Tapi

I need some sunlight in my stateroom, so insides are a big no no, don't care how much money they save me. I agree with sanmarcosman above. Check out the porthole cabins designated as 1A if you want a window while still paying inside prices. Cheapest cabins on the ship. But be careful because they're all configured differently. Some have a single bed and a convertible sofa, and some have a single bed and an upper bunk. 4J cabins are also sold as "inside" cabins but they have a large window overlooking an outdoor forward facing walkway. You'll also be a few doors down from a door leading to that walkway. It's the perfect poor man's balcony!

Automatic doors? Interesting.

That’s the first thing that crossed my mind. I haven’t sailed on this ship yet, but I’ve watched several YouTube videos from passengers commenting on the non existent life boat drill. The fact that it got cleared to sail so quickly makes me think that it wasn’t anything concerning the condition of the ship, but protocols or procedures that had to be rectified.

For me, the main reason to branch out to other cruise lines has been the desire to try new itineraries not offered by Carnival. While it's still nice to do the occasional laid back Caribbean cruise (which Carnival does well), during the last few years I've become much more interested in trying new itineraries and new destinations. Now it's become a personal goal of mine to try as many new cruise lines and destinations as possible. I make sure that every cruise I take is either on a cruise line I've never sailed on before, or to a destination I've never been to before. That's where I get my value. Interestingly, some of these cruises on "better" cruise lines have been cheaper than Carnival.

Hello World cruisers: I’m someone who starts researching ports of call and planning activities ashore well in advance. I like to have everything planned and booked. Not a “let’s go ashore and see what we can find” kind of guy. While that has worked fine on shorter cruises with a handful of ports of call, researching and having activities pre planned and booked for each port of call on a world cruise sounds overwhelming. So, what do seasoned world cruisers do? Do you research and plan each port of call? Do you only plan activities on some? Go with the flow? I’d love to read your feedback! Thanks for your time!