We have been on two other cruises with other cruise companies and never experienced any of the following with them as we did with CARNIVAL.

We joined the ship at Barbados (what a mistake) The Hi Di Hi approach of the entertainment staff was of putting before any entertainment was encountered. What entertainment? The shows where not long enough or themed. By the time you began to get comfortable the shows ended.
What we could not understand is how you could attract over 300 people into a room, give them 20-30 mins entertainment then not bring on the next act for a further 45 mins.(Comedy Club) Do you call that organised entertainment especially when the entertainment was of the same theme. It felt like a Butlin's adventure camp. Not quality of a up market cruise as one would of expected.
We would not recommend anyone en-counting a trip that has guest joining them in different ports. You are most certainly treated as second class citizens if you are not at the designated starting point.
Although it was clearly stated we would need to leave the ship at San Juan due to emigration laws and would not be able to rejoin the ship until mid-day. At no stage was it told to us we would not be able to get to our rooms until after 2.30pm on that day. All areas where sealed off and other facilities where withdrawn until after this time.(what had we paid for)?

We would not recommend CARNIVAL to anyone or be using them ourselves again. We are very disappointed with VIRGIN to even consider recommend this type of cruise to anyone looking for a cruise of class and not clearly stating is was like being at Butlin's and very low key.

The formal nights where a joke. What Captain - never saw him or dined with him. The expense of buying posh clothing and dress suits where a total waste a shirt and dress shorts would have been enough.

I hope all that read this think very hard before making the same mistake.

Had to write this review in fairness. Went 2 years ago and posted very negative reports. Went again as only cruise and stay we could get in Barbados. The only problem I had was with the concept of the cruise, ie "funship" it fits very much into the American culture and is very noisy, so not a relaxing cruise. I could not believe the improvement in all areas, food was very good, cleaning and entertainment much better with two shows a night. Its a good ship for people wanting a lively time and American ideas of "elegant wear" differs a lot from normal formal cruise wear. Elvis is alive and well on Carnival.

Treated like a "Rockstar" more like a roady!!

We booked the Southern Carribbean Cruise, which included 3 nights stay in the Almond Casuarina hotel Barbados. This Hotel, although not 4 star quality as advertised, was acceptable although entertinment at the complex was non existant. We arrived at the Airport and we were met by our Virgin Rep, our luggage was thrown onto a large dirty Luton type van, we were then hurded, like cattle on to a coach that had clearly seen better days. One passenger for whole of the half hour journey, had water pouring out of the air conditioning unit above her head. Needless to say the air conditioning did not work, but not really surprising given the age and condition of the coach.

We were asked to meet up the next morning at 10am, this was our chance to meet our Virgin Rep. Our Rep turned at 10:45am (this was after all time out of my holiday). She proceeded to sell us available excursions around the Island and was gone after 20 minutes. This was to be the only encounter we would have with Virgin, apart from the airport.

Our 3 days at the hotel came to an end and we were due to join our ship. Having struggled down to the reception with our luggage, we joined a confused and un-organised group. No one new what was happening, not even the hotel staff. We had to keep asking staff where we needed to get our transport. Once again our luggage was recklessly thrown on to the old Luton once again. We were then guided to our transport, to say this was clearly unroad worthy was an understatement, the coach was absolutely filithy and flea ridden, evidence left of bites on both my legs and my husbands. It had not been cleaned for some considerable time. Our journey was a replica of the "Italian Job", with no consideration for the passengers on board, this was to say the least, a very scary journey. When we arrived I felt like I had been dragged there on the back of a shovel.

We boarded the Victory and stepped back in time to seventies, the ship was extremely tired and in need of revamping. After registartion we explored the ship, my heart sank, I had a really bad feeling about this holiday.

We ventured up on deck to the buffet resturant - pigs and troughs came to mind, there was food every where, tables were full of empty dishes and there was liquid all over the floors. There was no empasis on using the hand sanitiser, in fact people weren't even using the serving implements, they were using their hands. My husband said he was worried about picking something up and spending most of the hoiday ill. We both agreed that the buffet resturant was not for us.

We proceeded to check out the swimming pools, well this was the final straw the whole of the top deck was taken over by gangs of Puerto Ricans. Who were not at all friendly, in fact they were very intimidating and just pushed and shoved you out of the way. The swimming pools were full of Puerto Rican kids, eating and drinking. Nothing was said to them. There was no way we were going to use the pools either.

We had no problems wth our cabin staff, in fact the front of house staff were excellent. The Guest Service Staff were appauling, rude and unhelpful, unless you wanted to spend money on excursions.

