AQW

1 hour ago, TNcruising02 said:

Since you live in CA, you are used to strict mandates.  Those of us who live in other parts of the country have been mask-free for some time now and are used to living like normal.  People who want to wear masks are free to do so.  The rest of us have the freedom to decide for ourselves.
 

Not at the Long Beach cruise terminal you don't. 

Have a wonderful time! Bonaire is one of my all-time favorite ports.

On our B2B last month they tested us on board between the sailings... and the Carnival doctor signed the results. 

Per the LA County Public Health Department, masks continue to be required at all "transportation hubs" in Los Angeles County (which would include the Long Beach cruise terminal, as "seaports or other indoor port terminals" are specifically included in the order). 

Apparently I'm in a very small minority here, but I applaud this decision and wish other ports were the same. 

24 minutes ago, cruisewiththekids said:

My son asked for a sandwich with no cheese on the Horizon.   He was told no since they were already made.   All they would have had to do is lift the cheese off.   It was a cold sandwich, not melted.   

Wow, that's terrible. Sounds like that deli employee got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Nine days on the Miracle last month and I ate at the deli at least 6-7 times. They were always happy to make me exactly what I wanted--as others have noted, as long as the ingredients were there they would make anything a customer requested. I often ask for turkey and bacon to be added to a grilled cheese, I asked for avocado added to a southwest chicken wrap, etc. Never any problem.

7 hours ago, babygrljaz said:

you may wanna verify directly with carnival.  Keep in mind with the vaccine attestation they can cancel your cruise if it is not completed.  With that requirement the policy may have changed on when your tba must be listed

I was surprised last month when I was able to complete the vax attestation for my "TBA" companion... sure enough, I was able to do the same thing yesterday for a June cruise.

Being able to leave additional guests as TBA for an extended time hasn't been my experience in the past, but I sure welcome it! Added flexibility is great.

8 hours ago, jmu82 said:

This is our first cruise we plan to have laundry done for us (1st Platinum cruise).  

Welcome to the Platinum club! Remember that each platinum guest gets the laundry perk, so if you and your companion are both platinum you would get double the number of bags. 

On 4/6/2022 at 10:10 AM, firefly333 said:

Had I not been cruising last week I'd have booked! But it's funny now carnival is acting like hey look at this. .. 

Same! Apparently I should have taken some time to check Carnival's website daily on my B2B 🤣

I have a 24hr hold on an 8-night on the Spirit... it's really difficult for me to get away in May-August, and we *just* got off a B2B yesterday, but those prices! I can't fathom not taking advantage of this deal...

You will always have to go to Guest Services for this on Spirit-class ships (as previously noted, one person from each cabin must go). There are special brackets/braces that they will bring to the cabin to secure the balcony door to the railing -- make your request early, because the bracket supply is limited. We've never had a problem with it, but others have shared here that they they were told the brackets had run out. 

On 2/1/2022 at 9:46 PM, brilliantseas said:

 

• Permanent Carnival Journeys Ship?
  • Carnival Spirit would make an excellent Journeys vessel to sail unique itineraries at premium rates from multiple U.S. ports on a year-round basis.

Yes please!!!! I would be excited to see a commitment to expanded Journeys offerings and unique itineraries at all; having all that on a Spirit-class ship would be fantastic.

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

We'll see where we are with COVID then obviously but if what happened in the UK happens here and Carnival is still enforcing restrictions that depresses bookings, shareholders will eventually run out of patience.

Plenty of people, myself included, are declining to sail right now not because of Carnival's restrictions, but because of concerns about contracting and spreading Covid. I will return to sailing only if case rates decline AND Carnival maintains appropriate safety protocols.

14 hours ago, Markmom18 said:

Our son who was working on the Panorama for the last few months (his first Contract after the Covid Pause) has come home.  Thankfully, he didn’t get sick with any virus. He’s been with Carnival as a Fun Squad Member for a number of years.  Loved the job!  
 

My son Dexter decided at the age of 12 that he wanted to be a FUN Squad Member... he'll be 20 soon and he's still 100% committed to working for Carnival! He's pursuing a degree in Communications with a concentration in Entertainment and Tourism and always looking to build skills that will make him a more attractive candidate -- hosting/emcee/mic skills, working with diverse groups of people, etc. Please message me if your son might be willing to share some info about his experience... I'd love to connect them via email or something. 

Enjoy your son being home!

I hadn't yet rec'd the email for my January 4th cruise on the Miracle, but after seeing this thread I called this morning to cancel. On hold for 50 minutes before being connected to a lovely rep named Rhonda; ten minutes later both cabins were canceled with a full refund of all charges. 

