Tapi

I agree. We have a land vacation (a quick 4 night trip to Cancun) in a few days, and we're paying 2X what we will pay for a 4 night cruise that we have planned for June, and we're not even staying at an All-inclusive resort. I was floored at the cost of all-inclusive resorts. They have sky-rocketed since the last time we did an all-inclusive vacation 3-4 years ago. Even for a less luxurious resort, the cost would be 3-4X more than our upcoming cruise.

We sailed on Celebrity for the first time about a year ago aboard Celebrity Solstice. Mid-late 40's with two kids. We absolutely LOVED it. I must say that I wasn't wowed from the get go though. It took me a few days to warm up to this brand (not because there was anything wrong with it), but once I did, I enjoyed every minute of it. The ship was beautiful (although it was showing a bit of wear in some spots pre-drydock, but nothing major), service was great, food was better than what we've experienced on other cruise lines, and the overall experience was very enjoyable. I'd place Celebrity somewhere above Royal Caribbean and below Holland America. At par with Princess.

We always do Uber to move around in the MIA / FLL area between airport, port, and hotel. Super easy to do, priced well, and usually no wait.

Certainly. The tour operator is called Bay West Adventures. Don’t know if I can share their info on this forum, but Google them and you’ll find their website. You can book online. We had 14 family members in our group and split the cost accordingly which made the per person cost cheaper than a ship excursion. I just visited their website and they have increased prices and changed their pricing structure, but it may still be worth your while. Enjoy!

We've done both LGA and JFK. LGA is closer, but with the Manhattan traffic, we felt like there was no clear winner between the two. We were stuck in horrible traffic coming from both airports. I fly in and out of NYC area airports very frequently for work, They are notorious for cascading, hours long delays and cancelations, even early in the morning. The airspace is too congested and the infrastructure simply can't keep up with the demand, even with the recent renovations. Please consider flying in at least one day prior to your cruise.

Sorry that your cabin had issues. Not trying to minimize your experience, but I wouldn't generalize and say "avoid deck 4" altogether. I was concerned when I booked cabin 4133, first, because we were above public venues, and second, because we had a connecting door. Turned out that all of my concerns were unfounded. The cabin was super quiet during the entire cruise, and we loved the location near stairs and elevators, which made it super easy to go down to the Dutch Cafe one deck below for a quick morning coffee. I wouldn't hesitate booking the same cabin on deck 4 again. (but i would avoid yours)

I have a good friend who lives in Miami who surprised us. We flew down from Atlanta to take a quick, 3 night cruise out of Miami. I'd asked him if he wanted to join us for lunch before getting on the ship but he declined, saying that "he had to work". We got to our cabin and minutes later, someone knocked at our door. Surprise, surprise, it was him. We'd cruised together before and I was very happy to see him. We had an absolute blast. It was a very welcome and pleasant surprise. With that said, had it been a different friend on a different cruise, I probably would've been mortified. I have some great friends who I love hanging out with back home, but who I would NEVER want to travel with.

Hi: Thanks for your very thorough and detailed response. I just looked at my trip, M431. There's only one Gala Evening - Black and White slated for October 1. All the other are smart attire evenings. Looking forward to the experience! Have a great day.

Hello: We just booked a quick, 5 night itinerary on the QM2 from Quebec to New York, and I have a few questions: How many formal nights can we expect on a short itinerary like this one? Our fare includes one dinner at an alternative restaurant. Is it correct that on QM2, a portion of the King's Court is transformed into an alternative dining venue, and that will be our only alternative option? (We are booked in a Britannia balcony). We are looking forward and planning accordingly to adhere to Cunard's dress code throughout our sailing, but there may be a night or two during the cruise where we may choose to skip dinner at the main dining room and have a casual dinner at the buffet. Will smart casual (slacks and collared shirt for men, cocktail dress or pant suit for women) be acceptable for a buffet dinner and to then attend other venues throughout the ship after dinner? What if it's on a formal night? I haven't been on a Cunard ship since the 1980's, so needless to say, I'm a bit rusty on all things Cunard. Thanks for your expertise and kind words!

