StephPS79

Did anyone go without cookies? From the OPs original post, there was a half bowl of cookies there while they waited, up for grabs.

There was a refund of port fees and taxes. There was also a cancellation fee assessed, which is deducted from the refund of port fees and taxes. The agreement is cancellation fees will be assessed. We can use whatever semantics we want, a no-show is technically a cancellation.

To be fair, there is at least one thing that you could think of, and just did. Someone else mentioned a medical reason for taking cookies to the room. I could think of a few "reasonable" reasons on my own. In reality, it could even be what you mentioned, we don't know. Who knows. It's just cookies.

I do think this is a policy that has always been there that is now being more heavily enforced. The last time I no-showed a guest I was charged a fee, which was deducted from the refund of port fees and taxes.

We're talking about chicken tenders, right? The thing that's usually on most kids menus? I'm not sure what one expects from "chicken tenders" but I got some greasy breaded and fried chicken, perfect for dunking in that actually pretty tasty honey mustard that was there (although I'll fully admit to mistaking it as cheese sauce and dumping all over my hotdog - actually worked out well) just as expected. I really think some expectations need to be evaluated to determine is Carnival is the right cruise line for individual preference. If not, it is fine to move on.

I was on the Celebration this month. I found the food on the midnight buffet to be perfectly acceptable, and would go so far as to say I enjoyed the chicken tenders. I wouldn't say it was the best food on the ship, but it definitely hit the midnight spot. We all have different opinions.

Is there any source of confirmation for this? There have been many mentions of "how long" you spend in the casino as a tick-mark on the ideal player. Vegas certainly does everything they can to keep you in the casino, as it is a well-regarded theory that the longer you sit, the more you lose.

Nah, no jackpots - kind of unfortunate the way it worked out! On the first night, I played $300 on Double Diamond High limit, but spinning $5 denom 2 credits. ($200 Funplay, put $100 charge in). Lost that in about 2 minutes lol! I switched over to play a Pinball machine, Double Gold or whatever it was, still on the first night. I charged $100, I was betting max at $1 denom, so $10/spin, and honest truth kept hitting Pinball and a few good hits, twice $800. But the Pinballs just kept hitting! Like every 3rd or 4th spin! I went up to $2 denom for a little while while it was hitting well. That first night, I was up around $5000! I finished the first night with around 11,000 points. And here the story takes a tragic turn. I wish I never stopped playing that first night lol! The Pinball machine died on me. I kept leaving, but couldn't help coming back to it, with the hopes it would be nice and pump out the luck like it did the first night. But nope. Put all $5000 back, tried to find some luck on a few different machines with a few hundred more, but no such luck to be found. I really regret playing out of my bank, instead of just charging it to the room, and then paying off the balance after the cruise. Not a rookie, but definite rookie mistake on my part. Actually, I should have took that money and ran after the first night, but that's gambling for ya.

This, really. Both the loyalty and casino perks are completely different programs between cruise lines. They follow the same principles, but cost vs. reward is very hard to compare across cruise lines.

Unfortunately, there's no confirmed answer to this questions. Play what you can afford and hope for the best.

None of that answers the question:

Not many people do. By Elaine's theory, as other has have said, there would be no need to gamble. Anyone with a nice open line of credit could drop a twenty in a machine, get 100 points, and expect an Elite offer to come flowing in. Many of us have experience to tell us this just isn't true. Yes, I think we can agree that there are marketing demographics that play in to offers, but to think points have no impact on future offers is just silly, as we've all seem impact. With that said, I think there are probably a lot more factors than just points, even on the bounce-back offers. Just off a cruise, and I finished with 21K+ points, and my bounce-back offer was 50% off rates. Terrible. Everyone says that they give offers to the top whatever percent, but I did check in with other people in the social group, and people with significantly less points (like half) had offers for free rooms. Most of those people did lose a lot. My out of pocket was probably about $400 charged to the room in the casino, so I do think some of that info is reviewed, even for the bounce-back offers. Of course, as others have mentioned, no one really knows the answer, and there are many factors and variables, but that's just my last experience.

