Johnna

Age: 36
Occupation: Training Analyst
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Celebration
Sailing Date: January 13th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean


Let me start by saying that when I read some of the reviews here I thought some of the people were just grumpy. I have changed my mind. I was very disappointed in my first cruise experience.

I will start with the good points about the celebration cruise. I found all of the help very friendly. I did not experience any lack of food, we always got as much as we wanted and I never felt rushed. I did not think the ship was in that bad of shape, our cabin was bigger than I expected and the ride on the boat was fine for me. Embarkation went smooth for the amount of people. A hint for debarkation, if you are American leave with the people who have flights. We are Canadian so immigration was fast for us, then we just left with the flight people and got off early.

Now the bad and there is a lot. The weather totally sucked, which of course was not Carnivals fault. However, it was their fault that they had nothing for anyone to do on the boat. Unless of course you wanted to spend money. For us Canadians think of any money we spend being twice the amount. Bingo was ridiculous at $10 a card, you could not win anything at the casino and drinks were out outrageous. To top it off we were constantly reminded who to tip everyday!!! This was done even though a tip was added to our bill automatically. $5.50 a day for dinning, $3.50 a day for the room steward and .75 a day misc. Then Carnival adds a tip to every drink your order???? Is this not double dipping in the tip area?

Celebration totally catered to the Americans, especially the Texans. Now I found the Texans to be the most friendly people I have ever met so this is nothing against them. However my sister and my tried so hard to let the cruise director and entertainers know that us Canadians were there too, but they seemed not to really care. I found it even worse that the cruise director was Canadian and still ignored us?????

The entertainment was pretty bad. The shows had the girls wearing next to nothing and it was obvious that there was a lot of lip singing. The first comedian was only good if you were Texan. The second comedian was a bit better. If found the passenger entertainment night to be the best!!

The food was not that great, it was ok but the lobster tasted rubbery. Breakfast was the same thing everyday, lunch seemed to be that way as well.

The debarkation talk was a waste unless you were American. We Canadians got our information later in our cabin, with yet another reminder to tip some more!!!

Most of the tours in Cozumel were cancelled because of the weather. We just shopped and then went to Carlos and Joes-that place is a blast!! Calica is just a pile of dirt port, but Play Del Carmen is beautiful.

The days at sea were very boring as the weather was bad and Carnival had nothing for us to do, and I mean nothing!!

For my first cruising experience I am very disappointed and I will never cruise with Carnival again, nor will I recommend them. Yes is was a cheap cruise but wait till you actually get on the boat it is not cheap anymore!!!! All I can say is hire a new cruise director!!

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