Carnival Cruise Lines
reviews and complaints

The rooms on Carnival Cruise Lines were pretty decent in size, especially if you had a window. However, the cleaning wasn't up to par. When we first got on the ship, there was a candy wrapper on the floor by the bed, which shows that they don't clean very well. On the bright side, the little towel characters were cute and added a nice touch to the room.

The food for dining at night was a bit of a joke. I ordered the Enchiladas, and it was disappointing to see that it only had two slices of American Craft cheese on top as the cheese. When I asked for my steak to be cooked medium rare, they gave it to me so dang bloody that it was disgusting. I would suggest sticking to the Buffet or the Burger shack, sandwich shack, tacos, or anything where you can grab it yourself. Don't waste your money on sit-down dining; it's not worth it.

The excursions were also a bit of a rip-off. They charged triple the amount for excursions, and they would say that it's safer to book through them. However, we found out that we paid $20 for the same excursion that they charged $120 for. Even the locals who gave us the tour said the same thing: don't buy through the ship because they're ripping us off.

Lastly, they rip you off in more ways than one. After paying my bill the night before we got off the boat, they charged me an extra $50 on dining that they said I did, but my meals were all included, so I'm not sure how they did that. I paid my bill, and then they charged me a week later after I got off the boat. I'm not the only one they did this to; there were 12 people in line before me stating that they were getting charged a $75 fee for nothing. Some people even put cash onto their room card and only used it once for one drink, but all of a sudden, that $100 they put on there was spent somehow when they only used the card once for a drink.

I would advise against going to the Casino as well because they rip you off too. I played three times, and they said I played six times. I had to make them pull up the camera feed to prove to them that I didn't play six times, and after that, they had to give me my money back.

Overall, I do not recommend this ship at all. They rip you off in more ways than one. I'm still fighting this issue with my bank because the cruise is trying to lie, but jokes on them, I have proof that I did not spend the amount that they said, and the paperwork shows that I paid out my bill after they charged me. Sorry, Carnival, but you will not win this fight. People, check your charges and make sure they don't try to overcharge you. Pay attention to what you spend and write it all down.

Let me start by saying that the crew who served us dinner and cleaned our room were amazing! However, my experience with Carnival Cruise Lines was not so great. I had booked and paid for my trip months in advance, but on the day of my check-in, I found out that my cruise had been cancelled without any notice or warning. It was only after I contacted customer support that I found out the reason behind the cancellation. Apparently, there was an issue with a trip I had taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Carnival had failed to collect the money owed to them. This money had been sitting in my wife's credit union for three years, and no one had ever claimed it. I was blamed for double dipping and keeping funds that were not mine, even though the fault was on Carnival's end. The collection team was extremely disrespectful, and no one took responsibility for their mistake.

Despite this, I decided to go on the trip with my travel group. However, things didn't get any better. I had purchased a drink package and other excursions, but on Thursday, I found out that my drink package had been cancelled, even though I had paid for it on my credit card. I ended up spending $180 on drinks, and then had to purchase a new drink package. The staff couldn't explain why my drink package had been cancelled, and I was treated like a child when I finally got my new drink package. I was told that I could only get one drink at a time and had to wait five minutes between drinks, even though this was not stated anywhere in the cheers package. When I was paying for drinks, I could buy as many as I wanted, but with the drink package, I was treated poorly because I wasn't tipping the bartenders.

The food selection on the ship was also disappointing. How can you not have chicken wings on a ship? Overall, my experience with Carnival Cruise Lines was terrible, and I will never cruise with them again. My travel group consisted of 700 people, and I will make sure that none of them ever cruise with Carnival again. Customers should come first, and Carnival made me feel horrible and cost me $600 in new charges. Thanks for nothing!

My wife and I recently went on a 7 day cruise on the Glory with Carnival Cruise Lines. We were really excited to go on this trip and had booked it over a year in advance. However, our experience onboard was really disappointing and we felt let down by the overall experience.

