Zingy2

If we were to drive to the cruise port, we would normally pack some fancier clothes for Elegant Night (suits, ties, dresses/gowns, etc). Flying to ports of embarkation made us rethink our attire selections, due to weight restrictions, number of bags etc.  Now, it's slacks, dress shirts, ties, Hawaiian style shirts, slacks and nice tops for the Missus.  There is still a wide spectrum of attire seen in the MDR on Elegant Night.  Go with what you feel most comfortable with.

On 12/2/2021 at 4:02 PM, gkthorn said:

They recently updated this ship.

 

Question has anyone enjoyed their Grand Suite? If so, was it worth it?

Also, could you inform us if it has separate bath tub and shower?

 

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

 

 Glenn and Kerrie

The value of any accommodation is subjective.  Personally, we prefer the Aft Wrap Vista Suites on the Spirit Class ships.  They have a far larger balcony and total square footage wise (room & balcony) are larger than a Grand Suite (room & balcony).  The bath tub and shower are one unit in a Grand Suite. Here is a video of a Grand Suite on the Miracle  Video Carnival Miracle Grand Cabin 6207 (cruisedeckplans.com)

46 minutes ago, Bgcruising said:

Maybe they will do away with platinum priority and keep it for diamonds and fttf

If CCL decided to implement that, then I imagine they would continue to keep those passengers who booked suites as well, since priority check in and boarding are some of the perks on the CCL website for suites.

I am curious to know how "precisely" RCCL "Validates" an individuals submitted Vaccination card information, especially if the information is not uploaded into any local city, county, state, federal or international database, where it can then be accessed by authorized entities for validation.  This could prove to be problematic down the road for folks (Anton's situation being a prime example), where individuals are updating their vaccination cards with booster information, or having their cards replicated/replaced for bona fide reasons.  There are also locales around the country/world which do not have organized registry's that track an individual's vaccination status.  The only "official record" a person would have is their CDC COVID vaccination card. How, precisely, would RCCL validate that as well.

Explore the ship!  The Miracle is one of the easiest ships to navigate around (as are all of the Spirit Class ships).  Bow to stern, port to starboard, very easy to get to where you want to go with a minimum of fuss.  Explore Gatsby's Garden Interior Promenade on Deck 3 Forward.  Very quiet and soothing place to be.  Large porthole windows to sit by and watch the waves go by on a sea day.  You have the Red Frog Pub, Sports Bar & Casino. Try the Steakhouse and the Chef's Table!  You can go to the CCL website and get a sense of what the Miracle has to offer and how she is laid out, by looking at her Deck Plans.  She was refurbished in March 2020.  She is one of our favorites.  We've been on her to Hawaii, and Panama Canal.  We will be back on her in the future for a 14 Day Alaskan cruise and a B2B2B Mexican Riviera/Hawaii Cruise.

There are special promotions Carnival has (at the time of booking), where an individual can get WIFI or drink packages included in their booking price.  Individuals can receive these offers via either email or through booking online. The wife and I receive these types of emails all of the time.  These promotions are somewhat new and are meant to entice folks into coming back into the cruising "fold".  You can do a mock booking for any given cruise, pick a suite (if available) and see what kind off offers are listed.  The WIFI or drink package is not an automatic free perk for suites, or any other stateroom category.  However, you might get "free" Drinks On Us (DOU) if you have a Casino offer package. You will notice a difference in pricing if you do select the included WIFI or drink package offers.  Not sure if there are any savings for anyone by doing it that way.

At least you received some type of notification from CCL.  Apparently there was a "glitch" and a lot of folks were left out in the dark.  We found out the hard way....tried to log in for our cruise, only to find out it no longer existed....No worries though....we went for the full refund, instead of trying to rebook.  All good, CCL just needs to work on their IT infrastructure 🙂

35 minutes ago, Susan in Maine said:

Is this worth the charge?

Most definitely worth the time and the expense.

Let's hope Tropical Storm (potentially soon to be Hurricane) Nicholas does not cause any potential issues for either Texas or Louisiana.  Time will tell.  With respect to lodging and/or other establishments being open/closed currently in NOLA, the hotel we are booked to stay in for our Jan 2022 cruise is currently closed to the public until at least 30 September 2021, as it is being used by the First Responders, utility and maintenance folks who have come to NOLA to support the Hurricane Ida recovery effort.  Good luck and happy cruising to those who are scheduled to sail from NOLA in the near future.  Hopefully, the logistics issues will be minimal.

