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Great pics. Thanks for sharing!

Best thing we love about all Vista class ships is definitely the Havana area!

Other things I enjoyed include

The deck areas at the very front area of the ship, I think it’s decks 6 and 7. There always seemed to be a sign that they were closed but most often we could still go through the door. Great views and don’t think a lot of people know about it as we usually were the only ones there.

2nd floor of the Lido deck pool area, the cushy chairs in the front row are a great way to enjoy the pool action if you can snag one.

Specialty restaurants, Jiji Asian, was our favorite but I thought they were all good. Even in their post-COVID condition

Ocean Plaza, the band that played there most nights was really good

Pig and Anchor Bloody Mary

Worst thing about all the Vista class is definitely the theatre. I am not neurotic about having to have the best seat but some of the seats in the balcony are super obstructed. And the chairs in the bottom level are just bad idea along with whatever device they claim to be a “cup holder”.

We paid $7K for 3 in an Excel aft suite on the Celebration March 2023. A good chunk of it is a cruise credit from a Panorama grand suite booking that was COVID cancelled in 2020.

On 4/14/2022 at 8:32 PM, Ralphinsc said:

 

You are welcome. I wanted to make sure that I caught the music and the noise in the review, even if it didn't make for the best video. It worked fine for us, but it definitely is not everyone's cup of tea. We likewise decided against the Ocean cabanas because they are so far away from everything else and we really did not like the water quality in Amber Cove as compared to most other Caribbean ports. 

Thanks for the video! Really helps understand the noise level. Was the music that loud with someone shouting/hosting the whole day? We currently have a pool cabana booked but now debating whether my group can handle that level of liveliness!

I am on a March 2023 Celebration sailing. A couple of weeks ago the 50th anniversary sale for cabanas for loft 19 showed up on my main page indicating sold out. Months ago I had linked a page that someone posted on this board for loft 19 cabanas. It had said sold out until a couple of weeks ago. All cabanas were available and I was able to book one for $1750. So I think what is showing on the current main page as sold out is probably an IT glitch. Here is the link that I used to actually book one. I have to be logged in for it to work. I am booked in an Excel suite.

https://www.carnival.com/cabana/loft-19-cabana-HB2

We just had our 1st Havana experience in June. I had the same debate about the Grand suite and was glad we chose Havana instead. Did not miss the traditional balcony. There was very little foot traffic and what there was was other Havana area guests so it felt very communal. Loved the swing on the porch area. So comfortable and I sat out there a lot. Don’t think we would have used the Havana area near as much if we were on a different deck. Loved just walking out our gate and being in the pool/hot tub or just taking in the morning view. The Havana area on the Vista class ships is for sure a home run in my book!

On 6/19/2022 at 10:02 AM, jen3188 said:

Do you remember the pricing of the digital photo packages? We are going on the Panorama in August and would love to know what some of the options were. Also, does anyone know if pre-purchasing a photo package saves you money? It has been years since we bough pictures on board, but we are cruising with the whole family this time, so I'm sure we will be purchasing pictures this time.

I want to say the cost per photo was 20% off the normal price and was about $195 for 12. I think there was also a cheaper package of 7… or maybe it was 5 that was 10 or 15% off. To me it was cheaper then pre-buying since I didn’t want any physical prints or albums, just digital. I think the offer showed up in the app starting the 2nd day of the cruise. 

We are recently off the Panorama. All the pre-cruise photo packages seemed to offer physical items. I only wanted digital. Once on the cruise a couple of digital photo packages showed up on my app for x photos for x price. So I bought one of those. We love to have a lot of pictures taken and it’s fun to review them each day. With the package I was able to download directly to my phone. Never had to go to the pixels store.

I also saw on another place that they have eliminated the breakfast delivery cards for the moment? Total 1st world problem if that is true but that is one of my favorite things on a cruise… love filling out the card the night before and waking up to my fresh coffee and pastry delivery.

I also was on the phone for 2 hours with Carnival yesterday. An hour was waiting on hold and another hour with the agent helping me. I called at prime time and was mentally prepared for it to take awhile. Just happened to be a time when I was home with nothing else going on so I just put my phone on speaker while working on other stuff. I was taking one reservation and moving the sailing date and splitting into two reservations for adjoining rooms on hold. Took them awhile but they got all money transferred with no penalty. Which was nice since the booking was after COVID started and should have required a penalty. Lady was super great and very apologetic about the long time it took. Told her NO worries. I feel for any call center worker right now!!

