omarchs

The NY fans feel your pain. Carnival has pretty much conceded the NY market to Royal and NCL with few sailings remaining so they are also losing fans around here too! Baltimore is too far to drive for our tastes so Royal and NCL get our business in their absence.

I have only had a few quick moments to try booking online via the Holland website an applicable Explore4 cruise and nowhere through the booking process does it ever indicate that the Explore4 option is included on your reservation.

 

I am reluctant to book because of this and figure i will just need to call when i have some time since i have no confidence that it will be included when i book online.

Has anyone been able to book the Explore4 option online with the new system? I picked an applicable sailing, but nowhere does it state that Explore4 is attached or do you have the ability to put in a 50% deposit amount. There doesn't seem to be any place to input the promo code anymore. I guess that you get the promo automatically if you choose an applicable sailing and you just need to call up and have it applied, but that doesn't help with the 50% deposit offer.

 

I guess they just force you to call up.

I agree, we were on the Splendor for NYE last year and the formal night didn't fall on NYE and they didn't change it. They did the ballon drop in the atrium and you put your room number on it and a whopping one or two balloons chosen got a bottle of champagne. They did a early morning special breakfast in the buffet which was nice.

 

I believe the menu in the dining room was normal that night too since they didn't alter the schedule.

 

It was a very strange night. Half the ship dressed up and the other half didn't. You had suits/dresses alongside t-shirts/shorts/flops at the deck party around the pools. It was a nice party, but a very strange vibe due to the clashing attire. They switched from a band to a DJ throughout the night and showed the ball drop on the big screen. Everyone was saying that they should have just switched it to a elegant night since most people would have been fine getting dressed up for NYE if they had requested it.

 

Have a great time! There is nothing better than just needing to find your way back to the room on NYE!

Thanks for the photos! Nice to see that one again there are pool deck supports that are blocking the balcony views for what looks like two decks. Thought we were safe on deck 12 but not anymore. No chance of switching rooms with the. Current prices!

We were on the ship in October and couldn't believe that we couldn't get the jets/pats game when we were still docked and the New York CBS affiliate being located about three blocks from the ship so don't expect anything

The fine print I saw indicated that the obc had to be spent on only food. Don't remember where I saw it, but I remember saying they give you 20% discount on what you paid for food and then you needed to spend the obc on more food!

I think a lot depends upon the passengers/ship/location any given week.

 

Just off the Valor a few weeks ago and Jeans and shorts were certainly the norm for most guys on the casual nights with t-shirts or polo shirts. Very few suits or shirts/ties on formal night. Most with slacks and shirts.

 

I wore a suit on the 1st formal night on the Valor since I felt very under-dressed on the formal nights on my last cruise on the Splendor out of NY. I just wore shirt/slacks and the majority of the guys actually wore suits/ties on both formal nights. An earlier poster indicated that nobody really dressed up on their Splendor cruise so you can see again that it really varies by the crowd each week. On the Valor, I stuck out like a sore thumb since almost nobody was in a suit and I didn't repeat it for the second formal night.

 

Certainly wouldn't stress out over it and wear what you are comfortable with since just about anything passes. Have a great trip.

I've had the case where it took my credit card info and gave me a confirmation email, but it doesn't show up in my online calendar as being booked.

Still in the pending status on my Credit card a day later. I am not going to worry about it, i will just show them my confirmation email on the ship :)

There was some mention that you had to use the 20% on board when booking three pay restaurants on food in the fine print. Not sure what food you are supposed to spend this on if you prebook all your restaurants. The premium selections in the free dining?

We just ate at the steakhouse on the Valor. We prebooked about 4 months in advance, yet had to wait about 15 minutes so that they could give us a seat by the window even though there appeared to be plenty of available tables.

 

They did give us nice table but they were in a rush to have us order. We then noticed that they wheeled around a cart showing all the steak options to the other tables which they never did for us. Overall the service in the dining room was better than here. We have never tasted a worse Caesar salad. The steaks were decent but not exceptional. The other poster is correct that the cheesecake is awful even though it looks impressive.

