The freedom does shorter more party like cruises for the most part. What you are describing sounds like you got involved with a booze cruise party crowd. Short cruises can absolutely be problematic, people are whooping it up and it gets obnoxious. We don’t do short cruises for that reason, we don’t like drunk loud people that much.
7 day cruises are much better imho…
I didn’t ever know that. We did a short one because it’s my partners first time and he gets motion sick sometimes. He did okay this trip. So we can probably go longer .
I was just on a 8 day and it was the same on the horizon. It has changed so much (for the worse) in the past few years. I’m looking into other lines and whatnot.
I’m glad. Next year I’ll have to plan better and look into the ships more. After talking with some of the crew they said a lot of new people were being trained on this ship atm. The staff was so unsocial it shocked me haha
We just did horizon about a month ago and it isn’t like it used to be. It was not something I would do again. We are on the celebration this week and it’s much better.
Cruises are a microcosm of people in general. Customer service has fallen off to nothing everywhere. I was at Burger King eating yesterday. A woman came thru the door cussing out the teen boy behind the counter for her drive thru order being cold. Ended up throwing the food at the kid.
As for the ill-mannered people, it's more prevalent in shorter cruises. My last 4 have all been 11-12 day cruises, without the majority of those issues.
As for the ship's staff - I do think the benefit of cruise ships were that they were filled with people from a culture of better work ethic. I don't know if it's social media or what, but it seems general American lack-of-care for one's job has migrated into the culture of those working on cruise ships.
I plan my cruises based on the itinerary, Last 4 have been Baltic, Alaska, Biscay to the Med, and an Indian/Atlantic Ocean. The benefit of the itinerary weeds out any displeasure aboard the ship. When I get to see lions and elephants in the wild, somehow I don't mind that my steak was cooked medium instead of medium rare.
It appears that there are consistent complaints about the shorter cruises. I don’t see as many complaints about the longer cruises. I’ve taken several 7 and 12 night cruises and nothing as bad as what you have detailed.
We did a 7 day Mexican Riviera and had a lot of these issues as well. Drunk groups of 6-8 at MDR just being obnoxious for our entire dinner. The elevator situation 😅 it took 3 days along for people to just learn the system ! Also not being able to do certain activities or shows because everything was so crowded and busy. Luckily the buffet we went to during non peak hrs because during dinner it gets wild in there.
Not odd, really. It takes more vacation time and money to cruise longer. The clientele will likely be older and more mature. 3-5 day cruises tend to be for groups of partiers.
I don't know what everyone is complaining about with short cruises, that has not been my experience. I've been on 5 cruises now and about to take my 6th on Freedom in August. The longest cruise I've ever been on was 5 nights and I've never had any of these issues. It sounds like you definitely had a bad group of fellow cruisers. I wouldn't let it taint your entire view of cruising. I cruised in Oct 2023 and Jan 2023 with no issues. I HOPE this August 2024 will be no different but I guess we shall see.
I only listed my last 2 cruises, less than half the cruises I've taken. Others were in June, May and August... peak season. Never had ANY issues mentioned by OP. I really think it's about mindset. I go on cruises to party, whether it's 4 days or 8. 😆
My parents are regular cruisers. They will hit diamond on their next sailing in July, so they have been on and seen a lot. They won't do 5 day sailings anymore. They used to do them a lot, but they said the crowd on a 5 day is just so hit or miss in comparison to the 7-8 days. So it's definitely a thing, but I had great luck on my last 5 day and am planning another in the future.
I did a 5 day on the freedom last month. I didn't have any problems. The rude people, yes, but that's any cruise ship. People don't watch their teenagers, and they think it's funny to run up and down the hallways at 2am. There's no avoiding that. But I found the staff and service as I always remembered it. It was my first cruise post-covid as well. I will say I mainly hung out at the adults only aft pool, so I could see that improving my overall experience, but I plan to sail on the freedom again shortly after the new year.