We were allocated any time dining in the restaurant and was looking forward to some fine dining LOL. Each night became a private joke between myself and my husband, "what shall we have tonight" as we checked out the same menu night after night (but for one or two changes). One night my husband explained to the waiter that he did not like cheese mash, and asked for chips instead. The mealed arrived with cheese mash, cheese peas and chips on the side. We brought this to the attention of the waiter who proceeded to pick up the plate and scrape the mash on to my husbands side plate and returned his plate to him. The meals were obviously pre-plated and warmed up and did not allow for any changes.

Entertainment was appauling and not at all what we expected, third rate, cheap and not the standard we were led to believe would be offered. One of the highlights was the hairy chest competition! need I say more.

The journey home was by far the worst experience of my life; We had to vacate our cabin by 9am, but our cabin lad started hammering on the door from 7:30 and continued to do so until we vacated at 8:15. Our flight was due to leave that evening at 19:50. We heard through the grapevine that once you left the ship, you were not allowed back on and there was no where to leave your hand luggage. We were being collected from the dock at 2pm, so we decided to stay on board until we were due to go to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 2:30pm and left to wait for a flight that was not due to leave for a further 5hrs and 20 minutes. "Rockstar Treatment" what a joke.

Our very first cruise for our ruby wedding,7days Barbados then the much looked forward to cruise.Outside cabin great loads of space and very clean.Food good but only ever luke warm.The worst part was all the puerto ricans who were noisey greedy pushed and shoved you emptied the coffee machine also the ice cream and lemonade it was like a free for all not what we expected.When they disenbarked on the sunday it all changed,apart for the adults pool having no water from sunday till tuesday so we could only use the pool tuesaday not bad out of seven days.

Also the entertainment was well below par,I expected west end type shows with feathers and sparkle not a juggler.Butlins entertainment is far better.

No sorry to say we were very very upset not at all what we had expected,would we do it again NEVER

We have crusied frequently in the last 5 years and this was by far the worst experience. We join mid cruise in Barbados and along with most of the others joining there felt like second class passebgers. The cleaning of our stateroom was poor, there were finger marks on the window all week, twice had to ask for towels to be changed and was treated by steward as if I had stolen towels.
Did not use formal dining option as dining room appeared cramped. Two couples we spoke to were moved 4 times in the week we were on the ship. The buffet dining was very hit or miss and the table clearing almost none existent. the hand cleaning machines rarely worked. The Burger bar, Deli, Chinese & Pizza options were excellent without them we would not have eaten, but hardly fine dining.
Bar service around the pools was good but poor in the bars in the evenings.
Evening entertainment is always late as there is only one performance which has to be after last dinner sitting and bingo.
On the plus side the pools were excellent (although at least one was closed each day, and the slide only in operation twice in a week), the subbathing area was great with lots of space.
As I said we have cruised the caribean 5 times with Ocean, Princess & RCL as well as crusing with Thomson, P&O & NCL and this was terrible.

