Mommabear2Five

Thank you, everyone!

I appreciate the input. We have been to Melia and it is nice, but I can't fork out $35 for 6 people for a few hours this trip and my kids are broke college kids.

I think we'll give it a try, especially if there is $20 all you can drink out of a coconut deal! Living in Florida, we have access to beautiful beaches all the time, so we're really just looking a fun afternoon on a beach where all the kids can enjoy a cocktail.

Love your review! The lines at Guys are crazy, but we always think its worth it- i could really go for one now!

Tapi, respectfully....I know you had a bad time on the Sensation. I remember your description of your experience. And yes that was terrible.

 

I was on Sensation wayyyy back in 2000, and had an awesome time, but that is not the point of my post. Last year, I took a 5 day on the Victory out of Miami, just because it was the only cruise that I could afford last year, and did not have a lot of vacation time. But every cruise review came in saying it was a crappy ship, rust bucket, tub, full of drunks and low lifes. Well I was a bit worried, but, as it was the only cruise that fit my time schedule, I went with it. And guess what? It was pretty close to what I experience on all my Carnival cruises. A little more boisterous, yes, it was, but still lots of places to find some quiet time. And I loved that cruise, and the ship too.

 

Just saying,,,Sensation was definitely a bad cruise for you, and most likely some others, but it does not mean that the ship, and her current cruises are as nasty as your experience.

 

I had a somewhat unpleasant experience on my one and only cruise on Celebrity, but I don't write off that ship or line because of it.

 

Sorry...I know I get long winded sometimes, and I do respect your opinions and posts most of the time here on CC, but just want to say that Sensation does get some nice reviews these days....ok...sorry, I have gone on long enough.

We LOVED our 1/2016 Sensation cruise. We had no expectations, but I was really impressed with the crew and the entertainment. Would said her again in a heartbeat!

We also loved Sunshine, which other people did not. Guess it depends on what you look for in a cruise experience.

Thanks for the advice!

I found Indy's self debarkation to be disorgainzed. On 3/7, at terminal 25, we were at the appointed area by 6:30 but the line didn't start moving until almost an hour later. No announcements made, either. By that time, Customs was a mess and we didn't make it to our car until amost 9:00.

Each sailing will be different, I'm sure, but I would recommend lining up as soon as possible to get off the ship quickly.

Good luck!

We're sailing Nassau and Cocoa Cay in May. We're not planning any excusions for either port (rare for us) because it will be the first stop in both places for my kids (18, 19, 21 & 23) while it will be my 5th time in Nassau.

Originally, the plan was to shop at the straw market and then hit up Senor Frogs (I know, I know, but my kids want to) but I've recently read about Junkanoo and have heard mixed reviews. Some say it's beautiful, some say it's full of trash.

We're looking for fun and I know the kids will want a party atmosphere. Is it worth spending a few hours there? Any tips while we are there? Is there another, free or low cost beach to explore close to port?

Thanks!

Oh little Billy! I would have had to run out of that place because there would be no way my husband would have kept his mouth shut, lol.

Forgot one special one:

Also on the Sunshine, our MDR waiter, Orlin, was so attentive. He heard me mention on the first night that I cruise mainly for the creme brulee. He made sure I had one for the next 6 nights. I don't know what he had to do to to barder for them, but I am forever grateful!

We have had many experiences with Carnival crew going above and beyond for us.

On our Sunshine cruise last May, we spent a lot of the time chatting with Jaime Dee, the cruise director. We posted to her public facebook page that we were sailing in January on the Sensation (while she was aboard a ship in Sydney) and the second night of our Sensation cruise, she sent us champagne and a fruit basket to our cabin to welcome us back.

On our Ecstacy cruise, one of the bartenders, Carlton, had our cabin steward decorate my daughters cabin with dozens of towel animals for her 18th birthday.

These are just two of the examples of the personal service we have experienced from the amazing crew on Carnival!

You will love the Seaday Brunch! Try the Kickin' Tomato soup - it's my favoirte!!

Mahogony Bay is beautiful, but gets crowded. Get there early to get a spot. And do try the chair lift!

