CanWeGoYet?

I tried a search to see if I could find posts with similar situations, and didn't come up with anything.  Sorry if it's a topic that comes up frequently.

I booked flights from Seattle to Rome & back from Tampa (med + transatlantic) for the cruises we have coming up in October.  Cruise air gives at least a bit of protection, against all the uncertainty with the pandemic.  I priced refundable flights from SEA to FCO and the prices I found put the whole trip out of reach for us.  I don't have significant points to use to get the tickets that way.

Anyway - Delta Seattle to JFK getting in at 8:22 PM (listed as Alitalia operated by Delta) and the next flight is Alitalia  - operated by Alitalia, departing 9:40PM.

I've never been to JFK, have no idea of the layout or where the delta terminal is - I did find posts from long ago saying 2022 will have the terminal changing.   

My question is how short  / bad is this connection - I don't know how far we have to go to get to the terminal for Alitalia, if we have to go through security again, and if I should get a different flight itinerary from Carnival.  The price was pretty decent at a little over $600 for both flights, but it's harder than ever to get through.  Even my vacation planner has trouble changing flights & needs to wait for help from the air travel department.  We will have checked baggage.  Our cruise is 4 days after our scheduled arrival at FCO, so we won't be risking the cruise at least immediately.  

It may be a simple thing, but if it's required to board - this is big and a bit last minute. 

Just when I thought things might be winding down just a bit with the pandemic.  

And my Alaska shorty cruise seemed so easy & low key.  

9 hours ago, jsglow said:

I'm going to comment on this.  Yes, a one way on Princess that includes the land portion is a significantly better cruise.  We're actually doing it in August.  But sometimes you gotta strike while the iron is hot.  I've strongly encouraged my son to jump on these May deals as he lives about 10 minutes from the port in Seattle.  Are they the best Alaska cruises? Heck no.  But they are the best Alaska cruises for the price that I've ever seen.  So why the heck not?  I sincerely hope he and his girlfriend take advantage and go for a nice week's vacation on a very good and unique cruise they might otherwise not be able to afford or ever do.

Absolutely.  A Carnival cruise round trip Seattle is going to be a completely different product than a one way Princess or HAL Alaska cruise.   Like faulting a car for not having the same features as one that costs 4x as much.   

6 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

I wouldn’t book it. So many negative factors to consider when comparing against other options.

 

Shorter cruise, only two Alaskan ports, visits Tracy Arm instead of Glacier Bay, only one scenic cruising day and also RT Seattle… a better option would be one way with Whittier or Seward to combine time in Alaska. Also, the fact that it’s on Carnival instead of one of the cruise lines with more Alaskan experience.

It could be better, but for $70 pp, not per day but the base fare of the cruise - I don't think I can complain.  I have seen Glacier Bay, on carnival on my first Alaska cruise.  The one way cruises are the best I hear, but then I also hear you are seriously missing out unless you do a land portion tour too.  I thought it was an amazing deal myself.

12 minutes ago, AQW said:

I have a 24hr hold on an 8-night on the Spirit... it's really difficult for me to get away in May-August, and we *just* got off a B2B yesterday, but those prices! I can't fathom not taking advantage of this deal...

The weather in Alaska in May is pretty good, cold but at least it isn't end of season where you can count on heavy rain.  It really is a great opportunity - bring your binoculars for on board the ship!  

I got a super deal too for the Alaska cruises, and booked a 6 day on the Spirit.  I live in Seattle so it's just a quick uber to drop me off at the port.  What's not to love?  

Maybe a couple small things.  No skagway on the itinerary I booked.  Port times are much shorter than I'm used to.  7 to 3PM in Juneau, 7 to 1PM Ketchikan, and Victoria has 8PM to 11:59.  The late / short victoria time has been in place for years - but I've never had such early & short port times in the other ports on my other carnival cruises.  Nor missed Skagway entirely before.  It's a wonderful port and I always look forward to booking an excursion in the Yukon.  

The other thing - from the route I've been able to see the cruise ship  takes - it shows a lot of travel time spent sort of hugging the coastline, instead of inside passage.  Not sure if this will translate to seas that are more rocky, but it wouldn't surprise me.  

I always have small scissors packed in my carry on.  I do my carnival luggage tags the night before the cruise, in the hotel.  Have my paper tags, some clear packaging tape & the scissors.  Every cruise so far that I haven't taken from my home port - which is most of them.  Never been taken from me - I hope this isn't a new thing.

