stobe1

I agree with you 100%. If this is accurate, 7,000 passengers is way too much for me. I will gladly stick with Vista class and smaller. Besides, these ships get so big that the only ports that can accomodate them are the Nassaus, Cozumels and San Juans of the Caribbean. Lots of people visiting the same ol' ports.

I have taken my daughter on several cruises, land vacations to Mexico and Europe over the years and have never once been asked for a notarized letter from her mother. Same with my ex-wife. She has never been asked for one either when traveling with her. Allegedly, Royal now asks for a notarized letter. But we have only sailed Carnival with my daughter over the years and have never once been asked, nor have we ever bothered with having one.

Yes. This is all correct. The PIN is your birthday. Either the 2 digit month and day or 2 digit month and year. I can't recall which but it will prompt you on the screen for it

People watch the Oscars ?

It's ok. I recently made a comment in a thread about the Pride when the question was about Panorama. At least yours was the same class of ship.

The question was about Sunrise. I can't say I haven't made that mistake before, though, talking about one ship when the question was about another. 😄 And your advice about avoiding Thanksgiving crowds is good advice for any ship. Not just Sunrise/shine lol.

It is 1,130 feet long from front to back.

If that is the worst you have to deal with, I would say you will be having a good cruise. Rust happens on all ships. It is floating steel on salt water. Rust is going to happen, no matter how good the maintenance. Outdoor furnishings get worn down. Slow drains? The previous cruisers probably shaved their backs in the shower. Unhappy crewmembers? That could be a reflection on how the entitled passengers are treating them at that time. If you look hard enough you can find general issues that need maintenance all over the ship, no matter what ship or cruise line you may be on. Be it Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity or Cunard.

Horizon with Havana area cabin (if it is in your budget), hands down. Not even a close one or hard choice for me.

Ouch!

I thought Ed Bastian walked that back a bit after all the outrage. That was an extreme move to be sure.

They may be taking a page from airline frequent flyer programs. Most airlines require you to either fly a certain number of miles or flight segments per year to earn and maintain status. Other airlines require you to spend a certain amount of money per year to earn or maintain status. The airline I work for requires a certain number of miles or flight segments annually. At the end of every year we always see people making "mileage runs" so that their status carries over into the following year. They just fly from point A to point B and back to point A in the same day or make a quick weekend trip out of the mileage run to rack up the miles they need at the last minute. It is a huge motivator for people to keep their status tier. We also see this same approach with hotels, car rental companies, etc... If you don't give them business every so often you lose status. This approach may work for cruise lines as well. While there would be some moaning and groaning initially with JH's page being bombarded with negative comments, it would eventually die down over time. Lots of people on here (yours truly included) have been belly aching for at least a decade about the VIFP program needing changes and updating. No matter what they do or how they revamp it, there will be someone that has heartburn about it. Just my 2 cents.

We did a back to back cruise many moons ago and tried a little experiment where the 1st week we did Cheers and the 2nd week we did pay-as-we-go and did a comparison. We spent waaay more the second week after we factored in the alcohol, water, sodas, Gatorades, coffee, etc... For us Cheers just makes sense.

Just fly from SMF to LAX then Uber to the port. The airfare will be far less than parking for that long. As for the other things like bills...most everything can be paid online or set up for autopay these days. And your pets would have to be left with a family member or friend. If you are worried about being away from home that long then a longer voyage isn't for you

Pour out some of your liquor of choice into an empty water bottle, or flask as you mentioned, then use a backpack or beach bag to haul it around with you on the ship along with cans of your soda. Then you can refill your tumbler as needed. None of the crew will give you any issues about it. It happens all the time.

I am not sure if using a cell phone is permissible but I would Stop by a FedEx office and get some printed up just in case.

There are numerous itineraries that will sail to Celebration Cay and HMC as well as Princess Cay. It looks like Celebration Cay won't be impacting sailings to HMC or Princess Cay.

At least your friend with dementia will be surprised to see you everyday. Before I get shamed, I can joke about it -- it runs in my family on my mother's side. It is a horrible disease but it helps to be light hearted about it.

This is not what I thought this thread was about. When I saw the thread title, I thought this was going to be about those that haven't reached Diamond status yet.

With cruising in general, I always say if you like the price you see for thecabin, itinerary and ship you want to sail, go ahead and book it. There is no guarantee that the price will go down, even with a "sale". Also, there is no guarantee that the specific cabin you want or if thaglt cabin category will still be available down the road.

My booking ---> My To Do List ---> More details. Scroll down and it should be there under OnBoard Credit.

We were on Venezia in August. We had platinum priority disembarkation and didnt get off this ship until a little after 11. It was the most chaotic disembarkation we have ever experienced. Luckily our flight wasnt until 3 something so we still had plenty of time to spare but if we had had a noon-ish flight we wouldn't have made it.

I am a huge Fantasy class fan. I will miss them when they are all gone. The only one we have yet to sail on is Paradise. Imagination was my favorite of all of them. For the purposes of this thread, the "I have arrived" moment for me on every cruise is sipping my first cocktail at Alchemy or my first beer at the aft pool bar.

My best sailaway is which ever one I happen to be on at the time.

For the record, Firenze won't be brand new. She will be new to Carnival, however. She is being transferred/bought from Costa.