arby70

All this info is so good to know. I have some gift cards I will take to the kiosk the first day and put them on to draw off. Thanks everyone.

I thought Carnival was introducing some new "pay items" on their room service menu and not extra charges for room service. My understanding is that things like sushi, fries, and some other items on the menu would cost extra. I hope they are not going to do pay for room service. Anyone else know for sure?

I like the value we get from Carnival. The crew, food and ships are fine for us. The entertainment is definitely not the best out there, but that's okay. We like Celebrity and RCI cruise ship décor, entertainment and food better, but the price is higher most every time we check. I am happy with Carnival. We are happy enough to have 3 more Carnival cruises booked.

As you know now, dates make a difference. Holidays like Christmas, summer season and spring break make for higher prices. I have found Carnival to be a very good bargain; usually quite a bit less than other lines. I find them to be a good value and have been happy enough with their product. Enough that I have 3 Carnival cruises booked.

What beautiful pictures. You're very artistic and the color is beyond real. We are going on the Magic in February and have a cove balcony. Never had one before and they look to be just our cup of tea. Thanks so much for posting these great photos!

Feeling the ocean breeze and watching the fluorescent waves the ship makes at night.

I guess we splurge on excursions and scrimp on additional pay restaurants on the ship.

Two of the cruises I am booked on currently have lower prices if they get to pick your cabin. If location is not important, it does cost a little less. But in my case, location is everything, so not worth it to me.

I am sailing them both in December. Since I am flying in, I decided I wanted an 8 day cruise instead of a 4 day. There will be 1 day between my B2B but that will be fine too.

If you're prone to seasickness know that forward is very difficult.

I would totally agree with this statement. The only place I ever got sick on one of my cruises is when I was in the front of the ship.

New menu? Does Zyedocruiser have these up on his website? If not, anywhere else I can find it?

He does have them listed on his website. They look appealing to me.

Congrats on your B2B. We did one with NCL that went to New England and Canada and ended up 14 days at sea. They only had 1 port in common so we decided to do the B2B and pretty much saw every port we had hoped to see. It was very nice.

We are doing an almost B2B our of LA on Carnival in December. Both the same cruise but 2 different ships. They are only 4 day cruises but with the past passenger rate, they were a steal. Couldn't resist. We will have one day between cruises. Made for a very affordable 8 day cruise experience. :D:D

Ditto on the grrrrrr part. I had checked less than an hour ago for cards, and now they are gone already. I am looking for some $100 ones...maybe 3. Perhaps they'll be on today some time.

No problem, everyone!

 

After experiencing American Table, I have to say, I like it better than the old menus. I agree with the previous poster that it was hard to only choose one appetizer! There are a lot of new, interesting choices. While a change has been implemented, there are still a lot of the classic favorites too. I think Carnival is trying to strike a balance between old and new, based on customer feedback.

 

As far as the tables go, I LOVED having a pitcher of my own water at the table. The waiters are so overworked, it's one less thing for them to think about. They still do it if your glass is running low, but I liked being able to pour it for myself. They also give each table its own bread basket - I like this, but we often turned it away because we didn't want to waste it if we knew we would only eat one or two pieces. Last, and sorry to all that love the tablecloths, but we quite enjoyed the look of the new tables. It really reminded me of the steakhouse and sort of felt upscale. Also, think of all the time the waitstaff is saving not having to change them between meals. On the plus side, American Feast "elegant" nights still adorn tables with the beloved white fabric tablecloths.

 

All I can say is, with all the panic over these menus, just go into the MDR with an open mind. You'll be surprised to find the food is actually very good. I was upset when I initially heard of the change, but trust me, it's all good. :)

I agree with all that you said. I have not experienced the new menus yet, but they look pretty good. I am not that picky of an eater, so I should have no trouble finding something. Tablecloths are no big deal to me either; would love having a pitcher of water at the table too.:)

I would love to have my ashes scattered at sea. Include my family members celebrating my life aboard a Carnival Cruise in the process? I couldn't imagine my passing to go any other way! Heck, I would be willing to start paying a monthly fee to set up all the arrangements to include all costs for my family to take the cruise. Wonder what a cruise would cost 20 plus years away?