One of the biggest issues we had was with the attitude of the Carnival employees. We found that most of them were indifferent to our needs and didn't seem to care about providing good customer service. For example, we had requested a refrigerator for medication and had confirmed this several times, including during boarding. However, when we got to our stateroom, we found that the refrigerator didn't work. When we reported this to guest services, we were told that we should have made arrangements for one when we booked. We were then told that we could get a medicooler at our own expense, which was really frustrating. The room only had one 110 outlet, which meant that we had to use it for the medicooler.

Another issue we had was with the lack of information provided by Carnival. We had asked about the daily itinerary and were told to check with the front desk every day. However, on the last day of the cruise, we found out from another cruiser that the itinerary was available on the hub app for the entire week. We were really annoyed that Carnival hadn't mentioned this at any point during the trip. Every day felt like chaos, with no organization and conflicting information.

We had also heard that the food on Carnival cruises was great, but we found this to be untrue. The food was frequently undercooked and tasteless, with the only properly cooked food being a burger from Guy Fieri. We had made reservations for dinner, but when we were told our table was ready, we found out that someone else had been seated there and was charging specialty items to our account. The charges were eventually fixed, but this could have been avoided with better organization.

The entertainment onboard was also disappointing. At any given time, half of the bars were not open and not even stocked. We found that the same 4 shows were recycled for the entire week, which was really boring. The only hope for new entertainment was to drink and watch other people, but even this was affected by the fact that they ran out of some alcohol and were low on others, which meant that drinks became weaker.

Overall, the general attitude of the Carnival employees was a cross between indifference and trying to pressure us into spending more money. The icing on the cake was when they put holds on my bank account for more than twice the amount of the final bill and refused to even try to fix the problem. They blamed my bank, which was bound by Federal law, and after the final bill had cleared, they kept the holds in place for no reason. All attempts to work with Carnival to fix this were met with indifference, which was really frustrating.

To top it all off, Carnival repeatedly told us to go to a non-existent web address to leave a review if we were not satisfied, which was really unprofessional. Overall, we would not recommend Carnival Cruise Lines based on our experience.

I went on my first Carnival Cruise in November of '21, on the Radiance for four days. Unfortunately, the cruise got cancelled, but I was allowed to rebook. Finally, the ship was out of drydock, so I scheduled for March to celebrate a couple of birthdays with six of us. I asked multiple times about identification, and was told that my driver's license was enough. I have a real ID driver's license, which required a utility bill and a couple of other documents, in addition to my driver's license. However, when I arrived at the terminal, I was told that my identification was not sufficient and I was not allowed to board the ship. The other five members of my family went cruising, and I had to wait in the terminal for my luggage. I did not eat in advance, as I was expecting to have plenty of food on the ship. However, there was no food available in the terminal, except for in the employee lounge. Finally, around 2 PM, a fellow brought me a pastry from there. I was able to retrieve my luggage after waiting for five hours, but by then the ship had already left at 5:30 PM.

In May, two different family members and I went on a Carnival Cruise. When Carnival cancelled the first time, we were supposed to receive $300.00 per cabin in credit for the next cruise. However, we did not receive that credit on either of our cruises. As a veteran cruiser, I was disappointed to find that the cabin was the smallest I have ever used. Unfortunately, my travel mates were not interested in doing anything except sleeping, so I essentially cruised alone. On the final day of the cruise, I received my bill and noticed five charges for entertainment. I was confused and thought they were trying to charge me for a male companion. However, I found out that the charges were from the casino, which I never used. My son had charged his casino expenses to my card, and I was blindsided by the charges. The casino manager kept telling me that I had chosen to use the casino, and that I must pay the fee. He did not listen to me and repeated the same thing like a broken record. As far as I know, there is no listed service charge for the casino, so I was frustrated by the unexpected charge.

When the second group arrived, there were no porters available, so we had to carry our luggage around until the cabins were ready. Fortunately, we were on the ninth deck, so we did not have to go far. I did not eat in the dining room, but all the other places were great. The sushi place was outstanding, as was the burger bar and the seafood shack. The food quality on the buffets was the same as on other cruise lines. Trivia is always a favorite of mine, but one person doing the quizzing had too much of an accent, and it was hard to hear.