On 12/20/2021 at 2:42 PM, Earthworm Jim said:

There is no reason to rush to cancel. Carnival's Covid cancelation policy allows you to get a FCC (which you've already done several times so you know the ropes) as long as there is Public Health Emergency in effect. They extend it 3 months at a time, so as of the October 18, 2021 federal extension it's definitely in effect until mid-January

I haven't been keeping up with the boards and I didn't know this! How does one go about getting the FCC? I canceled a cruise last week and expect to cancel our January 4 cruise shortly.

On 12/10/2021 at 2:45 PM, cellfree said:

Got an Itinerary change for our TA that is almost two years away - now that’s planning ahead on Carnival’s part - I expect more to come. 

I was pretty amused by that -- posted about it in our roll call thread (come join!)

It will be interesting to see how many ports are the same as originally posted by the time we actually get to take this cruise (OH PLEASE OH PLEASE)

We've cruised with our children since they were very young. We developed a short set of "cruise rules" and attached a laminated copy to their lanyard with their sail & sign card every time, as well as a full-size copy posted on the stateroom wall. 

Last week my oldest came looking for the laminator. When I asked what he was doing, he said he was getting the cruise rules prepped for the sailing we were supposed to embark on today... then was *shocked* to learn I hadn't planned to bring them.

He's 20. My youngest is 17. 😂

The regular 8J extended balcony cabins on Spirit-class ships have balconies that are 1.5 times as "deep" as a standard balcony... meaning 50% more distance between the cabin window/door and the balcony railing. Other than that, they are the same as standard balconies.

There are some exceptions (e.g., bowling-alley balconies) but 5122 is a regular 8J.

Yes, not a problem at all, just go to Guest Services. If the cabins are under the same booking number, they will do it without question. If hers is under a separate booking number, then an adult from *both* cabins must come to guest services to make the request. 

First Carnival cruise was January 2007; reached platinum status in December 2011.

I currently have 141 nights sailed with another 33 nights booked this year and next, so I anticipate hitting diamond status somewhere around 2022. 

My kids were 12 and 15 when we sailed Alaska in 2017. We sailed Sept 2-16, so there were very few children on board (long sailing during the traditional school year). Even so, there was no lack of activities for my kids to enjoy. They had both kid-specific activities with the kid clubs as well as general activities that my kids enjoy (trivia, dance parties, etc). And I definitely agree with previous posters who have noted that folks tend to wind down earlier on Alaska sailings.

One single-use drink coupon. Three bags of laundry per platinum guest. My family of four is all platinum, so that would be up to 12 bags of laundry total. If you have multiple platinum guests and do more than three bags of laundry, just keep track of whose folio number you use each time so you can distribute the bags of laundry across the platinum guests. 

Congrats on platinum!

I usually shoot for about a month before. When we sailed last week, I forgot until three days before we left... emailed my proof of holding and had a confirmation of my OBC within three hours. WTG Carnival!

Right now we're only cruising Carnival. We do two types of cruising... getaway cruising and vacation cruising. Getaway is simple: we live less than 30min from the port of Long Beach, so we'll jump on whatever 3- or 4-night sailing is convenient and inexpensive. (Just got home from a 4-night on Imagination two days ago.)

Vacation cruising is a different story. We generally have an idea of what we want to do (Alaska, Hawaii, exotic Caribbean) and wait for awesome cruises, especially 14+ nights. I'd been stalking Alaska for years when they announced a 14-night Alaska itinerary round trip from Long Beach; we jumped on that SO fast! Similarly, we've been wanting a Med/TA B2B and have almost booked them more than once but the timing was never right... when they announced the Legend for 2020 it was a *perfect* fit so we jumped on it. Tickled to death that we were able to get our favorite bowling-alley balcony cabin, which we also had on the Pride (15-night exotic Caribbean in 2015) and the Miracle (14-night Alaska in 2017).

We'll be looking for Northern Europe in 2021, so I'm expecting to have to look beyond Carnival.

2 hours ago, SKrauss said:

Thanks all we just took advantage of the extended Cyber Monday Sale and pulled the trigger! So excited... 14 Day round trip from our home port NYC to Panama Cruise. Now only 178 days to go! I am just worried I'll be hooked to 14 day cruises from now on! I see B2Bs in my future... 

 Yep, you'll be hooked! We did our first 14-nighter in 2011 and just booked our sixth. The 14-15 night sailings are sooooooo much better than shorter ones!