Linda the Book Lover

We have our two vaccines and ow a booster as well. Rules are rules and we have alternative plans for places to get the testing should there be an issue of the fast turnaround.

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Actually I am not concerned now that I have read the experiences of other cruisers. I will go through our mobile test site by my house which gives results in two hours instead of my healthcare provider, who said they may or may not have the results in two days. That was strange but whatever. We still have until December and the way things change like the wind, there may be different rules by then.

16 minutes ago, kitten816 said:

Just received an email that My Dream Cruise In January is canceled for schedule maintenance, which is whatever, but I'm on the Glory our of Nola...Do you think they meant Glory or was the Dream moving to Nola in January? It's already been removed from my booking. 

So sorry to read this. At least our November cruise was substituted with a different Carnival ship and a 1-day change in leaving. 

I keep looking and hope springs eternal for the Miracle out of Long Beach. We had it on the Radiance and alas when the cancel notice came so did the loss of the FTTF to be refunded. It was a shame we could not move it over.

4 minutes ago, snowballs mom said:

I do think that the Carnival kids clubs are the best - my daughter loved them when she was young. I liked that they separated the younger from the older teens. 

My daughter and I love the age separation as well.

15 hours ago, rlindholm said:

I have sailed with carnival, RCL and MSC.  We mostly sail with carnival and the reason is probably back in the day, when we took our first cruise in our early 20's and didn't have much money it was cheapest and it was so much fun.  So I guess that has stuck with us.  I didn't notice a huge difference with RCL.  MSC... The ship was beautiful but the customer service and food were not good.  We finally found one lady who was friendly and she told us her schedule so we just went wherever she was working and tipped the heck out of her.  We had drink vouchers but she wouldn't take our vouchers and kept the snacks coming.  She said tipping wasn't common on MSC cruises and that a lot of the cruisers were rude so that may be part of the customer service problem.  I think it goes both ways.  Happy cruisers make make happy staff.  Happy staff make happy better tipping cruisers and the cycle continues.  

 

I went down a rabbit hole but I doubt I will ever cruise with MSC again.  Once we are no longer bringing teenagers along I think we will try out other lines as well and once we have grandkids I'm sure we'll go broke on a Disney cruise or two.  But I also think Carnival will always be our favorite.  

I agree with you on the family factor. The husband and I tried different cruise lines without children which in my opinion makes a difference as we only do adult things. We loved MSC but then again we went with friends w/o children and grandchildren for a strictly adult cruise. We sail in the YC which also makes a difference as you never have to go anywhere as it is a self-contained bubble, though we did go out and about. Everyone from employes to fellow travelers were nice. It was a different atmosphere as they are a privately owned European shipping company, so the employees were more low-key. When sailing with my granddaughter we stick with Carnival and NCL as she likes these ships and the kids club if she goes is great.

9 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

We're on the west coast (San Diego) and were regularly taking the three and four day Carnival cruises from Long Beach to the point we were going once a month. Decided to buy CCL stock when all the cruise stocks plummeted.

 

Carnival was supposed to have a ship in San Diego for a year "trial" but the pandemic nixed that.

 

There is an NCL ship in San Pedro but we loved the easy convenience of the Carnival three and four day cruises.

 

We have driven from Nor Cal but now we just take a short SW flight down. So agree about the convenience and the stock. 🙂

I have sailed on Carnival, RCCL, Princess, NCL, and MSC. The prize for the best relaxing no dress clothes needed goes to Carnival. The money issue answer is it depends for me because I sail in different cabins depending on the cruise line.  Sorry, but I am 70 and I am really attached to relaxing on a balcony and the cabin must have one. My DD and I sail mostly on Carnival (perfect for the short cruise out of Long Beach) and we are booked for the Miracle and the Panorama (7-day). I do not have enough loyalty points which will give me anything to write home about, but I love the casual fun atmosphere of Carnival. We also sail NCL which I am Platinum and the perk of free laundry is a perk for me. The dress code is loosening and long pants still are the norm for the dining rooms at night. Top picks for the daughter, granddaughter, and me trips Carnival and NCL.Great value and lots of fun for multigenerational travel.The pick for the husband and I when we travel alone together is NCL and MSC . We do not mind dressing a little bit for dinner and we have perks on both of these cruise lines (Diamond on MSC). We have worked hard and we are now retired.  It does cost us more but after several health issues we look at cruising together as a celebration of life, so yep, we spend more money here. 

15 hours ago, Markmom18 said:

  Hi,

  Isn’t Citrus Heights a suburb of Sacramento?  A million years ago I lived for a whole 6 months right near Mather AFB!!!   First time away from home (& my parents, friends, etc) I was really homesick … so came back to So Cal.

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

Yes, it is a suburb, you are spot on! We live close to the Roseville border. by the 80 but I know where Mather is/was. The husband is retired Navy.  We moved from So Cal (Flinn Springs - San Diego east area) years ago, to be closer to the adult offspring. Yippee! 

14 hours ago, Markmom18 said:

  I plan on sticking with the Radiance.  Good Luck ! 🙂🙂

We did rebook on the Miracle to try it out. My daughter is a special education teacher so we cruise around her school schedule and the Miracle fit both that and her birthday. I feel blessed that we were able to book the last extended aft balcony. We still plan to cruise on the Radiance one day. 

8 hours ago, Markmom18 said:

Our Nov/Dec 2021 Radiance - B2B out of Long Beach was cancelled today too … ship not ready.

 

☹️☹️

 

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

Us as well, but we are set to rebook on the Miracle. 