 

Certainly not worth the $70 tab in my book.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what people will wear on formal nights. Just odd the Valor and very few men in suits the first formal night. A few wore shirts and ties but the majority just wore collared shirts and slacks. Women did dress up more but no more than 50%. No suits or ties on the second formal night. Found that many more guys have dressed up on the formal nights on my last few nights so my suit was out of place on the Valor.

 

I think it just depends upon where you sail out of and the whims of the crowd any given week. I know that I am not bringing a suit for our 4 day out of LA in September after this last experience.

Their marketing people just don't have a grasp on sports loyalties. I have been on 20+ Celebrity cruises, but this loyal Jets fan won't step foot on another Celebrity cruise after signing on with this new partner.

 

celebrity/rccl have always had more sailing presence out of the ny/nj market so you think sponsoring with the other ny teams besides the Rangers might earn them more ny business rather than linking to a Boston market they rarely sail from.

 

Pats fans have less time/money to cruise anyway since Jets fans have less playoff games to pay for and attend so their cruise calendars have more available dates!

The future cruise consultant at a talk on the Spendor a few weeks ago mentioned that NY would get a bigger and better ship in the spring of 2015 when they returned to NY.

 

We know that this is just speculation but it was an interesting comment for her to say at this stage in a scheduled talk.

 

FYI - the covered pool was of no use during the very cold weather since it was freezing in there despite the roof closure and nobody wanted to sit out there. I know that the Breakaway has no enclosed pool and is selling fine in NY so enclosed pools for a NY ship isn't essential.

 

I think a Dream class ship or the Sunshine in NY would be great even seasonally. Carnival seems to like shifting their ships around more than the other cruise lines so I do like that NY has had a few different ships in NY over the past few years unlike Royal that has had the Explorer in NJ forever.

Still pretty sad that the world's largest cruise company can't have a year-round presence out of the world's largest city. I remember them making such a big deal about the unique NY to San Juan routes and now they bail.

 

We go out of NY since flying into ft lauderdale and Miami is now a disaster with so many cruise ships dumping passengers on the weekends. Both of those airports can't handle the volumes yet the cruise lines keep dumping ships there.

 

We go on the a Splendor next week, but Carnival won't be seeing us flying to Florida. We will support the lines that offer year round NY cruises.

We are on the Splendor over New Year's too and I am assuming that New Year's would be an elegant night in place of one of the other elegant nights, but I don't have confirmation on this from Carnival.

 

We did book the Steakhouse that night, but almost regretting it since it might be a good night to be in the dining room since they should have a special menu.

 

We are definitely planning to be more formal than a normal elegant night since it is New Year's eve and figure we won't be alone. We are expecting that many people will change into more casual clothes to go to the deck party around the pool that others have indicated happen during New Year's cruises.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Happy to hear we will be able to get some sleep

Should we expect to hear music from the disco if we are two floors above it? We are on the Splendor if it makes any difference. There is a sizable price increase to move up a category/floor, but figure it might be worth it if we should expect to hear music or have the room shaking all night.

Thanks everyone for all this great info!!

 

Just wondering if anyone has any feedback on 7356 or any rooms around there. I didn't see any room reviews around this location under the reviews. It is two floors above the disco and just wondering if the music will still be loud at night two floors above?

 

I usually would avoid this room location just in case, but the price is substantially higher to move up 1 floor from where we are so I want to be sure that we really need to move.

 

Thanks!

I agree with many of the other posters that the pajama jam was a huge ripoff. We went with my 5 year old nephew and it was just a cash grab on the Breakaway. Horrible food that even the kids wouldn't eat. The kids wouldn't eat the donuts. The French toast p&j sandwiches and the days old looking pigs in blankets took the prize as most awful.

 

Event was very regimented, ok 2 minutes more for pix. They did let you take your own photos but there people had the prime center slot. We did ask about the free 8x10 in the photo area, but they did say only 1 for child is free. The 4 other paying adults get nothing but a side trip after to the buffet after to get a real breakfast. Every person should get a free photo!

 

I was also angry that kids gift was a 10 cent plastic cup with a stick and garland! To wave around. Really NCL. Remainder of the trip was fantastic but this $100 ripoff for the family left a bad taste. There were plenty of free meet and greets so save your money.

