kwokpot

Thanks. I've never eaten in CK. What's your opinion of it? Is it more like a specialty restaurant or more like a smaller MDR just with different choices? Despite being on Cruise Critic every day I haven't really done any research about the dinner experience there.

No worries. Since my Ovation cruise will be the first time in a JS on a ship with CK I just wanted to confirm what the rules were. I'm planning on going directly to CK once we board to see how many dinner reservations we can make there. I did make My time dining reservations for the whole cruise as backups for nights we can't get a CK reservation.

I thought for JS cabins CK is only available for dinner on space availability and breakfast and lunch isn't an option. Is that not true for JS cabins? I'm on the Ovation at the end of the month.

So all the worrying about accessing local things was unwarranted. Yes most of the Long Beach waterfront area and Shoreline Village was within the Gran Prix ticketed zone but it turns out we were able to get free general admission day passes for 2(discount code pepsi38) using a discount code. Given today was only racing trials the free general admission tickets allowed one to sit at the grandstands and watch the trial runs. It also allowed us to walk Gladstones for lunch. It was a beautiful day. We went back out at 7pm and the Grand Prix events were over for the day so the waterfront area was no longer cordoned off for ticketholders. We had a nice dinner at Yard house and a pleasant walk back to the Residence Inn. Tomorrow we will walkover to the Carnival dome which will only take 15 minutes. We did a test run this morning. We would have gone to see the inside of the Queen Mary but missed the time period for $10 entrance fee and had no interest in spending $40/pp which is the standard fee.

Almond milk is also available.

You will have no problems. As someone else said, breakfast is one meal where being careful with your choices can make a huge difference. Another is drinking your calories. I assume you didn't get a drink package? Too much daily alcohol will ruin any weight management. Don't drink any of those juice/juice beverages in the buffet. Limit fried foods. One starter at dinner. Are you a gym goer? Daily exercise is key.

Totally incorrect. You let them know exactly what your qualifications are,and they let you know what they can book for you. The great thing is payment for the flights is tied in with final payment for your cruise. If you want to change anything about the flight you reserved,you can do it as long as you didn't make final payment. If the fare goes down,they will rebook it. Change everything about the flight you reserved, no problem. We used them for a family cruise last summer to Europe and all the agents were great. Zero issues.

Bayonne is a great Port to cruise from. Easy-peasy. Odyssey is a beautiful ship. The buffet is bigger than anything Carnival has and also more selection than Carnival but not much variation from day to day. The MDR is on par and some entrees are a little better than Carnival's dinner service. The cabins are waaay nicer than anything Carnival has. The balcony rooms are much more spacious, more storage, and nicer bathrooms. You should have a great time onboard.

The Port fees and taxes seem a bit low for 2 passengers. It should be double that unless it's less than a 7 nt itinerary.

As someone else mentioned on this thread the Carnival CORP is most certainly building smaller ships, but for their other cruiselines such as Holland America's Pinnacle Class at 100,000 tons. I just don't see it for their namesake Carnival brand.

Yes I noticed that. I'll eat my words if Carnival announces that they will build a new 100,000 +/- tons ship class.

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We're doing a second cruise but not on the Panorama. On the 27th we're flying from LAX to Honolulu,staying three nights,then boarding the Anthem of the Seas for a 9 nt Hawaii to Vancouver cruise. I'm glad to hear about Fuego Restaurant. The reviews are both ends,either great or overpriced and bad,lol.

I hope you're not on this Saturday,April 20th sailing. The Long Beach Grand Prix is taking place starting tomorrow and it's going to be gridlock in this area. I'm staying at the Residence Inn on the same island as the Carnival cruise terminal and planning just to walk to the terminal. We're making backup plans for dinner by reserving a table at the restaurant in the adjacent Maya Hotel,which is actually even closer to the Carnival terminal. While we can walk across a bridge to the LB downtown waterfront area that's where the Grand Prix is located and there will be thousands of people here all day and night starting tomorrow.

You are absolutely,100% correct.

There's no brand name. If you look at the bottles,which are grey colored oval-ish shaped booties that are locked in a chrome holder, all they say is the ingredients and made for Celebrity cruises. People can't tell you information that's not provided by Celebrity. Here's a photo of what I'm talking about. The body lotion and the bar soap don't list a 'brand name' nor the actual manufacturer either.

I should have wrote some of the older, NON REVOLUTIONIZED M & S class ships may be using other toiletry brands in Retreat ( I remember a couple of years ago Retreat on the Reflection had personal sizes toiletries that weren't Bigalow). Apologies for typos; I'm writing this while at 35,000 ft. In the air heading to Long Beach for a cruise!

Was that a Hawaii cruise from the West Coast? I find that many TP cruises, especially from Vancouver, will have many Chinese passengers. I was on a tap from Vancouver that had a similar thing happen (It was a Royal Caribbean Cruise) Whatsmore is mahjong is a very,very noisy game when the tiles are being shuffled.

All card games can be considered gambling if money is involved but as you can see there's no restrictions on JUST card playing on any cruiseship. You just play for points and keep score. Same thing with mahjong.

The photo above was from one meal. This was our 3rd time at Rudi's and the last night of the cruise and I had never had the Cioppino and I really wanted to try it. Agreed it was so filling but so tasty! That was my 2nd starter since I already had the shrimp thing to start. After the Cioppino and dover Sole I barely had enough room for the bread pudding (plus I had 2 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc,lol) and I probably only had two spoonfuls before I called it a night! My husband's friend calamari was disappointing since the coating wasn't crispy at all!

Concierge, Aqua Class, and Retreat cabins have Bigalow branded toiletries. Some of the M & S class ships that have been Revolutionized may have other toiletry brands in Retreat Class. Someone Else can confirm whether that's true for M & S class Retreat cabins.

It's never an issue to ask questions but I'm not sure why you have to ask the same questions over and over when you received the correct answers the first time you asked. What brand toiletries in Concierge? https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2992411-what-brand-toiletries-in-concierge/

They don't. On all Celebrity ships,the standard toiletries are unbranded and made specifically for Celebrity. This question was already asked an answered multiple times by the same person,IIRC.

I've eaten at Rudi's multiple times on both the Mardi Gras and Celebration and definitely recommend it. The Cioppino is outstanding. The Dover Sole was very good. The bread pudding was excellent. The decor is beautiful as is the table settings. Fried calamari was the only miss. While all the times we gave eaten there was on casino comps,I would pay the cover outright.

Yes,I know but that's how it's done. Otherwise you have to carry the cash off the ship and if it's more than $10,000 you have to declare so at CBP/Border control. The ship isn't a financial institution. All cruise ships do it that way for internal control purposes.