Have a great cruise!

Thank you for the review.

Do you remember the menu names and the order in which they were offered?

 

Thank you

George

I'm sorry, George, I do not. We had dinner I the MDR the first night and breakfast the first morning, but did not return for the rest of the cruise because we preferred the food at the Windjammer.

You are going from a big ship to a small ship, but the crew on the Majesty should be what you are looking for. They might not know your name bit will do as much as they can to make you feel welcome! The Majesty has been a great little ship!

I hope so! As you can see from my signature, I do love the smaller ships :)

This isn't really making an excuse, but there were a strange set of circumstances. Casey was actually the fourth cruise director in four consecutive cruises. The regular cruise director and the activities director were let go as of the day I boarded (2/22). There were a couple of fill-ins til Casey could get on board. Yours was his first cruise. If there was a lack of activities, that could be the reason.

 

Disembarkation was pretty messed up when I got off. Having seen the absolute best on my last Navigator cruise where you signed up ahead of time and were given a departure group (A, B, C, etc) and the number of participants was limited, I know it can be done efficiently and effortlessly. Each group was called separately and your registration slip was checked. Those who had not registered were not allowed to cut into line. I cannot understand why the system isn't applied fleet wide. By the way, this was in Galveston where there are many, many cruisers who drive to the port so the situation is similar.

 

Another thing that puzzles me is the staff attitude. I was able to gather that many are unhappy about the ship going back to the U.K. because of the lack of tips abroad. That being said, I don't know why they aren't capitalizing on the opportunity to make them while they can. There must be something else going on. The bulk of people I encountered were upbeat. I did run into several gloomy Guses though.

Thanks for the info on the strange circumstances with the CD - that actually makes sense. Casey was great, though. We really enjoyed his humor and we got to talk to him a little bit, too.

Thank you! I have never posted anything like that so I'm not sure how it is done but I appreciate you trying :)

Ok, I tried. Here is the link:

Independence Cruise Compass 4 Day

Here is the link to a 4 Day Cruise Compass from Independence of the Seas from our March 3 sailing. I was requested in another thread, but I figured I would share it for all. (Hope I linked everything ok!)

Day 1, Page 1

Day 1, Page 2

Day 1, Page 3

Day 1, Page 4

Day 2, Page 1

Day 2, Page 2

Day 2, Page 3

Day 2, Page 4

Day 3, Page 1

Day 3, Page 2

Day 3, Page 3

Day 3, Page 4

Day 4, Page 1

Day 4, Page 2

Day 4, Page 3

Day 4, Page 4

Thanks for the review! We will be on the Indy 3/31 cruising the same itinerary.

If you have the cruise compasses would you be able to post them please :) I like to plan :) Thank you!

I have them all, but im not sure the best way to share them. I guess take a picture? Ill give it a try and post in a separate thread.

She looks great! I love the Fantasy class ships! Excited to sail her in September!

Majesty of the Seas is newer than Fantasy. :)

 

Don't worry about your Majesty cruise, Mommabear. You'll have fun. Just realize that the cabins on that ship are REALLY tiny.

 

I agree with you, problems will arise on trips. How they are handled makes a big difference.

Thanks! We may have the time of our lives - and it's a cruise!! Beats goi g to work :)

Ship age and style really don't matter to me. We had a blast on the Sensation last month and she was really showing her age. I just want a good crew, good food and lots of activities. And fun! Lots of fun.

Why must everyone who speaks highly of Carnival or chooses to only cruise with them such as myself carry these pom poms? That makes about as much sense of the Walmart of the sea line. I also do not get the cheap thing either. I paid over a grand for 2 for a 4 day weekend cruise next month on the Triumph and over 3 grand for 8 days on the Vista next year. Those amounts are anything but cheap to me but I pay it because I know Carnival will continue to give me the vacation they've been giving me since the 90's. We all know you have only one agenda on this site' date=' does it really hurt you that bad to see Carnival being as successful as they are and to have theses diehard Carnival customers that are posting on this thread? Anyway ra ra ra![/quote']

 

Well said! I didn't start this thread to bash any other line. I just love my Carnival cruises.

