Mic101680

I was just on Paradise a little over a week ago, and did not see any tables larger than 8-10 seats. They were sitting larger parties at tables next to each other.

Some ships have the pizza station in the buffet area, which usually has a bar and/or a pour-your-own beer station (charges by the ounce). The hours on these may vary by ship and may not be open as long as the pizza station is.

I'm so glad to hear you had a good experience! A group of friends and I took NCL up on their airfare as part of the free at sea package for our cruise in 2024 and I was a bit worried after reading all the negative reviews. 

4 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Wow. Re-read this post and I must give off a "non-alcohol sneaker" vibe because I have never once had my Dr Pepper cartons opened or inspected and have never had my wine inspected.  Once I even walked on with the alcohol for our entire party (6 or 7 adults) in one carry on suitcase and didn't get inspected.  Our party got split up and I was concerned about it, but they didn't say anything. 

 Same here! And I've carried on quite a bit for my group over the years because I'm usually the only one who remembers to bring an extra bag to carry it in.

1 hour ago, coops said:

It amazes me that Carnival charges tax at the port when getting drinks. Yet Princess and RCCL don't charge any tax on drinks. So is Carnival keeping that tax money?

No, they don't keep it. Depending on the port, local tax laws may apply since the ship is still in U.S. waters while in port or close to shore. Once in international waters, the tax rate no longer applies. I'm sure other cruise lines are charging it as well, otherwise they could be subject to fines and other penalties from the various states and/or from the U.S. They may be combining it in the price of their drinks or you may simply have not noticed it before.

Similar reasons why the casinos and duty-free shops onboard aren't open while in port - they would be subject to local laws otherwise.

I would suggest looking up the marathon route and seeing if your intended route to the port will be impacted, and of course give yourself plenty of extra time and patience. The beginning of the route will be cleared earlier than the end of the route, so keep that in mind too.

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

Truly yes and the Carnival brand (thirsty frog I think) are okay .... they taste a little "floral" to me to try to describe it. Sort of like drinking potpourri.

 

Exactly why I don't drink most seltzers LOL. Off topic a little, but try Funky Buddha or the Kona Brewing Co brands if you can find them. I've found they both have way less of a weird aftertaste.

I want to say they had Truly on my last few cruises? Someone may need to verify though. They do have their own brand as well that I spotted on a few of the bars.

Keep in mind that you may be responsible for taxes for drinks purchased/utilized while in port. A lot of people don't realize this and then get upset when they have a small charge added.

18 minutes ago, maxandmolly said:

I see. That sounds…odd. 

 It can be! But I recommend going and sitting just to watch if you can. That can be quite entertaining all on it's own!

18 hours ago, *love2travel* said:

Just a couple questions. What card do you use at the casino? Is it the Ocean Players Card or the Sign and Sail? Also looking for bourbon. Do all the bars have the same brands available? Having a hard time finding a bourbon list.

You use your S&S card as your casino card - you can track your points, which reset after each cruise, on the HUB app.

I haven't really ever seen a whiskey list anywhere for Carnival, but do remember seeing Jack Daniels, Buffalo Trace, and Woodford Reserve in the bourbon category. There may have been a couple other bourbons, but most of their whiskeys I saw on my last few cruises were scotch, which I am not a fan of. I just stuck with the BT when I wanted it neat since it's hard to find at home and is a somewhat decent bourbon.

I've only been to these ports once each, and it was with RCCL. In Belize we did a rum distillery tour and in Roatan we did an eco-hike (which I don't recommend if you have a fear of heights, narrow paths, or have trouble hiking steep inclines - the island is much more mountainous than you might think). The hike included a local lunch and time at a private beach.

I'd look at what others have mentioned in the port specific boards too though and read reviews on excursions on Carnival's website to see what others have liked.

I just did a B2B on the Paradise and think I saw waitstaff in the casino maybe 2 or 3 times in 9 days. Granted, I don't spend hours and hours at a time in there, but still, it would have been annoying if I had the casino drink package and had to hunt them down to use it.

7 minutes ago, maxandmolly said:

What is a silent disco??

Everyone gets a pair of headphones and you tune it to whatever music is playing - usually you get to switch between 2 or more channels, so the people right next to you could be listening to and dancing to different music. 

On 1/24/2023 at 6:46 PM, ibarrio said:

Youtube bloggers are recently reporting they are still getting the free bottle on the 2nd night.  Just to be clear this is on 7 day or longer cruises 

The free bottle was offered to me recently on a 4 night cruise on the elegant night and on embarkation day. My suggestion would be to check Carnival's website and/or call to confirm for your specific cruise.

45 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

They should have Lipton tea bags, same as what is on Lido, included. Is tea time on Paradise not in the piano bar? The last time I was on a Fantasy class ship, which granted was long before COVID, tea was served in the piano bar and not the dining room.