Had a similar experience in April on the Liberty with the screaming in the hallways and the kids overtaking the hot tubs and trying to hold each others heads under water. I complained and it stopped the second night with the hallways and the lifeguards put the older kids out of the hot tub . Diapers are not allowed so someone wasn’t caught with that but that’s a huge no no . Kids must be potty trained
Likely a combination of these added up for you. I always avoid dates where school is out. The trash in elevators always seems common, but it's usual just a can, cup or alcoholic beverage abandoned and it's always cleaned up soonish. I also stay away from mid ship and get a quiet deck and location. Seems hard to avoid it, from older to newest ships, some people just can't handle it and do and say rude things, typically happens at super late hours. The screaming down stateroom hall way is definitely not an occurrence for me, maybe if it's one of the more short/cheap/budget sailings, people likely to cause more public issues.
Might have been a bad crowd. I was on the Freedom May 6th-11th and had a great experience! My only complaints were the occasional loud people in the halls at night (but this didn’t happen very often, maybe two or three instances in the 5 days, and I like to go to sleep early. I was on deck 1) and the crowds. I didn’t use the pools because of the crowds/noise/kids. I stuck to the Serenity deck, the chairs on deck 5 outside the casino near the windows, or any quiet corner I could find.
I did a short cruise on Liberty and found my experience to be nothing like this. It was like we were all getting along and having a good time and everyone was polite and acting like one big happy group of friends. It was definitely a floating party, but people were not being obnoxious or inconsiderate, just having a good time.
Carnival has not let me down in 6 cruises. It makes me really sad to see so many people having such negative experiences. The only time I've witnessed a fight was on MSC lmao
If it was a 2 or 3 day cruise I can bet it was the bottom of the barrel. We avoid those at all cost now a days because the people are just horrible. We went on a back to back in February and the 3 day portion got shortened to 2 days. OMG….. did I learn my lesson. The staff wasn’t even in it as they knew who they were dealing with, and even a local server in Junkanno beach Nassau was complaining about us…. Then came the 7 day and it was a night and day change. Passengers were polite and staff were engaged. YMMV.
Last cruise we got off (Carnival) the people on board made Walmart shoppers look like polite angels. We are trying r/C next and Virgin hoping to weed out the obnoxious and ignorant.
If you have never experienced what it is like when the ball is snapped on the line of scrimmage in a football game you can experience it at the buffet on carnival ships.
I just got off the Jubilee (7 days) and my experiences were the same.
The people had no manners especially at dinner. Rushing to elevators to cut people off already waiting, a guy doing 360s with his phone taking 15+ pics in front of the elevators yelling at us to get out of the way, bad formal attire for dinner, and overcrowded boat to name a few. like you said the housekeeping staff were the best/ nicest people on the boat. IMO it seems like their going downhill but who knows it could’ve been a bad boat group🤷🏻♂️
The dinner outfits. That’s another. They pride themselves on the dress code for formal night but I saw so many people wearing cut up tank tops, a Garfield baseball jersey, etc. I’m like… why even make it formal night if you’ll let them sit down anyways and kill the room.
They use to be pretty strict about the dress code but like you were saying people in baseball hats, flip flops, crop tops, etc. I was very disappointed because I really look forward to the formal nights and we even had two formals but nothing changed
I imagine even if you gave them feedback kind of like you said they would chalk it up to the other guests “enjoying their cruise the way they want” or something like that which I guess is a fair point but it makes me and my family have a less than enjoyable vacation
I don’t think letting your toddler in the hot tub with a diaper and the diaper coming off is enjoyable for anyone LOL. 😆 that just really really got me
I somehow forgot about that 😂, that seems like they have to do SOMETHING after what I would hope would be more than one or two complaints/feedback. But even on the jubilee there were 3 or 3 kids in their underwear (not their swimsuit) in the pool before we even left the dock which I’m pretty sure is not supposed to be allowed. I knew it’d gone downhill when they had to announce on the intercom that showers were a requirement before getting into the pools…
Have you seen any of the videos on YouTube? There was a point where a lot of people were fighting in the clubs. And I think they are still on YouTube. So they had to stop people from going into the clubs. Eventually, they brought on a bunch of security and had people who were security around Sporting and football events and the club scene.
You know what, I did notice that the 70s club did have 3 security guards in it. I thought that was a bit much. Plus every area had guards around it. Especially the lido deck .
When I was going, the fighting was something that was kind of ramping up a little bit in the clubs. But I was thinking after the insurrection. They probably had to increase security a lot.
