Larry Eisen
Age: 51
Occupation: Self Employed
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: January 22nd, 2007
Ship - Celebration ( believe me, it's
nothing to celebrate! ) out of Jacksonville, Fl
Positives
- Service every where on ship was fine, EXCEPT Joseph the Maitre'd and his
waiters at our tables. Joseph was very uncooperative.
- The comedians were very good especially Kim the self proclaimed big girl from
South Carolina who was FANTASTIC! It was an hour of non stop, gut busting
laughter!
- The Filet Mignon, Sirloin Strip and smoked Salmon were all very good.
- Food was presented extremely well. It's just too bad that they did not expend
a quarter of that effort in making it taste good.
Negatives
Room:
- Dirty underwear was found in the room the first day along with M&Ms on floor.
- Toilet was dirty upon entering room.
- Repairs had been done in bathroom previously that would be unacceptable in any
house in the country. Grout was dirty or rusty and non existent in some places.
There was exposed rusty metal in bathroom.
Main dining room:
- The first night we could not get our water glasses refilled. The Caesar Salad
had no garlic and was the worst I had ever had. The desert was supposed to be
some type of chocolate cake in a bowl. It was uncooked and still liquid under
the crust. After a serious discussion with Joseph, the uncooperative Maitre'd,
we were moved to another table the following evening.
- The second night our waiter spent more time studying his orders than serving.
He had four tables and would get everyone’s order and then serve all the soups
at all the tables at once, leaving the people who ordered something other than
soup with nothing to eat.
- The third night, after he started to do the same thing, I told him to serve
each course to everyone at our table at once. He started serving properly at
that point. I was served Seafood Newburg that smelled bad. I was in the seafood
business. I know what good seafood is supposed to smell like! I had the Cherries
Jubilee for desert. It was served as Cherries Jubilee soup.
- The fourth night we actually got good service. YEA! Too bad the food was awful
except the steak.
- The fifth night the service continued to be good. I ordered one of my favorite
dishes that I have had at least 100 times before. The escargot was terrible and
only one snail was eaten. I also ordered the Chateaubriand. It was like shoe
leather. I sent both of those to the trash and ordered the NY strip. As usual it
was very good
In general the food on the ship was terrible. No better than cafeteria food at a
FAIR cafeteria. The coffee was the worst coffee I can ever remember having,
anywhere. The milk I received when ordering room service came out in chunks. I
never could get a ripe piece of melon and I tried it every day. On the second to
last day of the cruise, my wife ordered a Bloody Mary and it was served without
celery. We asked for a stalk of celery and were told that they had run out.
There was no apology given.
There were very few scheduled activities on this cruise in comparison to most
cruises. I found myself wandering around aimlessly trying to find something to
do besides gamble. Most of the gambling on this ship was done on the slots with
very little table action.
When disembarking we were supposed to have gotten VIP service. This means that
we were supposed to have been escorted off the ship prior to the rest of the
cruisers. They forgot all 18 of the "VIPs" who were waiting in the designated
area for this service.
One of the pools was out of service the whole trip. In general this ship is in
shoddy condition everywhere except the main public areas like the casino, food
service areas, bars and lobbies.
This was truly the cruise from Hell.
Now I know that Carnival could not stay in business if all their cruises and
ships were like this, but why did it have to happen to me? I would not cruise on
the Celebration again if they gave me the cruise for free and $500 to gamble
with!