I have been on cruises where food in the dining room was free but if you chose to eat at one of the many restaurants, clubs or pubs on board, you paid.

The worst cruise of my life was on Carnival. I used to take cruise vacations when my son was young so that he could be busy and I could rest. This one was a drunken orgy. Vomit in the pool. Several injuries when a drunk jumped into the pool and landed on some people. A free-for-all when EMPLOYEES stole the keys to a booze storage area and were caught helping themselves - they were drunk at the time. Blood and vomit in the pool that time. I could go on and on.

One woman called the harbor police in port because her two boys - the younger only ten - were beaten up in a men's room ( I saw them and they were beaten up) because some underage drinking white kids didn't like cruising with "spics". I witnessed a cat fight involving six girls that no one tried to break up. Kids as young as ten were being served liquor even though they had cards clearly marked as underage.

The high point for me was the last night when a well supervised group of 12 and unders were chaperoned at a midnight deck until dawn party. I checked in periodically and all was well. So I went to bed. At 3AM I received a phone call - my son screaming "Mom! They're hurting me. Help me". I went running on deck to find him - me and about five other parents in our night clothes who had all gotten the same call. It could only have been done by someone who knew all the room numbers for the kids, someone who worked for the cruise line.
I wrote Carnival and got a "none letter" stating that none of this was cruiseline policy. What the hell?

I was later told that that cruise was a Booze Cruise geared towards college students on their way back to school. Given the number of people who have "disappeared" recently on cruises I guess their policies haven't changed.

Celebrity, Regency and other cruises were perfectly enjoyable. Maybe a theme cruise on Carnival with a targetted audience attracts a different person.