anastasia3939

On my last cruise, someone had a magnet that was a white board and they'd ask a different question every day for people to leave responses.  Some examples, "what are your plans in port tomorrow?", "what is your favorite drink being served on the cruise?" etc. I actually thought that was really cool and would swing by every day to respond and read other's responses.  

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

the pole is odd

it’s not a pole….you are seeing the edge of the mirror, and the bed’s reflection in it

Do you get to walk down in the caves at your own leisure, or is it guided tour groups only?

Not a big fan of guided tours....I always feel like Pee-Wee Herman on his excruciating Alamo tour.

1 hour ago, markeb said:

When is your cruise? Sometimes the menu option doesn't appear until closer to sailing.  This is my sailing later this month and I have a "Menu" option right above the opening times. Do you see that?

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

Check a sailing with a much closer date…

Well, I'm sailing in 12 days, so I'd consider that pretty close.  I clicked on some of the other bars, and three of them have menus showing, so I am definitely looking in the right place. Whoever is in charge of Linking the menus must be conspiring to keep me from planning my martini plan of attack! 😁  I will take the advice of looking at the current sailing for my ship and see if anything shows up. Thanks 🙂

10 hours ago, markeb said:

Did you look in the app? Generally $17. Probably a few that are more. 

I always see the response to look in the app.  I have the latest version of the app, on a qualifying new enough iphone, and I am not seeing any drink menu or prices for the martini bar. When I click on Martini Bar, I get hours of operation only.  Please tell me where these mystery menus people keep referencing can be found?

Quotes for Fights by Celeberity

First rule of Celebrity Fight club, is that you do not talk about Celebrity Fight club

It's the time for whatever port the ship is leaving from.

I've never been on a cruise ship with self serve laundry but I guess I will be when I go on the Pride. How much does a load of laundry cost, and do you scan your sea pass card, or should I bring quarters?

TIA

I’ll keep it short and sweet…..melting cake 😋

On 3/20/2024 at 10:02 PM, Elaine5715 said:

That should be a red flag.  Every independent tour operator I have used, followed ship time

I only use independent tour operators that have great reviews. Carnival doesn’t know if the ship is going to follow ship time or local time, the captain changes it depending upon the sailing..but it’s a red flag if the independent operator who has passengers from multiple lines and resorts doesn’t read the captain’s mind? I disagree.

We put all of our collective POPS and wines for our group of three (3 bottles of wine, 24 juice boxes, and 12 pop cans) into a small roller suitcase, the size that they just barely let you bring as a carry on for a plane trip.  We put it on the security scanner and there were no issues, no questions asked, no having to open it up.  We boarded the ship and since the rooms weren't ready, we just left it outside our cabin door and went to find some food.  When rooms were ready, our cabin steward had placed the suitcase in the room for us.  This was a February 2024 cruise out of Manhattan.  

     My son took his first Carnival cruise when he was 2 years old, so I'm very familiar with the different stages of the kids programs.  The 11 and 14 year old will be in two different programs.  The 11 year old is in Camp Ocean, Sharks program, and the 14 year old is actually in Circle C (12-14 year olds).  Camp Ocean is more structured and opens in the morning. They play games and do a lot of craft based activities. They also have parades and some events for the parents/grandparents and children to do together.  My son always went to Camp Ocean as soon as it opened and wanted to stay until the lunchtime close. Then he'd go back after dinner.  In the Shark age group (9-11), the adult has the option to sign a permission form to let the child sign themselves in or out, or just keep it where an adult needs to sign them out. 

     Circle C is more free form and activities start at noon. My son just had his first cruise as a Circle C'er so that is pretty fresh in my memory.  They had video gaming tournaments, foosball and basketball competitions and also played a lot of hide and seek on some chosen deck (yes, sometimes the kids running around "unsupervised" was a Carnival sponsored activity!) They also had their own silent discos and parties on several nights.The 12-14 year olds can come and go as they please and the timing of the activities was posted in the Hub app.My son often came back to the stateroom after 11:30 pm, wiped out, but I think they have a 1 am curfew. Like previous posters suggested, it's a good idea to have them go the first evening when they have the get to know you activities because they might find a buddy that they get together with and hang out the whole cruise.    

Well, as a measly gold level cruiser, I hope they don't touch my (whoop-dee-doo!) free bottle of water!!

It's up to the captain, and apparently they may change for a particular sailing. I found this out the hard way last month on Venezia.  I called Carnival and talked to a representative and asked about my particular sailing.  I said "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. He told me, "No, I assure you the captain goes by local time, don't worry." The day before out port of call the cruise director announced that we would not be switching times, so we would be one hour behind local time.  Thankfully, I had the internet package and was able to contact my independent tour operators to see if they could accommodate our time changes, and they did.

All that to say, you can't know with any reliability, until you are on the ship.

Going to be on the Eclipse in May 2024.  There are SOME things showing 25% off. Drink packages, and a very few excursions. Most have 5-20% discount, if anything.

6 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Sounds like you are with your kids, though? The complaints are about unaccompanied kids.

Um, I was responding to “I wish Carnival would go back to Adult Only aft pools on all their ships!” 
Adult only. Not accompanied or non-accompanied. 