 

I want my family to have fun and enjoy the life they had with me. I want them taking a shot at the Tequila bar in honor of me! But that's just me....:p

I love this idea as well. What a great way to send a person off; particularly if they liked cruising. I will have to give this strong consideration.

I also feel for those that booked the Breeze and are getting the Splendor. I have not been on either, but I booked our current ship for the cove balcony and one of the ports. If my ship were changed for something other than another dream class, I would not be happy either.

Carnival does seem to have the most problems with this type of situation, and I'm not sure why this is. I can understand they may have to reschedule because of weather problems or mechanical problems, but other than that, I don't understand why they make the changes after so many people have booked already.:confused:

I looked this morning and managed to get 2 of the $100 cards. Right after I got them, they were all sold out. They don't last long. I just lucked out. The 10% off of these cards is a nice added savings.

The chocolate cake from room service is my favourite dessert on the ship!

I am definitely going to try this on my upcoming cruise. I love their chocolate chip cookies:-)

I also hate the new web site. It takes much longer and sometimes it just sits there and "works". I have to go about it a different way to look at cruises now. I am not sure why it "works" like it does, but I wish they'd go back to the old one.

We just barely made it under the wire; our cruise is Feb. 14, 2016. I hope I'm out of the woods anyway. I guess I will wait and see. If for some reason they turn around and cancel the cruise we're booked on, I am not sure I would go on the Freedom. I have a cove balcony booked, and I cannot have one of those on the Freedom. I intentionally booked the Magic for the cove.

Thanks so much for your responses. I would love to spend an overnight in Honolulu as there are so many things to do there.

If the Splendor does go to Long Beach and takes over the Miracle itineraries in 2017, can anyone who has done the Hawaii cruise on the Splendor tell me the itinerary they had? I had read somewhere on CC that they could not go to Kauai because of coral beds. If this is so and there was no stop in Kauai, did you spend 2 nights in Honolulu?

Only cruise out of Long Beach in the future so far will be a 7 day on the Miracle to the MR. I haven't taken that cruise yet, so I would probably book it in the future, but wonder if they're getting rid of their Hawaii cruises other than the one way trips on the Legend. I wouldn't mind the one way trip except the times of the year don't work very well for me.

Other than the Miracle thru Oct. 2016, I'm not sure what Long Beach has in store for it. Just have to wait to see if there are any other changes for late 2016 and early 2017 if any.

So far it isn't looking good for the west coast (Long Beach).:( Hopefully once the final schedule is out, things will look better.

I don't think that the Fantasy class would be bad if they got complete refurbs like what happened with Destiny turning into Sunshine.

 

With the journey cruises and what they're talking about with the throwback cruises they are developing I really think people would enjoy them. If it was gutted and turned into a smaller version of a newer ship I feel it would have a really nice feel and allure for people to want to sail on them. Especially if the journey and throwback cruises do well Carnival could redo half of the Fantasy class ships for this purpose alone. They wouldn't feel as dated(other than size), it would keep a big fleet instead of retiring them all, offer new itineraries(which a majority of frequent cruisers have been wanting), and also give cruisers that nostalgia feel of the old days.

 

If this was done they could have fun always in the Mediterranean, one constantly doing Panama Canal transits, one doing a Pacific Coastal, a Bermuda, and a 14 day Caribbean/South America.

 

Those would all be very popular, but only to a smaller group that couldn't fill a 3000 passenger ship but a 1500 passenger ship on a constant basis.

 

I get not wanting to do a 7 day now on one, but if they were done right there would be a huge appeal to people who love Carnival, but are sick of the same old same old. It would also be fairly inexpensive this way for them to keep a large fleet in the water instead of just building new ships that are monstrous and are just shy of a billion dollars to build. This is just wishful thinking, but I really feel this could be a game changer for cruises if Carnival could offer these great itineraries with the value Carnival is known for and also having that mass market appeal.

I completely agree with you. If they would start over and get rid of the dated look on these ships, and make them look like they are part of this decade, I would definitely want to sail them. I have no problem with a smaller ship, and I would think it would be easier to fill. I do not like the look of the way they added the balconies on the older ships, but many only want balconies. We have had them on every cruise but one (it was a 5 day on the Fantasy), but I would consider an OV again, if the itinerary and price were right.