We snorkeled independently (not through the cruise line) in Nassau. We were taken by private boat, just for our family, to a spot north of Balmoral Island to swim surrounded by turtles (it was wonderful and a bit surreal). From there, we headed to a secluded spot on Rose Island where we spent a few hours at a stretch of pristine beach with no other human being in sight. After that, we stopped at a coral reef off the coast of Rose Island where we snorkeled for a while until we were ready to head back to the ship. It was a great spot with tons of corals and colorful sea life. The advantages of going snorkeling independently were many. First, we had the boat all to ourselves. The boat captain tailored the day to our needs, including where to go, what food and drinks we brought, down to the music that was played on the boat’s music system. We also avoided the crowds since we were taken to snorkeling and swimming spots which we had all to ourselves. We passed several boats gathered in one spot with hundreds and hundreds of people trying to snorkel all at once and we were grateful that we had bypassed the ship sponsored excursion. It was a bit pricey since it was a private tour operator, but it was well worth the price. I’ve been stopping in Nassau for over 30 years, and this activity was, by far, the best thing I’ve ever done at this port of call.

If you’re flying in the day before the cruise, you’ll have considerably more time to figure out plan B. Even if you had to hop on a car and drive at the last minute, you can make it happen. It’s not only a flight cancelation. It can be early morning fog (very typical of the SFO Bay Area) causing rolling delays and where ALL flights are affected, or an accident on the way to the airport that makes you miss your flight, or longer than usual TSA lines, or lost luggage that doesn’t arrive with you and now has to play catch-up. We’ve had that happen, where we made it to the port city, but our luggage didn’t and it arrived after our ship sailed. We went on the cruise with just what we had in our carry ons. Our big luggage never caught up with us. Also, keep in mind that, even if they have flights every 30 minutes, that doesn’t mean that they’ll have a seat for you on the next available flight, specially these days when flights are operating close to full capacity. If your flight cancels, now they’ll have 180 passengers to re-accommodate. If there are only 5-10 seats open on subsequent flights, you may be out of luck. Besides all of the possible scenarios that could make you miss your cruise, it’s always nice to arrive one day early, unwind, go out for dinner, sleep in a bit, and arrive refreshed at the port, instead of exhausted after being up since before sunrise. The advice that I’m giving you is not only based on 40+ years of cruising experience, but also based on my experience working for the airlines for the last 30 years.

If you’ve sailed aboard older, Fantasy class ships on Carnival, Margaritaville won’t be much of a shock. I found it to be very similar in terms of overall casual vibe, clientele, and ship condition. - You used to select your fixed dinner time (early or late) at the port prior to embarkation, but it’s my understanding that they don’t bother anymore. Nobody even checks anyway and they seat you at whatever table is available. - They will have a separate check in line for people who paid extra for one of the priority packages. Word of advice: If you have a passport, don’t bother paying extra for express/priority check in/check out. They’ll have a passport only line on debarkation which moves much faster than all others. There’s an overwhelming amount of birth certificate holders traveling on this cruise line and their line is a nightmare. - The main thing to watch out for on this cruise line are the extras. Their base fares are cheap, but they offer several packages to “enhance” your experience, some which cost considerably more than the actual cruise fare. Take for example “License to Chill” which includes specialty dining, massages, access to a VIP lounge, reserved seating at the theatre, priority embarkation, drink package, etc. A LOT of first time cruisers are suckered into buying these packages and end up paying considerably more for this 2 night budget cruise than if they went on a longe cruise aboard one of the more established cruise lines. We just paid the $49 cruise fare (plus taxes, gratuities, etc) bypassed all the extras, and still had a great time (obviously we adjusted our expectations accordingly). Go with an open mind. It’s a fun, super casual, budget minded cruise, and it goes by super fast.

First and foremost, you are going to have a wonderful time! - Advice #1 of cruising: Never fly on the same day of the cruise. Even if it’s an early morning, short flight, too many variables can quickly derail and ruin your vacation. - Advice #2 of cruising: Travel insurance. There are several comprehensive policies that cover everything from lost luggage, delays, cancelations, lost passports, illness and other medical emergencies, evacuation, work related issues, to repatriation of human remains. If you cruise enough, sooner or later, you’ll be grateful for following these two pieces of advice. 😀

Uber. Have used them for pretty much every cruise since the app started (not only in MIA, but in other ports) and it’s been great. They’re usually waiting nearby at both port and airport so your wait time is minimal. 3-5 minutes.

