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Terrible customer service – Called the customer service line today. A guy by the name of Pete took the call . He was very arrogant and rude. When I asked to speak to a manager he said " No" and threatened to hang up on me after I was on hold 45mins . I decided to not bother giving my money to these guys who care little about their customers and booked with P&O. Disappointing this cruise liner thinks this behaviour is acceptable!!
never again. ever. i'd rather swim to the islands – Couldnt go to 4 of our 5 islands. 2 were replaced but we recieved miniscule compensation for the itinerary changes. we did not pay to spend 10 of 12 days on the boat. Customer service was awful in every situation we encountered. They lost a cake we'd ordered to the restaurant for a mates birthday one night and the restaurant staff told me it… Read more
must be my fault. spoke to every boss we could get our hands on. it was their fault. But they just aren't in it to help the customers out.
EVERYTHING was a rip off. The incessant 'fun' vibe gets stale and annoying after 10 minutes. Need a bigger adults area. club was bad. food was even worse, almost never served hot.
Not worth it. Shady business practices – Booked a 12 day cruise for 2 adults and a 21 month old departing Melb and going to Pacific Islands. After boarding the ship we were told we wouldn't be able to visit any of the islands in New Caledonia apart from Noumea (capital city) due to Coronavirus. We were told we would instead go to Port Vila (capital city of Vanuatu). Bad start. At… Read more
least we still had Mystery Island to go to. Nah, that got cancelled due to rough waters (which crew were aware of before we departed). Instead we would go to Santo.
So we have gone from 5 days on tropical islands to 1 day on Santo, 1.5 days in Port Vila and 1 day in Noumea. Not whatsoever what we signed up for. I get that weather happens and Coronavirus is out of your control but you already knew that we wouldn't be going to the islands we had paid to go to ahead of time. Offer a refund, that should be your cost of operating in this environment, not the consumers.
Day 2 on the ship, 100km winds, 5m waves and all the pools are closed. Great. Day 3 same.
Nothing for under 2s to do on the ship. The site makes it out that you can stay in the childcare centre with your child but in reality under 2s are only allowed in there for about an hour or 2 per day and at pretty weird times.
Under 2s aren't allowed in the pools when they are open or in any of the splash zones. Again this isn't obvious from the site, you find this out only by really looking for it. When booking an under 2 I feel that your site should maybe pop up a warning about the limitations. Guess it's not something we would think about given they can go in pools at home.
We were refunded $150 in total for skipping the islands. (Trip cost nearly $5k).
Extra days on the boat means massive extra $$$ for Carnival as everything onboard is designed to make you part with your money. Think Las Vegas.
With the rough seas there were so many guests with injuries by the end of the trip. Plaster casts all over the place. Again, how Carnival can justify that this is what people want when they knew ahead of time what the weather was like is beyond me.
Who knows if I would have enjoyed the trip more if the sea was calm... I don't think so. Maybe if it was 2 days.
I had gastro for the last 3 days of the trip and still have it 5 days later. My partner and our son, along with half the ship have coughs and sore throats, probably through the air con which can't be turned off in the rooms.
Oh yeah, in Santo and Port Vila, where to boat docks it is swarming with locals who charge you $200 to take you to the beach. Nothing you can do but pay as you are miles from anything. Adds a nice $600 to your trip that you weren't planning. Still cheaper than booking excursions via Carnival though which are normally at least double the price as you get when you leave the boat.
Won't be cruising with any cruise company again (well they're pretty much all owned by Carnival anyway!). I feel if this was any other industry with such a huge change to the original itinerary or specs, a full refund would be granted.
Positive reviews
Love Carnival Spirit cruises – Love Carnival Spirit Cruises - Something for everyone. We have been on the Spirit many times. Awesome staff, great food, great entertainment, well organised. Top value holiday for all the family. Show details
Good cruise but will never recommend the Island of Mare – Our family of 4 adults and 2 pre-teens booked 2 adjoining balcony cabins. The art in the room was ugly showing a winged boy with his hand over the breast of a woman. Truly ugly and inappropriate. We enjoyed the cruise and the staff. The Islands of Noumea and Pines was fine but Mare was a horrible bust. I recommend people remain on the ship when it… Read more
docks at Mare. This island is very primitive with no adequate facilities and mangy dogs roaming the streets.
