ShaniBell

We've been on the inaugurals for the Panorama and Mardi Gras and will be on the Jubilee for her inaugural out of Galveston as well.  We have books from both ships.  Coasters from the Panorama and a lanyard from the Mardi Gras.  That was all in our cabins.  aThere is also some merchandise in the Fun Shops you can purchase.  I recall Inaugural Season branded items mostly.

We wanted to do Italy on the Pride but can't get the dates to work.  We have to travel in June/July as our daughter is still in high school and the seem to do Italy in the fall.  We ended up booking on NCL instead.  

Hi all!

We are booked on the Panorma in March in several Havana Extended Aft Balcony cabins.  We are considering moving to Havana Cabanas for two reasons.  The first being the soot issue on the aft balconies.  The second is the ease of moving between cabins via the patio areas on the Cabanas since we'll be traveling in a good sized group.  

Thoughts from anyone who has traveled in these cabins would be appreciated.

Thanks!

32 minutes ago, SonoranDevil said:

We had kicked around the idea of not getting off the ship the entire week.  After all, there was plenty on board that we still hadn’t had an opportunity to try out.  But as happy as I am sitting around doing nothing and letting people bring me pina coladas, Shani is more of a let’s get out there and do something personality.  For most of the week, we figured we would just get off the ship and wander around the shopping district near the port and then head back onboard early.  We probably would have ended up doing this if it weren't for two factors: We didn’t want to make Mom walk any more than necessary and it was HOT!

 

I also feel very strongly that as tourists we have some degree of responsibility towards the people who live in the areas we visit.  By staying onboard we are not helping them reccover from this pandemic.  The excursion we chose may not have been one we would do again but the money we spent on the stops we made went back into the community.  

1 hour ago, BabyJacks17 said:

Oh, sounds perfect.  Thank you so much for this feedback! Love to hear how accommodating the room steward was (not that I expected any less) in flipping it from bed to couch.   When it's in "bed" setup mode,  is it just set up as a single or a double?   I was assuming much like they do on previous older Carnival ships in the Ocean & Grand Suites they just use a portion of couch to turn into single bed.  

🙂

It was actually comparable in size to a queen.  I was surprised since the room is listed as accomodating three people.

8 minutes ago, BabyJacks17 said:

We have the aft cabin on the 12th floor/starboard side booked for this January.  We'll be a party of 3 so our main intent with booking this cabin was for the space not only in the room but also on the balcony.  

Hi BabyJacks.  

As a party of three this was the main reason we booked the room.  Our teen daughter had the living room area and our steward very nicely put the living room back in order daily and converted it to a bed again every night.  The split bathroom allowed additional privacy as needed as did the small walk in closet in the bedroom area.  

I

Just now, ShaniBell said:

 

That is my recommendation.  It was a nice one-time thing to do but the overall service for the price point was lacking.  I'll let Rob elaborate when he gets to that part of the review.  But it's not something I would do again.  Unfortunately, the Havana area is lacking on this ship as well which is disappointing.  

and now I'm quoting myself and elaborating 🙂

I was just saying to Rob that I wouldn't necessarily book this ship again but then I started second guessing myself.  I really like the indoor venues.  The bars were awesome and the overall decor/theming was nice.  I didn't like the placement of the atrium or the traffic flow around it or elsewhere in the ship in many spots but I liked it's ability to accomodate performances.  

48 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Thank you!  That is exactly the information I was looking for.  For us, I think we will save our pennies for other cruise lines that offer more suite benefits and book the rounded balcony ocean suites on Mardi Gras.   

That is my recommendation.  It was a nice one-time thing to do but the overall service for the price point was lacking.  I'll let Rob elaborate when he gets to that part of the review.  But it's not something I would do again.  Unfortunately, the Havana area is lacking on this ship as well which is disappointing.  

You'll rarely see a price back on the Havana cabins due to their popularity.  They have no problem selling those out for most sailings.   I saw great deals for Interiors, Ocean Views and Balconies for several dates. 

Saw that, was wishing we could get away but with school just starting and our kiddo being a Freshman in high school we just couldn't swing it.  

I'll pipe in with a few observations here.

Bolt was meh from a Roller Coaster perspective and overpriced.  We rode it so we could say we rode it but it's not something I will ever do again nor would I recommend it to anyone else other than the for the novelty factor that goes along with riding a rollercoaster onboard a cruise ship

Summer Landing - I mentioned this on another thread and I'll mention it here again only because I was amused by the interaction.  The Aft Suites with the wrap around balconies are visible from Summer Landing and something I found several people pointing up a t when down on the Landing.  While Mom and I were hanging out a small group of people sat nearby.  Within a few minutes they were eyeing the balcony above us and making the universal hand gesture for "spendy".  I overhead them and mentioned that that was our room ;).  tee hee.  They asked a few questions about the room and then went on their way a few minutes later.

Piano Bar - some folks swear by Patrick.  I found him and his schtick to be "meh".  I found little sponteaneity in the performance that can usually be associated with piano bars.  Since the Piano Bar is usually one of my favorite hangouts it was a bit disappointing.  Fortunately the Mardi Gras has several venues all with live music.  I really enjoyed listening to Owen at the Fortune Teller and Jazz Trio at Brass Magnolia put an interesting and unexpected twist on some pop and rock hits.  Same with the strings trio that we heard at the Afternoon Tea and again at Fortune Teller.

Rob mentioned the Java Bar Milkshake incident.  It wassn't the only time we found Java Blue to be inconsistently stocked with what would be considered standard ingredients.  We tried again the next day midday and they had limited ingredients on hand.  To be honest, late night options are seriously lacking especially in the sweets department.