I called Carnival after I got home, and was told to leave a detailed email and wait six to eight weeks for a reply. However, it is now August, and I still have not heard back from them. Overall, my experience with Carnival Cruise Lines was mixed. While I enjoyed the food and entertainment options, I was disappointed by the lack of communication and unexpected charges.

I gotta tell ya, I had a really bad experience with Carnival Cruise Line. I was all set to go on a two week Alaskan cruise with my family, but then three days before we were supposed to leave, Carnival cancelled our booking because my two year old son isn't vaccinated for COVID 19. I mean, come on! My son is only two years old, he can't get vaccinated because he's too young! It's not like we were trying to break any rules or anything. Carnival knew we had a toddler when we booked the cruise a year ago, and they didn't say anything about this new policy that requires everyone to be vaccinated regardless of age. And let me tell you, their website is super vague about it. I called two different cruise agents to clarify, and they both told me my son would be exempt from the policy and could come on the cruise with us, he just needed an extra COVID test on the day of embarkation. So we printed off our luggage tags and boarding passes, and everything seemed fine. But then my sister tried to do the same thing and her booking was cancelled! And then I checked mine and it was cancelled too! We had no idea what was going on until we called Carnival and found out they had given our staterooms to someone else that morning! Can you believe that? They didn't even bother to tell us, they just cancelled our booking and gave our rooms away! We would have shown up at the port with our whole family and two weeks worth of luggage, only to be turned away because we had a two year old and a one year old in our party. It was a nightmare. And when we tried to get a refund or at least some compensation, Carnival offered us a different cruise that was only seven days instead of twelve, with inside rooms instead of balcony suites, and all over the ship instead of next to each other. And they wouldn't even give us back the difference in price! It was a total ripoff. So yeah, I would not recommend Carnival Cruise Line to anyone. They have terrible customer service and their policies are unclear and discriminatory.

My family and I went on the cruise in late May. Your captain decided it was more important to make his on time quota than worry about the ship or passengers safety.

For almost 12 hours my wife and 2 children were petrified without any word from the crew or captain. I am trying to file a refund claim but no one seems to be able to help me in this area

Hello,

I am trying to reach the corporate office to file a complaint and receive some assistance from the cruise my daughter and I just got off of today from Port Canaveral, Florida. It was set to stop at Grand Turk and Amber Cove which didn’t not happen. It was re routed to the Bahamas which I could have gone from my home port, Galveston, TX. Instead I spent money for flight, hotel, Uber, shuttles etc. to make this trip from Florida to the designated stops that I originally booked for. This is unexceptable. I have cruised with Carnival for years and am a loyal customer. We also had the be off the ship 2 hrs earlier in Amber Cove and return to the ship 3 hrs earlier. This was such an inconvenience as well. Please have someone contact me at the very earliest time possible.

Thank you,

Nekoiya Tingle

Carnival Freedom

June 5-June 10, 2023

VIFP Club# [protected]

Folio 49937

Muster Station C

DD 030287

Something needs to be done about the large unsightly pink lounges that are pushed against the windows, this is blocking and view while one is trying to sit on these lounges, which are uncomfortable, the only view people can have while trying to relax are of people lining up for a coffee, I’ve never seen such a stupidly arrangement of furniture on a ship which is designed for relaxing while looking out the window watching the ocean, this is not the case on the Splendor, please put new lounges in where one is able to relax while viewing the ocean through the windows and not a line up of people waiting for their coffee. Look at how the spirit has got plenty of individual comfortable lounges facing the windows, it one main reason myself and many I’ve spoken to do not to cruise on this ship again, mainly elderly people like to sit in this section as they can not relax outside, please do something about this problem.

