naxer

I and my friend had a very good time on the Mardi Gras in November/December.  That said, I've cancelled two cruises since because my other sailing chums are unvaccinated.  Normally, I would just go solo, but with all the other rigamarole, most especially the antigen test right before the cruise, I decided cruising isn't for me right now.  Because of Carnival cancelling a few of my cruises, I did discover Disney, and that's the direction I'm going for the foreseeable future.  It's more expensive, but it's manageable.

10 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since you're sailing on a Sunday, you're obviously not sailing on the Mardi Gras, which has three bars not found in the rest of the fleet that are a notch above.

I will echo this.  The Brass Magnolia and the Fortune Teller are exceptional and they take having Cheers to another level.  The selection combined with live music creates a whole new Carnival evening experience.  The drinks I learned about at these bars changed what I look to drink at venues shoreside.  

In December on the Mardi Gras, went and came back in the bags.  Everything happened as usual and as expected..  

Happy memories.  The Conquest is one of my favorites, and I've always done it solo.  It's one of my favorite ships for decor.  Conquest was cancelled cruise #2 and #3 for me last year.  Or was it two years ago now?  

I successfully and with no problems took this test at home on Thanksgiving, followed by a wonderful cruise on the Mardi Gras.  I nonetheless decided that I will take no further cruise vacations until I don't have to do this anymore.  My personality is such that I dislike the stress anticipating the test, and then having months of planning snd expenses determined by it two days out. No fault or blame, and I appreciate it's usefulness and convenience--it's just not for me.    

The way we cruise, the bill would easily be $1-1200 without Cheers.  I only really drink on a cruise, and prefer to stay on the ship over doing excursions.  Then, adding the coffee, it makes it even more worthwhile--I only ever buy coffee on vacation, too. I never eat out, except when company comes, and I think that's what allows me to afford the Cheers package.  I'm a real bore at home, but get me on a cruise or on a vacation where I don't have to drive, and I'm sitting at a bar yucking it up with the best of them. 

See you on the Lido!  Taking the at home test Thanksgiving, and leaving 8AM Friday to to drive down to the airport fly down to MCO.. 

I'm curious too--how many have had to cancel in those two days because they test positive?  My county in Michigan is one of the worst in the country right now--it just blew up in the last two weeks.  I really didn't think there were that many people left to get it here.  I've had my booster and I take my at home test on Thanksgiving, and I'm trying to imagine it all turning out OK rather than imagining the two pink lines.  My cruise buddy had Covid over Halloween (fully vaccinated) and he took the at home test a couple days ago and tested negative.  Phew!

2 hours ago, Linda the Book Lover said:

It appears that one should purchase two kits per person to be on the safe side. Is this what others have done? 

I got three.  From the comments here and from what I've seen around, people have at least two per person.

Another empty vial with the test liquid.  My cruise buddy  had Covid soon after Halloween, and he took the emed at home test to see if he would test negative for the cruise.  The first package he opened, the vial was empty.  (The second package had liquid, and he tested negative.)

8 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Fortune Teller has some interesting drinks. I didn't really like the ones I had there. Brass Magnolia is where I would've liked to have spent more time.

Yeah, I was wondering.  Looking at the menus, there were a few Fortune Teller drinks I wanted to try, but, hey, if the staff at Alchemy finds me my drink, usually gin based...  Brass Magnolia really looks like a place I would want to hang out, not the least of which due to the music, but their drink menu seems heavy on the rye.  At home, I mostly drink rye, but I don't drink that much at home.  On a cruise, I keep to gin and vodka and some tequila--that lets me get my money's worth from Cheers.  

22 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

They actually give you a snack tray here???

Well, not just anyone. (😀)

They see me coming and they get it out.  Besides being an Alchemy bar fly, I also tip on top of my cheers. I've always found the bar staff exceptional, and sincerely have a good time hanging out with them and the other regulars.  In a way, you can say that the Alchemy is what hooked me on Carnival.

22 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Thanks.  Watching videos, I'm going to be torn between Alchemy and  Fortune Teller.  

With YTD, it is possible to have the same wait staff.  Once, with a friend who liked that certain waitstaff, we just took a pager and hung out Alchemy for a little bit. 

