Carnival Cruise Line Omdömen 

This cruise line has zero compassion! Can't believe they won't assist with change of dates or names or refund when you are diagnosed with cancer and immediately require surgery and a long recovery.....
Look elsewhere

So here we go.
I booked a cruise out of Norfolk for my wife and daughter for my daughter's college graduation.

I have worked in the online media realm for over 27 years and have completed MORE than my share of forms and purchased many, many items via online forms. BUT YOUR system is but far at the top of the most egregiously incompetent that all others pale in comparison.
I purchased a drink package ( that never went thru) the same time I purchased the gratuities package (that went thru) as well as booked 2 "special dining" nights...NEVER went thru. Funny how some went thru and others did not when they were ALL DONE at the same time.
So let's start with the drink package....THE SHIP did NOT even have a "smoothie" anywhere to be found, BUT you offered IT in the drink package.
My wife went online once on the boat to rebook the "special dining" paid $90 for one and $45 for the other. $90 JUST to book a spot at the steakhouse and still paid $150 for dinner. Just like the Italian place. CAN YOU say RIPOFF...THERE was 3 other parties at the steakhouse when they went.
They "won" a spa treatment on a raffle...the SPA would NOT honor it. FYI they stayed on the spa level.
Now on to the "room". They stayed on the spa level as I mentioned...claiming to have access to its OWN pool...BUT guests from OTHER decks could access that pool...FYI it is a VERY SMALL POOL.

Carnival cruise should change its name to Criminal cruise lines.

One thing being in business for over 25 years has taught me... make someone happy they MAY tell a few people, MAKE someone UNHAPPY they TELL EVERYONE.

Can YOU guess which category I am IN?

Awful cruise. Toilet smelled like a porta potty. Bed bugs. Had horrible bites. Brought it to their attention and they just said I’m sorry but there were no findings. Black mold in the bathroom. I have pictures to document it all. No compensation, nothing but a I AM SORRY! Will never cruiser again. Pool was sooooo small (Carnival Sunshine)

The only thing I have bad to say about the Carnival is that they need a policy on wearing bathing suits without coverups in the food areas. The women have gone too far with their butts out in the food areas. We do not wants to see their butt while we are eating. Some families are there with young children as well. Have some respect!

You would think Carnival would make it easy for families to reschedule without exorbitant fees but it’s $50 PER PERSON so a family of five has to pay more even though my kids don’t contribute to the fund. We were hoping to move our cruise up so we could start saving for another cruise but nope, it would cost us $250 to switch. So now we will just not book with them again in the future. We can book a hotel and change reservations no problem much easier.

Went on cruise Dec 27 forgot to cash out casino received email of balance but never received. $1079 always give excuse they’re behind in refunding but going on 7 months

Be warned - if you need to visit the medical centre on a Carnival Cruise you will pay more than you ever could have imagined! My husband and I both had to see the doctor on board for two different illnesses. On presenting to the medical centre we were each told that the consultation alone could cost $290. Being desperate for help, we agreed to that cost. At no other time we were advised the cost of tests or medication (and when you're feeling ill, you don't think to ask, you're just desperate for relief). Believe it or not, for a SINGLE nasal swab which tested both Covid and Influenza, we paid a total of $295 ($150 for Covid, $145 for Influenza)! A course of 10 Tamiflu tablets - $231.80. Bottle of cough syrup - $44.94. All up, when we received the bill the morning we disembarked, we were staggered to see a total of $1,555! To add insult to injury, my husband was taunted by the staff for not having had a flu vaccination!
Another warning - be sure that your travel insurance covers medical costs. Don't be like me and trust when your insurance company tells you that because the cruise is a domestic one, your medical will be covered by Medicare. What a joke!
And then when you try to make a complaint you go to Carnival's "Guest Care" page, type out your complaint, click Submit, and .......... nothing happens. It doesn't go anywhere.
Never Again!!!

