Mike & Julie

The opinions on this topic are vast and many great valid points raised regardless of what side of the fence you find yourself on.

I typically look at stances like this through a financial prism. 
 

Carnival raised 2.5 billion is cash by diluting their stock in the last 6 months. Their share holders and bankers will not allow the CEO to take this stance, I suspect they will require all travelers to be vaccinated prior to setting foot on any of their vessels. 
 

How much of their loyal clients will go elsewhere... it’s a risk Carnival leadership can’t chance.

Hello from Kansas. Things here are starting to return to a somewhat new normal. Vaccines are plentiful for all who chose to to get them. People still are wearing masks indoors but once outside you see very few wearing them. The general feeling is we have moved forward.
 

I traveled for business last week and the airplane was full coming and going and the arrival airport looked like a typical summer day full of what appeared to be families traveling leisurely.

Current hospital rates are down and new cases appear to be very at low levels.

Can’t wait to get back to cruising late in 2021 or early 2022.

23 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

But why should they operate cruises where they just don't make the profit?   I'm not saying "super luxury" but they could certainly eliminate the bottom feeders.

I agree with this poster. Carnival will not sail until after spring break or even mid summer 2021. Wall Street is telling us this by Carnivals current stock price. Forward future earnings for at least 2 quarters out is suggesting no sailings. 

Cheese Platter is on the desert menu, you can order this item as an appetizer if you want. 

Ah yes, the “good old days”, but I happily gave up those buffets in exchange for today’s lower cruise fares (even after adjusting for inflation) and improved onboard entertainment and activities.

 

 

 

A trip down memory lane:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Judy

Thanks for posting. I love looking at these types of pictures as they illustrate the bygone days of cruising. Our last midnight Buffett with all the ice and fruit carvings was on the Liberty of the Seas back in 2007. I remember it being so crowded as everyone one went just to take pictures.

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We used Florida Magical Transportation back in January when we cruised out of Port Canaveral. Easy going and returning. I do not remember the price. We had 6 in our party.

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Kands6191

I stressed about these details since it was the first time cruising out of Galveston. There are tons of places to eat along the sea wall. Also there is a public trolley that takes you up and down the sea wall. We stayed at Hotel Galvez it is an older historic hotel with small European styled rooms. It is right on the ocean. We went to Millers Seawall Grill and it was very good. It was walking distance from our hotel. Come back and let us know what you thought of Galveston upon your return.

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We sailed out of Galveston last month and like you it was our first time. We were a bit apprehensive just because of the unknown. After it was all done, we would sail again from there.

We flew to Hobby as it is a bit closer to Galveston. We had VIP Express pick us up from the airport when we landed and they took us to out hotel in Galveston. Tons of dining options and they have a trolley that runs up and down the sea wall.

Hotels in Galveston have shuttles to the pier.

VIP Expess picked us up after debarkation at 9:30 am and took as back to Hobby to fly home and our flight was at 12:30pm and we were there in plenty of time.

Hollywood Ft Lauderdale Shuttle Vans is who we use when flying into FlLL and sailing-out of Miami. Marion is waiting for us when we walk off the ship

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Thank you Mike & Julie.

 

We wanted to book the Liberty of the Seas too and was worried about transportation. Do you know if the company do offer a tour of the Johnson Space Center before dropping off at the airport?

Emanuel said he does work short trips in to coordinate pick ups going both ways from Houston and Galveston. When he was dropping us off at Hotel Galvin he had a call in to pick up a previous guest from the beach and transport back to their hotel.

I will say Galveston is not what I thought it was. It’s a great place to cruise from and we will cruise again from there.

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This is our first cruise out of Galveston. We were a bit hesitant to cruise out of Galveston due to the disconnect from airports.

After reading through several post about this subject matter we decided to take leap.

We hired VIP Express LLC. Emmanuel is one of the owners and he provide an excellent client experience.

First call with him took about 10 minutes because we is very detailed as not to miss anything. He walked through pre pick and post cruise travel plans. The week before we were due to leave Emmanuel called to confirm our travel plans and emailed our reservation for us to review and confirm.

Emanuel called us the night before to advise he was charging our credit card and to make sure we were on schedule. He then called once our plane arrive and was waiting outside baggage claim.

