groundloop

Yes, it takes around a half hour total. First the cruise director reminds you to purchase bingo cards, go to Cherry On Top to get your candy, go to the shops to get your last minute deals, etc. etc. Then he/she will give the debarkation talk. Most of it is the same on every cruise, but there are a few important tidbits unique to how they're doing tings (which staircase to go down, etc.).

There will be a gold card waiting for you in your cabin's mailbox on the first day.

I've mostly sailed Carnival so far (15 cruises on Carnival, one on HAL) and am thinking it's time to branch out. If you've sailed on both NCL and Carnival please tell me what you like / dislike about both.

You'll get it on the upcoming cruise in December.

I'm on freedom right now. I must say that if this was my first cruise I'd seriously consider never going on another. There most definitely are sewage smells in some hallways, I've never noticed that on another ship. The ship's wifi is useless (we're sailing close to the Bahamas right now and I'm using mobile data with my TMobile plan). After a couple days of horrible internet service I got a full refund, the Guest Relations rep admitted that there have been a ton of complaints. We're very crowded on this cruise, 3700 passengers, so there are lines everywhere. The line at Mongolian Wok was crazy. We usually prefer the buffet for breakfast but we've been going to the MDR every day, which has generally been pretty good. Now, with all of my complaints, I'll say that the dining room has been very good.

I didn't realize this. We become platinum on our Christmas cruise. Our adult daughter will be in a cabin by herself. So from how I read this she'll be able to board and debark with us?

We're on Freedom right now, just finished dinner. They most definitely DID NOT have any sort of "one entre at a time" edict. My daughter ordered a second entre that we shared and it was brought to our table just a few short moments after the others. I guess we can all let our blood pressure get back to normal now.

This must be new. It's been extremely rare that I've ever ordered two entrees but a couple of times there was something new that my wife and I wanted to try so we ordered it along with more traditional entrees we knew we'd like. There was never any issue with getting them at the same time. If indeed this is the new norm everyone needs to raise hell with the maître d, guest services, and John Heald. If enough people complain about this maybe the powers that be will come to their senses. I'm getting on Freedom tomorrow morning, if I think of it I'll ask our server about this.

I've never seen it in 5 years of cruising with Carnival. I've seen some deals on select cruises, but that's it.

I recently received an email from Carnival which reads in part: NOTE: Guests traveling on a South Pacific cruise that calls on Fiji or New Caledonia (Noumea or Lifou) must present printed proof of travel insurance at time of check-in. The selected international travel insurance must have both cruise and COVID coverage. Does anyone know if yearly travel medical insurance (which includes medical evacuation coverage) will meet the requirements?

I'm seeing a problem with that. We're not platinum yet so won't have access to our cabin until 1:30, and we won't know our table assignment in the MDR until we get our Sail and Sign cards.

What times can you go to the MDR after getting on the ship to request a change to your table assignment?

It's been about the same as this on every Carnival ship I've been on. Some were a bit better than others but they're all very lacking (especially for what "premium" wi-fi costs.

Would Carnival be so heartless as to penalize someone for the death of their travelling companion?

You probably just started another multi hundred post thread. And yes, we no longer have this option available to us so I suspect smuggling will be on the rise.

You'll find it if you look at the upper left portion of the Carnival website and click "Categories". I see that you found it, Carnival's website has been strange lately.

Just be sure to put everything back the way it was before you debark, it would be unfair to your cabin steward to make them waste time fixing that.

I do all the research myself as to what cruise I want, what cabin I want, etc. etc. and then book through a travel agent. Pricing is always exactly the same as what can be found on Carnival's website. On our last cruise, a 15 day to Hawaii, she gave us an extra $525 in OBC. On a 6 day this month she's throwing in $175 for OBC, and an 8 day next month it's $300. That, of course, is on top of any Carnival promotional OBC etc. It was a bit of trial and error finding an agent that was responsive to the rare occasion when I needed to make an adjustment to a booking etc. but I'm happy with the one I use now.

I've never seen anywhere in the fitness center to fill water bottles (not saying it doesn't exist, just that I've never seen it). I always go to one of the drink stations on lido to fill my water bottle on my way to the fitness center.

I think I'll pass.

YES. Carnival gift cards don't expire and can be used for any purchases on their website or can be added to your Sail & Sign account while onboard.

Yes, absolutely.

In case you find yourself getting bored with the steakhouse night after night you could always use your OBC to purchase gift cards at Cherry On Top to help finance a future cruise.

You can go to this page and drill down to a particular cabin. (And after a quick glance I haven't seen any balcony partitions that open) https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4188/kw/paradise cabins

Do you recall the name of it? (I've seen most of the Playlist shows multiple times and have been skipping some of them.)