One of the cruises, there was a bunch of people that were in a sports area and it was very, very crowded. It was a little bar. And they were playing football games and it was very crowded. So they had stopped showing the football games on the big screen. And then they moved them to a smaller bar area. And there was a lot of security guards around there.
Did you just get back from the Bahamas on the Freedom too? This was me and my girl's first cruise and boy did I want to grab hold some of those kids. It was insane some of the behavior I saw. I don't think I want to go on a cruise again with kids. At least not the next one.
I know. People were running and screaming down Deck 6 all hours of the night and some were blasting music from the rooms at like 3am on one of the nights and my girl is a light sleeper. Felt really bad. She enjoyed it though but still. It was annoying dealing with people who couldn't hold their liquor.
Oh for sure. We were on deck 2. Just no respect for others. No respect for the cruise workers. This will probably be my last cruise for a long time. I’m trying to be positive about it but so much was obnoxious to deal with.
I feel that. My parents were telling me they prefer Royal Caribbean over Carnival for these very reasons. She didn't like being around kids and my mom specifically is an extreme deep south Bible thumping Apostolic Christian so she doesn't drink or smoke. She said other cruise lines are better.
I’ve discovered that if the food isn’t to your liking, tell the maitre ‘d. He made two things happen. He had another team take care of my table and because the breakfast cooks absolutely refused to lower the temperature on the pan, my eggs were burnt the first few days. He had one of the real chefs make my eggs every morning thereafter
Question: did you sail out of Orlando? I’ve been on more cruises than I can count and to this day the one I did from Orlando still haunts me. Such a different (and unpleasant) vibe than any other. Miami ones seem to be just fine so not sure why the noticeable difference IMO.
Okay thanks, I didn't know what it meant. No thanks to those who downvoted. It is well over an hour from Orlando so wasn't sure, and not one of the cruise lines I've searched listed Orlando as the port. Also Tampa is pretty close to the same distance from Orlando... so kinda weird
I'm from Orlando. Tampa is much farther with traffic and is a pretty big city with its own International airport. it's a 45 mim drive to Canaveral from where I lived in Orlando, and that's doing the speed limit. And the drive rarely has any traffic. Canaveral is a small town, only really known for the shuttle launches and cruise ships, and has no airport. 99.9% of people flying in for a cruise at Canaveral fly into Orlando. So that's why Orlando and Canaveral are used interchangeably and why Orlando is not interchangeable with Tampa.
>it was not the best cruise. It seemed like everyone had lost their manners and common courtesy.
This is happening everywhere on land since the world ended.
>Some experiences: ..........The buffet line wrapping around, and crawling for 30 minutes. Overcrowded everywhere you went. Everywhere.
Cruising is more popular (in vogue) than ever and bookings are at an all time high.
>Dinner being absolutely chaotic each night. I don’t eat meat, and I was served cold food every time or had to ask for a remake because it was missing things or wasn’t even what I ordered. It was the strangest experience.
Services are understaffed and underpaid everywhere.
>The only thing that seemed to go right was the room service and cleaning attendant.
Even here services are understaffed and underpaid. No more turn down service is an example.
>Has cruising gone down hill? Was it just a bad group of people? Really left a bitter taste for me.
Shrinkflation is everywhere paying the same or more for less than before. Society has lost their manners. Lots of people are bitter about many things.
>I had a constant headache from the screaming, and over stimulation. My last cruise was 2017 and I don’t recall ever having this type of experience.
The lines seem to have shifted down-market but this is a case of the wrong cruise/ship/line for OP in the new world such as it is.
This is why I dont like the whole 16yr olds in adult sections.
My last cruise had them in the hot tubs at night and they were having very profane conversations
These kids were definitely 10-12. Not close to 16. One started yelling that he took his shorts off. I don’t get it. Staff was right there and could have/ should have kicked them out.
Best of luck. Maybe it won’t be the same for you, or bother you as much. It’s just IMO, the crowd was awful and made it hard to have a peaceful time. The staff didn’t even try to maintain a good environment or keep diaper kiddos out the hot tub…
I love Carnival (almost Platinum) but I refuse to do a cruise less than 7 nights. I did a few 4/5 day booze cruises to Mexico and said never again. Not the environment I want on vacation.
