This was not my first Carnival cruise and have had several very pleasant experiences in the past. We booked this cruise with my Mother-in-Law after the recent passing of my father-in-law and wanted to spread his ashes in the sea. I was initially caught disappointed when we found out we would have to pay full-fare for my 1-year old. According to the Carnival booking agent, it was because this was a holiday cruise even though he wouldn't be able to do much or even eat a whole lot. But regardless, we wanted to go in support of my wife and her family.

For starters, the service provided around the ash spreading was awful, we had assumed the possibility of a chaplain or a nice location for the spreading would be provided, however, we were rudely shuffled down to the lower back-end of the ship and told to toss his ashes through a small hole on the side of the ship with very little space and extremely loud engine/ship noise where we could not hear each other speak, making it completely impossible for us to say any words before sending him off.

Most staff encounters were rude. A lot of the staff seemed bothered by us. At one point I was walking to the buffet and the sliding doors were not opening. When I asked a crew member about it he told me "What do you want me to do about it?" Then, once a line began to form on both sides of the door, he decided to pry it open. Another time, we were at Guy's Burgers and were told we could not have any of the specialty burgers and we could only get a plain burger with no cheese. I would understand this if it was a supply issue, but the crew seemed as if it was just that they did not want to make them. Read more