Outstanding experience – The cruise from Sydney to Cairns and back over 10 days in September 2019 was fabulous. The food was top notch and the quality of service by the staff on the cruise was really outstanding. Their staff are a great asset to them - everything was done so well - the cabins were immaculately cleaned each day, the entertainment was of high quality, the… Read more
organisation and management very professional and streamlined, and the restaurant service impeccable. It was an experience I won't forget. Highly recommended to anyone who wants a real holiday!
Negative reviews
Currently of a Cruise no peace or quiet – Currently on a South Pacific cruise our cabin on deck 8 being kept awake as music thumps down through the 80's Rock party on Lido deck 9. Its now 12:40 am and there is no escaping the thumping loud drumming music. Its our first shore day tommorrow and even with earplugs in I cannot kerp the noise out to get to sleep. We paid for rest and… Read more
relaxation yet between noisy neighbours and thumping loud deck parties thats the joke of the day to which my response is not laughter... Dont do it too yourself. Crew in general otherwise lovely but peace and rest are limited options in this current experience....
Poor value for money – We paid premium for a 12 night Christmas cruise. In all we had a good time but we both come back sick. The sore throat, high fever, cough etc started on the 2nd week on board. The positives: Friendly staff, the destination, beautiful tropical islands. The people you meet on the cruise. The negatives: Lack of hygiene in buffet, long queues at… Read more
the buffet esp if you want to use the toaster. Sides bar was a salmonella breading ground. Plastic cups not dried, perfect breathing ground for bacteria. Sticky tables, long queues at breakfast. Only place to purchase a soft drinks was at the bar hence under age children had access to the bars. Dining at the Empire room was an underwhelming experience at best. Small portion sizes , bread rolls that were best used as clay pigeons, the cheapest bottle of wine was $50 AUD. Well we did need something to wash down the RSL grade food. For what we paid we could’ve had 2 overseas holidays easy. Wish I read the comments on here before I booked. I had cruised on P&O before and that was a much better experience.
Money grabbing & not for the guest – Awful, nasty experience. Jeez where do I start?? I will dot point.. * the room had ONE power point. That's all. Called guest services and asked for an extension cord as I have a cpap machine. They didn't know what an extension cord was. * The so called lemonade is lemon cordial, the iced tea was a really strange flavour. Coffee from the machine… Read more
was actually undrinkable... it was like drinking the grinds and hot water. We bought two cappuccinos from a cafe and they were barely coffee... so NO coffee for the whole trip * At brekky they have 2 toasters for everyone... be prepared to wait an eternity. * The staff still open your door of the room even when there is a do not disturb on the door... not very nice when you're half naked * You can download their app and "free wifi" however if you want to keep contact and chat with another person on the ship it costs $9. So take a kiddies radio if you want to keep contact with your kids/ partner/ whoever, bring a radio on board. * it costs $30 to get JUST social media on the trip, or pay $50 to get that and e mail etc. The internet " cafe" is 3 computers in a walkway and cost , minimum, $15 for 24 hours. * the tv in the room is old , has about 8 channels, no movies or anything remotely watchable. There's no DVD player. * There's shampoo, soap and body wash in your bathroom. That's it. * The so called ' serenity ' adults only area was far from serene... jam packed and blaring music. I don't think they know the meaning of serenity. * The included restaurant... where to start? Firstly you have to stand in a huge queue, where you see the first staff with an I pad. Tell her your cabin number and she taps away at it for about 5 minutes, says no table available. Take a buzzer and go away!!! Come back when the buzzer goes. Get shown your table and given a terribly expensive wine list. The wine I like is usually $15 a bottle. There it was $50. And no option to buy just a glass. So no wine, lemonade or coffee. Then they blare this music out and do a dance. It's so noisy that we can't talk to each other. * The food was the absolute last straw. It was so disgusting that I am making a formal complaint. * No shop to buy magazines, a snack or drink.