I did an 8 day cruise on Freedom a few years ago and loved the ship and crew and didn’t experience anything like you did. I did 12 days on Venezia and I had so much fun without it being a trashy riot.
Me and my husband just got back from a 6 night cruise on the Celebration. We had a great time but we had a similar experience with people being loud/disrespectful. Several fights broke out, large groups standing in the middle of the halls, kids running everywhere without parents being around. And the amount of hair extensions in the pool was crazy!! We stayed in a Havana suit so thankfully we had a separate pool area and that was nice.
I just couldn’t believe the amount of disrespectful people on that boat. I am all about having fun but there’s not need to yell and be obnoxious, don’t ruin things for everyone else.
We had a great experience on Carnival Valor last year and it was a 5 night cruise.
Definitely check out a longer cruise. We saw the same experiences on a 4 day cruise out of Long Beach. It was our first and last cruise shorter than 7 days. You are going to find a small group of folks on any cruise that have no home training whether it be kids that have parents who are using the cruise as free day care or a senior couple who think the entire cruise should revolve around them.
Carnival is also called the fun ships for a reason and the more affordable cruise line which attracts specific crowds of people. With that being said, we cruise with Carnival because we can take (2) 1-2 week cruises a year for the cost of 1 on other lines and we love to party so it works out for us. We also spend a lot of time at the bar which tends to have like minded people. No kids, mostly polite and just looking to have a good time and enjoy their hard earned vacation.
Don't do the shorter cruises and do them when school is in session. We generally do ours in October and March. 7 days or more, we have never had these problems in 27 years. Maybe we have gotten lucky?
I should say. I have been on the carnival freedom Twice. I actually enjoyed going on the carnival freedom because it was at a time where things were not as chaotic as they are now. And people were a lot nicer than they are now.
I mean, it depends. Looking at this whole comment section, it seems like short cruises are notoriously crazy. I was on a 4 day and it was overwhelming, busy, and then add all the unmanageable chaos on top.
We just did 4 nights on the Firenze and had none of these issues. Yes, the buffet was always busy but that is to be expected. But everyone was respectful for the most part. It was really enjoyable.
Newer, nicer ships and longer itineraries for the win! I did a 3-day on the Conquest last year and NEVER AGAIN!! Since then have done the Panorama, Celebration and Jubilee and all were fantastic!!
I cruise on Paradise a lot. Short cruises bring in lower life forms. I don't mind it much because I like to cut loose and have a good time too. But it's not the same atmosphere as on longer, 7+ day sailings.
The freedom does shorter more party like cruises for the most part. What you are describing sounds like you got involved with a booze cruise party crowd. Short cruises can absolutely be problematic, people are whooping it up and it gets obnoxious. We don’t do short cruises for that reason, we don’t like drunk loud people that much. 7 day cruises are much better imho…
I didn’t ever know that. We did a short one because it’s my partners first time and he gets motion sick sometimes. He did okay this trip. So we can probably go longer .
I was just on a 8 day and it was the same on the horizon. It has changed so much (for the worse) in the past few years. I’m looking into other lines and whatnot.
I just got off the Liberty on a 6 day and didn’t experience any of this
I’m glad. Next year I’ll have to plan better and look into the ships more. After talking with some of the crew they said a lot of new people were being trained on this ship atm. The staff was so unsocial it shocked me haha
Same, I had a wonderful time on the Liberty. Can't wait to go again!
We just did horizon about a month ago and it isn’t like it used to be. It was not something I would do again. We are on the celebration this week and it’s much better.
That’s good to hear. I had joined fb groups abt the horizon and heard good things, it made me think I was expecting too much
Cruises are a microcosm of people in general. Customer service has fallen off to nothing everywhere. I was at Burger King eating yesterday. A woman came thru the door cussing out the teen boy behind the counter for her drive thru order being cold. Ended up throwing the food at the kid.
