mz-s

I was REALLY hoping for a newer ship in Norfolk. I live pretty much equidistant between Norfolk and Charleston. I have sailed Sunshine many times out of Charleston. Oh well, I'll still cruise Sunshine out of Norfolk too I guess...

It could be you signed up for an easy pay arrangement for this booking, and therefore it is expecting payment. This is where you make a set number of payments for the cruise as time goes on, rather than a small deposit and then pay the rest off at final payment. It may also be that Carnival is now sending out emails well in advance of final payment, either to get additional interest-free capital from unsuspecting cruisers, or to ensure people don't forget and lose their booking due to nonpayment when the final payment date does arrive.

Nope, they don't want you sitting in your room watching TV. They want you in the casino or drinking at the red frog etc.

I love drop cords and power strips with flat plugs like that. That's how they all should be made I think!

before the funplay, it was a free tournament entry which is even less useful if you're not a gambler...at least on some ships they give you the $25 funplay as cash.

It's not Cucina del Capitano for lunch. It's the Captain's pasta bar I think it's called. Similar to how Jiji's is not Jiji's for lunch, it's Mongolian Wok.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Arrival time is when you can arrive at the pier. Boarding time is when customs clears the ship and Carnival starts calling boarding zones. As Faster to the Fun guests, you will be in one of the first boarding zones so you will be among the first aboard. You should be able to drop off your carry-on luggage in your room when you board, but your stateroom won't necessarily be made up.

One time I ordered the strip loin medium rare and the inside was completely raw. One other time it was well done. The cut is too thin to be accurate with the cook. I've had a few good ones (well, good for what it is...) so I order it at least once a cruise.

I personally would be 100% OK if Carnival goes like Disney and formally (pardon the pun) changes cruise elegant night to dress up optional night or something like that.

I can't imagine splitting Carnival's already inadequate wifi would be a good experience for the people "splitting" it.

There is no such thing as switching names. They cancel your booking and create a new booking with the new names. And yes, there is a fee for that.

Thanksgiving is a good time to cruise, I typically don't though because it's expensive. But if you find a good one, don't hesitate in my opinion.

I prefer to sail during the traditional school year and away from holidays. My favorite times of year are February-May, and September-November before Thanksgiving.

Wifi calling is blocked. If you buy the social plan, you can use facebook messenger to call facebook users though. Yes, text messaging will be charged and is not the same thing as iMessage.

I personally wouldn't lie about a family emergency. But I guess that's up to you and your own sense of morality.

Free iMessages worked for me on Sunshine in May, but not September. So I don't think it's as guaranteed or reliable as you are saying. The reason it works is iMessage goes over the same traffic as push notifications. So if Carnival wants notifications to work on Hub App, they have to allow iMessage through too. But either they've figured out how to block iMessage specifically, or they've throttled the speed down enough to where iMessages will fail now. Your mileage may vary. I've never used Snapchat so I'm not sure how it could be free as well. That's an odd one!

Carrier based WiFi calling is blocked (or at least not supported). However you can call through Facebook messenger etc

Perhaps but the Casino butters the bread at Carnival Corp so what they want, they get typically.

Carnival made the casinos nonsmoking last Christmas as a COVID precaution and it was quickly reverted. Although I’m not sure if it was reverted due to revenue lost or a desire to return to normalcy. My hunch is it was due to revenue lost.

My last cruise was on a nonsmoking line (well they had one or two outside smoking areas in remote areas but absolutely no smoking indoors or on balconies etc). It was very nice to not have to worry about washing clothes because they smelled like smoke, never smelled marijuana, etc. The cruise was not subsidized by casino income so it was more expensive. But there is a place for that in the market and I will definitely sail that line more in the future. I do not complain about smokers in the casino, discos when that was allowed, or in smoking areas outdoors on Carnival because that is their right as it is currently. I was hopeful that the smoke free Casino from last Christmas would last, but it didn’t. Maybe sometime in the future they’ll try again.

Do you have any specific questions?

ah I’m sure OBC from a casino offer is not refundable…thanks!

Do the lawyers you know who use marijuana, sneak it into their inside stateroom’s bathroom on a Carnival cruise?

If they were doing anything the problem would not be getting worse.