Rolf Sulzberger

65+
Our 3rd cruise
Carnival Jubilee
Sail date 1/1/99
Southern Caribbean

General:

~The ship is clean and appears to be well maintained.
~There is a major problem with temperature control. Most of the public areas of the ship, particularly the Atlantic Deck Showroom, are bitterly cold, and whenever a staff member was asked why, the only response is "engineering has been notified". Engineering apparently could not or did not want to handle the problem. As a result, over half of our group came home sick with cold/flu type symptoms including my wife and myself. The Medical staff told us that they were unusually busy this trip with this type of illness.

Food Service:

~It is necessary to have a place like the Funnel Grill to off-load pressure on the Dinning Rooms and to give passengers a second eating option, but it would be nice if the place a little better ambiance than an old style army mess hall? A little old lady, at whose table I took refuge from the crowds milling around looking for a place to sit, said to me, "I didn't spend all this money on a cruise to have to stand in line at a cafeteria and have food slapped on my plate. Look at all these waiters that could be serving us instead of just standing around waiting to snatch your empty dish". I agreed. The place is drab and colorless, and the people working there would obviously much rather be somewhere else.

~In the Dinning Room we found the decor pleasant, the service excellent, and meals presented in an attractive manner. However the food itself was substandard and the biggest disappointment of our entire cruise experience.

Between us at the table we sampled all the soups and found only one agreeable to everyone. It appeared first as a Black Pea Soup, the second time as a Bean Soup, and the third evening it was called a Lentil Soup. It never changed, but it was good. The cold soups were nothing more than milk with each day an addition of a minute amount of flavoring and food color. Even the serving staff laughingly warned us away from them.

Salads were fresh and crisp but unimaginative. Dressing variety never changed.

The Pasta was excellent, as were the bread and rolls.

The meats -- beef, pork, and lamb -- were generally tough and fatty and at times so bad as to be inedible. Since steaks were prepared to our order, we believe that it was the low quality of the meat that caused the problem, not necessarily the preparation.

Particularly frustrating were the well known named dishes on the menu such as Eggs Benedict for Breakfast, Coq Au Vin or Coquilles St. Jacques for Dinner, or a Hazelnut or Linzer Torte for Dessert, all of which turned up unrecognizable in either taste or appearance. Obviously, the supervising chef had never been exposed to these dishes, or simply was not furnished the ingredients necessary to make them. In any event, tasty or not, they were not what they were supposed to be. Given the already general blandness of the menu's offerings, this was inexcusable.

And most unforgivable in a restaurant that has any pride in its food preparation is that there were no sauces. The Fillet was served without Bernaise, the Salmon without Hollandaise, Fish without Lemon Butter, and the Roast Beef without a Horseradish Sauce or even Au Jus.

Entertainment:

~We enjoyed very much the three production shows, especially "Broadway" which was outstanding, and the facility itself and the expert lighting add a great deal. The music throughout the ship was very good. Being of an older generation and used to true comedians, we did not care for the succession of comics whose primary stock in trade seemed to be the insult joke, but they did seem to hit it off with the younger people aboard. Probably for the same reason we found the Cruise Director so sophomoric that eventually we simple walked out every time he got on stage, but again, he seemed to appeal to the teens who waved their arms and screamed nicely at his request.

We would very much have liked an evening talk/slide show on the next day’s island, dealing a bit with its history, its people, best beaches, good buys, how much a taxi costs, etc. Other ships do this, but on Jubilee the only ‘travel’ talks were promotions of rather expensive tours.

To make the days at sea more interesting, could there not also be some talks by the appropriate department heads on photography, the cuisine of the area, the industry, ecology and environment of the region, etc. Carnival could go a few steps above Dance Lessons and Arts & Crafts in its offerings!

Finally......

We found the constant hard sell for the casino, stores, tours, photography, etc., to be annoying on our vacation, and as a result probably spent less money than we might have otherwise. It was first cruise on Carnival, and we were very disappointed.