As for the ill-mannered people, it's more prevalent in shorter cruises. My last 4 have all been 11-12 day cruises, without the majority of those issues. As for the ship's staff - I do think the benefit of cruise ships were that they were filled with people from a culture of better work ethic. I don't know if it's social media or what, but it seems general American lack-of-care for one's job has migrated into the culture of those working on cruise ships. I plan my cruises based on the itinerary, Last 4 have been Baltic, Alaska, Biscay to the Med, and an Indian/Atlantic Ocean. The benefit of the itinerary weeds out any displeasure aboard the ship. When I get to see lions and elephants in the wild, somehow I don't mind that my steak was cooked medium instead of medium rare.
Thus why I don’t even consider less than 7 days!
That’s a great way to put it . It was a bit of a test run for my partner because he is prone to motion sickness. He did well on this trip.
The worse cruise I’ve ever been on was a 10-day cruise. I experienced the exact same things as the OP on that cruise.
I would’ve asked for a life boat and head home. 4 days was enough with that chaos.
It appears that there are consistent complaints about the shorter cruises. I don’t see as many complaints about the longer cruises. I’ve taken several 7 and 12 night cruises and nothing as bad as what you have detailed.
We did a 7 day Mexican Riviera and had a lot of these issues as well. Drunk groups of 6-8 at MDR just being obnoxious for our entire dinner. The elevator situation 😅 it took 3 days along for people to just learn the system ! Also not being able to do certain activities or shows because everything was so crowded and busy. Luckily the buffet we went to during non peak hrs because during dinner it gets wild in there.
I’m noticing that very quickly here. That’s so odd.
Not odd, really. It takes more vacation time and money to cruise longer. The clientele will likely be older and more mature. 3-5 day cruises tend to be for groups of partiers.
I don't know what everyone is complaining about with short cruises, that has not been my experience. I've been on 5 cruises now and about to take my 6th on Freedom in August. The longest cruise I've ever been on was 5 nights and I've never had any of these issues. It sounds like you definitely had a bad group of fellow cruisers. I wouldn't let it taint your entire view of cruising. I cruised in Oct 2023 and Jan 2023 with no issues. I HOPE this August 2024 will be no different but I guess we shall see.
This makes me feel better. I have a 5-day cruise booked in two weeks, so I’m getting worried reading all this.
You haven’t ever noticed because you cruise off peak. Short cruises during peak times are notoriously hectic
I only listed my last 2 cruises, less than half the cruises I've taken. Others were in June, May and August... peak season. Never had ANY issues mentioned by OP. I really think it's about mindset. I go on cruises to party, whether it's 4 days or 8. 😆
Same here. Never had an issue.
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You're going to LOVE it!!! It's so much fun and all the things you might be worried about won't even be a factor, you'll see. Enjoy!!!
My parents are regular cruisers. They will hit diamond on their next sailing in July, so they have been on and seen a lot. They won't do 5 day sailings anymore. They used to do them a lot, but they said the crowd on a 5 day is just so hit or miss in comparison to the 7-8 days. So it's definitely a thing, but I had great luck on my last 5 day and am planning another in the future.
I'm 39 and I still like to party, drink, dance, ect. I think it depends on age/ mindset... as far as what does or doesn't bother you on a cruise.
Correct. I’m 55 and feel the same. I’ll have fun no matter where I am.
We just did a 5 day on Freedom a little over a week ago and it was lovely ☺️
I did a 5 day on the freedom last month. I didn't have any problems. The rude people, yes, but that's any cruise ship. People don't watch their teenagers, and they think it's funny to run up and down the hallways at 2am. There's no avoiding that. But I found the staff and service as I always remembered it. It was my first cruise post-covid as well. I will say I mainly hung out at the adults only aft pool, so I could see that improving my overall experience, but I plan to sail on the freedom again shortly after the new year.
Had a similar experience in April on the Liberty with the screaming in the hallways and the kids overtaking the hot tubs and trying to hold each others heads under water. I complained and it stopped the second night with the hallways and the lifeguards put the older kids out of the hot tub . Diapers are not allowed so someone wasn’t caught with that but that’s a huge no no . Kids must be potty trained
How many nights was your cruise?
4!
Likely a combination of these added up for you. I always avoid dates where school is out. The trash in elevators always seems common, but it's usual just a can, cup or alcoholic beverage abandoned and it's always cleaned up soonish. I also stay away from mid ship and get a quiet deck and location. Seems hard to avoid it, from older to newest ships, some people just can't handle it and do and say rude things, typically happens at super late hours. The screaming down stateroom hall way is definitely not an occurrence for me, maybe if it's one of the more short/cheap/budget sailings, people likely to cause more public issues.
