Funnybroad

Age: 37
Occupation: Computer Analyst
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Celebration
Sailing Date: November 26th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

I've been on two cruises; first on Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas and next on Carnival's Celebration.

I've come to the conclusion that Royal Caribbean is like Hyatt Regency on the Seas... Carnival is more like Motel 6.

One of the most disturbing things that happened on the Carnival Celebration was the fact that the ship BOUNCED the entire time it was at sea. I mean it felt like you were driving a car across railroad tracks... like a quick hard bounce. I asked a couple of crew members if the bouncing was normal, but they kind of gave me vague answers like, "it isn't too bad today" or "I'm used to it". Later, I found another passenger that said he finally heard from a crew member that the ship needed to repair a bent drive shaft, but to do so would mean to dry-dock it, and they couldn't do that.

Everyone I had spoken to, including travel agents had said that Royal Caribbean had a nicer ship, but Carnival was generally a "more 'foodie' ship" and was more of a party atmosphere. I have no clue how anyone could have ever said that Carnival had better food and a better party atmosphere than Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean had a luscious buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They served everything you could ever want for Breakfast from Bacon and eggs to smoked salmon to waffles, pancakes, and even biscuits and gravy. Royal Caribbean buffets were always so wonderful that we seldom ate in the dining room. Royal Caribbean had fabulous fresh salads, 7-8 entrees (always piping hot), a big roast or some other carving of meat, luscious side dishes and desserts to die for. Carnival Celebration had a very lame and very small buffet set up in their Wheelhouse Bar and Grill. You had your choice of maybe 2-3 entrees, and the same lukewarm potato wedges they called "steak fries" and the exact same steamed broccoli spears. The Carnival dining room fare was somewhat better, but our food usually arrived cool-to-lukewarm, and there was never enough... in fact... we often ended up going to the buffet afterward to fill ourselves up. The celebration also had sushi every night at 6pm at the "Trolley Car". The sushi was not good either.

Carnival touted their magnificent "Midnight Buffet" that was just sad. Nothing but dried-up cold-cuts and cheese... it all tasted like stuff that you get in bulk at Sam's Club. Then they forced you to sit at the dining room tables they directed you to, and we awkwardly ate our buffet stuff at a big round table full of people we didn't know, when we would have much preferred a table to ourselves. Not a single person at our big table finished their food, because it just wasn't very good at all. Oh, then there are the dessert police at the buffet... making sure you got only your small sliver and no more!

In short, Carnival's food was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT... especially after all the reviews I read said that they had better food than Royal Caribbean!

Carnival Celebration had a lot fewer activities planned for the daytime "days at sea". They also stacked up all of their pool lounge chairs every night, so if you felt like going out on deck at night to look at the stars, you had to stand, because there were no chairs. (Royal Caribbean left theirs on deck). Royal Caribbean had lots of poolside contests like "Men's Sexy Legs" and "Men's Belly Flop". Carnival Celebration had just a couple, but they were boring.

Carnival Celebration only had two hot tubs on the entire ship. One was clearly marked "ADULTS ONLY" but it was quite apparent that there were parents that couldn't read.

Carnival has been touted as being a more "party" type of cruise, but when it came right down to it, there were a LOT FEWER people in the lounges and discos at night. Royal Caribbean planned some really FUN group events in the lounges, and Carnival did not. For example, Royal Caribbean planned certain music nights in their dance lounge... one night was Salsa, one was Country Western, one was Swing-dance.

Royal Caribbean had much better pool-side entertainment. The Carnival Celebration had rude bartenders at poolside. Royal Caribbean had a 4-person Calypso band by the pool twice a day. Carnival had one single guy with a steel drum and a karaoke machine that would sing by poolside, but only once a day.

Royal Caribbean had an inside pool/spa area with nice cushioned lawn chairs. Carnival did not.

I stayed on the Upper Deck, and the carpet had a big brown stain running all the way down the hallway... it looks like the walls had leaked or something.

On the day before we returned back to Galveston, the ship's Activity Director gave us a big long lecture on how to fill out our comment cards. It was really weird the way he kept saying, "please be fair" and "we're all human". It made me feel strange and uncomfortable.

On our last night in our dining room, they made the staff carry U.S. flags and sing "God Bless America"... you know... "my home sweet home". We had just talked to our waiter who was from the Philippines. He hadn't seen his wife in 3 months, but he needed to work on the cruise lines to make money to support them. As you may know, there are very few crew members that are from the U.S. Most are from the Philippines, eastern Europe, and Caribbean nations such as Jamaica, Barbados, etc... Just the fact that they made these poor guys carry u.s. flags around and sing that ... in their situations where they're just trying to support their families back in their home countries... well, it was just ridiculous and uncomfortable.

The photo guys on the Carnival Celebration were WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE! Everywhere you turn, "we take your photo... we take your photo..."

The Carnival Celebration was a big disappointment. They really shouldn't let a ship that bounces like that take people on a cruise. It's really disturbing to say the least.

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