Just off Celebration 3/3/2024. On the first night, I was right around 4000 when a host came over and offered a steakhouse dinner. From experiences I have read, generally around 4000 will get some attention, but it will depend on points from everyone else. Since it was the first night, I think the 4000 took more notice than if it would have been later in the cruise.

At 1500 points?? Those hosts must have been feeling generous...

Good ol' AA! We got married on the ship in port in New Orleans last year. New Orleans makes you appear in person for the marriage license, so even though embarkation was Sunday, February 5th, we planned to head to NOLA on Thursday night, because we had to get to the courthouse on Friday. Wouldn't you know, our original flight was delayed and we would miss our connection. They got us on a later flight, and we got to Charlotte (connection), but low and behold as soon as we looked at the board in Charlotte, we saw our flight to NOLA was cancelled. They said it was cancelled because of "weather," but looking at the board, it was the ONLY cancelled flight. Of course it was the last flight out that night. They couldn't rebook us until 10:30PM the next night which meant we would miss the court house. We got to the hotel that night around 12:30am, and then got up around around 5:00am the next morning to try and get on stand-by. We eventually were able to get on an 11:30 flight, which would put us in NOLA around 12:30pm (thank god for the time difference!), and then ran to the courthouse. We made it with about an hour to closing. Lol. At least we have a story, I guess.

I had a TBA until check-in, with no penalty. Adding a name from TBA and changing a name will be viewed differently. If you have a name entered, you cannot update the name on the website I believe past final payment. But if you leave at TBA, this isn't considered changing a name. I have never heard of a cruise being cancelled because of a TBA, but it could be policy that isn't enforced often.

I cancelled a cruise by accident once, oof! I called and they reinstated it for me with no penalty. All you can do is call and be honest and ask nicely, and hope for the best.

I definitely would not do this without proper authorization. I would contact Carnival to see if it is allowed. As mentioned, previously it hasn't been, but sometimes policies change. Some lines to authorize this. If they authorize it, great! If not, 100% I would not attempt it.

Oasis class ships are beautiful, no doubt. I still have more fun on Carnival. Everyone is different.

Curious, how were you notified this was added?

I got blocked once too, after I loaded some funds and then decide I didn't want to play the stupid Dancing Drums anymore, and left before spinning. Which seems silly, because I was just trying to go to a different machine. But yes, the host told me just to spin a few times, and it would prevent it from happening, I think as long as you spin once you're fine.

I'd probably be more offended by the grandma.

We were on deck 2 on Horizon, no noise complaints at all, and as @mz-s said, the ease of getting to and from the gangway on port days was super convenient. I wouldn't hesitate to book a lower deck. Adding though, no, I wouldn't take the upgrade offer for that price. I probably really have to put some thought into if I'd even take a balcony at that price though.

I haven't been on Vista, but I've been on Horizon, which is similar. I have been on Magic. I would 100% choose Horizon over Magic (all other things similar), so I'd have to say I would chose Vista over Magic. The first time I was on the Magic, I don't know why, but I didn't really care for the ship. For one, I think the decor is unappealing, but of course that is preference. I like most of the Farcus ships, but this green and brown color scheme just isn't for me lol. I liked the Magic a little more on the second trip though, but it still wasn't my favorite. I really like the Vista class ships though.

There are points to each. I think yes, the Celebration would have more families with kids, but I think it has more to do with the length of the cruise than where it leaves. There would probably be a lot less families with kids on a 10-day. If that doesn't matter to you at all, I would say Celebration, mostly because I think it is closer to the Carnival brand than the Venezia. Venezia has a few quirks, as it was built for Costa. I haven't sailed on Venezia yet, and would really like to in the future, it does look like an intriguing ship, but I don't think I would pick it for my first Carnival cruise.