lidoplease

Thank you!

Thank you for the excellent review. I'm curious about your itinerary change as we are supposed to go to about those same eastern ports this weekend out of PC. We don't mind if it's changed to western, but it would be nice to know in advance. When did you find out about the change?

If you get the drink package, specialty coffees are included. If you don't, you will get a punch card with your first coffee. I think it's six coffees and the seventh is free.

Enjoy your cruise!

I believe it's the Sunshine.

I bring wine in my carry on and I bring an opener with me. The steward puts it on ice for me. I take a glass to a show or to dinner with me. Never had a problem and wouldn't expect to. The steward also always replaces my glass. What I understand is that they can charge a corkage fee if you bring a bottle to the dining room.

Enjoy your cruise! No worries!

Love all your reviews! Thanks to both of you!

Yes, I was talking about housekeeping service. And I agree, nchikk...carnival won for us by a long shot due to those very things. But the escape was lovely. It was fun for us because it was almost like a first cruise, everything was a new experience. And we would sail again IF they offered a great deal. I've read the getaway and breakaway are really nice.

But Carnival has won our loyalty for the most part. Being able to take on sodas and wine is a big deal for us.

Warmbreezes...we have sailed a lot on the fantasy class. We have found that the crews on the smaller ships are awesome. Thank you for your thoughts on NCL. Have a wonderful cruise! We are sailing on Carnival sunshine in December. Very excited about that!

We saw Nadirah Shakoor, Jimmy Buffett's female vocalist. She was on a cruise with a huge group of his fan club.

Oh...and I had the brownie cheesecake with caramel and marshmallows at O'Sheehans...delicious! Also had a pina colada cake at the garden cafe that was really good, nice and moist.

Right, booking last minute they offered us free drinks and two specialty dinners for $700 more, so we passed. But we did get a great price for the balcony room.

This, of course, is our opinion only. I wrote pros and cons. Spoiler alert...lol...

Carnival won, but there were many things we loved on NCL and for the right price, we would sail them again.

NCL pros

2 x a day service. I believe the gratuities were $1 a day pp more, but worth it to us.

I know we can ask for 2 x a day service on Carnival and I will from now on. We've tried morning and we've tried evening and we have found that we really appreciate 2 times.

This was a beautiful, fairly new ship. So other NCL ships are most likely very different. Just like the different classes on Carnival. But our room had a big, nice flat screen tv.

That being said, my husband is the sports fan and the tv watcher and he thought the

channels offered were not good. Limited football games mostly.

Many pros about our lovely balcony room. Sliding glass doors to the balcony and for the shower. Lots of storage space, especially in the bathroom. The closet was awkward being a foot at most from the side of the bed. Loved...Loved...the single cup coffee pot in the room. Used it a lot. I'll include the con about the room here because this was our fault. We booked this last minute and were given no choice about where our room was. Well, it was above a bar with live music. They quit between 11-12 every night, but when we were in the room we could literally feel the bass. Again, not NCL's fault, but it wasn't ideal for sure.

The Garden cafe is their buffet. Can't say enough about how well this is set up...never waited in line at the multiple stations. Food was equal to Carnival...that is to say, we enjoyed everything. Except the burgers...the buns crumbled and guys is hard to beat.

There were a dozen or more stations, probably more. Eggs Benedict every day with Canadian bacon or sausage and a bowl of hollandaise to add as you please. Pizza was good and no wait. Pasta bar, crepe bar, hand dipped ice cream, I could go on and on. And the 24 hour restaurant was fabulous. We ate there often...so convenient.

We did not do any of the for fee restaurants. Most are a la carte and seemed quite pricy.

Muster was in the theater and a breeze.

Cons for NCL

Internet was harder to connect to. It's so easy on Carnival. I had to get help on NCL.

They have the same $5 a day social plan and it worked well. I never could figure out if their on board app was free, so I never signed on to it.

No sports bar

Skip this part if you don't smoke. Smoking areas were pitiful. There was a small room with 2 small couches and about 10 chairs. Meant for cigar smokers but it was the only indoor during fueling and on boarding. There was zero ventilation in there for 4 days. Then they put in two large air cleaners which helped. Before that you didn't even need to light a cigarette. Then there was a bar outside with a little cover and mostly open. It was nice, but usually crowded. We could smoke in the casino in one small part, but only when playing. They were quite strict. The non smoking sections of the casino were huge and nice. And I'll mention the tables here...didn't care for $10 minimum, but the seats were very comfy and the dealer sat too. Very nice.

More about the casino. They use a separate card than your room key. You could get them attached with a chain, but had to go to two different places...one for the chain and one for the punch. Also, they use a ticket system...prefer the card system on Carnival.

Drinks were expensive. We got 2 pina coladas in a cup the size of a solo cup. $25!

