mz-s

Never been an issue for me. Depends on your departing flight time I suppose.

You said you paid all your outstanding balances so when you checked out your bill was $0? Then there would have been nothing charged on your credit card.

That's the entire point of pooled gratuities. Yes their share of your gratuity is quite small, but they get the same 2 cents or whatever from everyone else on board.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it is bait and switch. But I could see how some would think that.

You can bring on pretty much everything except what is in Carnival's list of prohibited items: https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4090/~/carnival-cruise-line-prohibited-items%2C-exemptions-and-other-considerations

I didn't say it was bait and switch but I do think they rushed the conversion and really cheaped out on it which is a shame. If the ship stays with Carnival long-term they need to do a full conversion - add the venues Carnival cruisers expect, change out the funnel, etc.

None of us have any insider info we are just spitballing. You make a good point that Carnival is a global company, or at least they operate in countries other than where their credit card is offered. Their credit card is nothing special anyway. You are not missing much.

I never check bags. I use MCO Reserve so I do not have to see the screaming kids or entitled parents. I wait until about 30 minutes before boarding begins to even think about riding the monorail to my airside.

They didn't do anything to the ship except wire wheel COSTA off the side and paint in CARNIVAL. It doesn't even have Guys Burgers. It's a CINO - Carnival in Name Only.

You never even see them until you get to your gate

Google "MCO Reserve" and all the stress of flying out of MCO will melt away.

Depends on the restaurant. Teppanyaki probably not, it is small and does book up. The rest probably so. Go to the restaurant or the booth for the restaurant during embarkation, there should be someone there who can help you book a reservation.

Carnival, like many in the travel industry, didn't expect the "revenge travel" bubble. They expected people to be hesitant to travel after COVID. When they needed capacity ASAP, they had to get ships ASAP and that basically meant they just scratched COSTA off the side of the ship and wrote in CARNIVAL.

Once the Baltimore harbor reopens they'll move operations back to Baltimore. The cruise won't be cancelled no matter what happens. You'll either embark on the cruise from Baltimore or Norfolk.

To those who are going to be parking a car in Norfolk, I recommend you look into Asphalt Lots in Chesapeake VA. This is a veteran owned business that rents out a parking garage at a community college. They provide shuttles to and from the port on turnaround days. Much cheaper than the parking that Carnival recommends and probably more secure as well.

Even if the excursions are sold out, they would show in your booking - they would just say they're sold out. Something is wrong with Carnival's website here. But that is nothing new.

I think it's usually at 9:30PM fleetwide. They schedule it late so it doesn't conflict with most folk's supper.

Some Fun Squads do a better job than others of herding the cats. I will say that generally, in Charleston they were very good at this because of the silent debarkation.

Some people just want to pick a fight I guess.

On Sunshine last year everything closed for at least a brief amount of time. At least so they could close out the last cruise and start the new one in their systems.

Sure, but the person I was replying to seemed to suggest that Carnival does a Spirit class ship because of size considerations. Quantum class is similar in size to Carnival's Excel class, much larger than Spirit class. That was my point.

Of course, when you have a hammer everything is a nail. That's why it's up to the consumer to do research and pick the best product for them in each circumstance. For many, Carnival may be the best Alaska cruise choice.

The Bahamas and Caribbean has always been Carnival Cruse Line's core competency so that's nothing new. Carnival Corp has other brands that do Alaska very well for example. Even where Carnival has their newest and best product on display - like Long Beach or Miami, their cruises sell for less than the competition because again - they can only compete on price when they have to compete with other lines. Carnival's differentiator is they put ships everywhere they can to capture as many cruisers as possible. Lots of people want to cruise but have no interest in flying, even if it means a 10-hour car ride.

Carnival's best chance to compete is to not compete at all. Nobody else sails out of Mobile AL or Norfolk VA or at least until Norwegian comes in, Jacksonville FL. When Carnival has to compete with other lines at a port like Canaveral or Long Beach they can only compete on price.

Wow I just looked up that article a few days ago and it had no mention of Norfolk so this must be a very recent change. Good eye!