UGACamper

Vodka + Celsius (They seem to just carry Peach and Kiwi-Guava)

My DH and I went through some tough life events in a very short time period (marriage, moving, death of loved ones, young adult children moving out - all in about 6 months) and found ourselves very depressed and lost, not knowing what the next step would be. An elderly woman at church told us that now it's time learn how to focus on each other and TRAVEL! So we booked a cruise. July 2017 on the Sensation. We had no idea what to expect from cruising. Neither of us had barely been out of the southeast, much less anywhere that needed a passport. Once we debarked from that first 4 day cruise, we called Carnival on the way home to book our second one. And here we are, 7 years later. The only port I have repeated is Cozumel and I have been on a different ship every cruise. I still like what Carnival is selling, so when they run out of ports and ships, I might look elsewhere.

Yes, I upgraded when it prompts you when signing in for the first time. If I recall, I think its about $50 total extra. We were on an 11 day cruise.

HATE the new search engine. Why not introduce features that actually help filter results, like being able to only search for 8 day cruises instead of the range of 6-9 days? Or filtering for a certain port instead of "Caribbean" or "Europe"?

Thank you for your positive replies 🙂 We are fortunate to be able to include companions and introduce them to the Carnival that we love! It's so fun, the crew and 99.9% of the passengers are so friendly, and the value is unsurpassed.

We did the Carnival Luxury Yacht excursion in Juneau. We saw whales, but none breached. It was enjoyable but we did not feel like the value was there considering the cost of the excursion. YMMV. During our cruise it seemed like the best sightings were in Hoonah (bubble feeding and breaching) and Ketchikan (the whales were very close to the docks and breached multiple times).

Sunshine's Serenity is the best in the fleet that I've experienced. Agree that Spirit Class ships have the best layout and the prettiest Steakhouse.

I stand by that it is no different than a family of 4 or more booking two or more rooms. Each room has to have a VIFP number attached to it. Mom and Dad with their teens aren't sleeping apart - the kids are in the other room. Same thing here - "Mom and Dad" aren't sleeping apart and the "kids" are in the other room. The only benefit other than OBC is DOU, which we have for 3 of the 4 guests, hence the need to purchase another package at full price. I've paid way more than full price for each of our cruises on the back end - it's just nice to only pay taxes and gratuities on the front end. And it sure feels good to be able to offer a better vacation than one could afford on their own. A honeymoon at that!

Thank you for your responses. FWIW, I know that the any perks related to the offers follow the ones booked in the same cabin under whatever offer. It’s no different than each parent booking in a separate room then putting the kids in there. Taking advantage of a good price isn’t a bad thing. We “prepay” our cruises in the casino. We tip big. Happy to keep supporting Carnival’s bottom line by filling ships. I was wondering if when you book, is it one confirmation number? Also, when booking excursions ahead of time, would all 4 people on the booking be listed and I could choose the “correct” guests for the excursion? This booking isn’t an example of trying to get serious perks like Elite for all guests. Just trying to get our friends an opportunity to cruise for a reduced price.

I am considering booking two rooms with different promo codes. Hubby’s VIFP would be used for one and mine for the other. Our friends would be guests. I understand it’s fairly common to request extra room keys from guest services once on board, but do you actually change the cabin mates or just carry two cards? Also, I assume that people go to guest services the last day to sort out charges? If one “cabin” is platinum, can the other “cabin” tag along? What about pre purchased shore excursions? Do they actually look at names on tickets? If 3 of the four people have DOU, is the additional drink package purchased once on board? Thanks for your help!

Just off Miracle last week. Totally agree that the layout works and it never feels crowded. Also agree that the buffet and dining options were limited. I was frustrated at that multiple times during our 11 days on her, especially towards the end. But, I always found something. She’s dusty and needs a deep clean. Smoke from the casino travels to the atrium. Being a smaller ship, there were many times that there was not an activity going on that we were interested in, which probably contributed to too much time in the casino lol. We bought some cards in port and played in public spaces like near the coffee shop and in alchemy when not open. Lots of nooks and crannies to hang out in.

Yes to Wi-Fi. We upgrade it to the premium but it’s still discounted. yes to room service. And there was a previous thread question about sodas. The person I spoke with on the phone when ordering (you have to call) offered to bring us sodas and water. We did get sodas through room service but we were good with water at the time. I order a water every time I order a drink and carry a purse that I shove about 4 into to bring back to the room so we are always stocked.

In my experience only - * Never received welcome drink, but welcome gift along with gifts/treats most days. With DOU, this is unnecessary. * I don't notice the casino being any more crowded than other cruises. Elite offers are only for a small number of people sailing (I heard it was 150 cabins or less). Elite events are at 11pm most nights and only for Elite and their guests. Regular casino promotions (hot seat, fireball) are open to all cruisers. * Yes to cocktail party. It's drinks and snacks and they do a few giveaways * Had to go to casino desk to get reimbursed for parking, but still very seamless. We recently used the car service benefit and will exercise that whenever possible. * About 3 weeks before your cruise, you will receive an email asking for your alcohol choices for your cabin and your shore excursion/spa credit preference. On our Western Carribean cruise, the Elite excursion was in Mahogany Bay to Turquoise Bay Resort, All inclusive for the day. Aside from the transportation, it was an excellent excursion. On our recent Alaska cruise, we did not choose to do the Elite excursion because we had prebooked everything we wanted to do. Switched to spa credit and had a couples massage. It was fantastic! *Elite will spoil you. We are no longer booking on regular offers, even those with more free play because we feel like the Elite benefits outweigh the fun play. YMMV. Now if we get those $2500 fun play offers we would reconsider 🙂

It was wild. You see these self driving cars around SF. You download the app and do everything from there. Our particular ride was disrupted because other cars wouldn’t let the robot car merge into the lane so we had to make another loop. At that point a remote driver called us and guided the car in. At one point the car even honked at another car that had stopped on the road in front of it. It was certainly as experience!

Just boarded from SF Monday on Carnival. 11am boarding time which we believe was the first time slot. Got to port (via Waymo - self-driving vehicle) around 1040 and on the ship and completed muster by 1110. We never stopped moving. Very painless!