Rudyard

Thanks for the review. I'm looking forward to trying the new menu on Breeze next month.

I'm not a honey mustard fan either. I wonder if they'd allow you to bring a small bottle of BBQ sauce on board.

I hate that when the salsa is more like pico. There's a taqueria near me that makes it like that, but if you tell them you want the "hot salsa" they bring you actual salsa that has a really nice kick to it.

That was pretty much our experience on Allure last month. Our steward even told us that if we wanted to sleep in to just leave the magnet on the door and she'd add us to the evening list for that day. She also told us what evening hours she'd be working in case we needed anything during that time. Saw her in the hall multiple times during the day and she always asked how we were doing and if we needed anything.

I have to put this firmly in the Fun category

Sorry you had a steward like that. I wonder if he was near the end of his contract and was just burned out. We love the Breeze and will be back onboard in early December for the third time. We've also started bringing a bar of hand soap as well as we're just not fans of the soap they use in the shower. Also glad to hear the food was good. Last CCL cruise on Vista the food was a major disappointment outside of the specialty restaurants. Did they have the new menus yet? From what I've heard they're supposed to have them before my next cruise.

Our attendant on Allure last month asked our preference and told us what times she was on duty for both mornings and evenings. She asked us if we knew roughly when we might be out of the cabin in the mornings so she could make us a priority during that window. I told her we usually leave around 8:00 for breakfast and will be gone about 90 minutes. She never failed to have our cabin done when we got back. She also told us that if we needed anything during her evening hours to just call her and she'd take care of it. ETA: She also told us that if we wanted to sleep in or just didn't feel like going anywhere in the morning to just put the DND sign on the door and let her know when we saw her and she'd be happy to come by and clean in the evening. I don't know how many attendants will do this. We might have just been really lucky to get the one we did.

I've never understood the whole "I'm not disconnected if my phone is within ten feet of me" thing. I'm like you in that I use my phone as a camera, for the menus, and for the Fun Times. As long as my job isn't able to call or text me I'm disconnected as far as I'm concerned.

We parked in the North Lot last month. We were roughly right in the middle of the lot and also had two wheeled bags, one large and one medium. It was easy to get out of the lot and a couple of the porters even crossed the road in front of the terminal to take our bags so we didn't have to wheel them all the way to the terminal. We arrived within our check-in time window and time from the car to boarding the ship was less than 20 minutes.

Nope. At the time I booked it the cruise was about $400 less than a similar itinerary on Vista.

Amen! My last cruise (with another cruise line) I saw so much crispy bacon served every morning that I wanted to cry with joy. And it was self serve too. No bacon police.

A few years ago my wife couldn't go on a cruise because a family issue came up and she had to fly out of state during the cruise. She urged me to go as she didn't want both of us to miss it. We didn't cancel her, and when I got to the port nobody asked me where she was. I simply boarded the ship as usual. Shortly before sail away she called me and said that Carnival had called her to see if she was going to make it and she told them no and that something had come up. The person calling her simply said OK and that was it. When I met our cabin steward I informed him she wouldn't be making it. I told him he could take back her pin and bottle of water (back when they used to leave them in the cabin) and he told me to just keep them. Her portion of the port taxes and fees were refunded a day or two later as OBC.

We're only 30 minutes from Galveston so there's rarely any reason for us to hurry. I just wish I had thought to do this years ago and saved all the headache and frustration of dealing with rude pushy people.

After a couple of cruises where it seemed like priority disembarkation went to those who could push, shove, and throw elbows the hardest, we started just waiting and leaving our cabin right before it was time to do so even though we usually have FTTF. After leaving our cabin we go to the Lido and take our time eating and maybe have a couple of cups of coffee until we hear the announcement that they're about to throw us off the ship. by that time we can walk off the ship with ease. I know this isn't possible for a lot of people who actually need to get off early, but until Carnival gets a better handle on the debark procedure that's what we'll keep doing.

This is why we go through a third party for insurance. We used to go through Carnival until I saw a story about a woman stuck somewhere that needed medical transport back to the US and it was going to be $40K. Carnival only covers up to $30K.

I think, as do a lot of others, that Carnival will add a new tier between Plat and Diamond. I see some Plat perks going away such as the welcome back party and maybe the free gift, but probably not early embarkation. They've already done away with early cabin entry and I don't see that coming back at all. If they feel there are too many Plats I could see Carnival doing away with the free laundry. I think the new tiers to keep people from reaching the top tiers too quickly will be... Gold- 35 days (not much of an increase but saves Carnival a little money on pins and bottles of water) Plat- 100 Days Plat Plus- 200 to 250 Days Diamond- 500 Days Existing VIFP levels would be grandfathered in and something like 60 days notice may be given so that those that are close can get in those last couple of cruises to reach a higher level. I don't see Carnival losing a lot of people over this, and if they do then they save in the long run because they won't need to give out gifts, etc. to the new blue and red cards that take the place of those leaving. These are just my thoughts and I'm sure a lot of you have way different ideas as to how this may play out.

We were on the sailing right after yours. Love how easy embarkation was. We parked in the middle of the North Lot and were onboard within 20 minutes. My only real complaints about my cruise would be the beds. Way too hard for me (and it already had two mattress toppers on it when we got to our cabin) so I didn't get much rest. Woke up sore and tired every day. Other complaint was the layout of the Windjammer. Whoever designed it should be fired. I enjoyed everything else so much that I won't let that stop me from booking again. Thinking about Harmony for next spring.

We just cruised with Royal last week for the first time in 12 years. It felt a bit odd at first but that feeling passed pretty quick. We mainly booked it because we wanted a cruise that went to Roatan and Allure had much better rates than Vista when I booked it. Plus I've wanted to try one of their mega ships for a while now so I finally got to see what that was like. Back on Carnival in less than three months, but we'll book with Royal or another line in the future just for the variety. Hoping the fourth terminal at Galveston doesn't get held up for too long as the city has been in negotiations with both MSC and NCL to get ships there year round. Would love to cruise NCL again and would like to try MSC.

We were actually advised against it by a tour guide in Cozumel. She said that all you needed to get a drivers license there was a pulse and some Pesos and traffic accidents involving tourists happened a lot more frequently than we hear about.

Not necessarily. They took a lot of flak from golds, especially those that were only one or two cruises from platinum, when they kicked the golds out of the party. I doubt they'd lose very many platinums if (when) they change things.

This happened to Royal some time back and they actually honored it. Interested to see what Carnival does.

It's been pretty much a known "secret" for months. It was always unofficially between her and Cookie, and once it was announced he was assigned to Mardi Gras starting in November, they might as well have made this announcement at the same time.

I foresee Platinum cruisers getting the Gold treatment in the future and being dropped from the parties as well. I'm guessing that because there are are so many Plats now since Carnival used to make it so easy to get to Platinum, that when the VIFP system is revamped they'll add another layer above Diamond similar to RCCL's Pinnacle level. They probably make Platinum a bit harder to get like maybe make it 85 to 90 days, and throw the Golds a bone by making a level between Gold and Platinum with some perk added to that level that doesn't really cost Carnival anything.

I didn't think they'd be changing up the destinations, but was hoping perhaps they'd consider swapping Breeze and Dream and letting Breeze do the 6 and 8 days itineraries.

I think it's because some people simply forget. I almost did on my last cruise. Was walking past Pixels and heard someone else mention pins so I stopped and got mine. If I forget a pin it's not a deal breaker and I won't be getting on here complaining, but it would be nice to have them waiting in the room like days of olde.