jsglow

We find them to be a great economic value. Yes, there's thruster noise in the morning on port days and yes there are times when you can hear the wake on the bow of the ship. I must say that I do like the fact that the hallway is usually quite quiet. I've never had kids running the hall that I can recall. It's like living on a dead end street; only 'locals'.

42 minutes ago, joyandjerry said:

 

Cruisers are the greatest - always so happy to help! OT, but my next big trip questions will be dealing with Alaska (would like a long land/sea tour) and additionally if it is more efficient to cruise Europe from a European port or embark in the US. One would have to get to the European city a few days ahead (to be well rested) to deal with a port intensive itinerary. Lots more research!

Alaska ~ Princess or HAL, they 'own' the market, have incredible lodges for the land tour portion and have grandfathered access to Glacier Bay NP.

Europe ~ at a minimum, I would certainly either Embark/Disembark in Europe, only using the TA leg as an end-cap on a B2B. 

5 minutes ago, joyandjerry said:

Thanks, I misread that. It looks like1137 is under some bar areas. I have bionic hearing and am concerned that would bother me. Should have booked when cabins were available under MDR. Others will likely be available in the coming months.

#1137 is under the Piazza Cafe, simply a seating area where they often do trivia in the daytime. At night it's dead silent. Never heard a peep. I hope you find a cabin you are happy with.

2 hours ago, joyandjerry said:

Wow, 45 sailings on her! I did a courtesy hold on 1135, but likely will not go through with that as it is across from (not under) the Red Frog Pub and Sports Bar. My pref is cabins on all sides. Although once on RCCL, we were right next to the MDR (same deck) and never heard a peep.

No, 45 days. 😆

And I've personally been in 1137 directly across the hall. No problem.

We're huge Deck #1 fans having been there for all of our 45 days aboard Pride in Europe and on Journeys. They are fantastic for port intensive itineraries. No, you don't know what's directly below you but that's never been a problem for us in an Oceanview.  We do pay attention to what's adjacent and above and make sure we're not under the casino. Typically we've been starboard forward and it's been great. Enjoy. 

10 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am not holding my breath as we are about to cancel our Princess WC segment because it was re-routed in such a terrible way that we completely skipped Asia and the middle east and it was literally the Asia/ME segment of the cruise!  31 sea days on a 41 day cruise.  I know Carnival Corp isn't responsible for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea but d**n, how can you just completely skip an entire continent and call it a w.c.???  We are now doing a Sydney to Singapore cruise instead. 

You're making the right call @Eli_6. The only folks who should be in those west Asian waters are sailors with big guns. Enjoy your Sydney/Singapore run. Is that Splendor going for dry dock?

Easy and correct choice going with Firenze. And that's coming from a guy who likes Radiance and the 4 night Catalina?Ensenada run.

3 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Another silly question, how visible is this from the general waiting area?  We are trying to not be seen.

In Terminal F I don't even know where the General Waiting area is. The Priority lounge is completely separate and very nice. The other thing that I liked was they made the Dia/Plat/Suites announcement seemingly ONLY in that area. One goes up a separate escalator and boards the ship without even seeing anyone else. Quite nice actually.

3 hours ago, Neil_c said:

I am confused

 

This is from The UK government website

"You can visit Vietnam without a visa for up to 45 days for tourism or business. If you want to stay longer than 45 days, you can: book with a travel agent in Vietnam and ask them to apply for a visa pre-approval letter – your agent will tell you when to collect your visa from the embassy."

 

 

So why the need for a visa? I can assume US are treated Differently

United State v. UK. Different rules for all countries.

Probably 80% of our excursions are arranged privately. Websites already mentioned are great resources. In our experience, it's a better option and is often less expensive. What we don't do is show up at the port and randomly pick out one from some hawker holding a sign. Ports of Call sections on this board provide great suggestions.

I've read through the FB comments and most of them seem to be pretty spot on. Seems to me that with this JH inquiry and the previous 'world cruise' tease that Carnival has something in mind as they eventually expand on their existing fleet. I think they're thinking about how to best deploy some of their older vessels when every port already has a Conquest, Dream and even Vista Class boat running their 3/4 or 4/5/5 'vacation' routes. Heck, we've speculated that Mardi Gras becomes a perfect Celebration Key weekender boat from Miami once the next Excel comes online.

I, for one, would love it if a Sunshine/Spirit did a full winter of Journeys. 

Do something like this beginning on a Wednesday in late January (heck, we're all retired):

-14 night Eastern/Southern from MIA

-14 night Western/Central Am./S. Am. from MIA

-14 night repo to Galveston

-14 night Eastern from Galveston

-14 night Panama Canal from Galveston to Long Beach

-14 night Hawaii

-     Alaska?

Honestly, it's kinda how they do Europe each summer. You can always tweak the actual days but the point still stands. Perhaps in '27 when the new Excel arrives? We'd be IN for some of it. I think others would be too. 

So I'm going to bump this up as e-visas for the Carnival Panorama in October are now entering the timeframe window. No info from Carnival as of yet. Still plenty of time. 