Hi everyone, we never received a map of the revamped island which would have been helpful for everyone. The new tender dock is at the very end of the island. They are still doing construction on a new area to one side of the dock. The hippo slide and straw market are on the other side.

 

It is probably another few minute walk to the first beach area with the main cookout area. The new Patron bar is also in this area. It is then another few minute walk either by the beach or a higher pass to get to the next beach area where the larger cabanas are perched above. This beach area was relatively small and the sand didn't completely cover the coral walking down from the cabanas so be careful walking.

 

The new small cabanas are just past the last large cabana but not elevated so they are a little more accessible but not as private as the large ones. There is another beach area in front of the small cabanas that is larger and was less crowded due to the longer walk. The new lagoon is a little walk past this area.

 

I can't estimate the distance to the cabana area but it was a decent size walk. (5-7 minutes)The small cabanas are just a little further than the large ones so not much difference in walking time.

 

They gave us green wristbands to wear but they didn't hassle us about putting them on. The cabana staff went and picked up food for us and brought it back to the cabana. This wasn't listed as a perk but it was very nice of the staff and did save a walk. The cabana next to us was empty and the staff did ask for documentation when a few groups tried to sit there and kicked them out.

 

There were multiple packages of 12 pack beers that were between $45 to $52 plus 15%. They did provide a fruit bowl and six bottles of water. Our refig didn't keep much cold. The lagoon was just an open swimming area. Someone did say that it was enclosed recently since sharks were previously able to get in but now it was sealed. Don't know how true it was, but it is a very nice area. Probably a 15 minute walk from the dock area

I didn't see any additional dining facilities beyond the main central facilities prior to the large cabanas, but I didn't specifically look for them. They did have many hot dog carts all over the island which was great since everyone commented that they only ever saw one on the ship.

 

The brand new Lagoon is now open which is past the small cabanas. I didn't walk down there, but those in my family that did said it was very nice.

 

Another note, they didn't really explain the priority tender process well with the cabanas. They just indicate on the ticket in your room that this is your priority pass but don't tell you when you could go. Once again this was on the Breakaway so other ships may be different. They made an announcement that people could get tender tickets the day before. They then started announcing when we arrived that low number tender numbers could depart, then Gold and Silver Lattitudes people then those on excursions which is when we got off. There isn't a big need to get off immediately since there is so much more room on the island so it wasn't a big deal and we didn't have any wait to get a tender. Just an FYI.

This is all great info so thanks to everyone. We are going on a New Year's cruise so I am thinking that it would be beneficial to do it unless Carnival decides too many will do it on a new year's cruise and not offer it.

 

I have only done it once before on Celebrity. They let you bring both cards up to the bar and order drinks if a bar waiter isn't around. Anyone know if you are allowed to do this on Carnival or do both people always have to be present to order?

 

Thanks!

Just off the breakaway on Sunday and we had rented a large cabana and prebooked it last year when we booked the cruise. It was then $249 with the $50 beverage credit including the hippo slide. Our doc on board for the cabana said nothing about the hippo slide being included. They did advertise a large cabana on board for $399 and small for $349 with the $50 and $25 credits.

 

I didn't take pix of either. The small ones had most of the same furniture but a smaller table. Basically there was just less room to move around. I think that there were about 8 -10 small cabanas that were just past the last large cabanas but not elevated high up. All faced the water so they were all relatively shaded even in front of the cabanas.

 

They provided an order form to preorder drinks/snacks and wanted it the day before Andy shore excursions seemed surprised when I turned it in. We only received 6 beers so make sure someone is around the cabana early on to double check what you receive.

 

My nephew did go on the hippo slide and I think they would have told me if they tried to charge them for going on but I will ask him to be sure.

I just called yesterday to upgrade to the premium package yesterday for our April cruise and the rep indicated that it was good timing since it had to be done by the 18th.

 

I know that Andy had mentioned this early in this thread and Celebrity seems to be repeating it now. Still can't believe that they would turn down extra money on the ship if you said you wanted to upgrade, but I would rather pay for it and not take any chances.