TomCruise48

We are booked on the same Panama Canal repositioning cruise on the Spirit.  Our original booking for a similar itinerary in 2020 was on the Freedom and had two additional ports.  Of course Covid canceled this one and we took the credit and rebooked the Spirit for this year.  Carnival dropped another port when they changed their final destination from Miami to New Orleans.

Extra daytime activities could include ballroom dancing classes and lectures (Academy of Fun).

Additional evening shows will likely be performed by fly-on entertainers such as jugglers, magicians, vocalists, hypnotists...  There will likely be a couple of nights without evening shows.

Currently you select boarding times while checking in on the Carnival website.  Online check-in opens 14 days before your departure date at midnight EST.  Platinum, Diamond, and Suite guests can check in 16 days in advance.

Shore excursions will be available for online booking several months prior to departure.

2 hours ago, ngrund said:

OP,

 

Some people have mentioned that if the card has a partial balance, it cannot be loaded on the on-board kiosk, so you may need to go to guest services.

 

If you are sure you will spend the $100, you can buy $100 cruise cash from home on the website

Have never had an issue applying card with partial balance using kiosk on ship.

10 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Note to self: get to Celebration Central an hour before the circus show to get a seat. PRY SELF AWAY FROM ALCHEMY!!! 

Jimbo, what would you say was the best area to watch that show from? 

Best seat is Deck 7 Balcony, left side of stage, first row.  You are eye level with the aerial acts and can easily see the stage.  Unless you are up front near the stage on Deck 6, the aerial acts are not in view.  DW staked out these seats 3 hours in advance for the first performance on the inaugural TA.

3 hours ago, Drazil65 said:

If you are getting a balcony for sure then find out which side has the outdoor smoking on it.  On MG the smoking side is on starboard side (seems to be that way on many ships) so port may be the better choice if that is a thing for you.  We are always port side people for our balcony or suites.  

Smoking on Celebration is on starboard side of Decks 8 and 17, towards aft.

47 minutes ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

We do the same.  Tell the steward to do ours last.  

We tell our stateroom steward not to clean our room at all on turnaround day since they are so busy.  If they know you are doing B2B in the same stateroom, they usually change the bed linens the day before so they don't need to do this on turnaround day.

Mardi Gras has so many food and entertainment options that you can't take them all in on a 7-day cruise.  That is a good reason for a B2B on an Excel class ship.  You are likely already aware of this since your signature shows that you cruised on this ship last year.

My tip is to have a 2-week plan for food and entertainment so that you dine everywhere you want and see all of the entertainment that you want.  On a B2B you have the chance to see a favorite show or eat in a favorite restaurant more than once.  If you are a big fan of comedy, you may want to concentrate heavily on comedy shows on the first leg hoping that there will be different comedians on the second leg.

As others have mentioned, whether or not you have to disembark between cruise is strictly up to CBP. We have taken several B2B's and have always had to disembark.  Once CBP met us at the top of the stairs in the terminal to look at our passports, and we immediately reboarded.  There were so many B2B's on our Mardi Gras cruise last year that it took a long time for everyone to clear customs.  The staff took us to the terminal before CBP was ready and we spent a lot of time standing in a line that did not move.

You will get an invitation to a special event with the captain.  After the restart from Covid, the captains were not allowed to attend because Carnival was limiting their exposure to guests to minimize the chance of the captain catching Covid.  Not sure if this has changed yet.

The special event is at the discretion of the captain, although corporate has given them a few typical formats to follow.  It depends on how many Diamond guests are onboard.  There are so many Diamonds nowadays, that the event is often a special lunch in the MDR.  In the past it was often a cocktail party in the Piano Bar.  When we first turned Diamond, it was not unusual to have fewer than 10 Diamonds and the events were more intimate.

2 hours ago, Jenzoe888 said:

 Does it work the same way with Chibang?

It works the same with Chibang, Cucina, and Main Dining room. Guy's Pig and Anchor Barbeque does not require or allow reservations on the app.

For extra charge restaurants, you can make reservations online before your cruise for the Steakhouse, Rudi's, Bonsai Teppanyaki, and Chef's Table.  If you wait until you are onboard, you may find that these venues are already booked.   No reservations are needed for Emeril's. 

Anyone in your party can make the reservations for some or all of your group.  Reservations usually open about 15-minutes before venue is scheduled to open.  There is usually a short wait if you reserve when venue first opens.  In the 6:00pm - 7:00pm time frame the wait may be 30 - 45 minutes because the venue is full with early diners and you need to wait until the first wave of diners finish for tables to become available.

46 minutes ago, NanoGirl21 said:

It's been almost a month since I canceled my reservation and rebooked. I still have not received my refund, email, or notification from any shipping company of an incoming package. I'm concerned. 

