JimmyTheSaint

It's extremely popular due to being an inspiration to JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. There's a cover charge and at times you need to pre-book as fans of the wizard flock to the place.

I'll state my opinion as someone who's actually sailed on Mardi Gras, the entertainment and dining on the Excel class ships is on a much higher level than anything else we've sailed in the Carnival fleet. We've sailed on Spirit, Conquest and Vista class ships. I read the post that started this thread and can only conclude that the original poster has used the word underwhelmed incorrectly.

We sailed on the Pride to Norway in June 2022. We stayed in London and got the train to Dover on the day of Embarkation. There were a lot of taxis at the Dover train station to take us to the cruise terminal, the driver told us it was a set fee, from memory it was less than £10. If your hotel doesn't operate a shuttle then they should be able to phone a taxi for you. Debarkation was very early, apparently mandated by the port authorities. I think everyone had to be out of the cabins by 6am and the debarkation process started soon after. The latest time for debarkation was before 9am. There were a lot of taxis waiting at the cruise terminal operating on a first come first served basis. We were going to the train station and again charged a set fee which was £10, slightly more expensive than the first taxi ride as it was a Sunday. We were among the last groups for debarkation as we had train tickets pre booked for 10:00.

Alcohol is very very expensive in Norway everything else in the country is just very expensive. We sailed on Pride last year to Norway and were shocked at the price of stuff in Norway. We also did a Mediterranean cruise on Pride and didn't notice any difference on the alcohol selections. Possibly because most of the passengers are American so there's no need to change the selections. Yes you can bring on alcohol you purchase ashore.

Cruising in Europe is not a beach vacation, it's more of a series of one day city breaks. Have a look at the itineraries of some cruises and you'll see that they take in some of the most historic cities in Europe. There are a few that do the odd beach day but not many. You won't find many sea days either on the itineraries. Language is not a barrier either as English is widely taught throughout Europe, you'll even find the likes of Germans speaking English in popular tourist areas. English is becoming a universal language. As for weird food someone has already made the point you are likely just to be snacking ashore. American commerce has conquered the world, you will find all of the major chains from home throughout Europe although you would probably be missing out by not trying some of the local food. Nobody is expecting you to eat frogs legs, snails, squid or anything else that looks weird. Although if you do want to try something different you can find these sometimes on the menu on the cruise ship. If you can persuade the husband to actually get on a plane to Europe I'd suggest a Mediterranean cruise rather than the British Isles. You'll have better weather, you'll visit more countries and you'll experience different cultures.

Does anyone know when bookings begin for Jubilee? We'd be very interested in doing a Transatlantic sailing if and when it's available.

This may appear odd, we've sailed all three Vista ships but it's our least favourite class of ship. The best things onboard are the crew, fun squad and specialty dining. In my opinion JiJi's is the best specialty dining of any cruise line we've sailed with. The design and layout of the Vista class is seriously flawed. They have the worst theatre at sea, very cramped comedy club, very underwhelming atrium and a huge waste of space Imax. We only cruised this class of ship for the itinerary not the ship. A lot of the flaws of Vista have been addressed with the Excel class. That's a class of ship that's an attraction regardless of the itinerary.

Thanks to everyone who posted information about the purchase of Carnival shares. I've now purchased 102 shares via Hargreaves Lansdown. I'm looking forward to OBC on future cruises, just wish I'd have known about before but better late than never.

Favourite cruise line is Carnival. I know that's not a popular opinion here but we really enjoy the food, entertainment and atmosphere on Carnival. Least favourite is MSC. The ship was the best design, fixtures and decor of any ship we've sailed on. That's the positives out of the way, everything else about the cruise was awful. Terrible food and even worse service, evening entertainment could best be described as sedate. Absolutely awful customer service, you couldn't pay me enough to go on another MSC cruise.

Bermuda last October. We had to pay an exorbitant fee for some sort of travel authorisation even if we wanted to stay on the ship. The weather was miserable so we stayed within the naval dockyard, everything was horrendously expensive. Worst port we've ever had the misfortune to visit.

First cruise 10 years ago we had a balcony which we stood out on once. We've had 13 cruises since and all have been inside cabins. For us a balcony isn't needed and we can't justify the cost.

Having been to Norway on a cruise it's not somewhere I'd consider taking someone with limited mobility. The terrain is very hilly, a lot of the sights involve walking. The scenery is amazing and dramatic but best encountered by getting in to it, not by viewing it from a cruise ship balcony.

We were in Messina on a Sunday last October and used this company Transfer from Messina to Taormina: shuttle bus (sightseeing-experience.com) Very easy to find the meeting point, a three minute walk from the ship.

Have a look at this Belfast taxi company tours, much cheaper Taxi Tours Northern Ireland | Value Cabs Ltd

Agreed, Felipe was the worst CD we've ever experienced. We had several nicknames for him, The Invisible Man (barely ever saw him), The Vampire (only comes out at night), The Phantom of the Opera (only ever seen in the theatre), The Undertaker (always dressed in a black suit).

