I was on a 10-day cruise to the Panama Canal on the Coral Princess in December 2006 and I couldn't believe how rude some of the people were. At the time, I had only sailed on Carnival and have always felt that for the most part Carnival's passengers are grateful to be on vacation, excited and determined to have a good time.
When something really goes bad, I would expect people to complain. But come on, when you only get 5 shrimp instead of 6, or the coffee isn't scalding hot, or many of the other stupid remarks we heard, I don't know how you could possibly feel better by insulting one of the cruise staff.
I personally think the difference on our cruise with Princess was that most of the passengers are NOT on vacation, they are almost all retired so they're not really vacationing from work -- Carnival's passengers for the most part ARE on vacation and very happy to be so. Most of us agree, even a bad day at sea is better than a good day at home!
I probably won't cruise Princess again -- the ship, food, room, entertainment, ports and service were all great, just having to listen to so many complainers was a drag.
Hooray for the happy cruisers at Carnival!
