CJHAN

We sailed the Ecstasy a few years ago and had a similar smell in the rear of the ship. It smelled like an RV toilet and likely for the same reason. Its an old ship and likely harder to keep sewage system clean.

We had a balcony on the Ecstasy. The balconies on this ship are a retrofit, meaning they were added after the ship had been built. I'm not sure when they were added, but it was while the ship went through a major dry dock so they stick out off the side of the ship.

We had U222 and it was the last balcony in the row before they became ocean view cabins so you only had balcony neighbors on one side. I really enjoyed that cabin and it was really quiet.

 

Yes it's a small ship, but the lido is such a nice layout and it has a serenity deck on the back of the ship that we spent a lot of time on. Sure it's missing a lot of the bells and whistles of the new ships but we really enjoyed it.

We where the last ones to sail before the balconies in u222 it was some time in early to mid 2008.

Are any of the perks really that big a deal? I chose carnival because it gives me what i want at a price i want the perks are jut that perks i would not care if they all went away if the still got me the cruise i want at the price i want im good to go.

I certainly hope you're not referring to ABS, CBS, and NBS as "unbiased and informed news reporting." Would have to beg to differ on that - sorry.

I would not call them unbiased but definatly more informed Fox more often then not is just down right lies.

My MIL, who has been on one RC cruise and is generally well-informed and not crazy, saw a photo from our latest Carnival cruise and said, "Carnival, that's the ship where people always get norovirus. They had an outbreak on your cruise two weeks after you got back." DH politely said that all cruiselines occasionally have norovirus. She insisted, "Not Royal Caribbean!" I gently suggested she google that. I googled it myself and it turns out that the only reported norovirus outbreaks in the month after our cruise were on Celebrity and RC. :D

 

Friends at church, when trying to describe a really bad situation that you can't get out of, said, "It's like taking a Carnival cruise!" :rolleyes: Everyone laughed and shuddered except us. We decided not to mention that we were about to leave on our fifth Carnival cruise.

 

My parents are platinum on Princess. They'd like to cruise with us in a couple years. Princess sounds nice when we're retired. They said, "Let's compromise and go on Royal Caribbean." I wouldn't mind trying a new cruiseline, but I would prefer not to completely rule out the most affordable choice for a family of five during school vacations.

 

What do you say in each of these situations?

Sometimes people prefer to be uninformed about some things (I call this the Fox News crowd) if this is the case they will never cruise carnival with you. Best bet would be to either go RC with them or do carnival alone as you have already and have a good time.

we just got the call for the 24th sailing on magic from verandah interior to balcony $250 total extra we took it!

we are on the same sailing I hope we get the call as well, already in a balcony but would love to get an offer for a suite.

Just got the call

my interior 4J to balcony

4J to 8C $110 more per person

empress deck to veranda

cabins above and below us

 

we have two cabins, they found cabins side by side - we took it.

 

never had a balcony (and I was looking forward to that 4J, but now I'm very very excited)

That's good news the bad news is you will never go back to an inside cabin so be ready to pay a little but its well worth it.

I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity of traveling via the cruise industry on several occasions. My cruise experience has been with:Royal, Holland, and my preferred line NCL. Everything from transatlantic repositioning, Alaska, Medaterriaan, and various Caribbean Islands, and both Bahamas, and Bermuda. This will be my eleventh cruise and my first adventure with Carnival. After I confirmed my reservation, I have been warned by several friends and family that since this line is less expensive than other lines it caters to the family and 20-30 crowd. Don't misunderstand my concern. I am only in my 50's so age and families are not a concern. My concern is the quality of service, food, entertainment, and stateroom accommodations. I ask those who have utilized other lines and has been on Carnival your thoughts please. I thank you in advance.

For some people the difference in price is a status thing if that is not the case for you I don't see any reason you would not love it as you do the other lines. Have fun!

Hello, I just printed out my luggage tags from Carnivals website & have a question. How do you usually attach your tags to your luggage? Have you purchased something to put your tags in? Sorry, probably a dumb question, but I've never had to worry about attaching tags to my luggage. Thanks.

We completely cover them in packing tape to make them stronger and water resistant then use more of the same tape to attach then to our luggage it works well.

We are looking at booking our second cruise and went through cruise compete to try.

 

TA's are offering us the same price as Carnival website, but with $200 free OBC.

 

Why would all people only ever then book through a TA for the extra $? Why book through Carnival?

I book through Carnival because I like to have the control over it all. If something goes wrong I have no one to blame but myself. We went through a PVP for the first cruise and had some issues with getting early saver rate changes and ended up spending way more then we would have if we just did it ourselves also PVPs have to make money no one wants to work for free so why not in essence just pay myself to do it. Now we do it this way no matter the vacation be it Disney, Universal or just a trip to the Grand Canyon I'm doing the planing and it kind of fun.

Never been on the Pride but always aft. On the Conquest and the Triumph there is a bit of vibration not like you experienced but enough to notice it was more like a washing machine in tempo but for us it rocked us to sleep every night. The kind of vibration your talking about would make me wonder if there was not something seriously wrong with the ship. Thanks for the post now I know to avoid that ship.

