexico cruise on Spirit.