Recent reviews
Fun Shop Staff – A salesman in Fun Shop by the name Of JAUN asked for my Inch Of Gold necklace and bracelet that I complained about be left with him when I Cruised June 10 that he’d have it replaced it’s now September still nothing back.A thief in my eyes Show details
A nice 7 day cruise with some ups and some downs, literally – This was our first "Big cruise ship" cruise. The decor is old and worn but everything on board was clean. Staff were happy and friendly but sometimes hard to understand. The dance shows were fantastic, with something different every night. We especially enjoyed the magician show. We enjoyed dining in the Empire dining room every night. Three… Read more
course meals with lots of choice. Some meals did come out luke warm instead of hot. They had entertainment scheduled throughout the day and night, something for everyone. We found something to do all day long, even relaxing out in the sun lounge pods of the serenity lounge. The smokers area was pretty bad... especially when you have no choice but walk through it, it is also where the children swim in the pool. Unfortunately we had two days of high 5 metre swells. It was very rocky and quite creaky. The thing I felt most uncomfortable with was the constant "on selling" of other products, especially drinks, photos, Art work, and general souvenirs. It was non stop. We entered a competition on the first day on the ship to win a spa treatment. The day before we got back to Sydney we got a call in our cabin telling us we had won... $50 off a hot stone massage that was worth $160... we said no thank you. We probably won't be going on any future cruises. Considering the price we paid for this cruise and then adding on drinks and tours it worked out to be slightly more expensive than what we would normally spend on a 7 day holiday.
Terrible vegetarian food, dingy and tired rooms – The food for vegetarian and vegan was terrible. Very disappointed even though we let them know 1 month ahead of time. The rooms were old and tired. The staff were nice and gaveexcellent service. Overall the experience was below average. If you are vegetarian or vegan do NOT board this ship. Show details
Been on our first cruise for my dads 60th birthday – Our friend booked us this cruise va flight Center website her name is Ryleigh We was in cabin 5261 section 14 deck 5 And I liked Guys burger joint as well as my Nephew aged 9 y I definitely liked the Casino on deck 2 And the fun shops on deck 3 And the toilets in our cabin was clean Very happy with the cabin may book another cruise January… Read more
or December
Me dislike the Uneaten Food as it needs cleaning up regularly but all good We was docked at Port Kembla due to Maintenance on the Carnival spirit
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First Cruise on the Spirit – This was my first cruise so I didn't know what to expect... I have given it a three star rating for the cabin size, attendant Vijay who was friendly and kept the cabin clean, for the excellent service in the Nouvea and Empire Restaurants. I also loved the 45 min music themed concerts. We sailed from Sydney to New Caledonia return. Overall, I… Read more
thought that Carnival did a good job of organising events and planning activities but all of the seminars and worth doing activities involved costs. So now for the downer...These costs add up to $$$ over the time on the cruises and your card on file has regular debits applied. So check your bank account if you can. We did get free wifi at Noumea but not onboard as the $204 fee was rediculous. The daily FunTimes listed what's on but was moreso advertising shops and restaurants that incurred costs. Forget the casino as it didn't pay out once, and there was hardly anyone in there. It was quite depressing watching a few people throw their money away in the pokies. Bingo is a rort and the company makes $$$$$ from sales with small prizes considering the take. Also, the kids were wild on the later cruising days as parents didn't watch them, they were often underfoot, sat in elevators for amusement or made loud noise in the hallways at night. As an upsetting event, I saw a comedian make fun of a veteran from the audience which is not humour but poor taste. Poor old man went in to talk about his bravery at vetenam whilst the comedian tried to hook him up with a member of the audience. It wasn't good to watch. Carnival fun staff try to engage humour by using patrons as entertainment on stage. Prizes included a basic trophy and a pocket game board valued at $9. Not worth entering and wasting days searching for Cluedo clues. Watch out for the Invicta watch sales as the watches are old stock and marked up 60% at least. We got one for about $15 less than online stores but believed we saved $580!!! Oh EFFY is a Rip off and the ladies pamper party is stupid. Otherwise, find a quiet place to relax, drink up, eat well and absorb the rays. This and the shore excursions (marked up almost double) are worth the experience.
