A cruise specialist’s take on Carnival Adventure: Are the complaints justified?
Table of Contents
Pros
- Friendly crew deliver great service
- Plenty of complimentary dining options
- Byron Beach Club is great value
Cons
- Noticeable wear and tear
- Some shows and experiences cost extra
- Deck plan is tricky to navigate for first-timers
After recently sailing on Carnival Encounter, I was interested to see what a cruise on Carnival Adventure would be like. Both ships transitioned to the Carnival fleet earlier this year and both continue to receive mixed reviews on sites like Cruise Critic.
With ratings ranging from one to five stars, it was hard to know what to expect when I got onboard, even as a specialist cruise journalist. Just because each ship was virtually identical was no guarantee the onboard experience would be the same on both.
Here’s my take on what to expect onboard Carnival Adventure, including what was similar to my experience on Carnival Encounter and what was different.
Wear and Tear: Carnival Adventure is showing its age
During our three nights onboard Carnival Adventure, we couldn’t help but notice it seemed more worn overall compared to Carnival Encounter. This could be due to Carnival Adventure’s popularity with Sydney cruisers, the fact it’s a year older, or both.
We experienced this firsthand when a water leak adjacent to our cabin meant we had to move rooms, and we noticed toilets out of order in several public bathrooms during our cruise. These types of issues can happen on any ship, of course, but there’s no denying Carnival Adventure is beginning to show its age.
Carnival Adventure isn’t scheduled for a major dry dock until February 2027, a year later than sister ship Carnival Encounter. It’s a shame the two ships aren’t being refurbished in the opposite order, as we felt Adventure was more in need of some TLC.
Upgrading: It’s worth considering on this ship
One thing that has attracted the ire of cruisers on these two ex-P&O Cruises ships is the number of chargeable things onboard, like upgraded menu and dining options. However, we felt many of these justified the spend on our cruises.
A particular standout was the Byron Beach Club which was quite different to the one we experienced on Carnival Encounter. On Carnival Adventure, there’s an additional sun deck with two-person clamshell cabanas and loads of extra loungers.
The overall look and feel of the Byron Beach Club on this ship also showed a lot of pride from the staff, with neatly laid out seating, cute towel animals decorating some chairs and tables, and proactive waiters who couldn’t do enough for their guests.
And if you don’t like paying extra for dishes like eggs Benedict that some cruisers think should be free, treating yourself to a Byron Beach Club room or a suite will make you even happier. These room categories include access to Byron Beach Club inclusions like a separate section of Angelo’s for breakfast for Byron Beach Club guests, and also a separate menu. This includes extras like ‘real’ juice instead of juice mix and dishes like avocado toast topped with poached eggs that are usually chargeable.
When you consider every guest in eligible cabins can enjoy the Club (including children), it’s a splurge that’s worth considering, especially if you pick up a sale fare.
Food: Good overall but also great in some restaurants
We felt the included restaurants we visited on Carnival Adventure were (ever so slightly) better than what we experienced on Carnival Encounter. However, we did have one unexpected dining disappointment while we were onboard.
After enjoying the Chinese takeaway-style dishes at Dragon Lady on Carnival Encounter, we were looking forward to having dinner at this restaurant. However, when we were presented with the menu, we discovered the Dragon Lady restaurant on Carnival Adventure serves the same dishes as the main dining room on elegant nights.
If we had known about this menu change in advance, we would have switched a specialty dining booking to elegant night. This would have allowed us to enjoy the tasty spring rolls and black pepper beef at Dragon Lady again, on a different day.
Speaking of specialty dining, both of the upmarket dining choices on Carnival Adventure – Luke’s Bar & Grill and Trattoria – were excellent once again. The latter was a particular standout on Carnival Encounter and the same was true on Adventure. We treated ourselves to a steak here but there’s a workaround if you’re on a tight budget.
It’s possible to enjoy the same upmarket surrounds and excellent service at this restaurant as we did for the cost of a pizza. These are made to order and several steps above the complimentary basic ones on offer here from 11am to 4pm daily.
Staff: Friendly, committed crew are a standout
One thing that stood out onboard and in reviews (even the less than positive ones) is the staff who consistently earned superlatives like “excellent”, “wonderful” and “so lovely and helpful” online and from the passengers on our sailing.
Without fail, every crew member we interacted with on Carnival Adventure was friendly, engaged and eager to help us have a good time. It’s hard not to when you’re met with smiles and cheery hellos whenever you’re out and about around the ship.
The verdict
Carnival Adventure may not be as young as she used to be but, as they say in showbiz, she’s still got ‘it’, especially when it comes to knowing how to have a good time.