I ordered a 3 pack last week and the fedex tracking info originally showed they were to arrive 12/24. Then on that day the tracking info changed to “status pending”. I called Monday and the very nice customer service associate said she would escalate. They then delivered the next day. And instead of 1 3 pack I got 3 3 packs so now have 9 tests total. Expiration isn’t until Nov 2022 so they should cover all my planned cruises next year.

We are on an Allure cruise next March that stops in Cozumel. We booked the Chichen Itza by air tour offered by Royal. It’s pricey but saves the long travel time to the ruins.

I remember almost a year ago being somewhat hopeful that my end of May 2020 cruise would sail. Would never have guessed we would be in this position a year later.

Last year when our summer cruise was cancelled we ended up going to Wyoming and visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National park. Ended up being one of my favorite family vacations. This spring since again no cruise we are flying into Miami and then renting a car and driving through the keys down to Key West. I’m now looking at potential backups for our July Mardi Gras cruise that I expect to get cancelled.

Crown loft suite is also available but the balcony doesn’t look that big and not sure of the open loft concept.

Which of the following would you choose, a 2 bedroom grand suite on the Allure or a 1 bedroom aquatheatre suite on the Symphony. Cruise will be myself, husband and teenaged daughter. Love the balcony on the Aqua suite but I really don’t like the 1 small bathroom that you have to access through the bedroom. The itinerary is almost the same for both.

July 2021 on Mardi Gras. I honestly am starting to feel like anything before fall won’t happen so currently looking at a March 2022 on the Sunrise option.

0% chance of an April cruise out of CA. I’ve been optimistic during this whole ordeal but even for me my optimism has worn out. This is just my opinion but I think until a vaccine is out and enough people have taken it to give some confidence of herd immunity that things won’t be back to “normal”. I have a mid July Mardi Gras cruise booked and just this weekend was looking to book something for March 2022 as a backup. I’m super picky about cabin selection so I feel mentally better having it booked, lol. I booked my original cruise using Carnival gift cards so I’m locked into a cruise hopefully with them at some point! I’m someone who works for an essential business so I never stopped going out. Me personally I’m fine wearing a mask, distancing, whatever is needed on vacation. I thought people who said last spring that cruising in 2020 was dead were crazy! I’m starting to feel that fall 2021 cruising restart might be our reality ☹️

So dissapointed and I didn’t even have a November cruise booked. Unless they are just not going to sail till there is a vaccine I don’t understand punting it for yet another month. Just my opinion but COVID isn’t going away anytime soon. I don’t expect December or January to really be that different. I wish they could establish protocols and at least start back with a few short cruises. And yes I understand the economics of wanting to collect and hold on to as much cash as possible. My business was only shutdown for about 2 full months and took a huge loss during that time. I can only imagine what it is like to be the Carnival controller right now!

We are booked on a July 2021 sailing in an Excel aft suite. Booked it in April when our Panorama Cruise was COVID cancelled. I paid for that cruise in gift cards so we were already locked into Carnival. Totally booked it for the room. Didn’t really care where it stopped!

I just assume every port is up in the air right now. Last summer we were on a Cuba cruise that at the last minute got re-routed. This year’s cruise was COVID cancelled. Just hoping to get on a boat and stop somewhere/anywhere in 2021.

Super bummed to read that. He ended up being on vacation for our Vista cruise. Was supposed to be our CD on our cancelled May Panorama cruise. And was going to be our CD on our hopefully sailing Mardi Gras cruise. Sad we weren’t able to experience a sailing with him.

April 2021

I just got mine this week too! May cruise cancelled by them in April. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to call. Now just hoping my July 2021 Mardi Gras Cruise happens so I can use them!

3 - I am booked in an Excel suite and got the following response when I asked about how and when to book the Loft 19 cabanas, "We cannot provide a specific date, at this time, when the cabanas in Loft 19 will be available for pre-bookings. We are currently working on this feature and it should be out later this year. You are more then welcome to reach out to use again in a few months and we may have a more specific time frame". This was in early April when I was still hopeful about going on a cruise at some point, lol.