Disappointing – Some of food was very good, but for most of the food you could get better at any Aussie Cafe in a shopping Mall. The food is very average, but at least there's plenty of it. Pizza - half a teaspoon of cheese and 8 pepperoni slices is Pepperoni Pizza according to Carnival. Coffee - At the Buffet area is typical American Krap, Burnt, Bitter, Brewed… Read more
for hours. Just dreadful. Lemonade - It's NOT Lemonade, it's actually Lemon Flavored Beverage Base Mix, but Carnival use it straight up and call it Lemonade. You just can not Imagine how bad this tastes. Apple Juice - It's NOT Apple Juice either, it's Apple Concentrate and they serve it as it. It's basically half a cup of sugar. Beers - Same cost as you would pay in any top hotel, except Carnival don't have to Pay Tax on it, Ripoff. The cost of the same Beer seems to vary depending which bar you order from. Pictures - Another Carnival Ripoff, they charge $20+ per print ! Movies - The only movies they showed on the Big Screen were all the Movies that flopped at the Box-Office, well except Indiana Jones. Carnival also consider Auctions, Watch Sales, Jewelry Sales as Entertainment !!! They do have a Games Room where they provide free Board Games on 4 Tables for a Population of 2,000 Travelers. I almost forgot the Internet ... Imagine you have Cable Internet at Home and you have to share it with 1,000 people. The speed can be measured in Bytes per Second during the day, but early in morning and late at night you can actually send an email. And any websites that competes with the onboard shops, well there all blocked for some reason, unless you have your own personal VPN to bypass their system.
To summarize: from the moment you set foot on board you are nothing but walking ATM to Carnival.
You have to go – The cruise catered for everyone,it was unreal,I’m so grateful for the great memories I have with my mother and I ,everything was wonderful and staff are beautiful people, our room attendant OKA was a beautiful man, couldn’t help enough he was fantastic thank you oka &all the staff. We were made to feel at home it was great. Show details
carnival spirit – so just got off spirit on 23rd May 2019 . Firstly must say if you want to up market cruising and pay as much don't go on Spirit BUT if you want value for money this is the one. From the start to finish we enjoyed it -the cabins were a nice size and clean and cleaner were always polite and helping ( thank you Gedde and Hope) The food was fine we… Read more
tried the liddo buffet and Empire dining and sure the buffet is just that buffet food and heaps of it and if you missed the buffet or got munchies later the pizza bar was great. and open all night also. the dining was fine - now i am a big man and i never walked out hungry and service was great ( thanks you Christian, Girri, Pardita) yes sure we had a book in time for dinner and always got in on time . Entertainment was very good and Chloe did a great job and was a pocket rocket and if you wanted was heaps to do if you joined in - we did both - joined in and chilled out in the Serinity Bar ( 18 and over) the Captain was very good as he joined in staff karioki and was always seen around the boat and answered all questions and updates everyday about trip The embark and disembark was so well organised and the only thing we can say was - need signage for taxi services So if you ask would i do it again and with Carnival the answer is yes. Great value for money!!!
Never again! – We booked the cruise from Sydney to Noumea, Lifou, Mystery Island and Maree through cruisesalefinder after reading glowing reviews there. This was my first cruise and what a complete letdown! Apart from the relatively smooth embarking and debarking process, average entertainment and decent cabin size, we did not enjoy our time on this cruise. The… Read more
food was average with limited choices, limited opening hours in the Lido buffet and small portion size in the main dining room, not to mention it being salty sometimes. We were offered the same fruit every day ie. rock melon, water melon and honey dew melon! Also as we chose the anytime dining option, if we did not manage to come early ie. around 6pm, we had to wait 20-30 mins to get a table, and another 30-45 mins to have our food served! We came to the main dining room around 7.30pm on the last night and I made a mistake of ordering only 1 main dish and 2 entrees (which were very small), I was famished when the main dish arrived which was a small piece of salmon and 1 tablespoon of white rice! We decided to skip desserts as we could not stand the long wait and went to the buffet but I was not tempted by the cakes there. By the time I was hungry again and decided to get the cakes, the buffet was already closed at 9pm! As for the excursions, we decided to book 2 excursions to use up the $250 credit. The 3hr Best of Noumea bus tour priced at $89 including morning tea was a complete joke. The glass bottom boat tour to see corals was better but unsafe as the boat was drifting far from shore for 1 hour and we were not provided with life vests although they were on board.