Kind of surprising that a shot of Baileys is over the limit for classic drink package.  Are there any alternate Irish Cream type liquers that are included?

My only feedback was  that Dover Castle is a place you would probably want generous time to explore.  Not a quick tour kind of place.  The grounds are large, there's lots to see in terms of old buildings that housed the soldiers, the Castle itself, and definitely the wartime tunnels.  

I've mainly sailed on Carnival, and enjoyed (or thought I enjoyed) the Conquest class ships.  I loved my cruise on the Liberty.  Then I took a similar itinerary cruise on the Conquest.  It was not good.  It wasn't an especially short or cheap cruise either, a 6 day instead of the more routine 7 day cruise.

It wasn't all bad, but definitely not up to par with the service or crew morale of the other carnival cruises I've taken.  I think the biggest disappointment was the fitness classes.   The guy who was supposed to teach wouldn't show up, or likely had scared off anyone else who had showed up, with his hostile attitude.  The cabin stewards were fine & so were my wait staff, but the food was marginal.  Service in some of the food / drink fee based venues was variable - some good, some really bad.  

So I wouldn't necessarily chalk up the OP's experience to wanting a Princess type cruise on carnival.  

19 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

When is your freaking cruise?

Not until this fall.  So I know I have time.  I just try to get things done in advance.  

I was told late last year to resubmit the shareholder credit documentation later this year.  So I sent it in again a week ago.

This is what I got back:  

This is just a quick auto reply to let you know that we've received your email.  We're happy to look into your inquiry and get back to you as soon as we can.  Due to an increase in inquiries our response time will take longer than normal.  We will process your request as rapidly as possible but keep in mind this may happen as late as the week prior to sailing. Please do not submit any duplicate requests. Thank you for your patience; we value your business and appreciate this opportunity to assist. Sincerely, Carnival Cruise Line   Am hoping this is just their canned "don't bother us" response, and it will actually be taken care of before the freaking week of this major B2B in the middle of a pandemic.  3 weeks at sea, from Rome, flying in days early.  After all the hoops I need to make sure I have to jump through correctly to keep from being denied boarding the plane and the cruise ship - sure as heck don't need to wait until a day or two before we have to leave.     It's only $200, because the TA is only 13 days.  Another day would have netted another $150 in OBC.  Still, with gratuities running over $600 for the both of us, need to get all the OBC possible.   The do not contact us again part of that letter is the most aggravating part.  So I wait until I am heading for the airport?   Because that's about how it will be if I need to wait until a week before the cruise.

In my experience, the location on board the ship and how rough the waters tend to be on the route the cruise  takes, is what makes the difference for me.  My first cruise, not knowing better, I  took the "upgrade" from mid ship interior to the bow of the ship.  It was a port hole cabin clear at the front.  Like riding the maliboomer in rough seas, and being a pacific coastal cruise in February - the water was pretty rough.  Especially going past Cabo at a fast clip.  No problem at all sailing slowing around mazatlan and PV, but heading back to california & going past Cabo again the same thing happened.  I had hoped I had adjusted to being at sea, but no such luck.  It was just different waters and the speed of the ship.  

10 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not necessarily true.  Length is probably the least important factor in transverse stability (rolling), with beam, draft, gross tonnage/displacement ratio, and most importantly metacentric height being far more important.  None of these factors can be easily determined just by looking at a ship, or from generally available public data.  Now, length can have an influence on longitudinal stability (pitching), but again other factors are involved in that as well.

A couple questions for you - wondering if the old school type ocean liners (I'm  thinking of Cunard's QM2) are more stable in rough seas.  Just wondering how well they do considering they do the north atlantic transatlantics even in winter.  

2nd question - I've heard that even though cruise ships are equipped with stabilizers, that in the interests of conserving  fuel - they may not be used even when the seas are rough, at the discretion of the captain.  I don't know if this is rumor or fact, but as someone who is prone to sea sickness I would sure hope this is not common practice.

10 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

 

I had a low vista suite on deck 4.  I loved it.  Had the opportunity to book one on deck 8, found some complaints of trash either being thrown on to these balconies from open upper decks - or maybe unintentionally from careless passengers.