On April 17, 2023, my family and I were to set sail on the Carnival ship Valor. Upon arrival we were rushed to get our bags out and move so others could pull up. The porter took our bags and there were several pieces that did not have luggage tags because we planned to carry those on but the porter got them anyway. I didn't realize at the time due to being rushed that one of those bags had all of our birth certificates in it. I notified the staff immediately and was taken to fill out a form so the staff could look for them. They said they looked but didn't find them all. We were denied boarding due to this. The missing pieces held our prescription medications, my husband's prosthetic leg charger and crutches, and other important belongings. We were told we could get those back when the ship returned 5 days later. We had other family members already aboard the ship who found some of our luggage and returned those to us when the ship returned but a few pieces were still missing and those held the things we needed most. Days later, Carnival mailed one piece but it was over 3 weeks later that we received the last piece of luggage and I noticed the tags on those were not our stateroom numbers or the same floor we were to stay. The staff were not helpful at all. It's taken almost 2 months to get a response from Carnival and that was that they are not going to refund or do anything about what happened to my family and myself. They have terrible customer service and I refuse to consider saying with Carnival in the future.

I recently went on a cruise on May 6, 2023. We purchased a presidential suite to accommodate our family of 4 comfortably. We are accustomed to a larger living space so we figured this would be adequate to accommodate our family opposed to our 8,000 square foot home.

Pre Cruise

Red flags we should have paid attention to the lack of accommodations and lack of communication/response from customer service via email prior to the cruise. However, we decided to move forward with the cruise since others in our party had made their payments and we knew they could not afford to cancel and lose their deposits as we could.

Cruise Day 1

The port crew we met were amazing the first day when we boarded the ship. The room attendant was amazing as well she was so welcoming and cheerful the entire cruise. She is the only person on the cruise ship that made a genuine effort to make us comfortable and feel like we were on vacation. We have a housekeeper at home who tends to our family 5 days a week and our room attendant reminded our family of the service we are accustomed to from our own employees.

Concierge (Eva)

Our concierge was also a highlight during the trip. She tried her best to make it an enjoyable experience. However, she could not compensate for the poor customer service we experienced in the dining area at The Palm or at the Casion.

The Palm

The staff at the Palm including the assistant manager Bruno actions and behavior were aggressive, discriminatory, and lacked professionalism. Their behavior exhibited a low level of experience and training in leadership and customer service. The behavior was corrected by their leadership, we received apologies from everyone but the assistant manager Bruno who displayed extremely aggressive behavior when we complained about the service, we were receiving from our wait staff. He was rude, condescending, aggressive, argumentative and mean. His behavior was worse than the staff he was charged in leading. We determined that his behavior was a reflection of the poor service we received from the staff under his direction. If he felt his behavior was appropriate in the workplace, then they must have as well from watching his interactions with guest. We chose not to go to the Palm again and opted to only frequent paid experiences in hopes to not endure this type of conduct again.

The Casino

We had an interaction with an employee with the employee labeled Cesar. He was extremely rude, nasty and unprofessional. His tones were also aggressive and he acted as if we were inconveniencing him by asking for an explanation of policy. Until he saw that we were documenting the interaction in our notes and that we were utilizing the presidential suites he did not correct his behavior. Once we made him aware of our accommodations on the ship and that we would be communicating this to leadership he refused to help us.

Our final day

Our debarkation instruction, instructed us to go to the piano lounge so we could prepare for debarkation. However when I arrived I walked in and sat down with my son. My husband proceeded to enter seconds later, and two male security guards surrounded him. The security officers extended their limbs almost hitting my daughter in her stroller. As my husband explained the debarkation notes the guards proceeded to yell at him in close proximity to his face. I asked both officer to please remove themselves from his personal space in front of our young children (4 years and 8 years of age). They both jumped back and its as if they realize they were being unnecessarily aggressive. Once they heard what he was saying opposed to yelling because they assumed he was a part of another African American family group who committed acts of violence on the cruise ship they recognized we were in priority group 1 and they escorted us to a private area and we were helped by leadership to disembark from the ship.

Once we left the port staff in cross walk were some of the nastiest people, we have ever met in our 38 years of life. While some are accustomed to racism, we do not experience it much in Washington, DC. So we were surprised at some of the atrocities we experienced when leaving the port. A older white man and women were literally yelling and cursing at AA guest who were confused about where to go after they left the cruise. We saw white guest making the same mistakes and they were not yelled at or cursed at they would walk in the street, and no one would say anything. We observed this for 30 minutes as we waited for the last party in our cruise to disembark.