I was suckered in with promises of upgrading for a dollar if I got their CC and I did and then booked a ocean view room like it said then asked for my upgrade and was victim of their bait and switch and now the upgrade was hundreds of dollars !!! Just another lieing company after your dollar

Down With the Ship (Literally): My Carnival Diary, Day 1
Welcome aboard, friends. I'm writing to you live from the bowels of the Carnival Spirit, somewhere below the waterline, serenaded by the gentle lullaby of what I can only assume is the engine deciding whether or not we'll make it to Alaska.
Let me back up.
I am NOT a blogger. I have never been a blogger. But desperate times call for desperate content, so here we are.
Our party is 35+ people strong. A glorious floating family and friend reunion. When I booked, I did the responsible adult thing and requested a room on a higher floor. The Carnival representative—a REAL human being, employed by this company, presumably trained—confirmed that my room, beginning with the digits "11," would in fact be on the eleventh floor. Logical, no? Eleven. Eleventh floor. This is not advanced math. This is the kind of thing a five-year-old could pattern-match.
Reader, I was not on the eleventh floor.
I am in the ENGINE room.
The bottom. The basement of the sea. The one place on this entire vessel where you can feel the boat thinking. All 37 members of my party are perched up top, sipping cocktails with a view, while we are down here bonding with the propulsion system.
So naturally, I complained. Patiently. Saintly, even. I waited two hours—between being "helped" and waiting for the Supervisor, a figure spoken of in hushed tones, summoned like a sea creature from the deep. And when the Supervisor surfaced, he delivered Carnival's signature service with breathtaking confidence:
It's your fault.
You see, I should have known that a room starting with "11" is obviously the bottom deck. Known that their staff—who told me the opposite—knows exactly what they're doing. Known that my booking record, which mysteriously does not show my request, is the only document that counts. Carnival is, I must say, world-class at one thing: saying NO with a smile.
But wait. It gets better.
The room was so unpleasant (smelled chemical) that I asked to simply get off the boat. And here's where the universe really started doing improv. They told me sometimes a passenger doesn't show up—happens all the time on a ship with thousands of rooms—and if one opened up, we could move.
One room. One single no-show on this entire enormous boat.
It was the room next to ours.
Folks, someone looked at the cabin beside mine, took one good look, and left the boat. They tapped out. They saw the engine room, weighed it against simply not going to Alaska, and chose dry land. I respect it. Honestly, it's the most useful piece of information Carnival has given me all day. And needless to say, by the time I got the news about the only avail room - the boat was at sea.
So that's Day 1. We're down here with the machinery, my 37 friends are living their best lives several decks up, and the Supervisor remains very confident this is all working as intended.
This is going to be a long week. Stay tuned. The engine and I have a lot more to talk about.
To anyone choosing between Carnival and another cruise line: come for the respect, stay for the absolutely ZERO service. Best, Fifi

I had an Alaska 10 day cruise booked for July 20-30, 2026. On June 11,2026 I went on the Carnival Hub app to look at shore excursions to book and my cruise was GONE!!! I called Carnival right away and they told me that my guest/partner I selected to go with me, called and canceled the cruise!!! He has my pin # so I guess as long as he has that, he could do anything he wanted to MY CRUISE RESERVATION!!! How can they justify allowing that???? It was a cruise I was so looking forward to and now it’s gone!!!!
Thanks a lot Carnival😭😭
I have been sailing with Carnival since 1998 and been on over 30 cruises with them, NEVER AGAIN!!! Take my advice and don’t tell anyone your pin or password no matter who your sailing guest with you is.
Mine was my husband and now I can’t go on my dream cruise because I trusted him with my info.

Carnival Glory is filthy!! Yuck! For as much as we pay, clean the ship!!! My balcony is filthy, I’m picking up hair thats not mine in the bathroom sink and balcony…filthy!

