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Yeah, cleaning them has me worried. Kinda feel bad for the bartendars that will have yet another thing to clean at the end of their shift. But really, I see this as a loss prevention scheme. Not that booze is stolen, but we've all seen the bars get busy and a bartendar will be perhaps overly generous with a pour. This would seem to tighten up their "dispensing" so to speak.

Wife and I prefer Radiance. Shaqs big chicken for the win!

Sorry, I confused a couple things. There is no early online check in for FTTF. What I meant was a person can check in after midnight so timing will depend on your time zone as Carnival uses eastern time. So for us on the west coast, we can check in at 9pm. So if online check is scheduled for Sept 27th. A person on the west coast can check in at 9pm on the 26th.

I believe it's the day before your assigned time after 9pm.

Good for her! We had her on Splendor a few years ago and she was the best CD we've ever had.

Yup, they are there. They have you queue up with your carry on then the dog goes up and down the line.

Are you sure they were avoiding the terminal outright? From what I understand, the ride share drivers generally do not like going all the way to the terminal as it's too hard to get in and out. From what I've read, for pickups, they want passengers to go to the park just northwest of the terminal. Harry Bridges Memorial park it's named.

I can't comment on the price but I thought there was a Carnival shuttle from LAX to the terminal.

Define fairly compensated? Compensation based on their home country hourly wage? Ours? Which state? National miniumum wage or state minimum wage? Because CA's min wage is way higher than national. Do they make overtime? If wages are increased, do we do away with tips? Do you mind paying 10x for your cruises going forward with such a plan? To OP, thanks! Great review. Felt the same way after my Pano cruise back in March. Meh, I just prefer Radiance.

We did FTTF back in July on Panorama. It was the first time using it. I wanted to go that route because I felt we needed to get on the ship as quickly as possible as it was a summer time cruise and there would be tons of kids etc. We got on around 11am and went right to the muster. We had drinks in hand at aft pool deck before 11am. I felt it was worth the money.

Happy to help! Tips for Travelers is clearly not my demographic. I think he caters to more "upscale" cruise demo and while we hope to be there one day, wife and I prefer our Carnival, NCL etc. He is very well spoken though and makes high quality videos. I did enjoy his Virgin video. Doug doesn't really do reviews per se. He just does quick little daily cruise news vids. He will also do the occasional ship tour videos which I have found helpful when it's a ship I am sailing. Happy sailing!

The only cruise utuber I can stand to watch more than five minutes is Emma from Emma's Cruises. She always discloses what she pays and I have yet to hear in any of her videos that she was given the cruise for free. The only other one is Doug from Cruise News.

Elaine is spot on. On previous cruises, I have been able to get Gatorade at the coffee shop and most bars. Same for Celsius energy drinks.

With the absence of a late night dining spot like "The Local" that NCL offers, many people have hoped for Carnival to expand it's late night food offerings beyond the normal pizza. With usually hundreds of people up late, pizza was always crowded so some late night snacks are welcomed.

^ This

Two guys from same family group got in a fight at dinner service. Family screaming etc etc. Taken away by security. Not sure if they were booted at Esenada or banned. Crew was pretty hush hush about it. * I edited this post because I don't want to hijack OP's post on her cruise. Despite the brewhaha, we had a great time.

Negative. On Radiance last week. *Apologies if my post was muddled.

Was on Radiance the week before you. We prefer Radiance over Panorama. We had great food at Shaqs and pizza was good and quick to come out. The only negatives we had was the group with the wireless speaker in the aft pool area playing hardcore rap. I informed the pool attendant. He called someone who instructed them to turn it off. They did, but later when someone in their group asked what happened to the music....she said "that white b**** complained" lol. We got a chuckle out of that. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. The fight in the dining room was a new one for me. All in all, we love Radiance and will be on it again soon. Can't wait for Firenze to arrive next year. *Question...a waiter told us that Panorama was going to leave to asia when Firenze arrives. Anyone hear that?

Wife and I loved Bliss. About the only two sort-of negatives I had with the ship was the smoking section was in the aft very near to the aft hot tubs. While this alone is not an issue, the area gets crowded and many times people venture out from the designated area. There is a bar there too so if you go to get a drink there, you may be exposed to smoke. Again, not a big deal as one could go to the hot tub on the other side but when we were on it, it was out of order, (and my wife and I like the aft to stay away from main pool area crowds). The other thing to be aware of if you decide to sail Bliss is that they will hold lots of entertainment in the main atrium and while the atrium itself is big, seating is a premium so if you want to attend a show, get there early. But we loved the ship as well.

Apologies for the late reply! The late night snacks are simply in the main buffet area. I think the food came out at midnight.

Can confirm it was on Radiance this week. Was nice to have hot dogs late night!

OP, off topic but be sure you bring water shoes for the kiddo. The pool decks can be both very slippery and very hot.

I miss sexy legs, hairy chest and belly flop contests. And does Carnival not do Hasbro game show any longer? We enjoyed that. And back on the Inspiration and Imagination ships, staff and crew would have pool volleyball contests on the lido in the main pool.

Cheers package x 2 people

Yup! We are on Radiance next week and both my wife and I can't wait for Shaq's chicken. While we are generally healthy eaters and will occasionally do Popeyes but it's rare. But on a cruise, we will eat tenders, slaw and chicken sandwiches several times over the cruise.