Good luck America! What famous British vloggers found on Carnival Adventure

• Popular British Cruise vloggers Ben and David sailed on Carnival Adventure to see if online complaints a were justified.
• At first, all went well. Then the food arrived…and the airconditioning broke down.
• Carnival Adventure will sail half the year in the US from 2028 – after this review, she’ll need to get a makeover.

While hundreds and thousands of Aussies pile onto Australian Carnival ships, what some of them might not know is that these ships are some of the lowest-rated cruise ships worldwide.

On platforms such as Cruise Critic, Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter are rated very poorly, receiving just a 2.2 and 2.4 rating out of five, respectively.

Not everyone is unhappy. A Cruise Passenger survey last year showed that 70% of cruisers reported having a good experience on these newly converted ships, and a further 21% said they had an okay experience and only 9% said they had a negative experience. 

These are budget ships and offer some of the cheapest cruises that can be found anywhere in the world.

But popular British cruise bloggers Ben and David saw these reviews and decided they wanted to see it for themselves and make their own mind up, booking a cruise on Carnival Adventure out of Sydney.

The pair have more 330,000 subscribers on Youtube and have cruised on ships all over the world across all kinds of different cruise lines. 

They said they wanted to assess bad reviews and complaints across four particular categories, which was the poor state of the ship, service complaints, problems with the food and disappointing entertainment. 

All went well…until they went to the buffet and ate the food. Then the air conditioning broke down – and Guest Services didn’t respond for three days.

The summary of Ben and David’s thoughts 

If you’re looking for a quick summation, here’s what the renowned cruise bloggers had to say.

• They felt the ship’s condition was slightly better than they expected, but still rough around the edges in parts.
• They weren’t impressed by the entertainment but noted that activity-wise, there was plenty to do. The sail-away party was a definite highlight.
• The couple liked their suite to begin with, but did complain about a lingering smell and poor room service.
• Food was definitely a sore point; they were extremely critical of the buffet, saying they believed it would make them sick, said their breakfast experience was poor, and had a mixed experience dining at Angelos. 
• The pair felt service was a problem – staff were overworked and as a result were unfriendly.
• The final comments: “I would personally say it feels like the cheap, poorer version of Carnival in the USA, North America. It just doesn’t feel the same, guys. And I feel bad for Australians in a way because this really isn’t a Carnival product.”

Their first impressions

The cruising couple had good first impressions of the ship, saying: “So far, I’m pleasantly surprised. I was expecting the ship to look a lot older and in a very bad condition based on those reviews, but I mean, the carpets look all new. All the furniture looks pretty new. So, on first impression, looks rather lovely. I mean, it may be a different story for the cabins. We’ll find out shortly.”

They also got a strong first impression of their cabin, which was a suite: “This is much nicer than I thought it was going to be. because we thought this was going to be pretty awful, but so far we’ve been proven quite wrong.

“So it is one of the lowest-rated reviewed ships in the entire world. But so far I’m really struggling to see why.

“Now it isn’t perfect. I can see chips of wood everywhere. Some things haven’t been ironed like the bedding. It looks a bit messy. But apart from that, she does look like she’s in pretty good nick for a ship that’s 25 years old.”

Disappointment at the buffet

Ben and David did not hold back when sharing their thoughts on the buffet, which they said was the only available included dining option on the first afternoon.

“That is an absolutely horrendous sensory overload. Now, I’m not a person who kind of gets overloaded easily. I can handle situations that are busy quite well, but even I was struggling in there. The food looks god-awful.

“The manners in there are just horrendous as well. Nobody was washing their hands. Everybody was just handling the tongues and then picking up things with their hands. It was horrible. So, there’s not a chance in hell I’m going to eat in there.

“I’ve had bad food before and I don’t care just because I don’t want to catch anything. I don’t want to be ill from this cruise and get Norovirus or some other tummy bug. I’m not going to risk it. It looks awful in there

“It was like a hospital or prison. They even had the prison trays, the metal trays that you get to put your food on. I am not even joking with you.”

A sail-away party to remember

As far as positives go, the bloggers raved about the sail-away party, which went under the Harbour Bridge. 

“We got to sail under the bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was absolutely amazing, guys. We both had goosebumps because we’ve never done it before. We’ve always departed from the other terminal where the Princess Cruises ship was parked, the Discovery Princess. 

