PhillyFan33579

The Bamboo Room has several really good drinks on their menu that are $14.

If this happened to you I think someone took advantage of you.

As others have stated, Carnival doesn’t any offer any promotions like Norwegian does when it comes to “free” packages like drinks or internet. Also, not sure if your post was about loyalty perks, but as the last poster mentioned, the loyalty perks on Royal Carribean are significantly better than Carnival.

It’s interesting that Carnival technically doesn’t give themselves any cushion with this DHS requirement. Final boarding is always 90 minutes prior to scheduled departure on Royal Carribean, which is consistent with your comment.

We were there last month and I thought the water temperature were okay. A little on the cool side, but not bad after being in the water for awhile. We live in Florida so we are used to warmer water temperatures. I don’t know what the exact water temperature was in various areas around the island, but I know it was a warmer than water temperatures at water parks and beaches up North in the middle of the summer.

You can also use OBC to purchase things prior to the cruise. I have applied OBC to the drink package on several cruises (purchased prior to the cruise).

I agree with your Christmas analogy 100%. Even after 35 cruises I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning on day one of a cruise.

The last time we were on Miracle in 2018 they showed movies in the Mad Hatters Lounge on several days.

In my opinion the best part of Spirit class ships is they have by far the best Serenity area. Located at the back of the ship, it has a hot tub, pool, large bar, and plenty of both covered and uncovered seating. It is also very quiet back there, unlike Sunshine which has a nice looking Serenity area but it is way too loud there, since it is located right next to the Lido pool.

Pride has a large outside TV they use for dive-in movies. Pride is a Spirit class ship like Miracle, so I wouldn’t say there isn’t any chance.

The only sports bars on Carnival ships that come close (which isn’t very close) to Playmakers are on Spirit class ships. Royal appears to be trying to appeal to sports fans with Playmakers, while Carnival is going in the opposite direction when it comes to sports bars.

Simply based on your post, I would recommend not going. People have different reactions to stressful situations, and it sounds like you definitely are having a lot of negative thoughts (completely understandable) based on your previous experience on Sunshine.

I definitely agree with your last comment. We always get an ocean view balcony on RCI’s ships. The way their larger ships are designed it is very easy to forget you are on a cruise/ship. At least spending time on the balcony reminds me I am on a cruise. There are always trade offs and as impressive as RCIs larger ships are in my opinion, you can literally move around the ship all day and never see the ocean/sea.

Fortunately RCI still allows me to book any cruise I want, so at least I am still in control of what ports I go to. 😊

I don’t disagree with your comment about the Havana area. I also don’t disagree with your point about it being the best thing Carnival has done in years. However, I think it reflects poorly on Carnival that the best thing they have done is create an area on 3 ships that is only available to a small percentage of guests on the ship. It is a lack of changes across the board and cut after cut that has led my wife and I to cruise more on RCI and less on Carnival these days. Part of the issue is we have cruised the Carribean so often that we have been to the majority of ports multiple times. So that makes the ships more important. In my opinion based on what we enjoy doing on a cruise, RCI’s ships are significantly better than Carnival’s ship. I still like Carnival’s ships, but none of them have the “wow” factor of an RCI ship or the countless activities available on RCI ships.