DarthGrady

Same here with the varying experiences. One B2B I was allowed to stay onboard because customs set up on the ship to process non-US citizens, so I just had to check in with them. This was actually pretty neat since I got to wander around during the hour or so that all the crew disappear, a little eerie. Usually I have been walked off, put through customs in the terminal and either walked back on or put into the very first boarding group. Seems to depend on the sailing, ship and port. As with most things, YMMV.

Any of the Radiance Class sisters. The day they are all gone will be a sad one for me.

I was on Ovation in September to Alaska (also pre Starlink) and it was bad.

You may be right, I think we'll just have to wait and see how well the non-smoking casino/jazz clubs do. If they're a hit, maybe someday we'll see the two being swapped. I'm all for it, but I can't blame the cruise lines for being cautious. They know where they make their money (gambling and booze being big sources), and it's well known that a lot of gamblers like to smoke.

I believe they do still have one formal night on the short cruises, in the past it was the menu with the beef tenderloin, but they've been doing some menu changes recently so that could be wrong.

Not enough considering the headlines of late. A little more jazz might really calm some folks down.

While I also agree, the cruise lines have been very cautious about kicking smokers out of the main casinos. They might only be 12% of the overall market, but they're a significant percentage of casino patrons. It was easy to see on Harmony last month. The "smoking side" (which is laughable since the whole place is full of smoke) was noticeably busier than the non smoking side.

Good to hear, I'll look for it next time I'm on CCL.

Interesting. Did it go away for a while? I didn't see it in the Capers/Fun Times for a while and eventually just stopped looking for it.

Up through the early 2010's they still had afternoon tea with pastries and other snacks (I'm sure the British have a lovely term for this), I really enjoyed it. Some of the pricier cruise lines didn't even offer it, definitely a nice touch that has been lost to the ages.

I would take it up through the Vision and Radiance classes, they are more "traditional" cruise ships than they are gimmicky abominations like most everything since.

There were a few tweaks to the design between Wonder and the older Oasis Class ships (like Harmony), but definitely not enough that I would spend an extra $2K. Edit: Just to clarify OP, Harmony and Wonder are technically the same class. They made some changes to Wonder's layout, mostly up top on the pool deck, an expanded buffet area, and different dining venues.

When I was on her a little over a year ago you could get drinks from the bar in the evening (using your vouchers or beverage package), to include bottles of water. During the day they would usually have cookies/snacks by the coffee machine, and hors d'oeuvres in the evening. I'm really going to miss those nice CL's on the Radiance Class now that D+ has been uninvited. 😢

Hopefully not for many more years anyway........

I'll miss the nice CLs on the Radiance Class, but it wasn't at all surprising. I was expecting them to do this year's ago by just relabeling the remaining CLs as SLs and calling it a day. That might've caused more or less complaints, not really sure. Either way, since they don't do the nightly happy hours anymore this isn't really a big deal for me. Other than the occasional coffee machine visit there aren't many reasons for me to go into a DL/CL anymore.

I would be nice if CCL created a new smaller class like this in the 80-90K GT range to replace the old Holiday and Fantasy classes. I think they would be really popular, especially from ports like Jacksonville, Tampa, Mobile, etc. where you have more frequent/local cruisers who aren't looking for the mega-ship experience. At some point someone is going to have to realize that they can't keep going bigger without losing some of these ports due to bridges and terminal capacity.

The program and its benefits are found at this address: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-the-key-program

Agreed. Just did a JS on OV and really enjoyed the split bathroom and separate tub/shower design. That alone was almost worth the price of admission.

Interesting ship, I agree with others that she could be called an "Oasis Ultra" class. I think most of the changes from Oasis are good ones. Moving a lot of the kid stuff down to the former Boardwalk is good, I'll know where not to go if I'm onboard. The new pool layout is pretty slick, as well as the asymmetric decks up there. The enclosed Aqua Theater is a good idea, basically a combination/evolution of both AT and Two70 concepts. A small but brilliant addition are the escalators running between the busy promenade decks. This is long overdue, as elevator wait times and overcrowding have gotten bad on the newer classes. While I'm not a fan of the big ships, I'd take a cruise on her someday just to check it out.

I've only done a handful of Carnival cruises that weren't on Fantasy class ships (Splendor is the newest I've been on 🤣 ). Starting with my first CCL cruise in '99 on Sensation, I've had so many fun times on them. Inspiration and Paradise are my most frequented ships since they both spent many years in Tampa. I hoped to complete the class one day, but since the Fantasy fell victim to COVID that'll never happen now. It'll be a very sad day for me when they're all gone, I'm really hoping Paradise and Elation still have many more years left. Some photos from my Elation cruise back in December of 21.

This is one of the biggest problems with all the cruise lines and their obsession with building bigger and bigger ships. What's going to happen when they inevitably have to retire the ships that will fit into these ports? Just abandon the market? I hope not, but none of the big companies seem interested in building reasonably sized ships anymore. As someone who enjoys the older/smaller ships, I hope the mindset changes soon. I'd like to see some newbuilds in the sub-100k GT range.

I'm so sad to see the Fantasy Class ships leaving the fleet, I'd rather they sold off the Destiny class first (or whatever they're calling it these days). With the exception of Fantasy herself, I cruised at least once on all of them over the years. They are far and away my favorite CCL class. Few silly gimmicks, only a couple minutes walk to anywhere, just good old fashioned cruise ships. I'm sure Elation and Paradise's days are numbered, but I really hope they still have a few years left. Once they're gone, so will everything that was the "old Carnival". Some would say that's a good thing, but I disagree.

Great review, thanks for posting this! Heading up there in a few weeks for an Alaskan cruise on OV.

I hope not, I still want to cruise with Carnival! I can be a bit rowdy, maybe even seedy on the right kind of night, so I tend to only cruise on the Fantasy Class ships. Works out great since they are my favorite class, and the bourgeoisie get their caviar and Dom Perignon aboard Carnival Potterybarn without being bothered by the riffraff. 😂😂😂