live.love.cruise

I booked a Bella inside on the Seascape and was upgraded to a balcony. And instead of purchasing the spa passes for $145pp, I submitted/won a bid for $160pp to upgrade to a Aurea balcony. 

15 hours ago, sebas030 said:

Yes there is.

 

It is a new feature. When you exit the duty free shop, turn left and there are new cabanas right there on the sand with ( I think ) 2 massage table in each.

 

No idea of the cost, but it is there.

 

Yay, great, thank you!

Hello,

I tried searching here and online with no success. I’m visiting Taino Bay in April via MSC. Does anyone know if there’s a place @ port for massages? Price? Location?

Thanks in advance for any info!

All caught up! Great review, as always! Thanks for the detailed information and pictures. 

Yay! I’m following along. So excited for this because I’m on the Spirit in two weeks. Last year was my first time sailing on a Spirit class ship- Pride/Tampa/Panama Canal and I was totally surprised how much I loved it. 
 

Thanks for the review. Have an awesome time!

53 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Audience participation is wayyy down these past couple of days. Maybe I scared away all the readers? Whatever... I forge ahead...

So….I’ve been here (lurking) since the start of the review, following along, loving your review! 
 

Your reviews are my favorite, from the pics to the memes to the comments. I’m not much of a people person so I totally relate and think you’re doing great. Thanks for sharing!

2 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

I think you have to look daily, as they seem to change daily (at least mine do).

Yes, I will be stalking the site often throughout the day until I'm ready to book. I can't travel until the end of the month, so hopefully the deal will stick around til then. 

On 10/30/2023 at 4:01 PM, mpacker said:

I just checked and ours are back (now that we booked a cruise in another line)

 

go check yours 🙂

My $50 offer returned today. Hopefully the offer will stick around a few weeks to allow me to book one during my planned vacation days.

13 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

We just got back from a five-day on Sunshine. This was only our second Carnival cruise, but we have cruised other lines.  I do not remember the first cruise (On Paradise) being so dirty.  Every window was filthy.  The floors were sticky.  Here were fixtures and furniture that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months.

 

Overall, we loved the cruise.  It was better than we expected.  We're considering doing the Sunshiine again, but is it always this dirty?  Or was this an unusual thing?

Yes, it was in the same condition when we sailed for New Years earlier this year. We stayed in a "suite" that was old/ worn and the curtains were so dusty as if no one had cleaned or stayed in the cabin for years lol. This was my least favorite ship/cruise. It wasn't even worth the casino rate we paid. A couple months later we sailed another "older" ship (Pride) and it was completely different. The ship was very clean , well maintained, and the staff seemed happy. I can't say the same about the Sunshine. There's enough ships out there to try another one. 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I'm considering the 5 night cruise for April. Your review and pics were great.

1 hour ago, mpacker said:

 

 

are you still seeing yours?   since the "upgrade" to the website it seems the $50 offers have disappeared for both me and my wife.   wondering if it was just us or everyone (or website screweup)

 

 

thanks

Same here. I no longer have the $50 offer.  My offer had a 9/30 expiration date. Hoping I get a new one next month. 

1 hour ago, AFS1970 said:

When you take a deal like this and it is at "casino rate" do they expect you to play a certain amount in the casino?

There was no play requirement for the last minute $50 casino offers I've received. They come with a $50 onboard credit per person. 

On 9/22/2023 at 10:18 AM, msweezie said:

I constantly see under my last minute deals "$50 per person cruises", usually for the upcoming weekend.  I am constantly late, click on the link and there are no more available rooms.  Does anyone know when these rooms drop, and these prices are available?  For example, I looked Tuesday for the upcoming weekend, and none area available.  Today is Friday,  I don't see anything yet.  I am going to try to check constantly this weekend, but if anyone has any inside info that would be helpful, please share!

The $50 deals change often, I assume they pop up as others are cancelling at the last minute. I research the cruises I want in advance so that I'm ready when it appears. I refresh the deal page often throughout the day, lol. Also, I've noticed the cabins are usually for two people, haven't had a chance to add a third to any of the cruises I've seen. Because of this once I see the one I want I click on the price listed under cabin type which takes me straight to the booking page vs clicking on "start booking" because the cabin will be gone by the time you go through the additional steps.

I was able to grab a $50 8 night Panama Canal cruise in March. I currently have the same offer, almost booked the Celebration for next week but I want to cruise later this year.

Good luck!

