Eli_6

Tenders this morning were a mess. I typed out all the details and then decided to delete because frankly i don't want to have someone call me names again because I talk about my experience. Suffice it to say, a carnival worker laid his hands on my 8 year old child and both of us are nothing short of traumatized. I don't know if I will be cruising carnival again after this experience. I may just eat the $ paid on future bookings. No amount of savings is worth this.

The tender issues has not been a huge issue for us thus far because we have a suite. I think it is much more of an issue for people who are not diamonds, plat or staying in a suite. I think they need more tenders. At the first port, Edinburgh, they had extra tenders and it went much faster. Extra, larger tenders would fix this problem. Every time they have to swap out tenders, it kills time and the ones they had in Edinburgh were bigger so it went better. My only slight complaint re the tenders and priority is that they make us go down to deck 1 at the front of the ship to get our tender zones like an hour or so before they actually start running them. And everyone in the party has to be there. You can't bring their lanyards and have 1 person go. Getting kids out of bed and dressed at 6:30 am just to get a ticket (and then kill an hour or more until you actually board) seems a little unnecessary. And I imagined the mobility impaired at the aft of the ship don't like this either. I haveseen a lot of people with canes and walkers. In general, the age of the cruisers is older on this sailing. I wish they would just put the tender tickets in the mailboxes for platinum, diamonds, and suites. This is a minor thing, though. As for the tenders for embarking the ship, they had extra tenders at the first port so it went better. The second tender port (I think Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides but they are running together on me) was about a 1 hours wait if you arrived in the last hour or so. Yesterday, we only waited maybe 20 to 30 minutes....BUT we also were earlier in the day so it might have gotten worse as the day went on.

It was fast only because you arrived late in the day due to traffic. For those of us with a 10, 10:30, 11 am, etc. boarding time, we were put in a warehouse and had to wait without a place to sit for 2+ hours...after walking over a mile with luggage in tow to the dock. That's a lot for young children and the elderly. Thank God I didn't have my elderly Mother (who was supposed to come on this cruise) with us! Not having a contingency plan for where to put people in the event of a late debark/embark was Carnival's fault. At the least, when it became clear that they were not going to be able to disembark at their normal 6 am, they could have sent out a text or email. We didn't leave our hotel until our taxi told us they couldn't reach us due to traffic. A text or email even as late as 8:30 would have prevented us from even heading up there...and prevented a lot of other people doing the same. Carnival was capable of doing this for pushing the final boarding time back to 9 or 10 pm. Why couldn't they have done this to avoid several hundred people being stored in a hot warehouse with many of us not even having a place to sit? Regardless, for anyone reading this who is boarding on Sunday: Just be prepared. I hope it will be better. I hope the traffic will not be so bad. Unfortunately, I don't know if it will be or not because the UK has already issued an advisory and the rail system will be shut down due to strikes.

Scotland is amazing!!!! Still having fun. They fixed our hot water but now the shower doesn't work at all. I am just showering in my kids' room. The sites are amazing and have made the trip! Food is good. Wait staff excellent! Our room steward is somewhat lacking. I dont thInk our sheets were chsnged from the last guest in our suite because the sheets had stains and smelled like smoke. I don't smoke...I asked steward 3 times to change them and he did not so finally talked to GS and then they sent someone else to change them. I think the issue is he is waaayyyy overworked. Per another guest, ship is at 85 percent capacity and they only have half the staff. I think some of the staff are stressed out and overworked. I think that is probably why that one guy yelled at me. But overall most of them are still doing a great job.

To update: Tenders are slow to board. Hasn't been an issue as much for us because we have a suite, but others have said it took several hours to get off the boat. Getting back on, this was the line.

The shuttles and buses could not get to the port because of the traffic that morning. That's why embarkation was delayed because they could not debark anyone at the normal 6ish am time because they had no where to put them because the buses and shuttles and taxis could not get to the port. The people who debarked and who got to the train station did so by walking. We talked to some who had carnival transportation booked and ended up just deciding to walk to the rrain station and take the train so as to not miss their flight. There were still some departing passengers outside the terminal when we walked up waiting on their ccl bus to wherever they were going that were supposed to depart at 6:30 am at about noon. They were not happy. I believe it got a little better later on in the day (which is I suspect what happened woth the lady above who said it took "just" 3.5 hours to get from the airport to Dover...normally a 90 minute jouney) but that morning was REALLY bad.