We flew into Hobby and stayed on Galveston Island. Charge us 25.00 a piece for travel each way. The total cost for my wife and I was $100.00 round trip.

I would recommend this company.

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We have had this happen to us over the years with bar attendants. It’s fun seeing a friendly face and catching up.

Thanks for posting.

That’s very pratical especially with shorts or capri’s with no front pockets.

Ben Gentry is the best.

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Yes you should have no issues making a flight out of FLL. We did it last year when we sailed the Vista. Self embarked and had a private transport waiting for us. We used Fortlauderdaleshuttlevans.com. Called them when we awoke the day of embarkation just to advise them when we would be outside. They were waiting for us. Private van for 5.

I have cruised on both the Breeze and Vista. I know they are different class of ships. The Horizon if it rolls out with the same deck plans will garner the same level of criticism the Vista is currently getting when it comes to the design of certain venues.

The steakhouse was sold out every night on our recent Vista cruise. The problem with this venue is it has outside tables that were never used. Why is this? Have to wonder who wants to set out on a windy deck even with the additional windbreakers it' still has an affect on the overall ambiance.

The Red Pub bar on the Vista is too large. A bunch of wasted space. On the Breeze it was too small.

The Piano Bar on the Vista has a support pole right in the middle of the venue so switching sides on the Horizon would make sense. Carnival realized this was a design flaw.

The biggest vocal concern does surround the main theatre. The line of sight is terrible in the balcony seats.Not sure why they felt the need to use this space as a multiple venue. It does not attract the guests for "dancing".

This is my opinion so take it for what it is worth, nothing!!! Carnival had positive feedback on The Breeze and wanted a vessel to be just as of attractive but wanted more zest for its guests. I wonder if they wanted to offer and grasp the same big ship feel RCCL has but fit it in at a fraction of the gross tonnage on a smaller scale.

Carnival is facing an identity crisis on the Vista Class of ships. They want to be everything to everyone instead of being focused on what they do best. All cruise lines go through this learning curve.

In my opinion the Dream Class design is much more superior to the Vista Class when it comes public space functionality.

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We have been on both. Just sailed Vista on Jan 14-22. I'm going to respond by think from a kids point of view. The Vista has more to do for kids/teenagers (ropes, sky ride, pool table, bowling game etc...). Teenage food hangouts are the same on both ships burgers tacos pizza etc...Now from an adult seasoned cruiser the breeze hands down would be the one I would pick based on the public space layout, storage in cabins, total access to the ship at all times(Havana deck area is closed to general public durning the day). Poor reviews of the Vista are justified. Conclusion, booking from an adults POV Breeze booking from a teenagers POV Vista.

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We just came off the Vista on Sunday with a 1:05pm flight out of FLL. We did a self assist and were easily off the ship by 8:30am with pre-arrange transportation waiting for us. We were at the FLL airport at 9:20am checked in through security to our gate by 9:50am. We were flying SWA. The debarkation process on the Vista was flawless.

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Just got off Vista this morning and the staggered check last Saturday went smoothly. We had a 11-11:30 check in time. We arrived at 11:15 and were on board at 12:30. Received our sail and sign card in room mail box worked well. They checked our boarding pass roughly 4 times prior to getting into the security scanner line. Please show up at your assigned times as they will not allow you to get in line until your designated time space.

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We are sailing the Vista in January 2017, and will be interested to see the feedback on this new process. We have prepaid for cheers so wondering how the dynamics will flow around this.

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Staying up late the night before and sleeping in but not too late, like eating breakfast in main dinning room. Taking a midday nap out on the balcony just listening to the waves slap against the ship.

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Believe it or not you may be on the best time slot and not even know it. The shadows that time of the day against the tall cliffs make the wildlife easier to see and also the blue colors within the ice may be that more picturesque. We did this excursion and it was one of the best ever in all of our years of cruising.

Did the Breeze 9th floor ext balcony back in January 2016 and had same concerns you mention but it turned out to be the best cabin we have ever in all of our years cruising. Also your only a flight of stairs away from a bar, food, and all the activities. The view is amazing

Breeze in January 2016, had a wonderful dinning team. They learned our names the first night and by the second night had our favorite drinks waiting for us . I have never placed any strong emphasis on reviews in this subject matter.