MsJ

Thank you everyone for your help. We packed tonight. We are actually down to the one suitcase and 2 carry one. Looking forward to our first Carnival cruise.

Hello, We will be on the Paradise on Monday. This is our first cruise with Carnival. We have been traveling around Florida in our RV. Because of limited space we only have one 29" suitcase to share. My question is about carry-ons. We both have our own snorkel equipment including wet suits. We would also like to take two bottles of wine on board.

I alway, alway have a change of clothes and a bathing suit in my carry on in case luggage doesn't arrive until later at night.(Learned this the hard way) I always carry my backpack on filled as much as I can even with 2 suitcase instead of just one. My husband will be carrying his big bag on with his big flippers and his backpack.

I am just wondering if anyone can tell me if Carnival limits the number of carry on bags. I have a small canvas bag with a zipper. And I also have a large mesh bag that is 1 inch over the height limit and about an inch and a half over the width limit for carry ons but would hold tons of stuff.Is Carnival real strict about the size of carry ons? It is only a 5 day cruise and over the years have learned that I don't really need tons of clothes.Its the other stuff I am worried about.

As we are parking our truck and RV at the Tampa port in 2 different lots I do not want to leave my laptop behind so I will need to carry that along with iPad and Nook. And charging cords.

We have been on 20 plus cruises but it has either been flying to Florida or driving to NYC and having 2 suitcases was never a problem.

Sorry about this long rambling question but I am getting worried about getting the things we need on board.

Thank you for any info.

Marianne

PS I also HAVE to take my own pillow with me. Tried it once without and never slept most of the night.

Thanks for info. I have done a little research on the parking thing and I believe there is a place that takes RV's that is further away than the port parking. We are also thinking of checking in to a local campground that offers storage. I will be researching once the holiday is over.

We've done carnival for our last 5 cruises over the past 6 years. I wanted to switch it up a little and we got a great deal on a cruise next month.

 

What I was surprised about was the perks they offer. So for an extra $200 per person I was able to get free alcohol the entire cruise(top shelf liquor and Red Bull/Evian water), tips for the week included which includes drink tips and room, free wifi and $150 obc per person ($300) for the room.

 

I'm assuming that with celebrity ads/who they cater for the crowd might be a little more up tight and older but honestly I'm still going to have fun.

 

Any opinions on celebrity??

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello, We have cruised on Celebrity and love the ships. They are all beautiful. Service was alway great, the food is good and I would do another Celebrity cruise in a blink of an eye. We have been on the Mercury{no longer sailing) the Celebration, the Eclipse, and the Silhouette. On the last 2 we did an aqua cabin and we got to eat in the special restaurant for those cabins called Bleu. The food was the best I have ever had on a cruise ship and the service was like the kind one got years ago in a main dining room. Enjoy your cruise.

Hello, We have just booked a 5 night cruise out of Tampa on the Paradise for January 30th. We have been on 20+ cruises but this is our first time on Carnival. We are booked in Grand Suite U70.

I was wondering if anyone has ever been in this cabin. Also any other tips or advice on the Paradise. I know it is an old ship and doesn't have all the upgrades of the new mega ships but we don't think that is really a bad thing. I kind of like smaller ships myself.

I have read many reviews on all the ships we have been on and take them with a grain of salt. It seems no matter what ship we have cruised on there are just tons of negative reviews. In spite of that we have had a great time on everyone of them!

We will be in Florida in our RV so we are looking for any info on parking or storing our trailer for the 5 nights. We have never cruised out of Tampa.

We booked this cruise as it goes to 2 of our favorite snorkeling sites...Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Except for the Keys where we will be with our RV for 3 weeks, Cayman and Cozumel are ,to me, the best islands for snorkeling. Thanks for any tips or advice. We are looking forward to our first Carnival cruise.

PS..We are in our 60's and retired and not really into partying. We just like to relax, be waited on, have our bed made and towels replaced and enjoy the sunset each night with a glass of wine.

Thank you

Hell,

We were in the Haven 2 weeks ago on the Breakaway. It was our first suite ever. Our concierge John was able to get us a table at 3 of the restaurants without a problem. We asked him in the afternoon of the day we wanted them and the magician that he was we were seated in the restaurant of our choice each time.

Hello,

We parked at the NYC pier at the Breakaway 2 weeks ago for $40.00 a day.

