This is not our first cruise, and my husband and I have sailed with Carnival, Celebrity and Princess. I was not going to write a review, but I got tired of the negative comments directed at Carnival. I am a former Travel Agent and although I have not been on 50 cruises like some fortunate people, travel was my business and I have a lot of experience in the cruise Industry, that being said this is only my opinion just like everyone else's. I find it very sad that people love to bash carnival when quite honestly one has to think is it just because they are rude people and find negatives in everything. Firstly I don't particularly like Celebrity, but I know many people who do, so I would never say anything negative about them. Okay lets get to the cruise.

We sailed on the September 25th, 12 day cruise out of Barcelona. This is an extremely port intensive cruise, and yes the excursions are 10 to 12 hours long depending on what you want to see, with an extreme amount of walking, but to bash Carnival for trying to give people a chance to see as much as possible is ridiculous. Obviously some excursions are not for people with walking difficulties especially in Naples and Rome if you do Rome at its Best and in Naples if you choose Pompeii, Capri and Sorrento. These tours are extremely tiring and very well organized, but people need to keep in mind that for older people with walking difficulties they need to choose something else, which unfortunately many people did not and it made some of these tours difficult, because people got mad when they could not keep up, this is not Carnivals fault, people need to book excursions to their level of fitness.I read many previous reviews on how expensive Carnivals shore excursions are, and yes they are pricey and they are also the same rate every other cruise line is charging. I would highly recommend using Carnivals excursions, because all the hassle is taken away from you and Carnival is highly organized at handling so many passengers. You never have to worry about being left if something unforeseen happens and yes sometimes the itinerary is changed due to strikes or weather, this is not Carnivals fault, and to listen to people complain and want their money back is unbelievable, unfortunate things happen on cruises everywhere and on every cruise line.

My husband and I met a lot of wonderful people on this cruise and hopefully will be able to continue those new relationships. That being said YES there was many rude people on this cruise, I don't know why and I will not say which nationalities I thought might be the cause, but to blame peoples ignorant attitude on Carnival is also ridiculous. Read more