2 minutes ago, toad455 said:

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

There are 5 Spirits in total and now with 27 total ships back in the fleet Carnival has all it's bases covered. The Tampa Spirit class is typically a 6 month boat with her relocating to Europe for the summer, so that's #1. Baltimore accounts for #2. Luminosa typically does the Alaskan 6th month run coupled with Australia: #3. A second Spirit (#4) has recently split between Alaska and Mobile, but Firenze is perfectly suited for the Alaskan portion providing many additional berths and a protected Lido freeing up the Mobile boat to 'fill in' during Long Beach summers, if necessary. Plus, that 5th Spirit has been doing Long Beach full time running the 5/5/4 schedule (plus some Hawaii) that now belongs to Firenze during high season so she's available to 'roam' as all the low bridges are accounted for.

Now Carnival can do a few things with #5, maybe a bit different every year.

- Winter 'world traveler'

- Winter multiple Journeys from Mia/Galveston

- Winter San Juan

- Summer Tampa (if demand justifies)

- Summer Long Beach OR Alaska (now two available boats covering what one did historically)

- Summer 2nd Europe (again, if demand justifies)

Other thoughts on assignments?

1 minute ago, RoperDK said:

Spending $100 in the casino will not get you a free cruise or a reduced cabin price. I know people think it does, but it's just not true.  You have to put a fair amount of time in the casino to get comps.  It's all about the points you accumulate.  The more points, the better the comp.  Also, many of those free cabins are last minute offers to fill up ships that aren't sailing full.       

Yep. And gamblers are notorious liars. Those people actually pay premiums, even if some convince themselves they don't. Carnival doesn't do that to lose money. Promise.

Remember @wardwhitty, that's per person. So if both you and your traveling companion are Plat you can both take advantage so it really amounts to 10 bags in that case. Plenty. We find that we do laundry every 3rd day or so and are never stuffing the bag to make it happen. Usually back the next morning but be forewarned that it might certainly be 2 days on a Journeys cruise as so many will qualify.

Fantastic choice. She's one of my very favorite ships.  Most of the 'bells and whistles' of the big boats following her conversion a few years ago without the gargantuan size. We're excited to be sailing her twin sister Radiance to Hawaii next winter.

For a 5 nighter, I'm a big Sunrise fan out of Miami. Better get to it pronto. Few cabins remain.

I think what actually happened @kwokpotis that the gamblers ran out of $$!  🫣

12 hours ago, tidecat said:

If Carnival were going to reposition a ship to Australia, you could have a World Cruise that starts in Long Beach and a largely-overlapping World Cruise that starts in Brisbane. The first leg could be sold as a combination of the World Cruise from Long Beach and a shorter Transpacific sailing. The last leg would be a combination of the Brisbane World Cruise and another Transpacific.

 

If Carnival plays its cards right, it could line up so that a Spirit class ship winds up in Brisbane for the Australian summer (North American winter) and Luminosa repositions to the US for Alaska and Caribbean service, preferably fresh out of drydock with a more through update to be on brand than she had initially.

No doubt they are already successfully marketing 'ultra long' cruises, typically associated with dry docks or repos. I'm thinking of the trans Pacs to shuttle Luminosa between Alaska and Australia, the Panorama Singapore dry dock, and several Cadiz trans Atl drydocks. Personally what I'd really like to see is a South American circumnavigation but Carnival never goes that way for a 'work related' reason. I do think ongoing Middle East conflict may weigh heavily in any decisions. Those rerouting logistics had to be a nightmare this winter for the '24 world cruises.

Look, on a going forward basis, 7 day Carnival cruises are likely not getting any farther than Grand Turk or Amber Cove. Throw in a Celebration Key stop and HMC after the pier gets built and they control 100% of your spend. Plus they save gas. There's huge demand for that kind of product, especially on these extra fancy new builds. Doesn't interest me in the slightest but that's where the mass markets are going.

Well it's certainly a different type of cruising @bg2310 and not for everyone but we have found our multi-week European experiences to be fantastic. Personally, our cruise preference is to see new and different places. Judging from the success Carnival has had over there these past 3 seasons I'm guessing they think there is a market for this. Certainly RCCL does.

Here's a linked article.  We likely wouldn't consider the whole thing but I bet we'd consider a particularly interesting segment or two. I suspect this wouldn't be before '25 or '26 as folks can't do that on a whim. But at least they're seemingly floating a test balloon.

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-hints-at-possible-world-cruise/129053

What say you?

7 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Quickie comments:

 

• When Carnival sailed out of sunny San Juan, some of their departures from that port weren't until 10 PM, since the first port was nearby St. Thomas.

Back in the day, I believe all their San Juan departures were 10p. As you said, they could practically drift over to St. Thomas by morning. Plus it afforded folks to fly in that day quite reasonably if they chose. AND it meant passing by the fort when it was all light up at night.

Man I miss sailing from San Juan.

Yeah, while I'd personally be a fan, I don't think a Spirit sized ship is ever going to be in the works for Carnival. HAL? Different story.

14 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Exactly. I've never been told to fill out that form when I had a PVP or TA. They have always taken care of it for me on the spot.

Yep. In fact my PVP once 'yelled' at me (we're actual friends) saying 'that's what I'm here for'.