On 9/10/2021 at 10:29 AM, BoozinCroozin said:

In other words, Quest has testing sites and it is your responsibility to get tested. Nothing really new here. Those facilities have already been around. However, if it said they were setup at the ports near the terminal, that is entirely different.

For the record, there are NO Quest related testing facilities within a 50 mile radius of the Port of New Orleans.  Those individuals who are cruising out of NOLA will need to find alternate ways to receive their pre-cruise COVID testing, especially if they are going to be in the NOLA area for a period of time prior to their respective cruise.  Because of Hurricane Ida and its aftermath on the NOLA/LA area, it may also be a good idea to check with the area CVS/Walgreens in the NOLA area to see if they are even offering any of the COVID tests approved by the cruise lines. 

1 hour ago, Clarasgrandma said:

We are not wine or champagne people….I wonder if any other type of beverage is offered such as a Pepsi or sprite vs just water…..? 

Let them know at the beginning of the event that you do not drink wine or champagne.  I do not drink alcohol and was provided with sparkling water and diet soda, during the course of the experience.  They are very accommodating.  In addition, should you have any allergies or other issues, such as gluten intolerance, let them know in advance as well.  The Chef will work around your limitations and create something you are able to enjoy.  Hope this helps. 

5 hours ago, travelplus said:

Also why on the Panorama it is $118 with gratuity and $75 plus gratuity on other ships? Does the Panorama offer more drinks and food?

 

Thanks

The newer/larger ships have a higher charge. The newest ships also have the newest Chef's Table Menu.  The smaller/older ships serve an older/different version of the Chef's Table menu, and carry a lower cost. The number of courses is the same as is the amount of wine or other drinks served during the course of the Chef's Table experience.  The same holds true if you were to book the Behind the Scenes ship tour.  The newer/larger ships have a greater cost, than the older/smaller ships.  Hope this helps.

On 2/16/2021 at 12:28 AM, Hunter69 said:

Spirit is a wonderful ship. Have you sailed on her or her sister ships.

As you probably read, how great there layout is & space to Passenger ratio..

Hope you get down to Sydney for a Sail-Out... Or have you??

We've sailed previously on the Spirit back in 2009 and 2011, when she was in San Diego doing the Mexican Riviera runs.  We've also sailed on the Miracle in 2013 and 2020 for her Hawaii out of Long Beach and her Panama Canal full transit from San Diego to Miami. We love the layout of the Spirit Class ships.  Very easy to navigate.  We also like the Aft Wrap Vista Suites on the Spirit Class ships as well.  Hopefully, we will be able to visit Sydney either before or after our cruise(s) on the Spirit from Brisbane.  It is one of our bucket list items.

We are tentatively scheduled for a B2B2B Australian cruise on the Spirit in June 2023 (4, 11, 18 June)....Looking forward to it.  One of our bucket list items.  Hope things have fully settled by then.

We have had Vista Suites on both the Miracle and the Spirit.  Normally, Decks 6 or 7 (both Port and Starboard sides).  Loved the layouts for both of those decks on the Spirit Class ships.  We recently (Feb 2020) were in Vista Suite 5295 on the Miracle, during her San Diego to Miami Panama Canal Full Transit.  It is indeed a narrower stateroom and does not have the room/section dividers.  Seemed a bit claustrophobic, compared to the other Vista Suites. We will (hopefully-COVID permitting) be cruising to Alaska for 11 days on the Miracle, in August 2021 out of San Francisco, this time on Deck 4 (4237). We have done a lot of research over the years and agree that Deck 4, on the Spirit Class ships, offers the best overall layouts for the Vista Suites....Love those Aft Wrap balconies!  There are a lot of videos available for the Vista Suites, in addition to other stateroom categories, on a variety of deck plan related websites.  Happy Hunting!

5 hours ago, rn4t5 said:

Did you have to prepay the reservation?

No.  We just made the reservation (just like the old days).  We will pay on board with our S&S at the time of the dinner.

