JimmyTheSaint

I'm a UK Carnival shareholder. Carnival Corp is listed on the FTSE so any UK stockbroker can purchase the shares for you. The shareholder OBC applies to all the Carnival Corp brands including P&O, Cunard, Princess etc. The amount of $ shareholder benefit varies depending on the cruise line and the length of cruise. I'm not a financial adviser so I'll not offer any opinion on whether or not you should purchase the shares as an investment.

Even if you find the cruise you describe, which I very much doubt you will find, you've still got the issue of a long haul flight back to the UK. I think your best solution is a one of the repositioning cruises at the start or end of the Caribbean season when you would only have one flight to contend with.

As someone who's sailed three Transatlantic crossings with Carnival and we have the Mardi Gras Transatlantic booked for Oct 2025 I would recommend you book as early as possible. These sailings tend to sail at or very close to capacity so the price only goes one way from now, upwards.

Personally I found Felipe Couto to be, by far, the worst CD I've ever sailed with so anyone is going to be a major upgrade compared to him.

We did one MSC cruise in the Mediterranean a few years ago and it was one and done for us. The ship was the nicest ship we've sailed on, great cabin, really nice fixtures and fittings throughout the ship. Everything else about the cruise and the ship was very disappointing. The food, service and entertainment were very poor, nowhere near the standards you get with RCI, NCL or Carnival. Multiple announcements throughout the day in multiple languages so they lasted about 20 minutes per announcement. There were passengers embarking and disembarking daily and using some of the communal areas for muster station reporting or assembly before disembarking. It all seemed a bit chaotic and lacking organisation. No thanks.

Thanks for the excellent report and photos. We're heading to Singapore pre cruise in October and found your report very informative. Thanks.

We've been to Valletta a few times as a cruise port and agree with everything Purple Traveller said. Just walk out of the port and head toward the lift up to the Barrakka Gardens and enjoy your day. You must visit the Co Cathedral, one of the most ornate church buildings in Europe. Every time we've been in Valletta on the way back onboard we passed through a duty free shop after the security checks and were able to buy alcohol etc and bring it to our room. Hopefully that still applies. It's a really good harbour to watch sailing into / out of as it's quite narrow passing the city and the forts at the entrance.

Not all Carnival customers are eligible for the credit card, you have to live in the USA to get the Carnival Mastercard. I'm Platinum, live in the UK, I'm a Carnival shareholder and I'm a Mastercard customer but I can't get the credit card. I have tried.

We are Platinum as were about 80% of the people onboard during our past two cruises, Transatlantic crossings. No company can sustain freebies and giveaways when so many customers qualify. Okay so Carnival aren't going to go bust giving out kazoos and fanny packs but they aren't going to change the loyalty program to add more costs on to their accounts. We've achieved Platinum status because Carnival offers a cruising experience that appeals to us. Getting a free bottle of water or fanny pack doesn't make us choose Carnival over RCI, MSC, etc.

A cruise we have booked and paid the deposit on for 2025 has recently been reduced in price, by $40 per person. I think I might have read sometime ago about Carnival having a policy of refunding the price difference. Does anyone have any experience of this or am I just making up something I wished would happen?

We stayed in the Premier Inn London Bank (Tower) last October and it's in a great location. 5 minutes walk to the Tower of London, less than 5 minutes walk to the nearest Underground station by the Monument to the Great Fire of London. A one minute walk from the hotel will have you on the Thames river walk directly facing HMS Belfast, look left for Tower Bridge, look right for London bridge. The underground system is really easy to use. I wouldn't recommend the bus or Hop On Hop Off bus tours as you'll be stuck in traffic a lot and wasting time waiting on buses. London has a lot of sights that are walkable, e.g. from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament is easily walkable in less than 20 minutes but you could extend it by walking down the Mall to Admiralty Arch, Horse Guards Parade, Downing Street before getting to the Palace of Westminster or Westminster Abbey.

This cruise sold out a while ago. I'm booked on it and recently had an upgrade offer from Carnival as people who had booked and paid their deposit have now decided to not go ahead with the cruise. As the final payment date gets closer more people will drop out and more rooms will become available.

You don't need to drink alcohol to enjoy a cruise. I'm Platinum level on the Carnival loyalty programme and I don't drink alcohol. If you tell us what you do like and why you're considering a Carnival cruise it will give us a better indication of whether you'd like it or not.