Worst cruise I've ever been on – Food was repetitive. It was nice, i enjoyed the meals.. it was just very repetitive. The restaurant had horrible service, flimsy and gross meals and we left for dessert. The dried up cardboard steak with a plain baked potato (no sour cream and other bits) and frozen veggie mix was enough for me to go grab a nice burnt pizza. I think in a week, I… Read more
saw 1 pizza that wasn't black. Entertainment was basically non existent. Trivia a dozen times a day is NOT fun. The casino was the only place to keep occupied unless you wanted to sit by a closed pool with a large group of adults smooching or jump in a pool with standing room only, FULL of young kids screaming. Even tried the arcade for something to do, power hour happened once, other than that it was $4.50 per swipe to play a game and even then, I had over 7,000 tickets and the best "prize" was a rubrix cube! The room air con was set at 16° the ENTIRE time which guaranteed me getting sick in the end. With nothing else to do, I paid the $60 for just messenger, Snapchat and Facebook. Yup, $60 for 4 days to use those 3 apps. One of our ports was cancelled so our only stop was in Hobart, on a SUNDAY. We booked this cruise for the Port Arthur stop, instead we had an extra day at sea where we basically drifted along the coast (we could see the land) until we finally got back to Sydney. The staff were fabulous and the beds were comfy. That's all it really had going for it.
Fantastic experience – We decided to go on a holiday to try and make a horrible year a little better. Boy did Carnival Spirit do that. We went with a family of 5 and the indoor cabin was upgraded to one with a window. (The other we booked was a balcony) The rooms were good and The staff were always polite and friendly, always happy to help! The food was great and I had… Read more
so much fun with Earl in the main dinning room. He was a hoot and was amazed that he remembered our names basically straight away.
The interior was a little dated but I thought it created quirkiness. The only thing I would suggest is try and chill the soda, it always came warm with ice but by the time it was cooled it was no longer tasty.
Carnival has managed to give us such a wonderful experience that we want to go again (and might be the choice of travelling for my husband)
Thank you Carnival
Great cruise – Cruise was great. Heaps of food variety. The staff where great! Heaps of fun activities for all ages. Our cabin was cleaned daily and always looked great, I enjoyed seeing the different towel animals daily. Guest services where helpful, I booked 2 shore excursions and both where well explained and good prices. The ship was always clean, the… Read more
cleaning staff hardly ever missed anything. Was great to watch different shows every night. Huge thank you to the fun squad and playlist cast who made the cruise so fun and exciting. Getting on and off the boat on the islands was no problem, wasn’t a big wait and staff where great.
If you are attending this cruise would recommend to watch all the different shows at night, even the comedy was great! Huge thank you to Eli the cruise director, Sammi B from the fun squad and all of the playlist cast.
Great first cruise experience – My husband and I had a great time on the sampler cruise in September 2018. Booked directly through the website with no issues. Booked at guaranteed balcony room and got upgraded to a great stateroom on Deck 8 which we loved. Embarkation was simple and easy. We arrived earlier than our check-in time to drop off our bags and we were welcomed to… Read more
board straight away. The sail away party was great fun, and beautiful out of Sydney Harbour. We spent our days exploring the ship, relaxing and eating, and the nights in the bars and casinos, and more eating! I loved the happy and relaxed atmosphere throughout the entire ship, day and night. The food at Blue Igunas and Guy's Burgers was the best. The lido restaurant wasn't too bad and the Main Dining Room meals were very average which would be my only complaint as I was expecting it to be a much better experience, both food and entertainment wise. All of the staff were friendly and professional. Overall we had a great time and have already booked a second cruise with carnival for early 2019.
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Enjoyed my cruise but Carnival Spirit didnt live up to expectations – Just had 11 nights on the Spirit with 5 ports of call in the South Pacific - 10th -21st September. Found the food to be the biggest let down, especially in the main dining room - no flair, finesse in the presentation and we swear that some of the desserts were of the Sarah Lee frozen variety!! Food stations in the Lido Buffet didn't stay open as… Read more
advertised and the pizza was the only thing 24hrs if you excluded the soft serve ice cream machine (one of which broke down and was taken away). My friend was actually served a baked potato that had shoots coming out of it, it was that old! It didn't come with the sour cream, chives and bacon bits as advertised - something we found happened quite often, food missing ingredients or not being as described on the menu. Rooms were ok, serviced once a day (no turn down service or chocolates). Entertainment was good, standard cruise ship acts. All in all, we had a good time though would probably try another cruise line next time.
Excellent cruise holiday – We cruised with Carnival Spirit again to New Caledonia and Vanuatu - 20th August returning 30th August 2018. The Ship is well organised, embarking, tender ports and disembarking all very well organised. Food was good. Very friendly and helpful staff. Entertainment very good. A good value holiday. I have tried competitor cruise ships,… Read more
Carnival is my preference.
