BoozinCroozin

This has ended several friends retirement plans, made me rethink mine completely, and crazy counting how many will wind up working until they pass. I had planned to retire in 8 years, it is now looking like 15.

There is lots to do right by the terminal if you arrive early. Drop your bags off, park, then hit up a place to sight see or grab NOLA lunch, then board when it is less crowded. We checked in early. Wound up waiting 3 hours to get onboard. Luckily we were at the front of the line and got through quickly. We sat for about 2.5 hours. Others wound up standing in line, wall to wall people, for 2.5 hours.

This is one of the absolute best things I liked on NCL. Being able to go to O'Sheehan's late, get a drink, get something off a menu that is not a pizza. I enjoyed Carnival more than NCL. However, there are no real food options at night. And please don't tell me about room service. I ordered wings once. I got 6 delivered. They amounted to about 3 ounces by weight. I would have to order 5 orders just to have a snack.

Tips are no different than other lines, I get it. I only have two cruises to compare to. I can say that specific service staff paid equal attention to us, but not all. In general, we chose not to cruise the other line again because it is just not fun. Half of everything was not operating on the cruise, kids had nothing to do really but the arcade. On Carnival, there was something fun going on for everyone pretty much all day. I will only tip the standard tips from now on. Nothing more no matter how good the service.

We booked our first interior also. Cost is king, so it was that or not cruise. I don't think it is an issue since we mostly just sleep in the room.

Here was my experience after Day 1 and making good friends with the bartender at Red Frog on the Lido deck. Pass by going to breakfast at 6:30AM say high to the bartender, walk back by at about 7AM, and nice Red's Rum Treasure, Rum Runner Jumper, or a Frog Island Ice Tea waiting for me. Pretty much 25% of break even just after moving about.

Yes some do. But most excursions Carnival has can be done through other vendors.

1. The only "sale" is if you get the 10% off gift cards. 2. There is NO wiggle room on the drink package. Anyone 21 or older in the cabin must have it. My wife has medical reasons not to drink, they don't even accept the information from the doctor. So, it is either both of us or by the drink. We still make out because I can get more than 15 in a day I want more + the other beverages included.

He is doing this out of pressure from the airline industry. Believe or not, covid is no longer news worthy, that is why you are not hearing about it 24/7. However, it is spiking quite heavily in a lot of areas. I am perfectly fine with cruise lines requiring it and the island nations they visit making them. For families, I just wish they would open those kids camps for them.

Yes, there are quite a few options and no need for a buffet. However, there are a lot of things I found on the buffet that I enjoyed. The carving stations were always good. The hot sandwich machine was good. What I found is that the MDR wasn't much better than the buffet. It was just buffet food put on a plate. People may argue it, but that was my experience. The only real time we went to the MDR is when we wanted to relax for 2 hours.

I should have stated earlier that everyone in the cabin 21 and older must be on the drink package. Carnival will not, in my experience, allow just one to have it even with a medical note from a doctor. It was still worth it for us because my wife made up for it in the coffees, bottle drinks, etc.

It's better than a Golden Corral but not as good as say a Lonestar Steakhouse. I can always find something that will fill my stomach. This is one area I think Carnival needs to take from NCL. The need a 24/7 restaurant like O'Sheehan's that has nightly specials and a standard menu all day.

For me, no cabana is worth it but I rather spend money on other things. The included chairs around the pool under the palm trees were nice. In my honest opinion, if I wanted to sit kind of inside and have drinks served to me, I would just stay on the ship where they are already paid for.

It's about 8 beers, 4 cocktails, 5 glasses of wine. If you add on any bottled drinks, the number goes lower. For us, the drink package is worth it.