2 hours ago, xyzcruiser said:

It may seem silly but even with the abundance of food available onboard, I find the thing I miss the most while cruising is food with crunch such as potato chips, hard taco shells, crackers, nuts, etc, or even some crunchy vegetables. I find that pretty much all the food is the same mushy texture- although I am fine with the flavor.  I cruise 3-4 times a year usually on the smaller Carnival ships, with a few rcl and ncl thrown in. 

Not silly @ all. By day 4/5 on a week long cruise I start to crave potato chips,  even though I don’t eat them often @ home. Never thought much about it til reading your post. 

On 3/12/2023 at 10:58 PM, BasicSailor said:

Hope you're doing a review.

Sorry, just saw this message. I don’t think I have the time nor the skill to write a good review lol But I will say that I loved the ship, was surprised by the condition (very clean and well maintained). First time on a Spirit class ship and  I enjoyed its uniqueness compared to other classes. 

We just got off the Pride today and had cabin 4114. We loved the location, close to the theatre (it was great walking a few steps to our cabin when shows were over vs dealing with the crowds at stairs/elevator), easy access to all the action on the decks below/above. Also enjoyed the full window which let in lots of light between the lifeboats. We did hear music from the piano bar below but it wasn’t loud enough to keep us awake at night.  

I was against lanyards for years and would put my card in back pocket, wristlet, someone else’s pocket or wristlet lol. That was until my mom brought me a rhinestone “bling” one a

couple years ago….I love it and wear it every cruise. 

6 hours ago, Pellaz said:

I was offered a $35/pp cruise on the Sunrise, 4-night, interior, for last February.  I upgraded to a balcony for not that much (less than $200) and went on my first-ever solo cruise.  

Then I won $2,500 on the "Cash Vault" machine in the casino on the last night...which paid for the cruise, my airfare, pre-cruise hotel and all about three times over.  I spent $20 total in the casino. 🙂  

Came home to find $0 offers for cruises with DOU in the casino, including an 8-day cruise to the ABC Islands...and I hated to pass it up, but it departed just 3 days after I had just returned.    Oh, well.  😐  

 

 

That’s a great deal! $20 is usually my casino limit but recently increased to $40 or $60 max per cruise lol, to increase the casino offers. My offers are random or last min deals. 
 

My best non casino was about $1300 ( +$200 OBC) for an extended balcony for two on the Mardi Gras for New Years ‘21/‘22.

11 minutes ago, resetjet said:

We just did that one.  Was a decent cruise.  I would suggest booking a tour in limon or don't get off.  The boat tour was reasonably interesting.  The rainforest walking tour did not have any wildlife viewing (except for poison frogs).  

Thank you! I’ve been looking at the tour options in Limon. I plan to get off since there’s only two port days. 

Yesterday I booked an inside cabin on the Pride, 8n Panama Canal (partial transit). It was $50 pp with $50 pp OBC. It was a last min casino offer that I’ve had for the last few weeks and was waiting specifically for this one. I don’t spend much in the casino so this was a surprise deal that I couldn’t resist. 
 

1 hour ago, cruisinqt said:

I’ve seen some pretty good discounts but they’re all casino related offers. 

Same here, I rarely receive good offers but had a last min $50pp casino offer for the 8 night Panama Canal cruise this month but couldn’t take off the time from work. Hope to see this deal for upcoming sailings. 

15 hours ago, tattoos said:

 

All the warmer places on the ship seemed to be in the aft...the aft buffet, Cucina and JiJi's are both located aft, Ocean Plaza is located aft??   I wonder if the aft staterooms were hot also?  If someone has stayed in an aft stateroom on the Horizon recently, please let me know. 

We had an interior aft cabin on deck 6 on the 5/28 sailing; no issues with the air in our cabin. I agree with others and the OP regarding lack of air in public areas. It was miserable at times. I almost melted lol while waiting on line to eat at JiJi’s for lunch one day.

I was on this cruise and wondered the same thing. I asked those I was traveling with but they didn’t notice the difference so I thought I was “crazy”. Thanks for posting. Hopefully someone will know the answer.

Thanks for posting this live review; we’re boarding on Saturday.

Enjoy your cruise!

Pre pandemic I always got off (except Nassau) the ship but now I’m in such a lazy chill mode that I don’t get off unless it’s a new port. I’m starting to like staying onboard and enjoying the ship while others are off.

We sailed the Oasis 5 years ago and have cruised several times since and it’s still my favorite. Bored? No way! There’s so much to see and do and eat onboard, you will have a great time!

Enjoy!