MistyRo76

Thank you so much for all of the insight! This is exactly the kind of info that I was looking for. I think given what you've shared, it makes most sense for us to look into one of the one-way cruises from/to Vancouver. We definitely want to maximize our time in ports and see as much of this beautiful area as we can.

Thanks for the input. I am in fact the parent of the 9 year old (will be almost 11 by the time we actually sail to Alaska as I think we're leaning toward 2025 at this point). But we are hoping her grandparents do join us as my mother in law is dying to go to Alaska! and it would be a special event to get to cruise with her grandparents at least once.

Yes…we experienced the same in Charleston earlier this month! We had to set our carryons down and step back and then dog came by and checked all of them. First time I’ve experienced that!

Sounds like a great system! Any new process that can eliminate people wasting precious vacay time waiting in a line, is A+ in my book! Now maybe they can find a way to make check in/check out at Camp Ocean more efficient! When it was busy there on our last cruise, those lines were long and slow!

Thanks! Look forward to hearing about it!

Hi all! Looking at a cruise for next October out of Port of Miami. Will likely be a mom/daughter trip with my 9-year old (unless hubby decides he's ready for another cruise by then!) It's been quite some time since I've cruised from Miami. We've usually stayed at the Intercontinental or Hampton Inn & Suites Brickell in the past. I'm starting to look at hotels and the Intercontinental is very expensive even on a Pricebreaker deal on Priceline. The Hampton is reasonable and I am considering it. But just wondering if there are any other options I should consider? Want something that has a pool for the kiddo as we'll be arriving early the morning before the cruise. And something that is walkable to dining/shopping especially for a single gal and with her kiddo! Bayside is always a fun time and being near the water would be great. I checked into the Holiday Inn POM and it looks like there is no pool. Any other recommendations would be great!

That's one game of Bingo I DON'T want to win! But I have seen a lot of other offenders doing most of these!

Here's a pic from above as well. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/popup-deckpics.php?r=38546

Here's a pic I found on cruisedeckplans.com. Looks like a small pool and hot tub. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/popup-deckpics.php?r=4915

My best friend and I did a girls cruise last year. It was also my first time in a while traveling with someone other than my husband. But we didn't have any issues keeping things separate. We were able to book our cabin and pay for our portions separately through our Carnival PVP. When it comes time to do online check-in, one in your group can log in when it opens up (14 days prior to the cruise unless your a priority guest) and choose an arrival time - this will be your arrival window to the port for in-person check in. Once that's done, everyone can log in on their own and set up their own onboard account each using their own credit card/debit card or set up for a cash account. If you have any Onboard credit associated with your booking, that is usually split between the first two people on the booking. Guest Services may be able to split it out evenly between all three once you board. Otherwise, they can keep track and just manually work it out.

When my best friend and I did a girls cruise last year, we were able to pay separately for our portion of the cabin through our Carnival PVP.

I hadn't heard that this was even being tested! We didn't have the option on the Sunshine when we got of the ship 10 days ago. Can you elaborate how it works? You choose your debarkation number on the app? Then are baggage tags with that number delivered to your cabin? When we were on the Sunshine, they just had a stand in the lobby with the bag tags on them and people could just go up and grab what they wanted. There was no standing in line.

I also work in aviation. My previous job was in commercial aviation. I worked Customer Service at a large hub airport. I can't tell you how many times we had to call the airport police to deal with a drunk/passed out/unruly passenger. And many times it was your well-traveled business flyer! I now work in private aviation. My current clientele are Forbes 100 level executives/ultra wealthy/elite passengers flying on upwards of $80M private jets. You can't even imagine how some of these people are! When I worked with my previous employer, we had a jet full of high-level corporate executives completely destroy a practically new aircraft on a charter trip. One guy was so drunk, he urinated all over the plane lavatory, there was damage done to the seats, spills, etc. My point to that is, this kind of behavior is not specific to one demographic and even the wealthy, well-traveled person can be an offender! This behavior can happen anywhere and by anyone. And the cruise staff can't be everywhere. But hopefully they are addressing things quickly when becoming aware of an issue. Having just come off a cruise two weeks ago, I do think Carnival is trying to do a better job of policing unruly behavior. I didn't see any really drunk or out of line behavior on our cruise and didn't even smell weed while out on our balcony!