Don’t know if there’s such a position at Carnival, but companies do have people monitoring social media boards. I was on a flight one time (one of the major airlines), first row, so I got to listen to this conversation. When we arrived at our destination and the main cabin door was opened, a mechanic was waiting at the jetway holding a tray table. The flight attendant asked the mechanic what that was for, and the mechanic told her “your passenger on seat 3D complained on social media that his tray table was broken so here we are to fix it”. So basically the passenger didn’t bother to tell the crew that his tray table was broken, and went straight to social media to complain about it. Someone must’ve been monitoring that account when they responded before we even landed.

Not going to do it for a slap bracelet, but I do have an extra cheapie cruise booked to make sure that I don’t loose my past guest status on another cruise line (MSC) because the benefits are worth it. With my past guest status, they’re offering an additional 10% off the cruise fare, plus double points, plus complimentary access to the thermal area at the spa, plus onboard credit, plus a free professional photo. Oh yeah, and very important, a free gift (which last time was a cinch sack 😂). We have a Northern Europe cruise booked for the following year, and the 10% discount alone on that cruise will more than pays for the cheapie cruise. So we’re basically getting an extra cruise for free plus all the benefits. But, I agree with you. For a koozie or slap bracelet, no way I’m going to chase a loyalty status.

To add more fuel to the fire, what if Carnival decided to place an expiration on people’s status in an effort to “thin out the herd”? Or if cruises that are more than “X”number of years stopped counting towards status? For me, there was a time when I cruised Carnival exclusively (which is when I attained Platinum status), but now I only sail on them once every few years. I’d loose my current status for sure. An example is MSC. Unless you’ve sailed on them at least once every 3 years, you loose your status and start from the bottom. That actually has been an incentive for me to sail on them every couple of years; to maintain my status with them (which ironically I attained by matching my Carnival platinum to their program).

Well, I live in “Hotlanta” (Atlanta) so the milder temperatures were a bit of a welcome change from what I normally experience on Caribbean cruises (opressive, humid, heat), so I was super happy and considered the weather super comfortable. 😀 We did travel with some friends who drove from Phoenix and they didn’t complain about it, so I guess it wasn’t too cold for them either.

Well, we sailed in November last year, and it was pretty mild the first 2 and last 2 nights (think light jacket), and warm enough to be in the sun but not necessarily in the water. The only days when it was truly hot were when we stopped in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta.

You need to contact Carnival or your TA and see what their change/cancelation policies are. It will depend on the fare code you’re booked under, and when you’re sailing. Being inside the final payment phase vs outside will affect what type of penalties may be assessed. Outside penalty booked under a refundable fare means that most likely you won’t incur penalties, and the 3rd person will be moved to the other cabin at the prevailing 3rd guest rate. Inside penalty, and/or booked under a non-refundable fare means that most likely some sort of penalty will be charged. But Carnival or your TA will be your best source for exactly how much that will be.

Don’t know if it’s true or not, but we used Uber Black and booked it as we were exiting baggage claim. We had to wait maybe 4-5 minutes. There were TONS waiting nearby.

If you do Uber Black, they’re allowed to pick up right at the terminal. No need to track to the regular pick up area. Thats what we did (Uber black) and it was SUPER convenient and still pretty cost effective. We were a family of 4 with a lot of luggage, so we would’ve either done an Uber XL or black, so the cost difference wasn’t that significant.

I became platinum back in the days when all you needed were 10 cruises (no matter if they were 3 or 10 day cruises). I remember the free slot tournaments, and the unlimited laundry, and checking in at a VIP lounge that truly felt exclusive since you were the only one in there. The changes that have happened since then have diluted those perks, but they didn’t make me want to sail on another cruise line (I chose to broaden my horizons and look at other cruise lines for other reasons). I still appreciated what Carnival offered, even if it wasn’t as generous as when I first joined the ranks.

I’ve read so much pushback and negativity online since it was announced, that I wouldn’t be surprised if they make some additional modifications if they anger enough people. We’ll see!

I’ve been scratching my head over the drastic changes, but Delta claims that the revamp will preserve the privileges and perks that those all the way at the top of the food chain currently enjoy. The changes are in part in response to the complaints from those top tier passengers who felt the perks were being diluted among too many frequent flyers in lower tiers. I guess that the loyalty of those top passengers is what Delta truly wants to preserve. I wonder how Carnival would respond if Diamond guests started with similar complaints en masse. Would they revamp the program to maintain their loyalty at the expense of screwing Platinums and lower? Would they remove perks and limit access to VIP lounges and onboard events if they become more crowded than they are now?