19 minutes ago, jetsfan58 said:

We just saw where the Carnival Spirit will be sailing out of Jacksonville, Florida. Is there any pertinent information (best cabins, food, entertainment, etc.) about this Ship on the web or this forum? Thanks   

They are splurgy, but for spirit class ships - the aft wrap balconies (Vista suite)  are about as good as you can get on any cruise ship.  I finally booked one (not for Alaska, but for a Mexican  riviera cruise - no way could I afford this treat on an Alaska itinerary) on deck 4.  Very sheltered from weather on this level, very private, huge balcony.  Wish I could book one on the cruise I'm going on this fall, on the Pride.  Key is to book very early - was able to get one for a great price over Thanksgiving back in 2019.  

I think there is plenty to see on an Alaska cruise, other than water.  You don't need a balcony cabin, but if you are in your cabin when the naturalist announces something - getting out or up to deck can take some time.  Of course there is the matter of what side of the ship the wildlife etc is located - even from a balcony you might need to get elsewhere to see it.

There also can be the sound of ice cracking from the glaciers, which some people get excited about.  

I have real issues with motion sickness, and for me a balcony cabin helps.  More fresh air, plus it helps me to be able to see the horizon or the movement of the ship, rather than just feel it.  Think of looking out the window of a car as you are traveling as a passenger.  For most of us, this would reduce any feelings of nausea - much better than reading a book or otherwise having motion be disconnected from the visual input of seeing.  Bring along remedies for motion sickness.  Try to get some green apples from the lido, to keep in a bowl in your room in case you hit rough water.  They help.  So do scopalamine patches, but the side effects are so powerful I only resort to them if the rough water is terrible.  I've only had issues with ship going max speed between Victoria and Seattle, out in open water.   For location, avoid high decks and the front of the ship.  Mid ship and lower are more stable.  There is quite a bit of sway at the aft of the ship, but even that is pretty tolerable for me compared to the bow.  

Traffic could  throw a huge wrench into this, and while you may be able to know if an exit is closed or road work could mess things up - not much way  to predict when a breakdown or a wreck will make the route there look like a sea of red tail lights.  Also security lines at SEA can be phenomenal.  Maybe there are ways to get around them but have a back up plan if you try to make this flight.  

Have only been to London once, so I'm no expert.  But I enjoyed staying in Victoria, it was near the train & tube station - right across the street in fact since we stayed at Park Plaza Victoria.  Walking distance to many sites, but I don't think it's possible to see even just the highlights all at one location.  We did a walking tour that required us to take the tube, saw the ballet at the royal opera house / covent garden & took a cab.  It was wonderful, something I'll never forget.  

10 hours ago, slimknyzer said:

We are so close to sailing (4 days) that to resubmit may be useless.  We are still disappointed for the denial as we have been Shareholders for a long time and never had this issue before.

 

It might be a waste of time, but it is pretty quick & painless to email them a copy of the shares.  Or resubmit the request you already sent.  I've got a confirmation back in just a couple days.  Probably won't work at this late date but you never know.

Even more than the wind issue, I would be worried about excessive motion from being at the front of the ship.  I am prone to motion sickness, the location of the cabin on the ship makes a big difference for me in rough water.  

13 hours ago, Momma1980 said:

Do the spa staff still give you the hard sell? I have avoided spa treatments for years because I felt badgered to buy products in the past. 

I've not typically had a bad experience with that.  I say no thanks, I don't need it, and that's that.  Only once, on a recent cruise, did the lady keep persisting and not give up.  I ended up telling her that I had said no, that she had now tried to sell this (I don't know, I counted 3x to keep trying the sell) and that she was spoiling my spa experience.  I then added I had planned on tipping but if she said anything more about buying products it wouldn't happen.  

It didn't spoil my experience but I did note it on the evaluation form you fill out afterwards.  It was still a decent massage.  I love getting a massage on a cruise, the motion of the ship just makes it that much more relaxing.  And that was an unusual experience for me - the pushy sales pitch.  I think most people can tell when they are getting a solid "no thanks."

Thank you!  I have been doing this for a long time, and this last booking was the first time I was ever told I had submitted it too soon and needed to wait until - I forget exactly - maybe some time in March when they renew the OBC.  

Will give it a try.  

I don't think there is anything to gain by booking in advance.  Your cabin will be peppered with fliers for different deals, and spa specials are pretty frequent.  Not only port days, but if bookings are slow there are specials like a menu of services - pick 3 for 99.  

I've even found deals that weren't advertised posted outside the spa, or had staff tell me about specials when I stopped by.  

Have never, ever had trouble booking an appointment / been told they are booked up.  

Can your pvp help?  I know I've also seen, on my carnival login - the place to see your past cruises plus a link to click if any were missing.  

BTW must commend you on how calm you sound about this.  I might be pitching a tizzy fit.