Absolutely. Despite what others said, I was not exaggerating the problems in Dover on our embarkation day. Carnival would not have delayed the ship leaving from 4 pm to 10 pm had there not been a legitimate problem. I don't know if it will get better next cruise or not, but I would recommend anyone boarding in the next couple of weeks get to Dover the night before and build in plenty of extra time.

They don't have uber in Dover. We booked a taxi months ago but it could not get to us.

Another suggestion for future cruisers in tender ports: If you do not have priority debark, you need to take a carnival excursion or schedule any excursions late in the day at tender ports. They have very limited tenders and a lot of platinum and diamonds. This is the priority lounge 20 minutes before debark starts and there are people lined up in the hallway still. They are even doing zones for priority. I have seen people with zone numbers as high as 30 for priority guests. My guess is not priority and non ccl excursions will be hours getting off the boat.

Do you see the potrait of the man on the toilet in the elevator on The Splendor? 😆

Update on day 3: I am having a great time! I think my initial crankiness and annoyance over more minor things was over the stress of trying to get to the port and embarking. Dinner last night was good and the female comedian was AMAZING. Best PG show I have ever seen. I still don't have hot water anywhere in the vista suite and it has been a comedy of affairs trying to get it fixed. But since we have hot water in the adjoining room, it isn't a big deal for us. I will say this: Anyone who claims getting to the port and the initial boarding process was easy peasy is either lying about being on the cruise or did BTB or boarded MUCH later in the day than we did. As for the condition of the boat: I did not make a big deal out of it in my original post. All I said was the others who had commented on it were not wrong. It is not in horrible condition. However, it is showing its 20 year age in *SOME* places. Other places still look great. I just got off the Splendor and it is in better shape than the Pride. Pride is scheduled to go in dry dock next spring so this isn't shocking. Is it ruining my cruise? Absolutely not. I will add that some people noticing the age of the ship may also have to do with what they are used to. If you have been sailing on Mardi Gras, Vista, Panorama, or even Breeze, etc. then it looks older and more worn than those ships. Not to mention the decor style is different from those ships. In fact, I have been getting a kick out of how "offended" my younger child is at the nudity. (This must be something from school because I don't have any issue with nudity. Further, he spends half his life naked at home so not sure why other people's nudity is offensive to him...but it is pretty funny. 😁 ) If the people who are going on the Pride in the future take anything from this post, take this: Stay in Dover the night before, plan on walking a mile or more to the port and plan on a wait to board.

What am I talking about: https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-07-22/critical-incident-declared-at-port-of-dover-amid-summer-getaway

I have no idea. My best guess is maybe he was very stressed with the problems with debark/embarkation. I think that probably carried over and affected my attitude yesterday...and may be true for some of the crew as well. I think a lot of people were very frazzled after all of the problems getting to and on the ship at Dover. Everyone has been very nice today, though.

I have no idea. My best guess is maybe he was very stressed with the problems with debark/embarkation. I think that probably carried over and affected my attitude yesterday...and may be true for some of the crew as well. I think a lot of people were very frazzled after all of the problems getting to and on the ship at Dover. Everyone has been very nice today, though.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check that out!

Not sure what to say. The situation in Dover made national and international news. It delayed the ship leaving from 4/5 until 10 pm because so many people were delayed and could not board. There were room keys still on some rooms on my hall this morning so my guess is some people didn't make it at all. So, this wasn't just in my mind. If you boarded much later in the day, maybe it didn't affect you. Or maybe you are on btb. But for those of us with 10-11 check in times, it was absolutely a mess. According to port workers and other UK residents we spoke with, the same thing happened last year with the kids getting out of school in the UK and everyone trying to catch the ferry to France. And the problems with large trucks backing up has been a repeat problem in Dover. A google search shows this. So, Carnival should have been aware and set boarding times later or made arrangements rather than having all of us with early board times stuck in an un air-conditioned warehouse sitting on asphalt. Heck, even an alert that debarking was running behind (like they eventually did do for the later debark time) would have prevented many of us from hiking to the port with bags in tow only to learn they couldn't debark the ship because the busses could not get there to pick up departing passengers. We were one of the first on the ship (even before platinum) as suite guests. The first people on board got on board about 12:30-12:45. The first people were waiting at 9:50 for a 10 am board time. Idk, maybe I am spoiled cruising out of Galveston, but I have never experienced a nearly 4 hours wait before to board with priority boarding. Nor have I never been stored in a warehouse before. And, honestly, I would not have even cared had there been chairs to sit in... or been allowed in the actual terminal rather than put in a warehouse. We were delayed for all three of our flights to and around the UK at least 2 houes each time. Heck, we were flying out of Edinburgh the day after The Open and went through Heathrow twice in the past 1.5 weeks. The delays there are making the news. This was worse. At least at the airports there were seats to sit in for our delays.