Only negative was the on board "Fun" shops which are expensive - I will do my duty free shopping in Sydney before I leave next time. Duty free alcohol was quite a bit cheaper in Noumea - expensive on the Ship.
Great value, great for kids of all ages and super fun at all times :) – My husband surprised me with a cruise on the Carnival Spirit for my 40th birthday. We traveled with another family with 2 kids and we have 2 kids ourselves. The Carnival Spirit has kids club and baby club which was so convenient for us. There was numerous activities like Bean bag toss, Bingo, Lip Sync battles and so much more!!! The food at the… Read more
restaurants and buffets were always fresh and plentiful.
The staff took it upon themselves to learn all our names and always greeted us when passing. They were the highlight of our trip.
I think the decor is a little outdated but it was still clean and comfortable. We had a balcony room which was spacious enough to fit all our luggage and move around freely.
I would 100% travel on this ship again. I absolutely loved it.
Perfect Holiday – The booking process was very convenient. We made progressive payments for an internal cabin for a family of four but later was upgraded to a balcony room which was great. This was our very first cruise and I must say that all four of us enjoyed it thoroughly. First, we went to Mystery Island, which we reminded me of a story I read as a kid. It… Read more
is a dreamy island. Bluewater all around the island with beautiful beaches. Kids did snorkeling and enjoyed it.
Second, we went to Port Vila in Vanuatu. Absolutely gorgeous people there (plus duty-free liquor). The natives are very friendly and charming. Kids did scuba diving which was booked through the cruise and they said it was worth every penny spent. My son gave it a 9 out of 10. He is a hard one to please.
Next was the Isle of Lifou. A charming quiet place with stunning sceneries all around the island and again natives are very charming.
Noumea, in the middle of the Pacific ocean, was unexpected. It is a very developed Island with lots of Europeans.
We enjoyed all four islands. Carnival Spirit provided us with endless entertainment. The shows they put together was stunning. Miss Houdini, the enchantress was phenomenal. The cruise entertainment director, Mr. Elaih was entertaining. We enjoyed the lip sync battle.
Maitre De at Emperor Room, Desy was fantastic. So were Gene, Garry, and Kristine. They went out of there the way to help us to have a memorable dining experience.
My family will definitely go again cruising with Carnival Spirit.
Best family holiday – Have been on the carnival spirit 3 times now, and can't wait to go again. We are a family of 5, we select 2 interior cabins next door to each other on deck 1, which we love the location. There is so much to do each day, it's great value for money with so much included, all of your meals, 24 hour pizza, soft serve ice cream, tea, coffee, hot… Read more
chocolate, iced tea and lemon cordial. Compared to other cruise lines I've been on, carnival has definitely been the best with so much included.
What keeps us coming back to the spirit, is Desi the maitre de in the main dining room, she is absolutely beautiful and very efficient, she never forgets a face, and remembered us from a previous cruise. Music Manilla, the resident band in the red frog pub are fantastic, and the kids had a great time at the kids club.
Very relaxing holiday, really looking forward to our next one
DISGUSTING JOKE – Absolutely Joke! Not kids friendly at all, food was disgusting, cleanliness very poor, our daughter bed even had bad bugs, our friends cabin had a broken aircon who was blowing cold air all the way, we reported to the crew initially they inspected the cabin and they said that was normal, after we had a massive argument they send a technician who… Read more
confirmed that was something wrong with it and tried to put an extra valve to stop the aircon blow, unsuccessful result, the valve didn't work as he thought so he actually put some panel in front of the aircon to block it completely.
After a couple of days the management put in the room a complimentary basket of fruit, nice thought only problem was the pear actually had a bite on it.
DO NOT BOOK WITH CARNIVAL
Terrible booking process – Just went to book the advertised price of $329 pp for three nights. We waited for 2 minutes while our friends were booking and it told us we had to log in again. It then put the price up significantly Total con , avoid
Complaint With Carnival Cruises – We had 2 serious complaints about our recent Carnival Cruise. In continuing emails post-trip we were treated as if both complaints were 'our fault.' How food poisoning can be 'our fault' (as if we ate somewhere else - and no we ate absolutely nothing on any land excursion)I don't know. After paying for a Suite we were confronted with 11 nights… Read more
of annoying, sleep-depriving, engine vibration. Of course that was 'our fault' for not reporting it on board. We decided 'what was the point, as we had booked the last Suite available.' Clearly they couldn't move us.