As a parent, I appreciate having multiple pool options for my children. Since my kids are not feral, we pick whichever pool is quieter.  That's why we pick RCCL, NCL or Carnival ships with climbing walls, water parks and ropes courses. Seems like they are geared towards families.  When I reach the "Get off my lawn!" phase of life, I'll probably try sailing different lines, or smaller ships that don't market themselves as family cruises. 🤷‍♀️

Following along. We have friends on this sailing, and will be boarding ourselves on the 11th.  Would you mind posting a snapshot of what is available for the Circle C's (12-14 year olds) on a given sea day? My son is coming with us and we are curious about what activities they have available.

Thanks!

2 hours ago, myjillian said:

I don't think they charge.  If it's like Princess everyone meets in a large place and renew the vows together.  I don't think a red dress is necessary just something red.  I wouldn't be suprised to see some very casual participants 🍹

I think I'll pack the red dress anyway.  I never get to dress up at home, so I do like to dress up a bit for the cruise. I was thinking, it would also make sense for them to make Valentine's day one of the formal nights.  Thanks for the info!

I received an email about a mass, fleet wide vow renewal happening on Valentines Day. It was pretty short on details, saying we’d find out more once we set sail. Does anyone know if this is a free event, or do they up charge? Trying to figure out if I should bother packing a red dress.

I'm going to be on the Venezia. We actually sail away on the eve of Superbowl Sunday from Manhattan, so I assume it will be a combo sail away/Superbowl celebration in the Pool deck area.  I'm glad I'm not a super fan of either team, so I can enjoy the party atmosphere without trying to focus too hard on the actual game. I imagine it will be difficult to really WATCH the game.

This review is wonderful, and your pictures are the best! I'll be cruising on this ship next month (12 night Southern Caribbean) and feel much more prepared due to your reviews.  I have a question I hope you can help me with.  I had called Carnival Customer service and inquired about whether the ship stays on home port time, or switches to local time when visiting ports. He told me they shift the clocks to line up with local time, but I have had others on the message board tell me that I was given bad info, and they always stay on home port time. Since you sailed on this exact ship and experienced time zone changes on your cruise, can you please tell me if they always stayed on EST, or did they move the clocks to the local port time? I have some independent excursions booked, and want to make sure I'm not an hour late!

Thank you!

On 1/13/2024 at 6:25 PM, leen50 said:

Welcome Aboard Anastasia. The ship should stay on Eastern time. Your tour people should know that but giving them a heads up is not a bad idea.

RU parking at the terminal? I think you can reserve it.

The Super Bowl will be on the Lido screen, some places around the ship and possibly in the cabin.

Thanks for the information on the time. We'll probably have to change our excursion in Granada 😤 because it isn't strictly for cruise passengers and leaves from a hotel lobby. We are going to be parking with Park Right, a garage on West 43rd st we always use. I like how they drive us in our car right up to the Porters at the terminal so we don't have to deal moving our enormous bags. Mine is always embarrassingly heavy 😬. 

It's getting so close, can't wait! Cruising as a family of four (two Gen Xers, one adult child and one 12 year old). This will be cruise #14, but it's been 9 years since we've cruised on Carnival. I'm not really attached to any cruise line, but love to leave from the North East to avoid flying.  We live in the Rochester NY area and will be driving in the morning of the cruise. Hoping for decent weather but we'll make it there regardless.  

     Does anyone who has cruised with Carnival recently know if the ship stays on EST, or do they switch the clock ahead for Atlantic time? I booked some excursions outside of the cruise line, and it didn't occur to me that there is a potential time difference to deal with.  Our most recent cruises have been NCL and they switch times to match port time.  

    I also didn't realize it was Super Bowl weekend when we booked the cruise way back when, so hopefully they are showing the game all over the ship! I will be one of the crazy ladies representing Bills Mafia as they win the game! Go BIlls!

The complaint was not that the itinerary changed. In fact the change was anticipated. As a careful reading of the OP will reveal, the dropping of almost half of the port days was not anticipated. For any who enjoy port days more than sea days this would be upsetting. Given the plethora of available ports, it is also puzzling.

 

Apparently disparaging posters takes precedence over facts.

YES!!!!!! I am booked on this cruise. I did anticipate that the itinerary would change. We were notified by email more than two weeks prior to final payment that the itinerary would be changed, and that we would receive our updated itinerary WITHIN two weeks. Had they stuck to what they told us in the email, we would have received the updated itinerary BEFORE final payment. Unfortunately, they did not do what they said they were going to do. We did not receive an updated itinerary until after final payment. Heck, I didn't receive my email until last night! Apparently, they decided to handle this with a staggered notification. Maybe in anticipation of receiving numerous complaints?

Anyway, I booked the cruise precisely because it included 8 ports of call. Imagine that!!! Booking a port intensive cruise because you like Port Intensivity!!!!!! Had I wanted a high sea day to port ratio, that is what I would have booked. So yes, I will commiserate with the OP. This is disappointing. I don't think it has been handled well by NCL. I don't understand leaving Aruba at 12:00 pm on the second day, effectively giving us yet another sea day. I don't understand the NCL representative telling me there would be no refunds for port charges, when there are fewer ports. It's poo-ey. Yes, it's within the cruise line's rights.....but it leaves me with an icky feeling. I can express my dismay with the handling of the situation AND still feel deep compassion for the people of the caribbean AND still go have an amazing cruise. Wow! Mixed emotions...shades of grey....imagine that ;)!