jslev9

My wife and I are sailing on the Carnival Freedom in a couple weeks and will have New Year's Eve as our last night at sea. I'm hoping y'all can weigh in on a couple questions:

1. We're planning of doing dinner at the Steakhouse on NYE, thinking that the dinner won't be a formal night in the MDR since it's the last night. Does that logic makes sense or do you think they'll do something special in the MDR (making it not a good night to eat at the Steakhouse)?
2. My wife is trying to decide what to wear. We know we'll see the gamete, from casual to dressy, but do you have any advice on what most people wear on NYE?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

My wife and I recently booked an Australian cruise (!!) in September 2022. We've fully paid our deposit and are now in a holding pattern until final payment is due. However, whenever I log in to my Cruise Manager, I get a message that says: 

"HELLO, WE CAN'T WAIT TO WELCOME YOU ABOARD! Excursions and amenities like drink packages and in-stateroom gifts will be available for purchase on board."

Does anyone know if this is standard for Australian cruises, if it's just because we're booked through the American branch of Carnival, or something else entirely? I'm a little worried that cruisers from Australia will be able to book excursions before us so we'll get sold out of our top excursion choices.

Thanks!

Thanks for the quick replies! We're hoping September 2022 will be OK...our initial cruise was bought with gift cards so we have nothing to lose by booking now. The worst that happens is it gets cancelled and we get another credit -- no different that having credit like we have now.

Hi there,

My wife and I have had our honeymoon cruise cancelled for a second time due to COVID-19. Due to the cheap fares and number of airline frequent flyer miles we have, we're debating using our money towards a cruise in September 2022 (we were originally booked on a European cruise but Carnival doesn't have a similar itinerary that we want to rebook on). The cruise we're looking at now is a seven day sailing on the Carnival Spirit that departs from Brisbane and goes to the Great Barrier Reef (Airlie Beach, Cairns, and Port Douglas) -- we'd also spend four days in Sydney before the cruise to adjust to the time change and do some sightseeing.

I haven't seen a lot of reviews of Australian cruises so I'm hoping someone here might weigh in on whether or not this would be a good sailing for a couple taking a (delayed) honeymoon. Penny for your thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi there,

My wife and I have had our honeymoon cruise cancelled for a second time due to COVID-19. Due to the cheap fares and number of airline frequent flyer miles we have, we're debating using our money towards a Carnival cruise in September 2022 (we were originally going to do a European cruise but Carnival doesn't have a similar itinerary that we can rebook on). The cruise we're looking at now is a seven day sailing on the Carnival Spirit that departs from Brisbane and goes to the Great Barrier Reef (Airlie Beach, Cairns, and Port Douglas) -- we'd also spend four days in Sydney before the cruise to adjust to the time change and do some sightseeing.

I haven't seen a lot of reviews of Australian cruises so I'm hoping someone here might weigh in on whether or not this would be a good sailing for a couple taking a (delayed) honeymoon. Penny for your thoughts?

Thanks!

4 hours ago, Reva_Dearchi said:

Welcome aboard!  Check out our roll call board for the May 21-30th sailing on the Radiance! 

I'm already there 🙂

Hi there,

I was looking at getting the Cheers! package for my upcoming Carnival Radiance sailing but noticed it says it's not offered on European sailings. I still tried to add it to my cart but it eventually gave me an error and wouldn't let me finish the purchase. I then tried to get Bottomless Bubbles and, even though it says it's not offered on European sailings, I was still able to add it to my shopping cart and have made it to the final step. Has anyone had success buying Bottomless Bubbles in advance of an European sailing and had it honored on board?
 

Thanks!

I'm sailing on the Radiance's 5/21/20 sailing out of Barcelona on a 9 day European sailing. Cheers! is available as an add-on in my booking manager even though the offer details page has a disclaimer that it isn't available on European sailings. Weird. 

3 hours ago, Tampa Bay Irish said:

9 Day Med cruise from Barcelona departing on May 21, 2020. Returning to Barcelona on May 30, 2020. If Radiance turns out like Sunshine she will be a fine refurbished ship. Already started on shore excursion research and planning. Already spoke with Delta about using Sky Miles to get to Barcelona. Going to Barcelona a couple of days early. Hope and Pray to catch a Barcelona FC game before we sail away...schedule won’t be released for awhile.

My finacee and I just booked that sailing for our honeymoon cruise. Be sure to check out the roll call -- it's fairly active for how far away the sailing is and some people have already started to organize small group excursions (that are very reasonably priced)!

Just now, jbethel11 said:

Great! Have a great cruise!

 

P.S. What VIFP level are you? How does one get selected for this "players club rate".

