groundloop

That's a darned good question and I'm intently awaiting a reply from someone who knows the answer as I have a trip to Australia planned which will of course include a cruise on Splendor.

Go to the dining room after approximately 1:30 on embarkation day and find your assigned table (it'll be printed on your room key card). If you don't like it ask the maitre d to change it. They'll accommodate you if at all possible.

NO. That's a fairly popular itinerary so Carnival doesn't have any incentive to discount it.

That photo that was posted of Chocolate Delight was nowhere near representative of what I've received so far. In my most humble opinion it's pretty darned good. As for how the priority water shuttle works I just did it today in Grand Cayman and it's an absolute breeze compared to what the mere mortals have to do. You'll get a notice in your cabin's mailbox indicating where to go for priority water shuttle service, and the time range when it's offered. We showed up about 30 minutes after the start of water shuttle service and there were four other folks waiting. After a couple of minutes a crew member escorted us out, took us down to deck 0 on an elevator and put us at the front of the line for the next water shuttle. A few folks in line didn't seem super thrilled with us, but hey, rank has its' privilege. 😁

I agree, I'd suggest getting off at least long enough to enjoy lunch and walk around a bit. Maybe wait until the mad dash to catch the water shuttle is over and head out.

It's been published (by John Heald if I remember correctly) that you can't email a ship's maître-d with requests, but rather you can go see them on the first day of the cruise after (typically) 1:30. I've had to do that one time and the maître-d was very accommodating.

I finally found someone at the excursion desk who knew what he was talking about. MOST excursions are still being handled the way I remember, meeting in the theatre and waiting to be called to board the shuttles in groups. SOME excursions are meeting at the pier in Grand Cayman, and for these they're simply telling folks to board the water shuttle an hour before the excursion time.

It's been about a year since I was at a water shuttle port and it looks like things may have changed. I'm on board Glory right now and our second stop will be at Grand Cayman, so we'll have to take the water shuttle. In years past anyone with a Carnival shore excursion was given a time and place to meet up on the ship (usually the theatre) and everyone on your excursion got on the water shuttle at the same time. This time my excursion ticket only says "take water shuttle 45 minutes prior". Can anyone who's done this recently tell me if I'm missing something? Also, I'm Platinum - how will the water shuttle priority work for me?

Yes, Guest Services can give you spare room keys.

You can pre-purchase a 12 pack of 500 ml bottles of water for (I believe) $9.95 which will be delivered to your cabin on the first day of the cruise. Other than that I've always been able to carry on my personal water bottle and have never been asked to empty it.

I've never had this exact situation, but whenever I've had to cancel something that I purchased with a gift card the refund came in the form of a new gift card and lately that's been taking a LONG time. For instance at Thanksgiving the internet on Freedom was unusable (and I'm accustomed to Carnival's sketch internet) so I asked Guest Services to cancel it and issue a refund. Since I'd pre-purchased with a gift card I was told that I'd receive the refund in the form of another gift card in two to three weeks. Well, after several emails etc. I still haven't received it.

So you want to make sure your friends get their view blocked by the balcony divider and not you? 😁 I've never seen that kind of detail available online, unless you get lucky and stumble across a review someone did for the specific cabins you're interested in.

If it's just one then I view it as a downgrade (or at least not an upgrade) from the Gold perk which is one drink at the final day's dinner. (I'd thought it meant every brunch also, but don't really care for a drink to start my day)

I'm on my second cruise as Platinum, the first was at Christmas. On that one, out of Port Canaveral, they called all Platinum guests to board at the same time (after Suites and Diamonds). On this current cruise (out of New Orleans) they called Diamonds, Suites, and then Platinums by boarding group. As for dropping off your carry-ons that seems to vary from ship to ship. On Magic I tried to drop off my stuff but the cabins were locked. I probably should have chased down a cabin steward to let me in but I figured they were plenty busy getting everything ready. On this current cruise on Glory all the cabins were standing open so I just placed my stuff in the closet and went on our way. The 'chocolate thing' is called Chocolate Delight and it's a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a few other treats. You'll just call room service and ask for it. And Grand Turk isn't a water shuttle (that's the currently accepted official term 😁 ) port, they have a pier. Were you maybe thinking of Grand Cayman? 9We'll be stopping in Grand Cayman on this cruise but we have Carnival excursions booked so it will be just as easy to meet up in the theatre and go on the water shuttle when our excursion is called.)

That's strange.... on the very rare occasion when my on-board internet has been fast enough, I've been able to use my YouTubeTV account, it just asks me to verify that I'm travelling.

Yep. And if you board late enough you can avoid the lines, breeze through check-in, and go directly to your cabin.

If the two of you are any kind of baseball fan I'd suggest going to a Giants game if they're in town while you're there. There's a great view of the Bay from their Club Level seats, and I even got to talk to an actor from one of my favorite TV shows who was sitting right in front of us. We spent some time in San Francisco both before and after our Hawaii cruise last September, I'll go back in a heartbeat.

I just read a couple of articles about the switch which stated that Starlink is much less expensive than providers currently used by cruise lines. I'm certain that Carnival will be passing the cost savings along to us. 🤣

There were several ships across multiple ports that had similar adjustments.

Departure time out of Baltimore changed to 5:00 PM. No big deal.

Our grandkids did one cruise and had Bottomless Bubbles. My grandson waited at the aft pool bar for 15 minutes while the bartender kept taking orders for adult drinks. I finally went to the bar to get the bartenders attention and let my grandson get his soda. I'm afraid your kids will suffer the same fate.

What changes had been made to Vista's itinerary?

My guess would be that it gets installed on ships as the rotate through dry-dock. Maybe someone who knows more details about what's involved in making the switch can shed some light on it.

SHHHHHH. Don't let John Heald hear this, but Carnival's internet prices are less than on other lines I've been looking at. However, even Carnival's "low" prices seem kind of steep. Especially for a product that barely works, and often doesn't work at all. I'm anxiously waiting to see what kind of effect this will have on speed and reliability.

It just depends. I've left out of New Orleans twice in February, one time it was fairly warm from embarkation and throughout the entire trip, the second time it was quite chilly (to the point that it was too cold to sit on our balcony) until we got well south.