Hi, We just got off the Breakaway Sunday. We booked it only 2 weeks before as our planned RV trip to the Keys was a no go as we could not get the truck and RV out of our yard due to mountains of snow:) Anyway we were not offered a way to book any shows as we were last year on Breakaway. We were in our very first suite and a Spa Haven suite so we had a butler. When I asked him about the section set aside for Haven passengers he told me to just show up at the theater and we would be seated by a Haven person there. He also said there were no reservations needed. Having never done Haven before I didnt think anything of it but I didnt see anyone was collecting tickets from anyone. Butler said to show up 20 mins before show. The show...Burn the Floor was changed from 7:00 to 6:30...so we showed up at 6:10 and no Haven person there so we just took seats. It was kind of a bummer that the show didnt start until 7:10 so it was a long wait. Which would have been ok but we were subjected to very strange black and white slow motion clips of people from the 50' and 60's dancing and one that looked like a re-creation of the minuet bustles and men in wigs etc. But the music was LOUD music that had nothing to do with the 50's 60's or minuet. It was really weird and the picture was blurry and every time it seemed like it was going to stop the whole thing was looped around again. But the show was awesome so it was worth it to wait.

I don't see a single Margarita on this menu... :(

Hi we just got off the Breakaway Sunday. The new menu was everywhere. I don't remember if frozen margaritas were listed but I was able to get one every day.

Hello,

We will be in a Haven Spa cabin tomorrow on the Breakaway in 14728. This is our first time in a suite and in the Haven. I am really looking forward to this new experience.

NCL Sea in July 2002. Loved the ship.Had tons of fun.

I love the hull art. The first ship we sailed that had the hull art was the Jewel. I loved it. It was fun when walking around the deck to look at. The second is the Breakaway..last February and again this coming Sunday. I am not a big Peter Maxx fan but to me NYC is the most exciting city in the world and I love that the Breakaway displays some of the best parts of it. This will be our 5th time cruising from NY harbor. Its been just as exciting each time.The Jewel and last year's Breakaway was the third week in February. on the Jewel departure it was freezing......but I bundled up in layers..many layers and went out of my balcony for a freezing departure but nothing can beat sailing by the Statue of Liberty to make one appreciate our country.

Gambee did a fantastic long and detailed review on the Breakaway and he's sailed several cruise lines so he compares and contrasts his experiences.

 

 

I highly recommend Gambee's review. He has tons of info and pictures and videos on UTube.

I am not sure what happened but I thought I was quoting SliceofLife who was the person who originally recommended Gambees reviews.The first quote on this post was from SliceofLife. The second one was my response to SliceofLife. I can't figure out how to use just part of a post so I usually copy it all and then delete the parts that are irrelevant.

SliceofLife I didnt want to you think I was plagiarizing your excellent advice about Gambees reviews. I just meant to agree with you. Sorry.

Marianne

Gambee did a fantastic long and detailed review on the Breakaway and he's sailed several cruise lines so he compares and contrasts his experiences.

I highly recommend Gambee's review. He has tons of info and pictures and videos on UTube.

Thank you everyone for the info. We will just take a taxi on our own.Hopefully we will not have a problem getting one back to the ship.

Hello,

I think every cruise ship we have gone on there have been many negative reviews. We have cruised on NCL,RCCL,HAL,Celebrity and Princess on 18 cruises. We have never had a bad cruise and found that for us those negative reviews were far different from what we experienced. It seems every ship has the same issue Ie: bad smells, out of control kids, poor service, bad food, unfriendly staff on on and on and on. I think the worst one was the NCL Wind which we did in 2005 I think. It was almost all negative reviews and I was getting really worried.We has a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of it. I don't really give them any thought anymore when booking a cruise on a ship and itinerary that I am interested in. We have had some irritating things happen but not anything ever to ruin a cruise.

We sailed on the Breakaway last February and sailing again this coming Sunday. It's a beautiful clean ship. Service was wonderful, food was delicious entertainment was enjoyable.I won 900.00 on the quarter slot machine:)

Have fun on your cruise. Nothing beats having someone pick up after you and make your bed, bring you clean towels etc, wait on you each night at dinner and just sailing along on the beautiful ocean listening to the the sounds of nature.

Hello, Next week we will be on the Breakaway for the second time and our 3rd time doing the NYC to Bahamas route. But we have never been in a suite out of the 18 other cruises we have done. I have been reading as much as I can to understand what a butler and a concierge do.

We would like to spend the day at jetties Park in Port Canaveral. Would one ask the concierge to arrange getting a taxi at the port or is just as easy to get off ship and get a taxi ourselves?

Thank you,

Marianne

Hello, In November of 2010 I was sitting in work the day before Thanksgiving and all of a sudden my head felt like it was trifling around and the room was twirling around. It happened a few more time that night. The next day I woke up and my bedroom was spinning around so fast I got sick.I was having the dinner at my house for my whole family. As the day wore on it kept happening without stop. I walked down the hall to get to the stairs and lurched sideways. I had to crawl up the stairs. I never made it down to dinner as I was so dizzy and so nauseas The next day I went to y DR who gave me something by intervenous. And sent me home with Meclazine and said it would probably take a week or two to clear up. I was horrified. The spinning stopped but my head was in a fog and things were still difficult to do. I called back 2 days latter and Dr sent to a special Balance therapy place. I went to therapy 2 times week for 6 weeks and then once a week for a few more months and once a month for almost a year. It brought my life to a halt. It was caused form a damaged nerve in my ear probably from a virus I was told. we went on a cruse that following February and I went to the acupuncture place on the ship. She put some patches with little knobbing things anthem for me to press on periodcally.