5 hours ago, hernando52 said:

I sent in two passport renewals (mine & husband's) the first week of May to the TX processing center. They were mailed priority mail from the post office at the same time. My package was acknowledged on 6/8 and the other package 6/9, and the checks were cashed.  I received my new passport on 6/21.  My husband just received notification yesterday (8/17) that his passport was approved and it can be expected 8/23....neither was expedited....So, two packages, mailed on the same day, yet one has taken two months longer than the other one.... We don't travel until 9/2022, so there was no rush....but 2 months difference in processing time is kind of a mystery.

Wow that is a difference. 

I sure it remains for our cruise in November.

17 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I used this helpful tool when tracking my passport renewal status:

https://passportstatus.state.gov/

 

• You enter your last name, date of birth and the last 4 digits of your SSN. You may not get a status update until 6 weeks after you apply. To me it was better than just waiting in the dark with no idea where my application was in the pipeline.

Great information. When we return in December the husband and I both will renewing our passports and Global ID.

In the beginning of back to cruising there are changes but no deal breakers for me. Since my first cruise will not be until November I will take the wait and see approach. Cruise, J.D. thanks for sharing.

2 hours ago, Craxe77 said:

I followed the advice here and booked the room. I also encouraged my friends to look into it to see if they were interested. They were and now we all are in the Havana area. It’ll be a much more enjoyable experience now. 

Glad everyone chose the Havana. We will enjoy the Havana twice on the Panorama in 2022.

We have two cruises booked but I think it was a blanket mass emailing to anyone who shared their email with NCL. 

3 hours ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

I agree I really enjoyed her. To this day the worst rocking I have ever felt was on her while we sailed to Hawaii from Fanning Island. The stretch made her a little wobbly with those swells. The stacked restaurants on her stern overlooking the wake and aft pool was beautiful. 

We still talk about our trip to Fanning Island.

36 minutes ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

 

Nice and spacious! I think the Norwegian Wind/Dream had the best pool decks. Plenty of space and didn't feel cluttered. 

We loved the Wind. We once pre-strectch and once after. We could not really tell a difference because we were so focused on the wonderful people who made our stay on the ship so enjoyable. 

17 hours ago, sfaaa said:

I have my hotel booked but am still hesitate to book air even though airfare has been going up. 

We have been able to just switch our dates with the airline each time, however Southwest gave us a credit for the flights from one city in California to another.

16 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

* not true on MSC. If you don't complete another cruise within 3 years you are booted and have to start over and without a status match.

It certainly guarantees you will most likely book with MSC again. We had to rebook our canceled cruise and hope to sail in December. For sure we will book and sail with MSC, because we are spoiled in the YC.

26 minutes ago, chocolate melting cake said:

Agree with all---older crowd (us) a lot of plat/diam (us).

A few years ago we were lucky enough to sail on the Spirit to Australia-that 18 days plus another 12 between flights and a stay in Hawaii to rest from the Australian flight meant a month in the Vet's kennel for our 16 year old dog--amounting to close to $2,000.

As far as port or starboard--today it's just luck. However, the "story" is that in the early days of European cruising the ships stayed close to the coast of Europe and Africa on a sail to the east. Therefore it was more expensive to book a Port room on the cruise to the east and watch the shore roll by. Then on the return to the west the Starboard rooms were higher priced. Those who could afford the luxury of both were considered P.O.S.H. -- port out starboard home!

I know the kennel/hotel for our fur members cost as much as an additional cruise passenger sometimes! 

39 minutes ago, skrufy said:

We have 4 pets also. The dog goes to a puppy motel quite expensive for two weeks (only do 14 day cruises ), and we are lucky to have sons who stop by and check on the 3 cats while we are gone. The boys use our house as a sort of man cave while we are gone.

Too funny! Our offspring are all at 50 or knocking on it with families and/or live too far. Now that we getting even more long in tooth, we decided to not adopt any more furry offspring. 

On 4/10/2021 at 10:06 AM, sparks1093 said:

Yes, I know that NCL has the best suite perks around (or at least they did, back when we still sailed with them) but I doubt I could snag a suite on any NCL ship for 7 days for $2800 for two. 🙂

You are so right about the pricing! I am sure you and your wife will enjoy the suite. Having sailed in suites on Carnival I was happy with the extra space, but did not mind sailing in a balcony cabin on the next one. I have missed the extra perks (ok maybe the Butler). We no longer book the Haven on NCL, because the price became more than we wanted to spend. MSC has the best suite perks and is perfect for the DH and I to enjoy for just the two of us as it is more than Carnival but less than NCL. I hope you spend a day in New Orleans. My DD and I loved our extra day there and the food and sights was spectacular!

21 hours ago, evandbob said:

I'm Diamond on Carnival and enjoy some of the perks like priority boarding (wish they would re-instate that in ports!) and free unlimited laundry.  The casino sometimes sends me 10% off fares (never free) along with casino games/drawings participation.  I am grateful for whatever I get, and if an item they leave for me in my cabin is something I don't need or already have, I'll pass it along to a red or blue card cruiser.

 

However, some other lines also offer some great perks, like NCL's free specialty restaurant dinner for 2 every cruise, and I'm nowhere near their top level.  Celebrity's casino has extended almost free ($198/for 2) week long cruises in balcony mid ship cabins on their brand new ship Apex to us after only a few cruises on their line. We even have an 11 day Southern booked for $598 balcony cabin for both of us.

 

It pays to spread your loyalty around.  Other side benefits of booking other lines might be different excursion experiences and quieter CDs with fewer and shorter announcements.

Thank you for answering the Perks question. We sail different cruise lines depending on family members or it is just the DH and I cruising alone. I admit the laundry perk is a plus for us on NCL (Platinum), but it will be a very long time before we get it on Carnival, if ever. In the emanwhile we enjoy all of the cruise lines we sail with perks or not.