mz-s

I have heard people say that on here but have never actually read a report of it happening. Many casino rates in the terms do state that the person who received the offer must sail to get the price, but again I don't know if Carnival has ever gone back and charged rack rates if a casino guest no-shows.

Many of these offers sell out before you're even able to book them, they may only have a handful of rooms available so they go extremely quickly.

I don't think they've announced what they're actually doing to the port. My guess is just behind the scenes things like adding more storage bays for provisions that will be needed for year-round operations. My understanding is currently Norfolk borrows the Baltimore check-in crew - they will likely take the opportunity to train a full-time crew (or perhaps entice Charleston crew to relocate to Virginia?). Almost certainly there will be no major construction like an onsite parking structure, sadly.

They're effectively doing this now by giving people upgrade offers. Example with made up numbers. You paid $400pp for your interior 2 years ago. We are now about 6 months until embarkation. The ship is now nearly full and the few interiors they have left are selling for $700pp. Carnival offers to upgrade you to a balcony for $300pp, so you get a balcony for $700pp (same price as the interior) and Carnival can sell your interior for $700.

Sunshine is now the oldest ship in the Carnival fleet. She was extensively remodeled in 2012 with dozens of staterooms and even entire decks added, while public spaces were removed. I absolutely would not sail her during a holiday. I have - once - and got so frustrated with waiting in lines and waiting for crowds to pass through halls and tripping over people and saying excuse me so I could go etc that I would get banned here if I wrote out my true feelings.

I only have one CCL cruise scheduled, none planned after that. I'm not writing off CCL but not chomping at the bit either. We will see. I have no problems calling Carnival out as many on here know - but I think the menu overhaul was overdue.

I see a lot of old favorites on the menus which is good to see. Some dishes are gone, sadly, but plenty of new things I'm excited to try over the years. Overall a net positive in my view so far. The proof will be in the pudding on my next sailing that features these menus.

What does family friendly even mean when it comes to food? Time to expand your kid's horizons from pizza and mcnuggets I think...

My wife and I are very comfortable with the present menus. So we're a little uneasy about this news. Where are our favorites lasagna, penne mariscos, beef tenderloin, baked Alaska, etc? I am sure we will find new favorites with the new menus. I do agree that change was due.

That's also not true, we used to give our cat Country Crock growing up to deal with hairballs. She ate it just fine and it worked to help her pass hairballs. I don't eat margarine but that's just because I prefer butter. I don't try to come up with all these silly reasons why I don't eat it.

One big advantage of the downtown ports like Norfolk and Charleston, you can walk from your hotel on embarkation day.

And they get a share of that $9 from every cruiser on the ship who bought Cheers. And probably a share of the 18% that is added to a la carte drink purchases as well. They're well taken care of. Tip more if you wish, but don't fool yourself into thinking you must because they're inadequately compensated. They're certainly not Rockefellers but neither are we.

I hope it continues to work out for you. I'm skeptical.

The problem is there is no proof of any of that because Carnival does not publish their formula for comps, if there even is a formula. You could do exactly what he outlines (even double it) and not get a single comp, not even a free steakhouse dinner, and you would have nobody to appeal to because there is nowhere to go. I really don't recommend gambling on Carnival (or gambling more than you otherwise would) just for comps. Gamble for entertainment, and if you get comps all the better.

soda and juice only...no virgin cocktails, no milkshakes, no coffee, etc.

Not only that, this is a completely one-sided game. Carnival is under no obligation to extend comps no matter how much you spend in their casino. There is no published list of comps. So I really wouldn't recommend gambling to get comps especially on Carnival. It just doesn't work out.

That would be like pulling the slot machine for someone else assuming you're doing this so you can accumulate points under one account. I could definitely see the casino denying a payout if someone was doing that.

Some people think it is our responsibility to put the employee's children through braces, not just give a monetary "thank you". Or at least that's what they say. I always wonder what the braggarts actually put in that little folio they hand over at the bar when the rubber meets the road.

I wouldn't recommend gambling more just to get offers. It would probably be cheaper for you to just buy your next cruise. Carnival does not have a published schedule for comps. There is no formula as to how many points it takes to earn a free balcony for example. So you could donate your thousands and not get a single offer out of it. Contrast to Royal that does have a published schedule.

Sadly most of the ABC itins I've seen lately don't have Curacao as the late port. I am not sure why or what made things different in 2021 other than COVID restrictions (this was still during the sip and cover cruise era where you never had to wait for an elevator because the ships were basically empty). It was one of the best Carnival cruises my wife and I have been on.

Since we were there at night, lots of boats that were out in the bay during the day came in as dusk turned to night and so the bridge opened quite often. The ABC Islands are really amazing, frankly if every cruise I went on from here on out stopped only at the ABC islands you wouldn't hear a peep of complaint out of me.

On my Southern Caribbean (not an ABC as our stops were Aruba, Curacao, La Romana and Amber Cove) cruise on Freedom in 2021, our late port was Curacao. What we did was get off early and do our excursions, then go back onboard for supper. We got back off for a late night jaunt around the port area before sailaway. It really is special to be at port on a cruise ship in the evening. Especially a port like Curacao or Aruba that is generally safe and beautiful with lots to do even at night. Curacao at night:

I don't think you have to tip extra to get good service. The included gratuities are plenty. You might get "better" service if you throw money around, but that's everywhere.

Coffee and hot water to make tea are available at no charge 24/7 on Lido, and via room service for a nominal fee outside of breakfast hours (room service for coffee/hot water is free during breakfast hours).

Your two paragraphs are contradictory but I get your point.