We tried a formal complaint through Carnival Cruises, but it failed after several emails. They seem to want to turn everything around being clear of any cruise line responsibility.
Carnival were in our estimation unsympathetic, and offered virtually nothing back. Future clients of Carnival Cruises be careful in thinking they will look after your concerns.
Cruisin' for a bruisin' – Firstly, booked a cruise to Vanuatu & Noumea last year to sail March 2018. Chose this cruise for the destination. The Carnival line requested payment fairly quickly, unfortunately could only afford an internal cabin on the first deck....very disappointed to find that Carnival later offered balcony staterooms for $12 more than I paid for an… Read more
internal cabin and they wouldn't upgrade me even though there were plenty of cabins available!
Destination - Espiritu Santo - Not worthy as a tourist destination unless you are a diver (Million Dollar Point was incredible).
Port Vila - Sailed in on Sunday, nothing open, a little research here Carnival would have been appreciated, try swapping port of call dates around to accommodate this gross error.
Mystery Island - beautiful but very overcrowded.
Noumea - beautiful around the Lemon Bay area, oui oui !!
Isle of Pines - beautiful but nothing there, including toilet paper in the one public toilet.
Enough of the South Pacific cruises for me, these destinations are really not worth going to.
Now for the ship - Carnival Spirit
Sub-standard, dated, cabin good size, but TV so small could hardly see it, in cabin movies $4.99 a pop, then they aren't available to view, very few activities for adults, shops out of stock, way overpriced for drinks (no drinks package as such available), smoker's taking over the ship, especially around pool area, jogging deck, and particularly disgusting when in beauty salon having a massage looking out the window to watch the smokers stubbing their ciggies out! Install a blind please! Kids run around unsupervised. After swimming on islands, covered in sand and with wet towels in hand, no where to rinse off or dump the wet towels. Everyone was walking sand through the ship, the staff had to set up fans to dry out the carpet...and my shower recess was full of sand....need to have a rethink here Carnival, how about a hose at the entrance to the ship! Entertainment was definitely amateurish.
Food - I thought the food was OK, not a great deal to choose from if you are into healthy eating though, but I got through. Try closing down your lolly shop and switching it over to a salad and juice bar and make it free Carnival.
I felt this cruise was expensive, had to pay for things that other cruise ships offer as part of the cruise, so read the fine print, eg. Self serve High Tea, only one on the 11 day cruise and it was basic and cost $15 per head with a glass of champers!
The layout of the ship is disjointed and has no real heart. Needs a total refurb!
Staff - the best part of the cruise, well done guys!
Would I cruise with them again, no, my standard if far higher than what they have of offer!
Best staff ever – 3.5 star room, 3 star price, 4 star quality of food (5 star breakfast in Empire) dining room, 5 star staff, 4.5 star experience. They really are the fun ship. There is always something happening. The embarkation and debarkation experience was good and quick. Boarding tender boats was seamless. Four star entertainment. The un-included beverage… Read more
prices were very reasonable. 4 star choice of food. Great atmosphere on the ship. You can do as much or as little as you want. There was also an adults only area. Even when the ship is at full capacity (2600 guests) you hardly ever have to wait minutes for an elevator unlike what I have head about some other ships on other lines. They have a specialist cocktail bar (Alchemy bar). So skilled are the bartenders that even if you don't know what cocktail you like (alcoholic or non alcoholic) they will ask you some questions and mix you something very close to what you envisaged or imagined. Aren't over the top rigid with dress code on formal nights. A collared shirt and pants suffices for men.
Special shout out to The main dining room breakfast staff, the pizza pirate Indian guy, Sergey, Bimi and Jeffrey at the main dining room at dinner time. Sergey is now assistant Maitre D I am told. Congratulations ! Tim, Vesna and other Eastern European guy at guest services. Nothing was ever too much trouble. Also very happy with the dollar a day seasickness medication provided from there. Francis the room steward. Deni and Nikola at the Alchemy bar. Also enjoyed various musicians and performers at various places on the ship and like the international themes on the ship, ie Pharohs lounge, Shanghai Bar, etc.Was in room 6222 on the 17/3/18 sailing out of Sydney. A bit more detail about the food which I give an overall score of 4 out of 5. Breakfast in dining room 5 star, breakfast in buffet 3.5 to 4 star, lunch on various lido deck outlets as follows "pies and snags" 4.5 star (the chicken pies are delicious), "Fat Jimmys Sea Side BBQ" (I love how they aren't politically correct with the name. hahaha) 5 star (super high quality pulled pork, chicken, etc).