Thanks! I'm currently a "red" level sailer with 11 nights on Carnival over two cruises (a three night cruise in Feb 2017 and an eight night cruise in Dec 2004). The phone agent and I *truly* have no idea how or why I was selected for this promo but I triple checked with her that I was eligible and my email confirmation also specifically mentions the promo.

Hi all,

Just wanted to follow up and say we ended up switching to the Carnival sailing! The longer cruise, plus the extra OBC, were too hard to turn down. Plus, with the sailing leaving mid-week instead of a Saturday and being over Memorial Day weekend, we're able to spend the extra days pre-sailing in Barcelona that we originally thought we'd have to give up by taking a longer cruise.

Thanks for all of your advice and helping us think everything through!

P.S. For those who mentioned it's a long and expensive flight for such a short cruise, we have enough frequent flyer miles to be able to round trip in business class, which makes the flights a (little) bit easier to rationalize.

Hi all,

Just wanted to follow up and say we ended up switching to the Carnival sailing! The longer cruise, plus the extra OBC, were too hard to turn down. Plus, with the sailing leaving mid-week instead of a Saturday and being over Memorial Day weekend, we're able to spend the extra days pre-sailing in Barcelona that we originally thought we'd have to give up by taking a longer cruise.

Thanks for all of your advice and helping us think everything through!

P.S. For those who mentioned that I must be a large gambler, I'm actually not. Heck, I haven't even been on a Carnival ship in over  two years. I (and the agent I booked the cruise with over the phone) have no idea why I received the players club offer but the agent did confirm it's valid for my VIFP number.

Thanks for all of the feedback! My fiance and I are going to make a decision tonight -- I'll let you know which we end up with!

Thanks for all of the feedback! My fiance and I are going to make a decision tonight -- I'll let you know which we end up with!

Hi all,

My fiancé and I are currently booked on the seven night European sailing on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas (April 19, 2020) as a honeymoon cruise (with a fully refundable deposit). I just got an email from Carnival with an incredible promo and now I'm second guessing our original itinerary -- we'd love to hear your thoughts!

The new sailing we're looking at is a nine night European sailing on the Carnival Radiance (May 21, 2020). Both itineraries include stops at Florence/Pisa, Rome, and Naples. The Royal Caribbean sailing also visits Nice and Portofino plus has one day at sea while the Carnival Victory also stops in Sicily, Marseille, and Palma de Mallorca plus has two days at sea. The fares are within $12 of each other (total, not per person or per night). The Royal Caribbean sailing has a $225 OBC while the Carnival sailing has a $500 OBC plus free drinks while in the casino (OBC and drinks are part of the promo email I received today from the casino club).

For us, the pros of saying on the Royal Carnival sailing include sailing closer to our wedding (~3 weeks after the wedding) and having the time to spend a few days in Barcelona before embarking. Pros of the Carnival ship include an extra $275 in OBC, free drinks while playing in the casino, getting an extra day in port and an extra sea day, and sailing on a (basically) brand new ship.

I posted this in the Carnival forum, too, but would love to hear thoughts from RCCL fans, too! Penny for your thoughts?

Hi all,

My fiancé and I are currently booked on a seven night European sailing on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas (April 19, 2020) as a honeymoon cruise (with a fully refundable deposit). I just got an email from Carnival with an incredible promo and now I'm second guessing our original itinerary -- we'd love to hear your thoughts!

The new sailing we're looking at is a nine night European sailing on the Carnival Radiance (May 21, 2020). Both itineraries include stops at Florence/Pisa, Rome, and Naples. The Royal Caribbean sailing also visits Nice and Portofino plus has one day at sea while the Carnival Victory also stops in Sicily, Marseille, and Palma de Mallorca plus has two days at sea. The fares are within $12 of each other (total, not per person or per night). The Royal Caribbean sailing has a $225 OBC while the Carnival sailing has a $500 OBC plus free drinks while in the casino (OBC and drinks are part of the promo email I received today from the casino club).

For us, the pros of saying on the Royal Carnival sailing include sailing closer to our wedding (~3 weeks after the wedding) and having the time to spend a few days in Barcelona before embarking. Pros of the Carnival ship include an extra $275 in OBC, free drinks while playing in the casino, getting an extra day in port and an extra sea day, and sailing on a (basically) brand new ship.

Penny for your thoughts?

Glad I found this thread! My fiancee and I are booked on the Jewel in April 2020 and both of these rooms were available -- we were in a different 4V room on deck 8 so we were able to move our reservation to 3635 without any issues :)

8 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

Once they are available RC will send you an email at least once a week reminding you to buy. Usually with an offer such as "up to" 30% off. 

Thanks!

Hi all,

Does anyone know (roughly) how far in advance of our sailing we can expect that excursions and drink packages will begin to be available in our Cruise Planner? All we see now is a note that nothing is currently available.