Our favourite is also the Spirit class, our best cruises have been on Legend and Pride. The only class of ship we've sailed on and didn't like was the Conquest class.

No brainer, Vista. It's much more modern, has more entertainment and dining options. Freedom is the worst Carnival ship we've sailed on, terrible illogical layout, never again.

I've done three Carnival Transatlantic cruises and it's far from a three day booze cruise to the Bahamas. As others have said it's an older crowd, far fewer kids than you'd normally get on a Carnival cruise. It's much more relaxed but it's still a Fun ship. Following our experiences on the Freedom Transatlantic I would be very reluctant to book any cruise following a drydock. Our experience onboard was similar to the one mentioned above by Vagabond Knight. I've pasted a link to the review I wrote after the cruise. https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=708817 We've sailed on Mardi Gras and loved it. Dining and entertainment are on a different level from anything we've experienced on any previous Carnival cruise.

We did a side to side two years ago and had a great time. Cruise 1 was a Transatlantic that finished in Tampa, we then jumped in an Uber to get to Port Canaveral to jump on the next cruise the same day. We had breakfast before disembarking the Transatlantic cruise and had lunch on the ship docked in Port Canaveral waiting to take us on a Caribbean adventure. I would have no hesitation in doing a side to side that both ships are in the same port.

We've done three Transatlantic cruises with Carnival and have another one booked for next year, we love them. Definitely an older crowd than usual, very few kids on these cruises. Plenty of activities throughout the cruise including lectures and classes. A lot more variation in night time entertainment, it's far from sedate, it's still onboard a fun ship but it's definitely not a three day Caribbean booze cruise vibe.

Based on how you cruise I would lean towards Magic. We enjoy going to the theatre for the shows and having sailed on the Vista and her sister ships they have the worst designed theatre we've ever sat in. It's not a traditional layout, it's small, bad sight lines throughout, no terraced seating, terrible.

We did the Freedom Transatlantic in October last year and the embarkation process in Barcelona was an utterly shambolic mess that lead to some people standing in the car park for up to 4 hours exposed to the sun. The problems were down to two issues, first being a lack of organisation on behalf of Carnival and the port authorities. The second and bigger issue that just exacerbated the first issue is that most of the passengers onboard completely disregarded their pre-booked slot for embarkation and turned up at the port hours in advance of when they were due completely overwhelming the ground staff and just adding to the chaos.

I agree with SoonerDog's first post above, Tower Hil is a really good suggestion. We stayed there in October last year. Very convenient for the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, river cruises, walk along the river, very close to several Tube stations, bars, restaurants, etc. We stayed in a Premier Inn, British hotel chain, simple, clean and can only be booked directly with them via their website. They have many hotels in all areas of London and are good value for money. If you're a budget conscious traveller Premier Inn also have a brand called Hub by Premier Inn. Basic but very clean and comfortable rooms in central locations. We stayed in one in Westminster last year, 1 minute walk to the Tube, 5 minutes walk to Buckingham Palace, 5 minutes walk to Westminster Abbey and Parliament.

I have a very firm rule of no discussion with strangers about politics and religion. When I'm on vacation I'm there to switch off, get away from stuff like that, try and get on with the strangers I'm sharing a cruise ship with and hopefully make some new friends. Politics and religion tend to get in the way of that.

It shouldn't be a problem as both ships are in the same port, quick taxi ride between them shouldn't be a problem. In 2022 we did a Transatlantic cruise that finished in Tampa, got off the ship hopped in an Uber across to Port Canaveral to board another ship for a Caribbean cruise on the same day. Breakfast in Tampa on one ship, lunch in Port Canaveral on the next one.

Eagles fan so was cheering for Doug Pederson and the Jaguars + the wife only knows of one player in the NFL, Trevor Lawrence.

We've just returned home from a weekend in London to take in the Buffalo Bills v Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game. We stayed in the Premier Inn London Bank which is 5 minutes walk to the Tower of London. It's less than 5 minutes walk to the Monument to the Great Fire of London and the Monument Underground station. A few minutes walk to the Sky Garden, one minute to the river Thames more or less facing HMS Belfast and about half way in between Tower Bridge and London bridge. We stayed in a standard room that had A/C, hairdryer in the room, tea & coffee and a work desk with chair. There are premium rooms that have a fridge in the room. The hotel has a restaurant and bar in the basement. The food was fine, nothing special but not bad.