I never paid much attention to who was the CD until we did a Transatlantic a few years ago when Mike Pack was the CD. The guy was amazingly energetic, seemed to be everywhere on the ship day and night. He was a major creator of the fantastic atmosphere on board. If he's now training CDs that's going to raise standards massively.

We did it last November. Got off the Pride Transatlantic in Tampa and jumped in to an Uber to Port Canaveral for a cruise on March Gras. No issues whatsoever, would do it again without any hesitation if the opportunity arose.

MG v Vista is a no contest in my view, Mardi Gras its an easy choice. MG has the best variety of bars, restaurants and entertainment venues in the Carnival fleet. The entertainment venues include 2 comedy clubs and 2 theatres used nightly. The Vista class ships have the worst theatre I've ever sat in. The entertainment on MG, throughout the whole ship, is on a much higher level than anything I've experienced on any previous Carnival cruise.

As Pride is due for dry dock next year what would you put on a wishlist to be changed / updated on board. A few suggestions from me: update the speakers at the Dive in Movies, the sound quality is so bad you need to read the subtitles. Remove Bonsai Sushi and replace it with JiJi's Asian kitchen. I rarely see anyone in Bonsai and JiJi's is the best restaurant Carnival has. They can also make it bigger by updating Pixels to digital screens and using at least half of the current Pixels space for a larger restaurant. Update the Taj Mahal theatre with some video screens behind the stage to enhance the Playlist shows. There's a huge difference in the production of theatre shows on the newer ships because of the modern facilities they have available. Anyone have other suggestions?

We spent 31 nights on Pride in Europe this year so can answer some of your questions. Speciality dining: anything food related is very subjective so I'll give my opinion, on Pride it's not worth the cost. We were underwhelmed with the steakhouse, not worth the cost. The only other onboard is the Sushi place, we've never been and appeared to be empty every time we walked past apart from some crew members. Missed bits: difficult to miss bits on a relatively small cruise ship, probably just Sunset Garden on deck 3 MDR: we enjoyed the main dining room, food was fine, service was good, much better experience on Pride compared to our recent Mardi Gras cruise. Coffee: the brown liquid provided for free could loosely be described as coffee. The stuff I paid extra for one morning in the Lido was equally as bad. Buying alcohol off ship: no issues whatsoever bring any type of alcohol on board at any port. Toiletries: shampoo and shower gel in the cabins, nicer stuff in the showers at the Spa. Tuxes: didn't see one at all, didn't see many in a suit either, this is Carnival after all, the most informal cruise line and thank goodness for it. The vast majority of passengers are from US. Anything else: there is a jacuzzi in the gym and sauna + steam room with free access through the Spa entrance, also good showers there. The theatre and comedy club are a very good size so no need to queue for a seat 30-40 minutes before a show. Something you can't say of newer ships.

I was impressed by the efforts people made on Elegant nights on our recent Mardi Gras cruise; unlike our cruises on Pride this year. Perhaps it was being on the newer, mega ship that encouraged people to make the effort. Very few in shorts & t-shirts, some very glamorous ladies & gents.

I recently cruised on Mardi Gras and was disappointed in Chibang. I think it's a terrible concept with very mediocre food. In my opinion JiJi's is the best restaurant Carnival has. It's a shame they didn't put JiJi's on the Mardi Gras, big mistake.

We did B2B on Pride recently, the last Med cruise followed by the Transatlantic. Although it's an older ship we had a good time. The MDR was much better than the Mardi Gras which we sailed on after the Transatlantic cruise. The Lido was also a better layout on Pride compared to Mardi Gras. The one area that let's Pride down is the entertainment. The onboard Playlist team were terrible. Eight people on stage but only one could sing, young lady called Crystal, good voice and personality. The rest of the entertainers ranged from barely acceptable to the downright worst I've ever heard on any cruise ship. We also had the worst cruise director we've ever experienced. He was only seen at night time and only in the theatre. He was always dressed in black and had as much fun factor as a funeral director. As for the Fun squad, that's an oxymoron. All they did was read quiz questions all day, every day, with all the enthusiasm of a sloth. The fly on entertainers and comedians were good. The theatre is a good size as is the Butterflies lounge used for the comedy club so no need to get there 30-40 minutes before a show. Something that you can't say for the newer Carnival ships.

Just my opinion but JiJi's is the best specialty restaurant that Carnival have. I was really disappointed when they decided not to put it in the Excel class of ships. Having eaten at Chibang last week on Mardi Gras I still believe it was a bad decision. Terrible concept, mediocre food. We've eaten in the steakhouse on previous sailings but never thought it was worth X3 the cost of JiJi's or Cucina. We had a fairly poor experience in the steakhouse on Pride earlier this year. I certainly won't be booking the steakhouse at $48 per person. The worst dinner we've ever had on any cruise ship was last week on Mardi Gras in the Pig & Anchor Smokehouse. Thank goodness it was free. Served on a metal tray like a prison meal, served cold and tasteless.

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.