TomCruise48

On 9/17/2024 at 5:03 PM, DanJ said:

I'm pretty sure it was a $13 drink because I had to pay for my $15 drinks the first couple nights and then I tried a $13 and the bartender said this was free. 

From an email from Carnival received 3 days ago:

On 9/21/2024 at 9:44 AM, DeniseTr said:

Can you buy the gift card but not redeem it until end of cruise when you see what your charges are?

Have done this many times.  Go to kiosk on day before you disembark and apply to your onboard charges.  You can also apply at Guest Services, but I have never had an issue using the kiosk.

We have found it to be hit-and-miss using the app to request a sharing table - more often miss than hit.  In order to find someone to share, the hostess needs to have someone who has checked in around the same time as you as someone who wants to share.  You may have better luck checking in when the wait times are longer and the hostess is trying to consolidate to better utilize tables as they become available.

If you do find someone early in the cruise with whom you would like to share a table for the remainder of the cruise, you may be able to have either the hostess or guest services link you as cruise companions, in which case you can check in together on the same reservation through the app.

You can also talk to the dining room hostess to see if she has suggestions for sharing.  We have found the hostesses on Carnival to quite helpful in accommodating requests, and always leave them a nice tip when they come through for us.

We are diamond on Carnival, so we get unlimited wash and fold laundry service.  The paper bags that Carnival provides typically will hold enough clothes for the two of us for three days,  If you roll your clothes, you can get more in the bags.  On most cruises, if we get the laundry to our stateroom steward by 10:00am, it comes back the same evening.  We try to pack clothes that do not wrinkle easily.

The Panorama is the last Carnival new build to have self-service launderettes where you can use your ship pass to operate the washers and dryers.  These rooms also have irons and ironing boards that you can use for no charge,

You can pre-purchase 5 bottles of wine through the Cruise the Vineyard Wine Package for about $30/bottle + 18% gratuity.  If you book the Steakhouse for the first night or the first formal night, you can purchase one bottle of wine ($100/bottle or less list price) per adult for 50% off.  Each adult can carry on one 750ml bottle of wine in their carry-on luggage.  They may want to charge a corkage fee for the carry-on bottles if you bring them to the dining room, but they usually don't.  We never have a problem if we open the bottle in the stateroom and bring wine in a glass to dinner.

3 hours ago, luvs2beachit said:

My sister has to make final payment today and the AARP site is down so she is unable to purchase Carnival gift cards.  I know that in the past I have seen other people say they buy their cards from State Farm.  I have only used AARP so I don't have the State Farm info.  She has State Farm insurance so am guessing she would be able buy the cards  on their site.  So I am hoping that someone here might have that info or site address.  Thanks

AARP site is working for me.

7 minutes ago, Etta1213 said:

I've read of people doing S2S between Miami and Port Canaveral also. Haven't done it. Sounds doable though. Unless first ship gets into port late! I'd be more inclined to deal with just one port for same-day switch cuz I'm a worrier.😅

A S2S between Miami and Fort Lauderdale is easily doable.  Since Carnival no longer sails from Fort Lauderdale that leg will need to be on a different cruise line.  Royal Caribbean will provide free transportation between these ports if you do your S2S between two of their ships. 

More than once, we have been able to put together 22 consecutive days doing Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and Southern Caribbean from the same port in Florida as a B2B2S.  We do the B2B portion on Carnival where were get free laundry, then switch to another Carnival Ship or a ship from another cruise line for the S2S.  There are some ships that operate on a 8-day Eastern/6-day Western/8-day Southern pattern that repeats every 3 weeks making it possible to do a B2B2B with different ports.  We prefer to not spend more than 2 weeks on the same ship, so we do a B2B2S or a S2B2B.

When and where you redeem your free drink is a function of your VIFP level.  For Gold it is at any bar after 5pm on the last evening of the cruise of 5 days or longer. 

For Platinum and Diamond it is at any Seaday brunch.   On ships where brunch is not available, a complimentary beverage at will be offered at breakfast or lunch in Main Dining Room

We were in OS 9451 on the sister ship, Mardi Gras.  The smoking area has a roof above and we never smelled smoke from our balcony.  

When the Dream class ships came out, JH touted that you could walk all the way around the outside of Deck 5 (Lanai) on this class.  I much preferred doing that to walking the track.  We were on the Magic last month, and the forward part of Deck 5 is now restricted to crew only and you can no longer walk all the way around.  I assume that the same thing has happened on Dream and Breeze.

I noticed that our bed on the Magic last month was not as comfortable as what I had remembered from past Carnival cruises.  We had always found them quite comfortable in the past.

On Horizon and Panorama there is no charge for lunch, but there is a charge for the evening meal.  On Mardi Gras and Celebration there is no charge for either lunch or evening meal.