Things are better today. Breakfast food was good. I do not have hot water in my Vista suite. It isn't even luke warm. It was feezing. Luckily, I could go next door to the other room to shower...only it was luke warm. Then, halfway through my shower, it went cold. I think this may be the problem with the pools. I do not think the water heaters are working properly. This is not just an issue of us being unrealistic Americans. I am not even interested in getting in the pool. It is my kids...and TRUST ME my children are far more immune to cold than any adult. They went down the water slides on The Splendor in Alaska when it was in the 40s, windy, and raining. The outside pool is cold. NO ONE has been in it when I have been out there. No one. Only in the hot tub. The cruises before were to Iceland and the Norwegian Fjords so the hot temps in southern England don't really matter because that isn't where the boat has been for the majority of the last 3 weeks. But everyone on board (passengers) are very friendly. And most of the staff is very nice. So, all-in-all, things seem better today. I am very much enjoying our room and balcony.

Day 1 of our UK cruise on the Pride. We have been having an amazing trip in Europe leading up to this. We have been here for a week and just boarded. So far, the cruise part of our trip has been a pretty big let down. I know Carnival isn't responsible for the problems in Dover, but there us plenty of other things they are responsible for. As we were walking the mile to the port, we were passing departing passengers. Almost without exception, they were talking about how awful their experience was. Some of them saying it took 5 hours to get off the boat at one port. One lady said she sat on a bus on a CCL excursion for 6 hours. When we finally got there, we were directed to some sort of barn/garage like building that was not a terminal. They kept us in that hot holding tank (seemed a bit like a garage) with no chairs for about two hours at the port past when boarding was supposed to have boarded. Once boarding started, hours late, it was a mad house. There was basically no priority and just a free for all. They never even looked at or asked for our negative tests, etc. One platinum guy almost got in a fight with a suite guest trying to board before him. Once on board, things weren't much better. The doors between our connecting rooms were locked and they could not find the key. So, spending $$$ for a vista suite adjoining to an aft balcony to get the adjoining rooms was pointless. Can't get sangria because they have no fruit. Can't get fruit because they have no fruit. Several other things we always look forward to on Carnival they don't have (like red frog happy hour) because "this is Europe not America." For the first time EVER I have encountered not only one but several rude staff. I was screamed at by one of the spa personnel. The lines at guest services are soooo long so if you have anything to take care if, plan on half your day. The suites/plat/dia line was longer than the regular one. My kids can't swim because the swimming pools are freezing and the one and only spa open to kids had about 40 adults in it...meanwhile the one at the gym was empty but it is 18 and up. My Guy's Burger was cold. My dinner thus far has been cold. And the previous posters discussing the ships condition were not wrong. Our cruise in May on the Splendor was fantastic. So far, this has not been. And it stinks even more when you have flown halfway around the world for this and looked forward to it for 3 years.

I don't think they are on the main site for booking. And I agree...I would not want to accidentally book a nudist cruise.

My TA said that tipping is included in the fare on Carnival Australian cruises and not expected. I mean, I don't think anyone is going to turn down cash if you want to offer it, but it is apparently not expected.

No. It needs to be from a certified lab. I would get a print out from the original lab testing company that has your positive results within the last 90 days.

I am with @KmomChicago on the testing. We are flying to the UK tomorrow and I am sweating bullets about one of my kids turning up positive right before we get on the cruise ship. Not to mention the fact testing in a foreign country is a pain in the behind. So many people are coming down positive with this new BA5 variant and over the next few days we will be in two of the busiest airports in the world between Heathrow and IAH. Thank goodness that at least my husband and I don't have to test since we have had covid within 90 days.

I got an offer to upgrade about 2-3 weeks ago for one of our rooms (an aft balcony) for our July 22 sailing, but our aft balcony is adjoins our other room so I didn't even check to see how much it was.

Depending on when you are leaving the UK, you could go to Boots. If you get to the US more than 3 days before your cruise, I would go to a CVS or Walgreens. I do not know how they handle international travelers, but since Boots and Walgreens are owned by the same people, I would think they would have a means of dealing with this. Or you could have an emed test shipped to your hotel.