I tend to book Carnival excursions just because they herd me, and when I'm on a cruise, I like not having to think.  Just point me in the direction I need to go. For my cruise in a couple of weeks, I'm sailing with a blue card, and I'm letting him choose excursions.  We have a lot of OBC to use up, so we'll book on board.  I've booked my own, and booked with Carnival, and really don't see much difference in the Caribbean.  In Alaska, because the cost is so high, I extended some effort and I actually got a few price matches from Carnival--but that's the exception.

I'll actually be flying to a cruise on Black Friday this year...hadn't thought of that in terms of the Black Friday sales. But, as others have said, it's been limited to excursions and spas in the past.  For the upcoming cruise, I have a good amount of OBC to burn up, so I won't bother to look.  But if you're excursion interested, it was worthwhile to me in the past.  (But they usually exclude Alaska and Hawaii from those, which did affect me one year.)

I got mine.  I didn't book with any out-of-the-ordinary "deal" though, and after cancellations and rebookings and upgrades, heaven knows what category it fits into.  

Alchemy has usually been my evening hang out, and I always receive the olives, cheese, & whatnot snacks.  Are they doing those at the Alchemy Bar on the Mardi Gras these days?  I'm also looking forward to trying out the Brass Magnolia, Fortune Teller and the bars in Grand Central.

I just checked in for my cruise on Nov. 27th on the Mardi Gras, printed my luggage tag, and it said "Platinum" for the first time.  That made me very happy.  That was originally supposed to have happened 11 months and 3 cancelled cruises ago.  I'm just so happy to be cruising again.  I'll call for the strawberries, walk to Pixels to get my luggage tags, and chase down the water bottle.  And I only recently learned about the $25?  Life has changed for everyone and everything over this year.  I'm determined to make the best of any good I can find, and try not to look back, except in gratitude.

I would go with Cheers.  On Journey's cruises, we'll get bottles and mixers for the room, and it works out fine.  But for the 7 days or less, the convenience, coffee, and water with Cheers, makes the vacation nicer for us.  We get a kick out of the relationships we make with the bartenders and waiters, too.

13 hours ago, RGEDad said:

I think people have enough testing stress without inflated testing issues being propagated. 

Since this was posted, I think you need to add another "no fluid in the bottle."  No matter how many tests are sent out, in this small group, this is not a very good track record.  The company has some QC issues.  I do not recall ever having found an empty dispenser in any pharmaceutical product I have previously purchased.

I find it all stressful, and I don't find people sharing their experiences or concerns inflating it.  Thanks to their taking the time to post, knowing what can go wrong has helped me to consider what the  back-up options are.  

I was glad to get that email, but I just received the BiNax test I'll take on Thanksgiving (three weeks from today).  $100 is a lot, and as someone mentioned, I thought how my cancelled cruise OBC would have covered it.  But, as I'm flying in, I wondered what would happen if I tested positive on the pier? Would I be forced to quarantine?  And there's always a chance of a false positive.  Ugh.  I'll be glad when this testing requirement is done.  I would usually cruise again in February, but no way this winter.  A friend, who I was supposed to cruise with, suggested we go to New Mexico, and we'll make our plans next week.

It's always a risk, of course, but it's always turned out OK for me when I did it.  Oddly, I've had more trouble flying out the day before with cancellations and weather than the day off, which caused me to fly in the day off anyway.  You're flying from NYC?  At least you have the possibility of finding another flight on another airline--heck, you even have a few airports.

I completely understand.  We live in a testing desert, and are 4 hours away from the airport, and flying in the day before.  And the second day out for us is Thanksgiving.  If I had known this when we booked this cruise on the Mardi Gras in 2019, I would not have booked it.  We will do the at-home tests, but I'm dreading it.  I just remember how easy and fun embarkation was.  

I was expecting this.  In February I'm in a stateroom with a person who will not get vaccinated.   I have to switch/cancel/put the money on another booked cruise.  But, I'm used to it.  Carnival is used to it.  I find I'm also getting quite attached to Disney World, which, while more expensive, is easier and at this point, less stressful.