“There were lots of people partying and screaming. Then there was a big countdown as we went under the bridge and everybody was screaming and people on the bridge were waving, the horns were honking.  It was absolutely fantastic, guys.

“Honestly, it’s one sailway that we are never ever going to forget. And just look at this weather. It is spectacular. Blue skies, nice and warm. Everybody’s in a good mood. All of the entertainment crew came out and were doing dance parties on the decks. It was very, very cool. It was very busy, but one sail away that we are never going to forget.”

More thoughts on dining

The couple went to dine in Angelo’s for the first night and had mixed reviews. They were generally happy with portion sizes and some dishes, but were disappointed at a lack of a bread course and other ‘tasteless’ dishes.

Overall, they said they were happy with the dining experience and didn’t have inflated expectations going in; however, they did complain about people coming to upsell them on services throughout the meal.

“I have to say, from our first actual main dining room experience, very impressed. Now, it wasn’t anything special or amazing or outstanding, but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now, we did have lots of upselling during that meal as well. 

“​​I have to say, from our first actual main dining room experience, very impressed. Now, it wasn’t anything special or amazing or outstanding, but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now, we did have lots of upselling during that meal as well. So, we had the guy from the spa, somebody from the specialty restaurants, and a photographer. So, it was non-stop upselling, but we can talk about that another time. But not bad at all.”

The next morning, they had breakfast as Angelos and didn’t enjoy the experience.

“It’s probably one of the worst types of breakfast we’ve had on board a ship. Definitely not the worst, but nowhere near anything sort of decent, if you know what I mean. It’s a bit disappointing, but it’s kind of what we expected.”

Other complaints

The British bloggers experienced their air conditioning going out and said they were unable to get in touch with guest services via the phone. They also noted that their room wasn’t cleaned, meaning they ran low on things like fresh towels. 

They also complained about a lingering smell in their cabin and hallway.

Final thoughts 

The couple sum up their thoughts at the end of the video, referring back to the four categories they mentioned at the start.

“Let’s sum up, sort of the experience based on those reviews that we had at the beginning. The number one issue was food. And yes, I would definitely say it’s somewhat justified. It hasn’t been great. The main dining rooms haven’t been as bad as I thought they would be, but it’s very hit and miss. It’s just not very good quality food.

“The buffet is an absolute mess, and if you want anything decent, you seem to have to pay for it. So, I would say that has been justified in  some ways.”

On the state of the ship, they said: “So, the second issue that a lot of people comment on is that the ship is in a state of disrepair. Now, again, there is some truth in that. The public spaces, particularly the inside spaces, actually look okay. Some of the areas actually look like they have been refreshed really well. The biggest issue is in the cabins. That’s where they look extremely old, and they do look rough around the edges. Things like broken drawers. Our air con isn’t working. Our balcony door doesn’t lock anymore.”

On entertainment they also weren’t happy with the experience: “So, the next complaint was entertainment. And again, I think this is quite justified. The entertainment has been pretty poor overall. Now, what has been good are the activities. There are plenty of activities on board. You’ve got things like the trivia, which we’ve done, and game shows, which have been great. You have things like a zipline. It is extra pay. You’ve got the slides on top, and you’ve got all of the pools and things. So, I would say the activities have been really good compared to a lot of cruise lines we’ve been on, but the entertainment is poor.”

They also said they were not happy with the service: “Another big complaint is that the crew and the customer service is terrible and rude. We have to completely agree with that. The service on board is basically functional. You don’t get big smiles. You don’t get hellos. You don’t get that special feeling that you get on some cruise lines. It’s very much transactional and sometimes borders on frankly rude. 

“Trying to get in touch with people like guest services is basically impossible. We’ve never been able to get through to them. We’ve called four or five times and there’s always a huge long line at the guest services desk. Overall, the service borders on fine to poor.

The verdict

The couple went as far to say that they “feel bad for Australians” as they don’t believe its equal to the Carnival products they’ve experienced elsewhere.

“I would personally say it feels like the cheap, poorer version of Carnival in the USA, North America. It just doesn’t feel the same, guys. 

“And I feel bad for Australians in a way because this really isn’t a Carnival product. It still feels very confused between what I think it used to be. What’s really disappointing is the food, especially on the other Carnival ships, has been great and it’s all been included in the price. So, things like Guys Burgers, uh you’ve got the Shacks Chicken, the Blue Cantina, which is the lovely Mexican place. You don’t get any of that on here. It’s all extra pay.”