This trip to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Victory turned out to be the best value one week vacation that my partner and I have ever had. My partner spends six months of the year in Florida and I live in the UK. I booked the trip in the UK but with hindsight would have booked it in the US. We have booked another trip on the Carnival Valor for January 7th 2007 and saved over $150 US each by booking cruise only in the US compared with booking cruise only and paying in Sterling in the UK. This price included a free upgrade from the bottom deck to the Panorama deck up in the superstructure.
A friend drove us to the cruise terminal in Miami. We had a voucher that clearly stated it could not be used for embarkation but had to be exchanged for tickets at the ticket office. Unfortunately the ticket office was closed on a Sunday! A very kind Carnival employee noticed that my partner had some mobility problems and immediately provided a wheelchair and put us at the front of the queue. After that embarkation was an absolute breeze and our sign and sail cards were brought to us .rather than having to queue for them.
We found our cabin on the main deck without a problem. It was an inside cabin and was much more spacious than we imagined that it would be. It was immaculately clean and throughout the cruise the cabin service was first class. At one time I thought the cabin steward must hide under the bed as if we were only out of it for fifteen minutes on return the bed was remade and the ice bucket replenished – very handy as contrary to the rules I had packed a litre bottle of Scotch before I had read the small print!
After unpacking it was time to eat and we did so on the Lido deck followed by the boat drill. When the ship sailed it was very pleasant to watch Miami fall into the distance and give a big cheer to a sister ship as we passed.
Our one disappointment of the whole trip was that for our late sitting dinner in the Atlantic dining room we were the only two people at a table for four and this was the case for the whole cruise. Being a sociable pair it would have been nice to have shared a table for dinner. Our head waiter Milton from El Salvador, and assistant waiter Nicole from Croatia were first class and could not be faulted. Throughout the week I found the food served at dinner was very good indeed and breakfasts in the Pacific dining room were excellent. We finished our first day with Jackpot bingo in the Caribbean lounge followed by the Welcome Aboard show – all good fun!
Monday was an enjoyable relaxed day at sea. We gave the casino a visit and found that if we restricted ourselves to the 1c machines we could play a couple of hours and only lose a dollar! Sadly I was tempted to play higher stakes and lost a good deal more! At midnight we attended the “R rated show” in the Caribbean lounge – not really my cup of tea but the rest of the entertainment on board was very good indeed. On the subject of entertainment – on one occasion I went to the Ionian lounge to listen to a six piece jazz band. The six players were all members of the ship’s larger orchestra and they played brilliantly. Sadly I was the only person in the Ionian lounge to listen them as there was so much alternative entertainment at the same time. It must have soul destroying for the musicians.
On the whole we thought that the ports of call were very good. We did not book any excursions with Carnival as we preferred to do our own thing with bookings from vendors in the ports visited. I particularly enjoyed the visit to Ocho Rios where we took a taxi to Mahogany beach. My partner spent the whole time swimming in the sea while I propped a bar on the beach drinking Red Stripe and watching the cricket test match, England vv Sri Lanka, live on TV. I gave the friendly bartender my postcards to post and they all duly arrived at their destinations. We recommend this cruise as fantastic enjoyment and great value for money. We really look forward to our January trip on Carnival Valor to Belize and Honduras, as well as revisits to Mexico and Grand Cayman. Have fun!

This was our 4th cruise with carnival, if booked at the right time you always get a great deal. We paid for the cheapest inside cabin and were upgraded 8 decks.
Our friends were upgraded from inside to outside.

The service in the main dining room was excellent as were the buffets.

Our cabin steward was superb.

Generally we found the entertainment good, but of course this is always a personal choice anyway. We find the discos on all American ships, light years behind, as though we are both in our 50's we enjoy up to date music of all varieties.

Carnival cabins are the largest we find, we always book inside as we only sleep there, but again if we got a good deal on an outside we would book it.

We would have no hesitation on going on this ship again.

ship: huge vessel very clean everywhere you look there is someone cleaning constantly. very impressed with the cabin steward we had really friendly and always said hello. the food was absolutly amazing we ate in the formal restaurant for breakfast and evening meal mainly because the service was exceptional. the food on the lido deck was very varied and always presented beautifully. the staff were what made the cruise the very best for us. nothing was too much bother i loved the team leader and wine waitress in the formal dining room they both did everything the could for us. the entertainment on board was very good although maybe we are not the right people to judge this as we preferred just to do our own thing however what we saw was very good. we did the eastern carribean san juan st. maarten st. thomas excellent ports of call. my husbands favorite st. maarten the most friendly my favourite st. thomas the most beautiful all in all the very best holiday we have had

Ship should be renamed "Carnival Loser" the casino caned me every night!

Spotless
Great food
Friendly hard working staff
Spacious cabin
In the worst possible taste decor
Expensive drinks
Party city

Great ship for people that like to have a good time and aren't too bothered by everything being in your face. Being from Essex it was like home from home!

GAMBLING ABOARD CARNIVAL SHIPS
Despite many e-mails and letters to Carnival Cruise Lines since our cruise aboard the Inspiration in October, I have received no satisfactory response to the following inquiry. “What is your policy regarding the horse racing game aboard ship?” The situation prompting the inquiry was the “pretend” horse race where passengers hop around the show room on wooden horses according to the roll of the dice. At $3 per bet, I’m estimating that well over $150 in wagers were placed, and in return the only single one ticket winner received $12. No explanation given to the general crowd mumbling response of “what the hell . . . ?” At his point, to the staff at least, this “game” became gambling and a way for Carnival to make money. No one had any explanation for how the money was to be distributed, including the Cruise director, the Purser, or the ships accountant, further stating that “if they did they wouldn’t tell me because it wasn’t any of my business.” I have received one generic response of no value and one general outline of how pari-mutual betting governs the game. No definition of pari-mutual gambling I am aware of allows the fleecing of participants as was done by Carnival. Gamblers beware of all ship board “games” aboard Carnival ships and take note of the sign at the casino entrance that allows them to reset all jackpots between each cruise. E-mail me as you see fit for further explanation.