My family and I have been cruising for many years — 18 cruises total. Carnival being the line that originally got us hooked because of our kids. Over time we’ve continued giving Carnival more chances while going on different cruise lines, hoping the experience would return to what it once was. Unfortunately, our recent sailing on the Carnival Firenze was one of the worst we’ve ever had. This cruise did not feel like a vacation. It felt like a week of standing in lines, dealing with slow service, and constant upsells. When you spend more time waiting than relaxing, something is fundamentally wrong with the operation of the management. There was not a single area on the ship without a line. Some waits reached 90 minutes, even for basic things. That’s not normal crowding — that’s poor management and understaffing. It’s clear the ship is operating with more guests than the staff can realistically handle. Carnival has shifted heavily toward paid dining. On Firenze, 70–80% of the food options required an extra charge, which completely changes the feel of the cruise. The included options were limited, and the main dining room was overwhelmed. Our dinners took almost two hours every night, not because the food was special, but because the staff was stretched far too thin. It’s disappointing to see Carnival cut back on staffing while increasing the number of revenue‑based venues. Large Group Challenges
We traveled with a group of 13, and Carnival struggled with even basic coordination. Simple things like dining together or planning activities became unnecessarily difficult. Other cruise lines handle groups far more smoothly. Policy & Communication Issues
One unacceptable issue: they confiscated our steamer and never informed us. No note, no explanation, no communication. We only discovered it missing and had to track it down ourselves at the end of the cruise. Regardless of policy, the lack of communication is unprofessional. This was, unfortunately, one of our worst cruises ever, and it didn’t feel like a vacation.

The staff on the Carnival Pride were really nice and good at what they do. The cruise itself was extremely poorly executed and the ship is, well, gross and beyond worn-out. Also, “Your Time Dining” is a straight-up lie. You check-in when you want to dine, and are hit with a wait time between 20 and 130 minutes. Yep. Nope. Never again.

Absolutely ridiculous, trying to get through the two person guest's services line and janky $240 for Internet that doesn't work in the room, unpleasant experience all around,really wanting a refund ,ghetto trash policing the guests service line

Not cruising with Carnival for the next years!

So disappointing and so frustrating to deal with Carnival Customer Service and Sales Department--you will be given a runaround.

You also will have to deal with penalty/administrative fees to change sail dates/change booking, every time. There is no flexibility and no consideration at all.

They have also removed our Loyalty standing and replaced it with Point System.

I will stick with Disney and Norwegian Cruise Line from hereon.

cruise sydney to Moreton islands the cruise was great staff & food and drinks great and a good price and the ship was clean and tidy but the Cloud 9 Spa was a rip off and we had money taken taken out of our a/c without our permission , sessions changed and wrong sessions put on our a/c made a complaint on the ship and was told to follow it up when we got home sent follow up complaint 20/4/26 still waiting for a response total shambles

lost our checked bags... didn't have room key had to go to guest services and wait forever... embarking was chaotic mess... we were first time cruisers and they provided no information about what to do.. very disappointed

Worst cruise!! Sewage!! Stink!!! Sick!! The smell got worse by the day. By the last night we were vomiting from the smell. The workers are rude and carnival as a brand has no integrity. All they say is sorry after a ruined vacation. I wrote Christine Duffy President. And forwarded the message to Josh Weinstein CEO and neither of them responded. Carnival clearly has a poop problem in the Sunrise ship and they refuse to tell what the problem is nor will they take any part in rectifying the situation with customers.

After a horrible cruise where my wife and I became sick from the food. April 2026 a cybersecurity breach occurred affecting 6 million travelers of this cruise line shameful!!!

We were due to sail to New Caledonia on 16/1/26. On the evening of 15/1/26, after travelling to Sydney for our cruise, we were informed that due to weather, the cruise to New Caledonia was cancelled - this weather system had been predicted for weeks. We were offered cruise credit, or a cruise to Queensland. We rejected both the cruise credit and QLD cruise, and requested an immediate refund. Carnival said that under their terms and conditions, they were not required to refund our cruise. Carnival is still holding on to $13,000 of ours, and will now not respond to emails regarding the matter. I requested that Carnival confirm that they received our VCAT legal documents and they still have not responded. They have not issued a refund or cruise credit, stating that we rejected the credit. Carnival's conduct constituted a major failure in the supply of services under Australian Consumer Law.