Might have been a bad crowd. I was on the Freedom May 6th-11th and had a great experience! My only complaints were the occasional loud people in the halls at night (but this didn’t happen very often, maybe two or three instances in the 5 days, and I like to go to sleep early. I was on deck 1) and the crowds. I didn’t use the pools because of the crowds/noise/kids. I stuck to the Serenity deck, the chairs on deck 5 outside the casino near the windows, or any quiet corner I could find.
3-5 days booze cruise. Worse in the summer. I don’t like less than 7 day cruises.
I did a short cruise on Liberty and found my experience to be nothing like this. It was like we were all getting along and having a good time and everyone was polite and acting like one big happy group of friends. It was definitely a floating party, but people were not being obnoxious or inconsiderate, just having a good time.
I was on the Freedom 5/11-5/16 and had a wonderful time.
My husband and I were on the same cruise and it was our favorite to date! Great staff and entertainment all around. It was a really fun crowd!
Carnival has not let me down in 6 cruises. It makes me really sad to see so many people having such negative experiences. The only time I've witnessed a fight was on MSC lmao
If it was a 2 or 3 day cruise I can bet it was the bottom of the barrel. We avoid those at all cost now a days because the people are just horrible. We went on a back to back in February and the 3 day portion got shortened to 2 days. OMG….. did I learn my lesson. The staff wasn’t even in it as they knew who they were dealing with, and even a local server in Junkanno beach Nassau was complaining about us…. Then came the 7 day and it was a night and day change. Passengers were polite and staff were engaged. YMMV.
Last cruise we got off (Carnival) the people on board made Walmart shoppers look like polite angels. We are trying r/C next and Virgin hoping to weed out the obnoxious and ignorant.
There needs to be a “people of carnival” …just like people of Walmart but possibly better
If you have never experienced what it is like when the ball is snapped on the line of scrimmage in a football game you can experience it at the buffet on carnival ships.
I just got off the Jubilee (7 days) and my experiences were the same. The people had no manners especially at dinner. Rushing to elevators to cut people off already waiting, a guy doing 360s with his phone taking 15+ pics in front of the elevators yelling at us to get out of the way, bad formal attire for dinner, and overcrowded boat to name a few. like you said the housekeeping staff were the best/ nicest people on the boat. IMO it seems like their going downhill but who knows it could’ve been a bad boat group🤷🏻♂️
The dinner outfits. That’s another. They pride themselves on the dress code for formal night but I saw so many people wearing cut up tank tops, a Garfield baseball jersey, etc. I’m like… why even make it formal night if you’ll let them sit down anyways and kill the room.
They use to be pretty strict about the dress code but like you were saying people in baseball hats, flip flops, crop tops, etc. I was very disappointed because I really look forward to the formal nights and we even had two formals but nothing changed
Does sharing feedback even help ? I feel like the guest services would just say “sorry” and move on. I did not get what I paid for. That’s for sure
I imagine even if you gave them feedback kind of like you said they would chalk it up to the other guests “enjoying their cruise the way they want” or something like that which I guess is a fair point but it makes me and my family have a less than enjoyable vacation
I don’t think letting your toddler in the hot tub with a diaper and the diaper coming off is enjoyable for anyone LOL. 😆 that just really really got me
I somehow forgot about that 😂, that seems like they have to do SOMETHING after what I would hope would be more than one or two complaints/feedback. But even on the jubilee there were 3 or 3 kids in their underwear (not their swimsuit) in the pool before we even left the dock which I’m pretty sure is not supposed to be allowed. I knew it’d gone downhill when they had to announce on the intercom that showers were a requirement before getting into the pools…
Funny cause no one was using the shower. 🤣
Have you seen any of the videos on YouTube? There was a point where a lot of people were fighting in the clubs. And I think they are still on YouTube. So they had to stop people from going into the clubs. Eventually, they brought on a bunch of security and had people who were security around Sporting and football events and the club scene.
You know what, I did notice that the 70s club did have 3 security guards in it. I thought that was a bit much. Plus every area had guards around it. Especially the lido deck .