I would think the brig would be more secured. Unless you station someone right outside their cabin 24/7, what’s to prevent them from leaving?

Wonder why they were confined to their room as opposed to the ship’s brig??

A friend of mine was on another cruise line going to New England/Canada and was impacted by Ophelia. They skipped port calls in Halifax and Bar Harbor and made it to St. John. Then spent three days sitting out in the harbor in NY waiting for the weather to clear enough to dock. They made the best of it, but crazy trip! Hope Ophelia was kinder to you and Patty!

Yes…I’ve seen that video! I’ve cruised in that same corner 4J on other ships before but it’s been a while. If it was me, hubby and kiddo, we would definitely get a balcony. But just me and the kid can get by without one. We’ll be too busy to spend much time on it. So the 4J really gives us the best of both worlds being able step onto the secret deck when we want see us pulling into port or catch a sunset and we have a window for some light and save several hundred dollars in the process!

New vs. old ship isn’t really a determining factor for me. We just sailed the Sunshine, which is one of the oldest ships in the Carnival fleet and we had a wonderful time. I have a set budget in mind for this trip and want to get the most bang for my buck. It’s not worth the extra $300-400 I’d pay for a lesser cabin just to sail on a new ship. But appreciate your feedback nonetheless.

I had remembered seeing that track damage in another Sunshine review I read a while back. Would be nice to see that fixed soon. But it didn’t stop me from running on the track! I didn’t know she was due for another long dry dock in 25. Will be interested to see what they do to her this time! I enjoy the Fantasy class ships quite a bit. We sailed on the Paradise in 2019 to Cuba. I hadn’t been on a Fantasy class ships in quite some time but we enjoyed her. She had enough upgrades that we didn’t feel like we were missing out in much. And there were way less crowds and lines. She never felt over crowded at all! Enjoy your next trip on Elation. That’s one I haven’t sailed yet! My friend’s daughter is 12 but she didn’t do Circle C at all. She is very shy and introverted. It even took her several days to warm up to my kiddo who’s very outgoing! Just different strokes for different folks. There’s no one size fits all solution Thanks for reading along and your sweet comments!

That’s a good point about getting from Orlando to PC. Though I do have a good friend who lives in the area who would probably let us crash with them and maybe even drive us to port. It’s still a hassle!

So I went ahead a grabbed one of the corner Interior w/ Obstructed Picture Window FWD Deck 7 cabins on the Sunrise. My kiddo loved Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk is one of my fave stops. We’ll probably just stay on the ship while in Nassau unless the kiddo is dying to go off the ship. But I think she’ll enjoy having less crowds in the pool and at Waterworks! So it’ll make it a second de facto day at sea for us!

Thanks! I may check them out at some point in the future. But will probably stick with Carnival for this mom/daughter cruise.

I’m not that familiar with MSC. Do they have good offerings for kids? Will there be a lot of kids onboard? My daughter loved our recent cruise on carnival because of how kid friendly it was from amenities, food, shows/games, general things to do (waterslide, sports square, etc.).

I priced out Utopia of the Seas and it’s more for an inside cabin on a 4 day than it would be for a 5 day on Carnival in a balcony cabin on the two options I listed above. So that’s not gonna work for me. It’s the main reason why I haven’t cruised RCCL yet…every time I price it out, it’s way more than what I would pay on Carnival.

Here are a few pics of our cabana (handsome bearded man not included! 🤣🤣). We shared it with the family we were traveling with so 4 adults and 2 kids. But other than to eat lunch, we were never all in the cabana at once and no one said anything about there being more than 4 people. I lucked out as the prices went up just days after I booked it so we got it for the $499 but split the cost with our friends. I may not pay that if it was just us. But we definitely did love having it! We did the stingray excursion here and it was great. And at only $49pp, it was much cheaper than other sea life encounters at our other port call in Nassau. But our kiddo would have probably been just as content to play on the beach and in the water too! Lol