The Carnival Experience
My Experience on Carnival Cruise Line’s ‘Freedom’
For the past four years I have used Royal Caribbean’s repositioning cruises as a travel mode in my semi-annual visits back the U.S. In the fall the ship would leave its operating port in Colon (Panama) and take a leisurely eight-day path to Fort Lauderdale, with one-day stops in Limon, Costa Rica; two ports in Colombia, and Aruba. In the spring the itinerary would be the reverse ending up in Colon. Since many travelers cannot warm to the idea of not returning to the port they departed from, the fares were cut-rate, making the cruises even more desirable. I was in ‘travel heaven’ and became ‘cruise addicted’.
Last fall Royal Caribbean changed their schedule and no longer repositioned the ship to Fort Lauderdale so I lost my discovered gem. I started searching for alternative cruise options because I had been bitten by the cruise-bug. Turns out I would have been better off if I had gotten bit by a snake. Read on!
I found a cruise on Carnival’s ‘Freedom’ out of Fort Lauderdale that, although it did not terminate in Colon, stopped there on day #6 of its eight-day itinerary. I confirmed with Carnival that I could get off at the Colon stop. And even though I had to pay for the entire cruise, it still was relatively inexpensive. I was not excited about the two interim stops (Cozumel, Mexico and Limon, Costa Rica) since I had visited both places previously and didn’t think either warranted a return visit. But, al least it got me back to Colon by cruise.
Throughout this discussion I am going to make comparisons based on my Royal Caribbean experiences both to provide a frame of reference and to give you a feel for what my expectations where. If nothing else my experiences prove conclusively that all lines do not operate exactly the same.
The first shock was when I arrived at the departure terminal in Fort Lauderdale. I realize now that Royal Caribbean has passenger processing, both boarding and departing the ship, down to a science, the epitome of efficiency. The last time I sailed on RCCL it took me less than twenty-five minutes to go from my cab at the street to my stateroom. In Carnival’s case it was, by comparison, like they had never done this boarding processing before. One long seemingly unmoving line after another, and the right-hand and the left-hand didn’t seem to even speak the same language. A line to show your cruise documents, to the line to check passports, then to the security checkpoints, and finally to the check-in where they ran your credit card and gave you your room key that doubles as your on-board charge card. Although the room keys were made up in advance, the clerks could not seem to find them until endless searches in various places.
Security checkpoint? Can you imagine what your local airport would look like if there were only three security screening lines TOTAL in the entire airport. Think about it, 3,500 people are going to go through three checkpoints to get on this ship. And then there was a long walk up a steep ramp to the 4th deck to board (A security guy ‘explained’ when I asked why we didn't just walked straight on to the first deck that it would cause a back-up waiting on elevators. What?) It was exactly two hours and forty minutes from street to stateroom! Welcome aboard.
The first thing I noticed as I walked around trying to familiarize myself with the ship’s layout was that in most of the common areas you could not see out. I actually got a feeling of claustrophobia, especially after the ship got underway and there was some slight movement. I don’t know whether RCCL’s comparatively open architecture is a reflection of intentional design choices or a difference in design evolution over a period of time. But, it is something I did not get over. I noticed it several times a day.
The people who designed the boarding processing must have also had a hand in laying out the buffet lines on board. My God! By comparison, on RCCL there are separate stations (lines) at the breakfast buffet for the cereals and fruit, another for pastries and yogurt, coffee and other drinks over there, cooked to order omelets here, and a separate big circular area with all kinds of hot dishes. But on Carnival even if you just want a glass of orange juice and a pastry - guess what – you stand in line with everyone else in that part of the Caribbean. And, there is only one station (not 5 or 6 spread around) to get a cup of coffee. And did you know there are an alarming number of people who drink cream and sugar in there coffee who would never think to take the condiments with them and fix there coffee someplace other than in front of the only coffee dispenser this side of Florida? Grrrr!
As an aside, sometimes bureaucracies are funny without intending to be. About six months ago Carnival made a big deal out of changing their smoking policies. There would no longer be a designated smoking area in all the bars and night clubs. Only certain bars would now have a smoking area. Well guess what one of the ‘new’ non-smoking bars turns out to be? Answer: ‘The Habana Cigar Bar’! I wonder if some corporate guy with the green eye-shades and pocket protector won an award for that one? You can not make this stuff up.
This next, and last, observation has to do with the clientele, my ship mates aboard the cruise. This is a touchy subject and I do not want to come off sounding elitist, racist or prejudiced in any way. I assure you that is certainly not my intent. So I will just state my points as delicately as possible, not belabor them, and let you all come to your own conclusions taking them for what they are worth, if anything.
I swear this ship must have been a hide-out for all the people who had tried-out to be on that TV show where everyone competes to lose massive amounts of weight (‘The Biggest Loser’ I think?) – and these folks were rejected for being too big. I swear 80% of the people on this ship were obese, not overweight, grossly obese! And two or three hundred were actually Soma Wrestler big. Yes, and too many of them owned bikinis (courtesy I am sure of a sail maker someplace). Think for a minute now about that single-line buffet line I mentioned earlier. People with platters (not plates), one in each hand foraging through the line. I fully expected someone to jump out before I got off the ship declaring that for a week I had ‘been punked’! Maybe even Alan Funt popping up.
For most of the week also I felt like I was dodging people who had no respect at all for others, to the point that it appeared they did not recognize there were others. Loud, overbearing and obnoxious seemed to be the order of the day. Plus, a large contingent of folks from many of the Caribbean islands seemed to all have at least four kids each with them. All of whom were totally out of control. When the security people finally got them convinced (with no help from parents) that they could not run at break-neck speed around the pool deck, they moved their routes through the areas where people were seated eating lunch or talking with neighbors. I can’t tell you the number of times someone hit me (or came close) with a towel they were throwing over their shoulder as they walked by. And you didn’t dare sit on the aisle or perceived pass-through.
And then some kid invented some kind of soccer-type game played running ON the billiard tables and I guess the word spread throughout the ship. They actually had to close the room with the pool tables in it because the security folks got tired of getting kids off the tables! Unbelievable.
In the interest of full disclosure I should also mention that while we were docked in Cozumel I filled out a bunch of immigration forms and turned them in, along with my passport, to the cruise ship's front desk. This was to grease the processing with the Panamanian Immigration people who would come aboard when we arrived in Colon on Thursday morning. (Plan ahead!) I then walked across the ship’s lobby, got a drink, and walked out on the deck to watch our departure from Cozumel.
As soon as we were underway the Captain came on the PA to announce that, due to a hurricane in our planned path, we were not heading south for our planned stops in Costa Rica and Panama. Those stops were canceled and we were instead turning east and headed for stops in Jamaica and Turks. But he assured us, “Don’t worry we will be back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday morning as planned.” Thank you, Captain.
I mention that turn of events for two reasons. I learned the hard way that planning to exit the ship in mid-cruise presents some special hazards. Carnival certainly had no responsibilities to me for my having to reschedule my return to Panama. They went back to Florida as contracted.
In addition I went to great efforts to be objective about this critique and not let my thoughts be influenced by the unplanned change in itinerary. They are two totally separate issues.
I have offered this critique to help others who may assume that a cruise line is a cruise line. How much difference can there be? My naïveté caused me to learn the hard way that there is, or at least can be, a BIG difference. Happy sailing!
Larry Matthews
I will be back to normal (abnormal?) and publish my regular post about life in Panama later the end of this week. Until then, have fun!
Till Next Time. Pura Vida!
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