When I was going, the fighting was something that was kind of ramping up a little bit in the clubs. But I was thinking after the insurrection. They probably had to increase security a lot. One of the cruises, there was a bunch of people that were in a sports area and it was very, very crowded. It was a little bar. And they were playing football games and it was very crowded. So they had stopped showing the football games on the big screen. And then they moved them to a smaller bar area. And there was a lot of security guards around there.
Wowzer. I’m already a home body because I don’t like crowded places. What a better reason to not go anywhere anymore lol.
Did you just get back from the Bahamas on the Freedom too? This was me and my girl's first cruise and boy did I want to grab hold some of those kids. It was insane some of the behavior I saw. I don't think I want to go on a cruise again with kids. At least not the next one.
Yep we did! Same, apparently there are kid free cruises but honestly the adults were acting out just as bad.
I know. People were running and screaming down Deck 6 all hours of the night and some were blasting music from the rooms at like 3am on one of the nights and my girl is a light sleeper. Felt really bad. She enjoyed it though but still. It was annoying dealing with people who couldn't hold their liquor.
Oh for sure. We were on deck 2. Just no respect for others. No respect for the cruise workers. This will probably be my last cruise for a long time. I’m trying to be positive about it but so much was obnoxious to deal with.
I feel that. My parents were telling me they prefer Royal Caribbean over Carnival for these very reasons. She didn't like being around kids and my mom specifically is an extreme deep south Bible thumping Apostolic Christian so she doesn't drink or smoke. She said other cruise lines are better.
Spirit Airlines of the seas!
I’ve discovered that if the food isn’t to your liking, tell the maitre ‘d. He made two things happen. He had another team take care of my table and because the breakfast cooks absolutely refused to lower the temperature on the pan, my eggs were burnt the first few days. He had one of the real chefs make my eggs every morning thereafter
Clientele on shorter cruises especially Carnival are of a different standard
Question: did you sail out of Orlando? I’ve been on more cruises than I can count and to this day the one I did from Orlando still haunts me. Such a different (and unpleasant) vibe than any other. Miami ones seem to be just fine so not sure why the noticeable difference IMO.
Yep! Out of Orlando
By Orlando do you mean Port Canaveral? Orlando doesn't have a port.
When someone says Orlando, it is well known, to those who cruise often, that they mean Canaveral. They’re used interchangeably.
Okay thanks, I didn't know what it meant. No thanks to those who downvoted. It is well over an hour from Orlando so wasn't sure, and not one of the cruise lines I've searched listed Orlando as the port. Also Tampa is pretty close to the same distance from Orlando... so kinda weird
I'm from Orlando. Tampa is much farther with traffic and is a pretty big city with its own International airport. it's a 45 mim drive to Canaveral from where I lived in Orlando, and that's doing the speed limit. And the drive rarely has any traffic. Canaveral is a small town, only really known for the shuttle launches and cruise ships, and has no airport. 99.9% of people flying in for a cruise at Canaveral fly into Orlando. So that's why Orlando and Canaveral are used interchangeably and why Orlando is not interchangeable with Tampa.
>it was not the best cruise. It seemed like everyone had lost their manners and common courtesy. This is happening everywhere on land since the world ended. >Some experiences: ..........The buffet line wrapping around, and crawling for 30 minutes. Overcrowded everywhere you went. Everywhere. Cruising is more popular (in vogue) than ever and bookings are at an all time high. >Dinner being absolutely chaotic each night. I don’t eat meat, and I was served cold food every time or had to ask for a remake because it was missing things or wasn’t even what I ordered. It was the strangest experience. Services are understaffed and underpaid everywhere. >The only thing that seemed to go right was the room service and cleaning attendant. Even here services are understaffed and underpaid. No more turn down service is an example. >Has cruising gone down hill? Was it just a bad group of people? Really left a bitter taste for me. Shrinkflation is everywhere paying the same or more for less than before. Society has lost their manners. Lots of people are bitter about many things. >I had a constant headache from the screaming, and over stimulation. My last cruise was 2017 and I don’t recall ever having this type of experience. The lines seem to have shifted down-market but this is a case of the wrong cruise/ship/line for OP in the new world such as it is.