Most of our refunds have come as physical cards delivered by Fedex.  One refund was an egift card sent via email.  You may want to double check your email.

Guy's Pig and Anchor Barbeque is also a no extra charge option for the evening meal on Celebration.  You cannot reserve this on the app.  You walk up to the hostess station and the hostess seats you at an available table.  Never saw the line very long on the Celebration TA.

19 hours ago, cruisinqt said:

On the Mardi Gras the invitation said we could go to any bar or restaurant for a free cocktail of our choice and then there was a free glass of wine at the party. 

On recent Calibration cruise, we didn't even get the free cocktail choice after the party.

You can change to Your Time Dining (YTD).  Reservations on the app open up about 15-minutes before the restaurant opens if you have YTD.

4 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Be sure to say hello to hostess Alania from Ukraine.  She is always so cheerful despite all the worries she has about what's happening back home.

4 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

If you have a few minutes to kill, try to find the coins for Carnival Miracle and Carnival Splendor embedded in the hallway floor of the Golden Jubilee.  If you give up, I'll tell you where they are.

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Let’s talk bathrooms. They got a weird situation going on at the bathrooms in here. I don’t know if it was this way on Mardi Gras or if I just never used the bathroom in the p&a on Mardi Gras. But this is the situation.

 

I see what looks like gender neutral bathrooms. Great whatever. All the rooftop bars in new York have them. That rooftop bar last night had them. Whatever. I saw someone go in each one. Fine l’m waiting. 
 

 

 

After a few minutes a man and woman come out of one. I think…alrighty then…and proceed in. I find that these are not two gender neutral bathrooms. These are two outer entrances to the bathroom area. Both doors take you to the same place which are entrances to men’s, women’s, and accessible restrooms.

 

 

 

 

It was same on Mardi Gras.  On the Celebration TA I was using the urinal in the Men's P&A restroom when a woman emerged from the stall and realized that she was in the wrong restroom.  She uttered "Oh my!" and proceeded to wash her hands before leaving.  I pretended not to notice her.

5 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Room is a work in progress but I dropped

my bag off and met anhar (I think)

 

We were on deck 16 starboard forward on the Celebration TA and our stateroom steward was Anak.

Taxi from cruise terminal to Miami airport yesterday was $52 for 3 persons plus 6 pieces of luggage.  This included the 30% extra charge for a Van versus a Sedan.  Would expect 2 persons in sedan taxi to run about $36.  Celebration uses Terminal F and taxi line is just outside exit.  It was pouring rain yesterday when we disembarked Celebration and the area is covered so that we did not get wet walking to and getting into the taxi.

5 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

We're just off the Mardi Gras and how it worked on there was the Punchliner was used for the adult shows and the Limelight Lounge was used for the PG shows. The comedians would do the same show 3 times each night in that venue and then switch venues the following night. It worked really well as the comedian doesn't have to do two different shows on the same night.

Worked essentially the same way on the Celebration TA plus some nights there was a late night adult comedy showcase in the theater with two comedians performing 15-20 minutes each. 

The Black Friday sales in the couple of years before Covid were typically discounts for onboard spending items such as shore excursions and photo packages, and not discounts on the cruise fare.  We grabbed a couple of these for our Summer 2019 and Spring 2020 cruises, and never got to use them since these were cancelled due to Covid.

4 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Stupid question maybe, but are you in the Eastern time zone portion of Indiana, or the Central time zone?

Eastern.  DW and I both tried multiple times on multiple devices starting at midnight and could not get in until 3-minutes after midnight Eastern time.  Others in our Roll Call have reported a similar experience.  I think that there will be lots of Diamonds and Platinums on the Celebration maiden cruise, so the first two boarding slot times went quickly.

19 minutes ago, halterk said:

Just curious, what port arrival time did you select?  Or was able to select?

 

I'm guessing the C boarding group has a port check in time of 11:30 or 12?

11:00am.  A Group is 10:00am.  B Group is 10:30am.

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

I hope they do. I can understand why they don't. Imagine being the person who is constantly being chewed out by entitled jerks who felt their lounger should be reserved for 4 hours. Can you think of a worse job?

It is not only the deck steward who gets chewed out.  About half an hour after sitting down in an open lounger, a lady came by and screamed at me that this was her lounger and asked what I had done with her belongings.  After she calmed down, I explained that her belongings were likely removed by the deck steward since the lounger had been unoccupied, and that she should check at the towel station.  She did come back and apologize and thank me for telling her where to find her belongings.

We are Diamond and booked on the Celebration TA.  Our 16-day window opened up at midnight.  We weren't able to login until 12:03.  Once in, we immediately went to select our arrival time, and the earliest available boarding group was C1.  It is hard to believe that all of the A and B groups were snatched up by other D & P & suite cruisers in only 3-minutes.