Joey....I just returned Thursday from 5 nights on the Carnival Ecstasy....you had asked if I found much difference between Princess and Carnival, and right now I think I'd pick Princess. This Carnival cruise was my least favorite of any cruise I've been on. My room was fine, dining mates and waiters were fine, but there were several things that I did not like. 1) the shopping expert made a couple of, what I interpreted, as derogatory statements about people from my state 2) in one of the ports she was standing by a monument and yelled "look at all the tourists off the cruise ship (to me unprofessional) 3) the pursor's staff messed up my account, but did get it straightened out (that turned out to be ok) 4)there was a fire in one of the staterooms on the deck below me, and it was at least 15 or 20 minutes before any alarm went off! The smell is what woke most of us up. No staff member came to our muster station to be "in charge" or keep us updated. The cruise director finally began making overhead announcements. A lady from the pursor's office did come and stand in the back of the room telling people to stay seated. To me, with over 900 staff members, someone could have come to the stage and kept us informed. This is a serious safety issue, as some people were beginning to panic, and we had no idea what to do other than "sit down."
I realize this could happen on any ship on any cruise line, but it sort of put a bad taste in my mouth for wanting to cruise with Carnival again anytime real soon.
Pat