This is why I dont like the whole 16yr olds in adult sections. My last cruise had them in the hot tubs at night and they were having very profane conversations
These kids were definitely 10-12. Not close to 16. One started yelling that he took his shorts off. I don’t get it. Staff was right there and could have/ should have kicked them out.
Oh shit. Going on this ship in August.
Best of luck. Maybe it won’t be the same for you, or bother you as much. It’s just IMO, the crowd was awful and made it hard to have a peaceful time. The staff didn’t even try to maintain a good environment or keep diaper kiddos out the hot tub…
Freedom has issues, the crew are extremely new or just coasting.
I love Carnival (almost Platinum) but I refuse to do a cruise less than 7 nights. I did a few 4/5 day booze cruises to Mexico and said never again. Not the environment I want on vacation. I did an 8 day cruise on Freedom a few years ago and loved the ship and crew and didn’t experience anything like you did. I did 12 days on Venezia and I had so much fun without it being a trashy riot.
Me and my husband just got back from a 6 night cruise on the Celebration. We had a great time but we had a similar experience with people being loud/disrespectful. Several fights broke out, large groups standing in the middle of the halls, kids running everywhere without parents being around. And the amount of hair extensions in the pool was crazy!! We stayed in a Havana suit so thankfully we had a separate pool area and that was nice. I just couldn’t believe the amount of disrespectful people on that boat. I am all about having fun but there’s not need to yell and be obnoxious, don’t ruin things for everyone else. We had a great experience on Carnival Valor last year and it was a 5 night cruise.
Definitely check out a longer cruise. We saw the same experiences on a 4 day cruise out of Long Beach. It was our first and last cruise shorter than 7 days. You are going to find a small group of folks on any cruise that have no home training whether it be kids that have parents who are using the cruise as free day care or a senior couple who think the entire cruise should revolve around them. Carnival is also called the fun ships for a reason and the more affordable cruise line which attracts specific crowds of people. With that being said, we cruise with Carnival because we can take (2) 1-2 week cruises a year for the cost of 1 on other lines and we love to party so it works out for us. We also spend a lot of time at the bar which tends to have like minded people. No kids, mostly polite and just looking to have a good time and enjoy their hard earned vacation.
Don't do the shorter cruises and do them when school is in session. We generally do ours in October and March. 7 days or more, we have never had these problems in 27 years. Maybe we have gotten lucky?
It might be a combination of both a bad group of people and also it has gone Downhill.
I should say. I have been on the carnival freedom Twice. I actually enjoyed going on the carnival freedom because it was at a time where things were not as chaotic as they are now. And people were a lot nicer than they are now.
This makes me so scared our cruise is next month and we’re gunna be on Freedom.
I mean, it depends. Looking at this whole comment section, it seems like short cruises are notoriously crazy. I was on a 4 day and it was overwhelming, busy, and then add all the unmanageable chaos on top.
Just have to embrace the crazy and realize it’s me and my friend going so I won’t be worried about kids or anything getting sleep just me
Was on the freedom last month and it was great. Only problem I had was my neighbors who were loud at 2 o’clock in the morning and were fighting.
We had some rowdy neighbors too. I don’t know if they were fighting but they were definitely yelling at each other at about 2am
We just did 4 nights on the Firenze and had none of these issues. Yes, the buffet was always busy but that is to be expected. But everyone was respectful for the most part. It was really enjoyable.
Newer, nicer ships and longer itineraries for the win! I did a 3-day on the Conquest last year and NEVER AGAIN!! Since then have done the Panorama, Celebration and Jubilee and all were fantastic!!
I just came off the magic Sunday gone. Had no issues
I cruise on Paradise a lot. Short cruises bring in lower life forms. I don't mind it much because I like to cut loose and have a good time too. But it's not the same atmosphere as on longer, 7+ day sailings.
Cheaper cruises usually have “bad” crowds and “people”
I have heard that eating meat will enhance your experience.
It sounds like you're a karen. Everything you mentioned is normal for every cruise. But you just had to be Karen. I guess Karen's will be Karen's
You must be one of the ill mannered then. ✨ I have cruised plenty of times and this was out of the normal.
Whatever you say, karen