5 hours ago, Mrs Booboo said:

I know I saw a video about these somewhere, but can't find it now - does anyone know where the self-service soda dispensers are located? These are for use with a drink card; just swipe your card and dispense. Also, is there a dispenser for juices that aren't part of the free ones you find at the buffet?

We didn't see the soda machines anywhere other than Lido.  They were dispersed in several spots throughout the marketplace.  I didn't see any other juice dispensers though.

1 minute ago, kelkel2 said:

Exactly! We do the same. We actually have a suite booked on the Mardi Gras. This will be our first cruise with our kiddos and they’re too young to have their own room. So we booked a suite just for the extra space. Will it be worth the money? No idea. I’m assuming it will be to us. But you never know! 

This is actually why we booked it as well.  Usually when we travel we travel with my mother in tow and she rooms with our DD.  Originally just me, DH and DD were travelling and we wanted a bit more space.  We lucked into the Excel Aft Suite about 6 weeks out the 7/31 sailing.  Oddly enough my mother wound up deciding to travel with us about two weeks prior.  We ended up getting her a balcony room just a few doors down from us but kept the kiddo with us.

For the record, we are unlikely to splurge on a suite like that again.  At least not on Carnival.  We found the service just didn't align with the price point. 

We are booked in a Havana Aft Balcony on the Panorama in March and then in Balcony Rooms on NCL for Greece and Italy the summer after.  We book base on itinerary and timing more than room type although Balcony is pretty much a requirement these days.

Just now, KmomChicago said:

You all should enjoy your suites. This is a classic case of jealousy from the green eyed monsters. Obviously most Carnival passengers are not suites people, or haven’t been historically as evidenced by the % of such rooms per ship. But yet the rooms are there for a reason, because they’re worth it to some people, and your fare actually supplements everyone else’s price but I bet they never think of that.  

 

So who cares if someone else wants to stay in a different kind of room or spend their $$ on different things than they do? Their sour grapes snd the fact they think it’s their business says a lot more about them than you, you, you. . . Suites sleepers! (I will not be jealous I will not be jealous I will not be).

LOL...Suite Sleepers! 

I'm sure we enjoyed our cruise as did the folks in the various other rooms available on board from Havana to Family Harbor to Spa and Suites, Balconies, Ocean Views and Interiors.  That's the great thing about cruising, something for everyone.   We can all make our vacation exactly what we want it to be.  

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Isn't that the truth (thinking back of my BJ table encounter) !!

 

At sail away (from PC) we could hear people above us in Serenity speaking similarly about our digs. 

 

Tom

After posting I realized I was doing exactly what I was saying people should be careful of.  For all I know, the people that made the comment about my suite are on the forum.  We did end up having a pleasant conversation about the overall amenities etc.

On 8/13/2021 at 4:27 AM, kdr69 said:

Oh priceless.  %*$&&#&@ TA's  so what do you do for work?  Were TA's . 🤣🤣OMG you should have been recording that one!!!

Funny...We had one of the Aft Excel Suites on the 7/31 cruise but Mom and I wandered down to Summer Landing one afternoon cuz...bar staff 😉 and happened to be sitting right under our actual balcony when a couple of folks sat down near us and started to point at the balcony above us and making the universal "spendy" hand gesture and rolling their eyes a bit.  I may have had a little too much fun pointing out that that was our room 😉 

People need to remember that they never know who may be sitting nearby when making comments.

15 minutes ago, ejnsb said:

Probably in the minority here but the CD doesn't affect our experience.   The sailaway might be the first and last time we see them.

I'm with you on this one. I'm there for the ship, the destinations and to spend time with my family.  The CD has never been of concern to us. 

1 hour ago, #55worktoplay said:

Pictures are now appearing and very nice. 
 

Your daughter is so cute.   Feel free to share a video of your future Rock star singing 😀

She's 14, cute isn't always the first adjective that comes to mind but we love her.  She'd kill me if she knew I'd shared but here is a link to her singing Karaoke onboard.  Hopefully this works.

Not necessarily answering your question but we just got back and did the Chocolate Experience in Amber Cove.  It was definitely a different experience and we really enjoyed it.  If you're looking for something to do that's not beach or water related we highly recommend the excursion.

Picture test...I think this is the Ojen

The website has been doing this intermittently for the past several weeks.  It's extremely frustrating when you are trying to print out documents etc.  Fortunately, the information is generally restored within a few hours when this happens

20 minutes ago, Moparfiend said:

You can check in ahead of time, and change it if the others can't get the same time when you go to check them in.

This is what we did.  We are in a suite but my mother is in a balcony.  We checked in and then revised our check in time when we checked her in.

1 minute ago, BrotherCraig said:

Not surprising.  Big reason we changed our cruise from November 2021 to June 2022.

Agreed, not surprising at all considering it happened on prior cruises with other ports. 

Changing your dates was probably a wise thing to do.  With what we all pay to cruise I wouldn't want to be subject to a limited experience at full cost.  Our DD is 14 and vaccinated.  Had she not been, we would have likely looked at other options for travel this summer as disappointing as that would have been.

This came up on one of the Facebook groups for the 7/31 sailing.  One of the passengers travelling with an unvaccinated minor received an email from Carnival letting them know they would not be allowed off the ship in San Juan.  

https://www.cruisehive.com/unvaccinated-carnival-mardi-gras-guests-must-remain-on-board-in-san-juan/53824