If you are looking at an interior room, this class of ship has a Havana area that is restricted to only those guests booked in that area.  The interiors in this area are a little more expensive than a standard interior, but less expensive than a balcony.  They come with a few upgraded amenities  With private access to the Havana area, you should not be fighting the masses for a good outdoor lounging area.  We were a little concerned about the noise from the Havana Bar, but never heard it in our interior room.

Yes, above mirror for use with electric razors only.

12 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

 You bring illegal drugs onboard, go to jail.  Dog gets treats.   

Actually, most drug sniffing dogs are dogs that have shown to have a great propensity for chasing balls.  They are rewarded by their handler by tossing out a ball for them to retrieve. 

15 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

We sailed to Grand Turk a few weeks ago and you still needed proof of vaccination to leave the ship. Are you saying that is no longer the case? 

A couple of days ago, JH posted that Grand Turk will no longer require proof of vaccine as of 4/1/23.  We have been to Grand Turk on Carnival twice this year and did not need to show proof to get off the ship.

13 minutes ago, asalligo said:

Next week is Chris's last week on the Celebration and I lament it as I will be on it in three weeks. The Flying Scotsman is the best cruise director Carnival has in my opinion, but people seem to love Lee also, we shall see. 

You may change your opinion about who is the best CD after you cruise with Lee.  He is very personable and sincere.  The problem with the Celebration is that there are so many guests and the CD job is so demanding that Lee has little time available to interact one on one with the guests.  When we cruised with Lee a few years ago on a smaller ship, we and other guests were able to interact with him several times.

19 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

How early in the day can you make reservations? We already have reservations for 3 different pay restaurants. If we hit Chibang and Cucina we will only have to do the MDR twice.

If you have YTD, reservations for Chibang and Cucina typically open on the app at 5:15pm and the restaurant opens at 5:30pm. 

6 hours ago, LHARTWICK said:

Exactly - another example is CCL says marijuana is prohibited, yet it's used all over their ships.  

I will have to compliment Carnival on their use of drug sniffing dogs.  Last month we did a S2S Mardi Gras to Magic at Port Canaveral.  There were no dogs when we boarded Mardi Gras, but the next week they had everyone line up with their carry-ons in front of them and had a dog pass by before we boarded Magic. 

Mardi Gras wreaked of marijuana every day.  One night we were sitting towards the back of the theater and started noticing marijuana smell.  A couple of minutes later, the smell made its way to the stage and the CD made an announcement to cease and desist.  After a couple of more minutes, the CD called for security, but they were not able to locate the offender.

Next week on Magic, we never once noticed marijuana smell.

11 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Are you sure it was surge protected, or merely had a circuit breaker on it?  How was it identified as being surge protected?  Genuinely curious.

It had an indicating light saying "Protected."

They have tried to confiscate my power strip without a surge protector before, but I have been able to convince them that it is not surge protected.

On a recent cruise, one of our party asked the Stateroom Attendant for an extension cord for her CPAP.  They brought her a power strip with a long cord and it had a surge protector.  I guess this is what they do with the confiscated items!  They don't follow their own rules.

2 hours ago, keywest1 said:

Donkey announced this at Q & A on Mardi Gras Feb 18 cruise.  He is our all time favorite CD.  So glad he is being promoted.  Mike Pack is our second favorite.  None of the others on our cruises have really stood out unless they annoyed us.  

We were also at this Q&A.  Donkey will be doing the same job as Mike Pack, just in charge of different ships.  On the Celebration TA, Mike told us that the "other" Fleet CD will be responsible for Jubilee, so I assume that will be Donkey.  There have been two persons sharing the Fleet CD job since the days of Kevin Noonan and Butch Begovich.

If you have assigned dining, you cannot reserve a dining time for the evening meal at Cucina or Chibang before 7:30pm.  Those with YTD can get reservations starting at 5:30pm.  (The app usually opens for reservations about 15-minutes before the restaurant does.)  Pig and Anchor does not do reservations on the app, so you need to get in a line and see the host/hostess for seating.  As others have confirmed, there is no extra cost for these restaurants on this class of ship.

We have been on both ships, and they are almost identical, and have exactly the same dining venues.  Unfortunately, both ships seem to be identically understaffed.  There can be waits for a dining reservation at peak times of more than an hour.  When we questioned why the waiting times were so long when there appeared to be several empty tables, we were told they did not have enough staff to service the tables.  I think Carnival underestimated the staffing requirement for this class.

2 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

No, you can't order from the MDR menu. If I recall correctly, on Elegant night you could get a lobster, but not the prime rib. That was a non-starter for us.

This is exactly what we experienced 3 weeks ago - lobster only but not prime rib on 2nd elegant night in Cucina.