On 1/16/2020 at 2:26 AM, Saint Greg said:

I requested a specific date and time. Told them I was unable to book on the website.

Took your advice and used the email address you provided.  There are currently three (3) dinner seating times available for our November 2020 sailing on the Panorama: 5:30PM, 7:15PM and 9:00PM.  We were able to make our reservations.  The process only took a total of four (4) days.  Two days to respond to our initial email request to see if there were any available slots and then two days to receive our confirmation. Pretty quick turnaround time.  Thank you again for your original post regarding this.  It was most helpful.

Thank you for the information!  Did you ask for a specific date and time in your email request to them?

On 1/13/2020 at 5:58 AM, gometros said:

You can get 50mb free for use on the first day only. After that. the pricing is as follows:

 

Pay as you go per MB $.25

100mb $19

300mb $39

1000mb $89

 

Are you only able to make your WiFi plan purchase once you are on board?  I'm not finding an option to pre-purchase it on the Disney Cruise website, under our reservation or under the on board gifts section.

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I know it disappeared from Panorama months ago. JH said it was a “glitch.” But they haven’t fixed the glitch yet. Finally I just emailed them to make a reservation.

 

 

What was the email address that you used, when you made your Bonsai Teppanyaki reservation for the Panorama?

The terminal opens at 10:30 AM on cruise days.  Access to the terminal is by status/check-in time (Priority, FTTF, etc).  Wedding parties are normally allowed into the terminal first before anyone else.

According to CCL,  there is a "glitch" in the system with respect to being able to make online reservations for any of the specialty restaurants on board the Panorama.  The only exception being the new Carnival Kitchen venues, these are all currently available for online reservations.  We are sailing on the Panorama on 14 November 2020 and were able to make all of our Carnival Kitchen reservations.  The CCL folks we talked to indicated it may take several weeks to address/fix the online reservation issue for the traditional Specialty Restaurants (JiJI's. Teppanyaki, Chef's Table, Steakhouse and the Italian restaurant.)  They advised to keep checking the website periodically.  Hope this helps.

10 hours ago, PH29 said:

We are booked in a Vista Suite on the Pride, I assumed we had priority boarding, as we had it previously when we booked a vista suite.  I noticed on my luggage tags it does not say priority, so I went back and looked at the description of the room, it also does not mention priority boarding as it does in the description for the other suites.  Does anyone know if this has changed and it's not priority, or has anyone recently boarded with priority with a vista suite?  Thanks.  

We sailed on the Miracle in a Vista Suite back in 2013 and are also booked in two different Vista Suites on the Miracle, in Feb 2020 and Aug 2021.  Both have priority boarding, among other amenities.  I checked an amenity description of a Vista Suite on the Pride and provided an image of it here (go to the Deck Plans for the Pride, select your stateroom and review what you get), and it also shows priority check-in and boarding, in addition to the other amenities we have.  If you have questions/concerns, contact CCL and ask them directly.  Hope this helps.  Have a great cruise!

21 hours ago, Love_to_cruise83 said:

Hello!  I hope everyone is well.

 

Does anyone know what the capacity of Carnival AFT Excel suites is on the Mardi Gras ?  I just booked my wife and I and if our children can manage to correct the behavior over the next 2 1/2 years I might add them to the cruise.  However, I've read some people saying that these rooms are only designed for 2 people, but others have disagreed.  Does anyone know? 

 

Thank you!

Here is the breakout (according to the current Deck Plans for the Mardi Gras) for the maximum number of passengers that can be booked into a given AFT Excel Suite by stateroom:

9501: 5

9504: 3

10495: 3

10492: 2

11501: 3

11506: 2

12503: 4

12502: 2

14517: 2

14498: 5

15495: 2

15478: 2

Depending upon the Deck and Stateroom you selected, the Excel Aft Suites can hold 2, 3, 4, or 5 passengers.  The easiest way to tell is to go to the CCL web site, select the Mardi Gras and then go to her deck plans.  Once there, select the respective deck(s) the Excel Aft Suites are located on and then select the particular room you are wanting to look at.  You will get a listing of the maximum amount of passengers that particular stateroom will hold, along with a variety of other information regarding the stateroom amenities, etc.  Hope this helps, Enjoy!