Once this happened at the end of the cruise... it hit me that we had been receiving prejudice treatment the entire cruise. Our skin color changed the perception of our status on the ship, and we spent additional money to have the best experience. Unfortunately had we known this we would not have spent this type of money for a subpar luxury experience. We couldve stayed home and went to our country club for my husbands birthday and had a more enjoyable time. We will not make this mistake again and will definitely never advise anyone to cruise on carnival.

We have already located a better luxury experience on a different cruise line, one in which you need special access to even get on the floor with luxury suite guest.

While carnival swindled us out of 11k for a vacation that caused more stress than relaxation we are going to continue to seek out trips that accommodate our type of luxury experience.

Head injury on carnival cruise ship luminex requirinjg stitches on back of head! no one has contacted me after getting home to tell me who is going to pay additionaql medical treatment such as getting stitches out of the back of my head!

i did not fall on my own...Door knocked me down and it was witnessed by two of your employees!

this is not good! stitches bing removed today by my physician and i am confident medicare is not going to pay for these expenses!

just returned from seattle, after cruise on your ship to alaska!

Was on the Carnival (Dream) cruise leaving port Galveston, Texas on Sunday 5/14/23 and arrived back to port Galveston, Texas on Saturday 5/20/23. I spent large q quantities of currency at the casino, including two taxable jackpot winnings. my other winnings were under the taxable requirements which I had transferred on my VIP Club# [protected]. I was approached by casino management and had to sign a form with personnel information related to money laundering. This is was an embarrassment and deformation of character to myself and wife. This will require immediate attention by corporate and a response to this matter.

This is the worst cruise experience I have had from the food to the customer service. The ship

Needs to be retired, there was one very small pool that was constantly overcrowded. The best part of the cruise was getting off the ship at the port.

I went to guest services multiple times to settle my account and the morning of debarkation I got the statement with zero balance only to get an email this morning from Carnival Cruise Lines Important Notice stating that I owe a balance and had absolutely no information as to what the charges were for. If this isn’t Carnival then I’d love to know why and how someone has my cruise dates and address!

Let's start with the pros:

DJ was excellent, Calyps drummer excellent, Rum Bar service excellent, cabin steward excellent, waiter excellent. bar runners excellent.

Cons:

Edgar the cruise director was not very personable and did not accomodate the departure in a timely fashion, and was not on deck 3 to help the passengers at any given time. There was not enough activities on board to be entertained, the meals were subpar, and the rules and regulations regarding guest was not upheld by Carnival. Example, kids in the jaccuzi, people smoking weed, passengers taking wagons of beverages on board prior to boarding, I was NOT a first time cruiser on this line, but it might be my last especially going out of New Orleans. I could go on with a long list and will contact Carnival personally to explain other issues. Just be beware, this is not a cruise for you to have alot of good expecations.

Sept 30 2022 my Mom passed away! We was booked on Oct 1 2022 cruise the sunshine. We cancelled and There was also a Storm so Carnival gave use choice to cancel but we didn't get a on board credit or refund of &140.00 each total &280.00. Booking # B4J7D0

We have cruised a lot and only on Carnival, I thought that with a DEATH that the cruise line would refund it, Plus they was letting people cancel because of the Storm. I'm so confused!

On May 4th 2023 my husband and I were on our way back from the Bahamas, while sitting enjoying the entertainment and talking with another couple that was also waiting for the 80's Music Trivia to start on one the long couches across from the excursion counter someone was spitting from another floor above us, I went to the bar I spoke with Sherin explain to her what was going on she immediately call security they came very quickly asked my husband and I questions and went to work looking for them, my husband and I got up along with the other couple, two other couples sat down in the same area and they were spit on as well. So we didn't get to participate in the 80's Music trivia game because there was no where to sit and my husband cannot stand for a long period of time due to a broken partial knee implant, so needless to say the whole day was ruined because the day before we couldn't even go the Princess Cay because the water shuttle was rocking so much that I didn't feel it was safe for my husband and I to get on, so we sat on the ship the whole time. The food on the buffet on the Lido deck was awful along with the Olympic restaurant for your time dining, the food was cold, chicken want cooked thoroughly (I cook chicken for a living) potatoes weren't cooked, they were still hard. But I will say Sherin our favorite bartender was very polite, professional, and on point everytime, Sigit our room steward was excellent, always spoke when he seen anyone not only us and asked how are you doing today, he kept our room very, very, neat and tidy, even wished us "Happy Anniversary" Sherin and Sigit were always the people that could put a smile on our face the whole cruise, this was my second cruise and my husband's first time and I wanted to make sure it was memorable so he'd want to go again, but with this experience I will probably be going only with my friends or sister because he will most likely never go with me again.