If you want to get the most of out of this ship, snap up one of its affordable fares and spoil yourself onboard, perhaps with an upgraded Byron Beach Club room or a suite, dinner at Trattoria, or a naughty but nice night out at the 18+ Blanc de Blanc Uncorked show.
Disclosure: The writer sailed as a guest of Carnival Cruise Line.
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Got off today worst cruise ever. Didnt have an issue navigating the ship myself but with someone in a wheel chair it was a nightmare. Little tip if you can walk the stairs and see a wheel chair waiting for a lift give them space. Over 30min wait for one of the two lifts to the Dragon lady (even tried going up to go down)
Hallways hard to get though with cleaning trolleys and people leaving prams outside
Food was disappointing not the same varieties im use to from the other Carnival boats. Buffet was mostly Indian or spicy food. Travelling with my kid has been fine on the last few cruises but this one he struggled. Even In the restaurant the breakfast came cold, had to ask for butter numerous times, didnt get pool towels even after asking, now towel animal which devastated the kid. Having all 3 restaurant with the same menu on night was disappointing as it was meant to be our good night.
The boat was falling apart, the parents room near the Dragon lady had tiles falling off the wall, broken tiles just sitting up against the skirting and when I pulled the toilet paper the whole thing came off the wall.
Trying to get a table even in the restaurant that was wheelchair friendly was hard other cruise lines have dedicated tables.
And overall just didnt have the same service ive come to expect from carnival staff. They had the bare minimum attitude.
The Adventure is very tired and needs a makeover. Scheduled for Feb 27 I believe. The show in the Marquee Theatre was good but that was it. One show. Other entertainment was ok but as someone said they were pub entertainment. The comedy show was poor. Load the room up with people, one second rate comedian for 20 minutes then kick everyone out. Communication before and throughout the cruise was very poor compared to other cruise lines we’ve been on. Also, checking in to restaurants had to be done through their app before you got there. We were sent away from Angelo’s and told to come back once we had checked in. I don’t want to carry my phone around everywhere and the app kept kicking off their wifi. Everyone seemed to have the same issues. It’s likely this is our first and last cruise on Carnival.
We sailed on this ship in 2025, the shower did not work for 3 days, complained several times and were told it was working to find that it still wasn’t working. The night before we disembarked they got the shower working and offered 112 dollars credit on our next cruise after spending $2000 for the room … what a joke. We cant escalate the complaint or take it further. Our first and only cruise i think.
We went on the carnival adventure our room was leaking they put a blower in the room when we left the room and then they took it when we returned at night
The food was crap 0 Luke’s bar food was lovely 10
The domestic staff was truly helpful and friendly 10
Overall would go that ship again
I sailed on the carnival adventure in 2026 never had a hot breakfast.menu in bistro same most nights couldn’t get seating wouldn’t sail the adventure again, splendour was better. No complaints about the cabin.
I sailed on the carnival adventure in 2026 never had a hot breakfast.menu in bistro same most nights couldn’t get seating wouldn’t sail the adventure again, splendour was better
What makes this person a Cruise Specialist? And if course it’s a Carnival sponsored cruise. Personally, as a travel agent for nearly 50 years who has done 100+ I sponsored cruises I can safely say that both Encounter and Adventure are basic 3 star ships. Comfortable but very basic by world standards. Remember that our two ‘real’ CArnival ships, Splendor and Luminous, whilst better than the ex-P & O ships, are themselves well below the standard of the US based Carnival ships. Hopefully the drydocks will improve things but Australia has a 50+ year history of getting the oldest ships in the Carnival Corp fleet.
Had a cruise with Carnival Adventure in December 2025. All you comments are as we thought too but with an additional suggestion to improve the concerts they are not up to standard they are more a pub entertainment. Pre covid cruises had better entertainment.
Sailed as a guest
That’s why he didn’t mention the avocado comes out of a toothpaste tube
I would never go on a Carnival Cruise again, in the main sitting area it was side by side horrid brown lounge chairs with their backs blocking looking at the ocean with no spaces between the chairs. It was so noisy and faced an open gambling area.
We were a group and looked forward to catching up at dinner, just started to enjoy our meal and chatting about what we did and it was SHOW TIME every bloody night so there went our catch-ups.
As for the entertainment “VERY SECOND RATE”
then there was the bistro, you could hardly get a table it was worse than Cole’s cafeteria” it turned me off eating.
You certainly turned me off Carnival ships, l would never recommend Carnival Cruising to anyone.