I have cruised with Carnival twice out of Charleston, SC both times on the Fantasy. I was cruising with a consummate cruiser who has traveled countless of times with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. She found a great deal with Norwegian and we decided to do a GIRLS cruise so she could try out Norwegian which many people had bragged about over and over. She and I were both very disappointed and do not plan to cruise with this company again.

1. Online presence. Their website is unnecessarily difficult. It is 2019 and it makes no sense that some of the information was so hard to find. I also felt there was a lot of bait and switch with upgrades, special offers, etc. In the end the price really was not especially low and I regretted my purchase. Carnival's website is a lot friendlier, attractive and informative.

2. Customer service. When I had questions I tried to chat online and ask but it was only available at really odd times so it was not reliable. The website did not give me the thorough specific information I was seeking. I tried calling and when I was connected, instead of getting a professional, I got a traveler who had agreed to answer questions, which was quite odd. She was very disinterested and only spouted the same stuff that was online and really was not helpful. Again, Carnival was very helpful and their agents were so excited for me even when I sailed one of the cheapest routes. Embarkation on Jade was a joke. We arrived at 10:30 AM as our instruction told us to. In tiny writing I finally noticed boring was at noon. While we got checked quickly we were funneled into an airport looking waiting room. We were packed in like sardines. The bathrooms were filthy and no one wanted to take responsibility for it. The drink vending machines were inoperable and there was nothing to drink for hours. Finally they brought us cups of terrible tasting water and what seemed like very watery crystal light. It was 1:30 PM before I was allowed to board and I was in GROUP 3! I have no clue what time group 23 got on. Once on NOTHING was ready and the bars were limited. Everyone was hungry and was at the buffet which seemed to be serving leftovers. There were not enough tables so people sat on the dirty floors. I should have known this was the beginning of a bad trip. Read more