I've sailed on multiple lines. I thought our trip on RCCL and the Independence of the Seas last year was one of the best yet. Too many lines and options to be loyal to one especially if you haven't tried the others. I always felt RCCL was the most well rounded in the categories. If you want boring, try Holland America. They have the best food and some of the best ports though.

Sorry for your issues on Royal, but those issues occur on all lines. Glad you have found a line that you want to stick with, but I cannot imagine cruising the same line over and over and over again. We like Carnival fine but also love Celebrity and Royal. We now have so many more ships/itineraries/ports of embarkation to choose from, not to mention the different experiences each line provides.

I guess I'm just now understanding what my cruise style is and have found that it fits best with Carnival. And everyone is different. We cruised Sunshine last May and it was our favorite ship, cruise, experience to date, yet, you'll find others that completly disliked the ship. It's all in what you look for in a cruise and what your expectations are.

Glad you found your cruise fit, OP. I've only had a small experience with RC and it was kind of meh.

 

But there are other lines out there that just beg to be booked. Namely NCL, Celebrity and Disney.

 

I've cruised Celebrity out of San Juan on the Summit for less than what the Fascination, a much older, more boring ship would cost. NCL's entertainment is tons better than Carnival's. Disney had the best deck party, go figure.

We want to try Celebrity because of the great reviews, but Carnival will be our go to for the shorter getaways that we love. Disney is amazing, I will not argue that, but even with my deep discounts, I won't sail them at this time. I love the Mouse and the company, but on vacation, I need to get away from it all. Also, on the Cast discounted sailings (which would be the only ones i could afford :D ) there is too high of a chance of running into the cast that I manage. I don't my Cast to see me dancing on the bar, lol.

I get it! When we were on a Hawaiian cruise (R/T from San Diego) on the Spirit, we got a call from our son about two days into the cruise letting us know our Greyhound had passed away in his sleep at the Greyhound rescue place we boarded him in (same place where we got him).

 

He went through Corporate in Miami and they, in turn, contacted the ship and then they put the call through to our cabin. The call lasted about 30 minutes and they didn't charge us a dime. The even re-connected us when the connection was lost.

 

I think any other line would have charged us as satellite time is expensive. Although we're not married to Carnival (have had cruises with Celebrity and want to try RCCL) we do consider Carnival our "Home" cruiseline. Their Guest Services won us over not only for that incident but during our other cruises with them as well. Their crews are some of the friendliest we've found, ships are clean, food is good and the service is always outstanding. Are they perfect? No, no cruise line is perfect much like no human is perfect.

Sorry to hear about your pup. That's a nice thing they did for you. I work as an entertainment and guest experience manager for major theme park in FL and I can tell you that we look for any way possible to assist guests when things like this happen. Guest recovery and assistance is the biggest factor in net promotion. Carnival understands that as well.

I've had bogus charges on Carnival. Didn't make me stop going. You can't judge a cruiseline by 1 ship

Better luck on the Majesty

I totally get it, that's why we gave RCI another shot after our August cruise (the one that they changed the itinerary after final payment to 3 days in Nassau for ship maintenance. We booked May for that. Last week's trip was very last minute and we choose the ship/line because it was the only ship leaving a Florida port that day that had any cabins.

I also know that Carnival isn't perfect - but they do try to recover when things happen. I have not gotten that same service on RCI.

I hope we have a better experience on Majesty - but since it's the first sailing after drydock (I really need to do better research before booking) my expectations are low.

Somehow I got into a Tupperware Rally. Put away the pom poms people. Just because they jump around and remember your name, they are not the end all of the cruising industry. Lots of other lines to try. Unless, cheap and in your face is your thing.

My pom poms are red and blue baby!

I happen to like when people call me by name - it's actually one of the oldest guest service tricks in the book. And, what I'm saying is YES I like the jumping up and down, in your face. And who doesn't love cheap?!?

... Carnival did right by us: free drinks, OBC and 50% off next cruise, I made lemonade out of lemons. Someday I might stray to another cruise line, but for now I am loyal to the whale tail.It gives me chills...

Exactly!