Some places where you order pulled pork you get a mouthful of lard and fat, Not so here. "Guys Burger Joint" 4.4 star burgers, "Blue iguana" tacos & Burritos 4.6 star quality. Never really tried "good eats" outlet. "Sweet spot" 3.8 to 4 star cakes, etc, "pizza pirate" 4.3 star pizzas. Nouveau restaurant "4.7 star meal. Had the sea bass and barramundi from the sea (not a river or farm. Tastes different (better). They even make the snails (Escargo) in such a way that you wont throw up from having it. I didn't have, but a fellow guest did and was very happy with it. The other guest had a steak that had to be taken back twice because it was undercooked. They happily fixed the problem and the chef came out and apologised. We were also given a free bottle of wine for doing the specialty restaurant on the first night. It is also worth noting that the guest who had the Escargo had ordered something they didnt really like and had eaten a fair bit of it. The girl taking the orders asked if she had enjoyed it and she said no. she then allowed the guest with me to order something else at no extra cost because she had not liked the meal that she originally ordered. Bonsai Sushi 4.6 star.
Had the spicy tuna rolls and salmon/tuna sashimi. They could do with a little more variety here as the menu was a little limited. As for the main dining room dinners I had the terriaki salmon (4.5 star) once, normal salmon fillet twice (4.4 star), chicken schnitzel (3.8 star) once and the ribs (5 star) on mexican night once. I believe the main dining room dinners needs a touch more variety and then it would be perfection. Also notable is that this dining room is unlike other ships at dinner. It is loud (in a good way) and it is partitioned instead of a completely open plan. A guest who is an experienced and avid cruiser travelling with me who had never been on carnival before loved this dining room (and above all, the staff on the ship). Only one area needs urgent attention.
As one of the guests travelling with me was a busy business woman who had to (unfortunately) be involved in the running of her companies whilst she was on holiday, thus relying heavily on the internet, she found it very bad. Even the premium package wasn't that great. I dont know if this is just satellite/ship internet in general but something needs to be done about it. I recommend carnival make significant investment in this area. Would I try carnival again. I may try some other lines just for the hell of it, but in general I'll be sticking with Carnival probably until I'm aged 60. After that I'll probably go with lines like Holland America, Princess (owned by Carnival) or Cunard. For now, the Carnival experience suits me best. I hope this review is very helpful and detailed. It should give a specific picture of each facet of the experience I had. PS I never went to the comedy club because I could never stay up late enough as I was exhausted by that time of night from all the other activities. Earliest showing was 20:45. Be good if they moved it to 20:00 or 20:15 at the latest.
Thanks for a great time. I'll be back for sure.
Poor Food experience – We have been on over 10 cruises so far. Our cruise to Hobart on the spirit (leaving Sydney on 11 Feb 2018) would probably be the worst experience regarding food so far. Bistro food was the same every day, mainly sloppy stuff and very little variety (luckily they have decent salad bar). Seemed very unorganised and cutting costs. Dining room was hit and miss. Still had a good time though overall.
LOST PROPERTY – We had a wonderful family cruise with the Carnival Spirit on 10th to 18th December, 2017. It ticked most of the boxes, but my son, who had some distressing news as he was packing, left quite a few clothing items in his cabin. We put in a lost and found report but they cannot find the clothes. The reply from the shipping line is not acceptable. … Read more
It sounds too much like a standard reply just so that you go away and stop bothering them. They were his best clothes with a value of over $600. I know it was his fault but how can they not be found, the cabin stewards go through the rooms after the guests leave ready for the next guests to arrive and they would have had to have found the clothes, should have put them in a bag with the cabin number and sent them to lost property at Carnival Sydney. But this has not happened, the clothes cannot be found. If this is the case then their procedures need to be questioned as they would encourage theft as the only thing I can surmise is that they were stolen. This has, for our son and for us spoilt the cruise as my son can ill afford to buy more clothes. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you handle it.
Awful – Room was good. Staff really good. Decor ghastly. Entertainment abismal. After 14 cruises this has to be the worst ever
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