We were not given an option for the Lipton bags, which I only use at home to make iced tea anyway, and the cost was minimal so I didn't mind that. They had our tea times in a corner of the MDR. I really do hope that the running out of food and the rushed feeling we experienced are not typical across the fleet.

Most likely too early - I have a cruise booked for the first week in December 2023, and the spa appointments and most of the ports shore excursions aren't available to book yet. Just check back regularly, especially at 6 months or less out 🙂

As far as being disappointed - I think it's more what you make of it. If you're going to expect a high level of service and mind blowing food experiences, you probably will be highly disappointed. If you look at it as an inexpensive vacation and can roll with whatever happens, you'll likely enjoy yourself.

Yes, the food quality has gone way down compared to "the old days", but you definitely won't starve and you'll find that it's also a much more relaxed atmosphere. The specialty dining, and dining outside the buffet and main dining rooms are going to be your better bets for quality and taste.

The longer the cruise, the less likely you'll run into rowdy party crowds, but like others have said, with yours being over a holiday you'll likely see a lot more kids than you would at other times (awesome for the kids though as they'll have more company in the kids' clubs). I've found that the younger adults (20s-early 30s) are more annoying than the packs of kids running around, but that's been more of an issue on 4 days or less cruises in my experience.

There are lots of activities scheduled throughout the day - mostly I've seen trivia, live music, and scheduled but not organized meet ups for different demographics. The larger ships will have more to do (mini golf, movies, more games, etc) than the smaller ships will.

And yes, you'll find quiet areas of the ship (mainly the adult only areas), but not necessarily less crowded.

24 minutes ago, MujerIsla said:

Ha! I thought it was fun because of the novelty of it. Who in the world even sits down to have a quiet tea and desserts?? My kids will think it's rad. 

Tea will cost - I think it was $2.95 (including the auto-gratuity) because it was a premium tea served on the Paradise. Neat experience, but I did feel a little rushed with it - we were one of the first seated, got 1 of each tea sandwich and 1 cookie, but the lady serving the cakes and fruit skipped us even though we waved her down twice. And then when we asked for seconds on a couple of things and asked again about the cakes, they said they ran out - I guess a small crowd of 30ish people was too much for them. We were able to get additional hot water to make more cups of tea with out 1 tea bag, so we sat there and enjoyed it as long as we could. Some of the people coming in later only got tea and maybe 1 cookie or sandwich. It was scheduled from 3-4pm, and by 3:30, they were rushing people out to get ready for dinner service, which was nuts to me. Hopefully that's not the case on your ship though!

I'm going to throw out an educated guess that their MAIN entree/appetizer/dessert options will be whatever the theme is, however, they will likely still have at least some other options available for those who don't want whatever the theme is that night. It would be asinine to not do it this way. 

I would be up for theme nights as I'm not a terribly picky eater and can always find something appealing to me. Worst case, you always have the buffet and room service, and whatever other dining options are onboard that ship.

I would definitely go after a copy of your onboard charges and compare, and if you can specifically ask for an itemized list, that will be even better. I know on past cruises where I've prepaid for spa services, it looks like I was charged again, but the amount had been adjusted off as a credit on the same receipt. You won't necessarily see the adjustment unless you can see the itemized listing or have a copy of the receipt you would have signed after your treatments.

Either way, I hope it gets explained and adjusted accordingly for you!

No, it is not required to prepay the gratuities. I always choose your time dining because I'm not always hungry at the same time every day and have only prepaid the gratuities about half the time, and even then it's because I want to pay as much as I can beforehand for budgeting reasons.

I surprised my sister with a cruise one year for her birthday, which is in January. We both love to travel, so for Christmas, I gifted her things like a new luggage piece in her favorite color, fun travel accessories, and items of clothing/accessories relevant to the ports. I also got a brochure from that cruise line, flagged the pages for the cruise I had booked, and wrapped that, which I had her open last. This gave her a few weeks to choose which excursions she wanted to do at each port and time to pack things she likes to have with her on a cruise.

On 1/22/2023 at 7:49 PM, EngIceDave said:

Offers aren't any time any cruise, they're specific to fill in slow times

 

Especially Australia, they REALLY want me to go down there and play

I'm not sure about the offers only being specific to 'slow' times - some of the recent free room offers I've had, I was able to book cruises during holidays and other sold out/popular cruises. They have been restricted to certain cabin classes, and in some cases, I was sent upgrade offers after booking.

And yes - I've got so many offers for Australia (including several free room offers) it's insane. If only the flights over weren't so pricey...

I am just off the Paradise and there were multiple singles mixers - some were labeled 40+ and some just said "singles". They seemed to be scheduled at the same time the football games were on all of the TV's, and in the same areas of the ship, so just poking your head in, it was hard to tell who was there for the football game and who was there for the mixers.