We went on a Carnival Cruise on [protected] to [protected] to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. My husband had a warrant from 1988 that we thought had been all resolved. I looked into this before we went on the cruise and it was assured to me that he had no warrants showing up. We got the cruise and my husband was called right away to go to guest services. When we went to guest services they said they needed to take a copy of his driver's license and birth certificate. I told them this is not about a warrant they assured me it was not everything is fine. We went on the cruise our bucket list since my husband and I both have cancer. When we go to the boat terminal in Long Beach at 6:00 in the morning we had customs banging on our door. My husband and I were asleep they came in and ripped him out of bed would hardly let him put his clothes on. They treated him like a murder which he is not. What they put him though as a terminal cancer patient what beyond awful. He got suck in jail all weekend long until the warrant was dismissed on Monday at court. So our cruise is now an awful nightmare that we just want to forget. We have deleted all of our pictures from this trip and threw away everything we purchased. CARNIVAL cruises are LIARS let a cancer patient go to jail for 4 days and now my husband is having numerous health issues from this. THANK YOU SO MUCH CARNIVAL for the WORST trip ever. DO not use them they are awful and lie right to your face.

We were on Casino Cruise offer signed up under codes CP9 and PC5. from April 15th to April 22, 2023 on the Carnival Vista out of Galveston, TX. Whie it was noticeable that you were shorthanded, is this the new policy of Carnival Cruise Lines? The service and food has declined on the past several Cruises we have taken.

To our understanding, per our Carnival Vacation Planner under codes CP9 and PC5, our drinks should have been covered ship wide. The casino hosts were rude and uncaring. The drink service that was not honored and our loss was a total of $919.00 and we are very dissatisfied. This has happened to us before, however this time we know that our drinks should have been covered. We felt like this was a bait and switch offer - we were told one thing received another.

I brought a cruise from carnival and cancelled in Feb 2020 due to COVID and everyone getting sick on the cruise ships. I also had to cancel by Feb 2020 to get my money back. My cruise was set for April of 2020. At the time of cancellation, carnival stated that I would receive 250.00 to use in the ship for a future cruise. Fast forward to 2023, I brought a cruise and paid in full. Spoke to customer service about the 250.00 future cruise credit and they stated that it would be applied as an onboard credit and it would be reflected on my account within 24 hours. Checked back in 24 hrs and it was not reflected so I called and spoke with customer service again and ultimately a supervisor. They stated that guest services did not apply the credit because they did not stop their cruise ships due to COVID until March 2020. COVID started in Jan 2020 and was all over the news in Feb 2020. That was their decision to wait until March 2020 to cease all operations. I was not going to put myself at risk and I don’t like being told one thing at the time and another now. I would like my 250.00 applied as an onboard credit. Regardless of when I cancelled, if my trip wasn’t scheduled until April 2020 and I cancelled in Feb 2020 and carnival ceased all operations in March 2020, I wouldn’t have been able to go on the trip anyhow.

My family cruise on the Carnival Mardi Gras from the 18th through the 25th of March. I required all of my children and grandchildren to get passports. When we arrived in Nassau we all went on shore. On our return, one of your crew members would not let my granddaughter on board saying that she was not the person on the sign and sail card. She showed him her passport and he still refused even after she presented ID even saying that her name was mispronounced. She then went to another gangway and got on but my concern is what would have happened to my granddaughter if she didn't get on the ship.

We have cruised with your line several times and always had a good time but this incident needs to be addressed.