This seems like the perfect time to be disconnected. Every other day its email text calls social media feels good to be free from it sometime.

This will be our first cruise without our kid but (14) but we have noticed he doesn't want to be with us any way so it is always just the two of us doing exactly the thing that you want to do (We love the Piano Bar!). While the kids will bee in the pool and buffet area we hardly notice them at all as for the most part they also have their own areas.

I kinda recall seeing a site that was similar to seatguru for flights, but for ship cabins. Can't seem to find it though... Would appreciate help. Looking to book on Sunshine and debating between a few cabins on Deck 7 either mid or aft.

Deck 7 is what we always pick because its between two floors of cabins, no night clubs or restaurants above or below you so nothing to wake you up early or keep you up later then you want.

DH and I switched our Summer cruise from the Dream to the Magic about a month ago and LOST our FTTF on the Dream. I am currently checking for FTTF on the hour I swear daily for our June Magic cruise with no luck... thus far! My question is... How long does the embarkation process take in Galveston without FTTF or the loyalty perks on Carnival. We have ALWAYS had the FTTF and I am just curious as to what to expect as far as a time to get on board!

 

Thanks!

I don't think I have waited more then 40 min from luggage drop-off to buffet lunch. I'm sure it can be longer just never for me.

I agree. I wouldn't pay more than $150 per person for a week. RCL has better entertainment, attractions, and nicer ships. Carnival has better food, comedy, and relaxed passengers.

I seem to see a lot a bout RCCL passengers being a little uptight Is that really the case? I cruise to have fun not to be worried if I'm going to upset Mr stuffy-pants.

I wish I could take advantage of these 'sales', maybe one day. We can only sail over Christmas/NYE, spring break and summer(which we never do). So prices for us are high and Carnival always wins out in that department.

Judging by your sail dates it must be a teacher or students in the family? that's our issue as well.

The other option is to change accommodation type or sail date, just to get to experience RCCL. This was not a decision maker in the OPs requirement however.

We considered this as well but DW is a Teacher so we are limited to when we can go. Given that, any other sailing that we where interested in was still way more expensive. We only get summertime and school breaks and they are always much higher.

1000 Is too much.I like RCL better, but maybe for 350.

Thats what I was considering. Having never been on royal I would have been willing to pay more but not that much, after all when we board the ship I can look back and see the navigator and then again at ever port. true I will not see the inside but I will have an extra $1000 in my pocket to do as I please.:D

My wife and I where looking to book a cruise (The choice at this point is already made) Between the RC Navigator and Carnival Magic. They have the exact same Itinerary we looked at the same cabin type but the RCCL was $1000 more. My question is this. Is RCCL worth that extra money and why? I know this is going to be all about preference but Never having sailed on RC I would like to know and maybe give it a shot at some point.

Sounds cool would love to know more.

While we may complain that we want chocolate, no one picks a cruise based on that, its ports and price. There comes a point where you may be willing to pay more for the extras, and Carnival Corp has the Princess Line or Cunard to meet those needs. But Carnival has the lowest price point, and fun places to sail and will have that market without chocolate, but only if they keep the price down, and throwing away a lot of chocolates wont keep cost down.

 

I love the people I meet on here, and have made great friends, but we are the hard core, small percentage of cruisers, my 4-5 cruises a year is nothing compared to what some people do, but we are the 1% There are somethings I miss as all the Cruise lines evolve but they are a business and have to adapt. We also used to have more leg room, meals, and good service, but even when that went away we still buy plane tickets.

 

Some of these changes will push us to do what the want us to, and that is upgrade to a more expensive product, then they can fill the lower cost cabins with new customers who want to try it.

I dont think the flying comparison is 100%accurate. Most people only fly when they absolutely have to. While most if not all people cruise because they want to. We can be picky when it comes to cruising not so much when it comes to flying.

Would you really leave Carnival and choose another cruise line if you don't have chocolates on your pillow, or towel animals, or complimentary robes, or turn down service, or a 'reward' for being a return customer, or any of the other little "services" that have no impact other than they are a nicety?

It sounds to me that you are asking if carnival stoped doing the little things and showing a bit of loyalty to it return costumers (us) would we continue to give them our money. Well the answer is no i would not keep giving them my money, if the service goes away why would i not go to another line who still goes that extra step? This is no diffrent then changing cell phone service people change all the time because the other company gives better service or better perks it just makes since.

They'll still have the Liberty there as well (another Conquest class) so it looks like they will have two ships there unless they are pulling the Liberty out after only a year being there.

The Liberty will be going to Galveston in 2016 along with the Breeze.

We are taking our FIRST Carnival cruise in oct on the Glory. We were super excited to try a new line as we have only been on NCL. But seems all i read on the FB page and other review sites is negative feedback!! Is carnival really become that bad? It cost us alot in airfare to make these trips from Colorado and im kinda worried now...[emoji27]

No its not that bad,infact is awesome, but by comming to a carnival thread where people clearly like and love carnival (otherwise why would we be here) the answers you seek might have been better found elsewhere.