Thanks!

3 hours ago, aminca said:

It depends on the time of the year you are planning to travel. I would suggest checking in with RIL directly, advise them of your travel plans and let them advise you. 

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

A lot of people are reporting sold out conditions for early summer (May/June) dates. I would not be waiting.

Thank you! We're not sailing until April 2020 but it can't hurt to reach out now to see when they think we should be booking.

1 hour ago, singinalot said:

Jslev9 you will have to come back and do a report for us!

Will do!

How far in advance do people recommend booking a tour with RIL?

Thank you, all, for the quick, thorough, and amazing advice! We'll be sticking with the Jewel and are sitting next to each other grinning from ear to ear with excitement about our trip 🙂

13 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

What is your goal for your honeymoon? Have you been to Europe before? Are you honeymooning to relax or to be busy everyday and see new cities you've never seen before? Are you normally a tourist (sit by the pool with a drink in hand all day long) or a traveler (you want to get out and see/do new things), or a combination of both?

 

100% guarantee you miss a ton of things on Allure in only seven days unless you focus on the ship by skipping a port or two and definitely getting back from the incredible cities you are visiting early... a major shame imo. If your goal is the ports, the ship doesn't matter. My guess is if you've never been to Europe, your jaw will be dropping at the cities you'll be visiting. 10 years from now, you'll remember standing at the Coliseum in Rome rather than what show you saw on Allure for example.

 

Jewel you can see the ocean and all the places you are visiting from most places on the ship, including the open eating area at the back of the Windjammer. Allure is focused inside, you do not see much of the ocean or anywhere you are going from anywhere on the ship. Jewel is my pick in Europe over any Oasis class ship for me personally.

As soon as I read this, I knew sticking with the Jewel was the right choice -- and everyone else confirmed it even more.

12 hours ago, singinalot said:

We have been on both Allure and Jewel. We sailed the greek isles on Jewel and caribbean on Allure...I agree with the comments above...I LOVE Allure...hands down my favorite ship...but you won't get to see much of it with a port intensive european cruise.  The Jewel is a beautiful ship for honeymooners and a european cruise. We loved the greek isles trip so much last year that we're going again on her this year.

Congrats on your engagement! After Hoopster95 posted, I went back and read your TR (along with the other people you said you learned from) and got even more excited, which I didn't know was possible. My fiancée and I also got engaged on a RCL vacation (onboard Mariner of the Seas) so we knew we wanted to involve a cruise with either a dual bachelor/bachelorette party or on our honeymoon. One of her bridesmaids gets incredibly sea sick so we get to save the cruise for the honeymoon and cross this great itinerary off our bucket list! 

10 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Aha!!! The absolute best Cruise critic member to be able to give you 1st hand advice on this thread with fully experienced answer. Singalot was too modest not mentioning.... proposal last year on Jewel Greek cruise, return honeymoon this year on Jewel... I hope I got that right 💍

 

See her "signature" before at bottom of her post? You can see she has a link there to her "Jewel of the Seas WE GOT ENGAGED" trip. If you have a bit of time to kill, you'll enjoy going through that. She also has an Allure review (3rd from top) as well.

Thanks for pointing out her signature -- you knew just how to make my fiancée and I even more excited!

4 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

 

Well said...agree.  We have sailed on both the Allure and the Jewel...and yes, the Jewel is also our pick.  To the OP: "Happy Honeymoon! and happy sailing.

Thank you!

Hi all,

My fiancée and I are booked on the 7 Night Italy, Spain, and France cruise on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas with a fully refundable fare for our honeymoon and we just realized that the Allure of the Seas is doing a very similar sailing a month later and it would only be $230 extra (total, not per person or per night) to upgrade. 

Jewel of the Seas itinerary: Depart Barcelona, Nice, Portofino, Florence/Pisa, Rome, Naples, Day at Sea, Return to Barcelona

Allure of the Seas itinerary: Depart Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Provence, Florence/Pisa, Rome, Naples, Day at Sea, Return to Barcelona

Considerations:

While we're intrigued by the allure of sailing on the Allure of the Seas (pun intended), we know it's a very port heavy sailing so don't know how much of the ship we'd actually be able to experience. At the same time, however, everyone says the Allure is an amazing ship and I feel like we'd be crazy to pass up the opportunity to sail on her for just a little more money. Also, for what it's worth, this would be the Allure's first sailing out of her dry dock (we know there are sometimes issues with the first sailing after a dry dock but we would be quite happy enjoying Barcelona if the sailing is delayed/cancelled plus I'd assume there'd be some sort of compensation from RCL).

Penny for your thoughts?

Hope you made it home OK! I can't wait to board the Mariner on Friday!