My husband and I have just returned from a seven day cruise on the Carnival Dream. We booked an Ocean Suite because we wanted to do something very special for our anniversary this year. We sailed on 3/29/2014 and returned on 4/05/2014. I ...
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My husband and I have just returned from a seven day cruise on the Carnival Dream. We booked an Ocean Suite because we wanted to do something very special for our anniversary this year. We sailed on 3/29/2014 and returned on 4/05/2014. I would like to share a little of our vacation with you.
First, I would like to tell you that we have never had complaints on any of our cruises with Carnival, and I don’t like writing this, but because WE LOVE CARNIVAL I felt I needed to bring some things to their attention. The Dream is a beautiful ship and the shows were good. The staff we had at dinner in the Steakhouse and in the MDR were absolutely wonderful. I cannot say enough good things about them.
Overall, we were very disappointed with some of the things that happened.
We missed two ports on the itinerary, and while we definitely understand safety is the most important thing, we were bummed by it. We did get to a port in Roatan, but not the port we were supposed to have gone to. Our excursion was cancelled and refunded, but we were disappointed when we got off the boat. There was minimal shopping and not much else to do at the port. There wasn’t even a place nearby to get in the water. We could have taken a taxi or bus to the other side of the island, but we were too afraid we would have missed the boat so we walked into town. We were afraid for our safety so we decided to return to the boat. We skipped Costa Maya but we had an extra day at sea instead of being able to go to another port. This was the excursion we had been looking forward to the most. Neither of us has been to Costa Maya or on a Mini Jeep Rhino so this was going to be a fun excursion for us. Again, we understand why but we were disappointed when we saw the port lights and then saw them in the distance when we were far away from the port. We were promptly refunded the amount of the missed excursion.
I especially like the fact that Carnival has a “backup plan” when these type of situations arise. WE had fun on our extra sea day.
When we arrived in port on Saturday, we were told we would have to take buses to get back to the correct terminal because another boat was in our docking area. While this was a minor set back, Carnival and its employees went ABOVE and beyond to get us back to our vehicles. The buses were waiting for us, and we didn’t have to wait long to get on the bus and be taken to our vehicle. Let me say again…….I LOVE THAT CARNIVAL HAS A BACKUP PLAN. WE LOVE CARNIVAL.
The biggest complaint we have was the bed and the lack of customer service we received. We were very disappointed with this. Carnival has the ”Carnival Comfort Collection Linens” so we were expecting to have a comfortable bed and linens in the Ocean Suite. This was not the case. The bed was hard and was very uncomfortable. We told our cabin attendant Sunday morning that the bed was hard and both of our backs were hurting because of it. We asked if there was anything she could do for us to make it more comfortable and she told us she would look into it. She notified us later that day that she put on an extra topper for the duvet and that it should feel better. Both of us were up and down all night because of the bed. We both woke up with sore backs and hips, and I had a headache for most of the day Monday. When we saw her again on Monday, we told her it was still really hard and asked if there was another mattress or something else she could do. Again, she told us she would look into it. Later that night, she advised us that she had done everything she could do, and that it should be better.
We were again up and down all night because of the bed. We decided to go to guest services the next day and spoke with a very nice lady. She told us she would notify housekeeping of the issue, and that they should be able to do something for us. When we got to the room later that night, we met our room attendant. She was upset that we went to guest services, and advised us that there was nothing additional that could be done to the bed. I felt like we were being scolded. She also advised she was going to be off the next day. I decided to call guest services and ask them to send four blankets to our room. I made a pallett and put three of them on top of the duvet and used one for us to cover up with for the remainder of the trip. Our room attendant never said anything additional to us about it.
At this point, we are both not getting much sleep in the cabin, so we napped in the chairs at the pool and on the serenity deck during the day.
We were at guest services a total of seven times during our cruise for the same issue. One of the times we went to guest services and the rude man that we spoke with laughed at me and said I must have been mistaken because all of the beds are comfortable. The other times the staff was nice.
We have NEVER been treated this way nor had this type of issue on any of the cruises we have taken.
During the cruise, we were given information on bookings for other cruises. We decided to book our next cruise because of the $100.00 credit and reduced deposit. When we spoke to the agent about the next cruise and the type of rooms that are offered, he told us we should have had nicer accommodations with the Ocean Suite. We told him about our experience, and he advised us to speak to Guest services. We went back to guest services, and the only person at the counter was the rude man I had spoken with earlier. I didn’t want to deal with him again, and we decided to leave. I wrote basically the same information above and sent it to carnival. The reply I received back was scripted and they mentioned their disappointment with our trip to Grand Cayman - WE WENT TO COZUMEL/COSTA MAYA/BELIZE/HONDURAS - Imagine my disappointment. I fired another email off to them letting them know just how impersonal that email was and I am looking for another cruise for next year.
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