Even to this day 5 years later I still get that awful feeling like altitude sickness at times.

I highly recommend starting with your Dr and see what he/she says. One of my balance therapist said that vertigo brings you to your knees....and it did big time.

Hi,

Our first cruise was on RCCL(RCL) Nordic Prince. It was 1986 and we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary. It sailed out of NYC to Bermuda. We had the streamers flying also. And the waiters were walking all around the deck saying "nice and cool" as they gave everyone free rum punch drinks. As many as you wanted. We dined with a family from Philadelphia. I will never forget our waiter. He was from Italy and he could not have given us better service if he tried. He was so attentive and pleasant and fun. He even came around with the ketchup and asked us if we wanted on the french fries!!!! The family was parents with their teenage daughter..maybe about 17 or 18. She brought a friend with her the same age. Her friend spent the whole week flirting with our waiter. It was so much fun to watch. He was so gracious when responding to the flirting. We also had the baked Alaska parade one night. Midnight buffet every night. And of course cruising out of NYC was so exciting. We have since cruises out of NYC 4 times and will again next week for our second time on the Breakaway. Cruising by the Statue of Liberty makes me a little teary eyed each time. We cruised out of NYC in July 2002 on NCL Sea. As we passed ground zero there was complete silence on the ship. No one said a word. It was very emotional for everyone I think.

The Nordic Prince was about 35,000 tons I think.....but we thought it was HUGE!!! It is my favorite memory out of 18 cruises on many different and much larger ships.

I sailed the BA in 2013 and the Summit in 2014...almost a year to the day apart! You are right that the decor in Blu and the Haven restaurant is nearly exactly identical! It struck me at time!

 

Food was excellent in both; I had many more meals in the Haven restaurant than Blu (only one dinner) but both were excellent.

 

Enjoy!! :)

The Haven restaurant looks beautiful. We loved Blu. We booked the spa cabin on the Eclipse and the Silhouette just so we could dine there.

Thank you all so much for all the info about the Haven restaurant. I am really looking forward to all the new experiences we will have in the Haven. I truly appreciate all the time you have all taken to share about the Haven.

Thank you all for such quick answers. We are on Deck 14 in Cabin 14728. Its the cabin with the spa tub. We don't really eat at specialty restaurants on cruises. It will be so much fun having so many choices of places to eat. We actually did Le Bistro in 2002 on the NCL sea. The only other one we did was the steak house on Princess many years ago. I looked at all the different categories that were left available and am now glad I went for the Haven spa suite. It was the only one left!

Hello, Due to massive snow amounts our first try at "snow birding" in Florida in our travel trailer was not to be. Yesterday I booked the Breakaway for March 1. As a newly retired teacher we always cruised Presidents weeks as that is when MA has February vacation.Now I can cruise at other times at cheaper rates.

We have sailed to the Bahamas 3 times on NCL. The NCL Sea in 2002, the Jewel the last year it was in NYC and last year the Breakaway.

We are booked in a Haven Spa Suite. Our first time ever in a suite out of 18 cruises. And of course our first time in the Haven. I have been reading here like crazy to get as much info as I can about the Haven. I cannot find much though about the Haven Restaurant.

We are getting all the packages free and will be able to dine in specialty restaurants. Can anyone tell me any info about the Haven restaurant as to quality of food, is it better than specialty restaurants or main dining room? In looking at the picture on the website the decor immediately reminded me of the spa restaurant on Celebrity called Blu. We have eaten in Blu twice on the Eclipse and the Silhouette.

This long winded post is basically to ask if anyone here has eaten in Blu on Celebrity and how does it compare to Haven restaurant.

Thanks for any info.

Hi,

We were on the 11/30/14 on the Silhouette. Loved the ship but we really missed the string quartet that we saw almost every night on the Eclipse in 2012. One of the things we were looking forward to was listening to the beautiful string music. At the end of the cruise I commented to husband that I wished that there had been more music entertainment and much less selling events. There was no acapella group either.I was also not a fan of some of the music played loudly over the loudspeaker in the public area. One day wandering around the ship I was near the Molecular Bar which was closed at the time and one of the lines from a song played at a really loud volume contained the line " I would like to f... you" repeatedly.Although there were not a lot of children on the ship there were some.

I think the decorations are stored somewhere on board, year round. Reason being, we've been on two S class sailings when Xmas decor was going up... A TA & Med in very late Nov/early December... can't imagine them shipping the decorations to Rome. I guess I could be wrong though.

 

Oh thank you for the pics. It looks so beautiful and magical.