Carnival Cruises

As I filled in my Comment Card, following my recent cruise on the Carnival Spirit, I realised there was not adequate space to list the problems myself and fellow travellers encountered on the ?fun ship?. My complaints and comments are listed below.

General Ship Condition.

1. Our cabin balcony was continually covered in soot from the funnels. Nelly, our Cabin stewardess, did her best to keep it clean but still the balcony got sooty. Two garments were soiled by this soot. We paid for the two back cabins for good views of the Panama Canal. This would not have been the case if we had known the soot would be a problem. The problem was also very noticeable on the Fantail Bar and pool area on the ship.

2. Many parts of the wooden deck boards were warped. This created wavy and unevenness on the decks. This was quite a hazard.

3. The Fountain Café did not even have a working fountain! We were informed that it had never worked from day one and that it was a warrantee problem.

4. Many light bulbs were blown and not replaced during our trip.

5. Brass cover plates were missing from lift buttons.

6. Wall panels held on by masking tape.

Entertainment.

1. The entertainment was appalling. Last year we cruised with Royal Caribbean and enjoyed shows which were comparable to West End performances. On the ?Fun Ship? we are given a Banjo Player and some old has been singers. Even my mother, a 72 year old, walked out of many of the shows. Pharaohs Palace was treated more like a lounge than a theatre and the poor acts reflected this. I can understand that the age group on the ship was quite old but should have catered for a whole spectrum of people and age groups.

2. The guitarist in the Atrium Bar played the same routine for seventeen nights! Give us a break. I now know ?The Theme from the Deer hunter? backwards and every Billy Joel song written.

3. The disco video wall was never used. Again we were told there was a problem with it. Yet on the day of embarking there were technicians setting it up and on disembarking the video wall was on! Even on the two nights we attended the disco, the lighting rigs were never used. The DJ had a few spots flashing but none of the amazing lighting was used.

Food & Food Service

1. Our dining experience was not good. Our first criticism was the ?café? style booth seating. We expected a table not a booth.

2. One of our waiters, Romel, was only pleasant when he was in a good mood. Many of the days he would just pour our water and return to other duties. We asked him one day why he was so unhappy to which he replied, ?I tried to phone my girlfriend and she was not at home?. I work in a customer based environment and know that personal problems should not change the way a customer should be treated.

3. Our head waiter, Ariel, his English was so bad that any time we did make a comment about the food he would just laugh and take it away. Also his understanding of what was on the menu was very poor. The description of a few dishes we asked about were totally wrong. He also got our orders mixed up many times. This was never done on The Royal Caribbean cruise.

4. We did attend the Supper Club one evening and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great food and service, all thanks to Felix and his team. This was the standard we had every evening on our past cruise.

Bar Service

1. Great bar service. Special thanks to Lewis Timroy and Zana.

As previous, we have cruised before with Royal Caribbean. We have never used Carnival previously and are not likely to again. I will not recommend Carnival to any friends or family and definitely did not enjoy ?The Fun Ship?. We felt that the ship was very under staffed. We were all disappointed with our holiday. We did complain to the pursers office onboard. He added insult by sending four bar tokens to our room. What was the plan? Have a drink and forget it ever happened!
I tried writing and eamiling Carnival to which I received a ten percent discount on my next cruise...needless to say..i wont be using it!!!!