And they tasted terrible. Had free drinks in the casino the first sea day with 1500 points, but you're limited on what's free. They have 2 wines. Anything else was about $5 extra. My husband could get a margarita, which he said was good, but not a tequila sunrise. Just odd. No number limit, but we prefer carnival's limit on the number, and we can get what we like.

Room service fee is about $8. Continental breakfast is free. We didn't use it at all.

Cannot take on any soda. Wine is $15 charged right at boarding. A case of water is

$70! That's just robbery.

No prizes at all for trivia.

We didn't care for the ports. Harvest Caye was not great. The sand was hard and felt awful. Nothing was free. Roatan...we sure missed mahogany bay. There were maybe a dozen little stores and bars at this dock. We docked downtown in cozumel. I liked that, but my husband didn't. Different opinions.

They have you change the time on your watch the first and last day. We just thought that was annoying.

Needing reservations for all the shows. I heard they were good, but we didn't attempt to go. I think I could get over this, but it was a bother we didn't want to deal with for our first trip.

No drink receipts. Our final bill was correct all in all.

Never could find shrimp...lol...the one time we thought they had it in the dining room, we had apparently read the lunch menu.

So...I think that's it. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. But right now we have 2 booked on Carnival. Those perks are hard to give up.

Thank you both! Got it!

I can't find where to put a new phone number. We are cruising during hurricane season and thought it best to give Carnival a number in case we're en route and they need to contact us. Thanks in advance for the help.

You are out of the main traffic. When you arrive, there are people everywhere directing the cars. There's only one entrance. You go through a seemingly crazy maze of traffic cones...lol...then some folks are walking around checking your paperwork and taking care of the parking fees. You will not have to pay, of course, but I am sure you'll get some kind of sticker. You'll come to a tent where you drop off your luggage, before you are directed to the warehouse to park. We've gone out of Charleston 5 times and never parked outside...so I guess we've been fortunate. I am pretty sure the handicapped parking is the first section of the warehouse. There are folks at the entrance to ask if you're unsure where to go. Just tell them you need handicapped...I've heard they sometimes miss seeing the plates. It may sound complicated, but it's really not. You'll be fine. Have a great time! Hope you get to see a little of this beautiful city, too.

Sorry, don't know about your room. But aft Main should be quiet. We were on empress right down from the atrium bar. Won't make that mistake again...lol...

Enjoy the newly added guy's burgers and the taco/ burrito place...both on lido.

We had anytime dining...if you want a great waiter, ask for Mehmet. Have a wonderful cruise!

Platinum can board whenever. They make you pick a time, but priority boards first. We were on the Ecstasy last week. We got in the parking line at 10:50 and were in our room at 11:30. It went very smoothly.

The Sunshine is one of our favorite ships too. We are sailing on her again in a few months. The Havana area is so nice...behind the lido...extra seating and a large bar. There are two extra omelet stations back there in the morning too. The Italian restaurant is one of our favorites and there's an Asian restaurant on the other side of the Havana area. The lido buffet is set up intelligently so very few lines. I've never seen this set up on any other ship. The serenity area is beautiful.

The comedy club is too small, but it is on most ships. You have to get there early.

The steak house is great.

Don't worry...those bad reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I believe they were open daily, but short lunchtime hours...maybe 12-2 or so. Nice on the first day because it was practically empty up there. There's a drink station too with coffee, water, tea and lemonade. The pulled pork on the soft rolls was really good. Several sauces to choose from. We liked the brown sugar one. And the Mac n cheese was good too. It's the first place we head to on day one. Enjoy!

I can't help you with the drink prices, but I'm sure someone on here can.

I get the cheapest plan and use Facebook messenger. It worked great on the splendor a couple months ago. That was the first time I'd used it.

We were on a carnival excursion in Panama several years ago. We had a bus full of people and stopped at a pretty little town on a bay to see a fort. It was hot...hot...HOT...lol...One of the men in our group found a tiny store that had ice cold orange sodas for ten cents. He came back with his arms full and gave everyone on the bus that wanted one a cold soda. He even made a second trip. I haven't had an orange soda since that tasted that wonderful!

It depends on your steward. We've had two that did morning and evening when we just requested morning...and we've had one that left the towel animal in the morning and put the fun times under the door at night and didn't come back in.

We used butts up last month. We did not have to carry our tubes. They were wonderful and we had a great time...I'm over 60 and had no problems at all. I would recommend wearing a pair of old sneakers instead of water shoes. It's a very rocky trail. The lunch wasn't to our taste...chicken tamales, but everything else was top notch. And they pride themselves on getting you back to the tenders on time. Our guide was Jimmy. A fantastic guy! Have fun whatever you chose.

We got off the splendor a couple weeks ago. Enjoyed it immensely. I did miss having guy's burgers, but the barbecue place up above lido was really good. The pink decor didn't bother us...lol...the casino was nice size...and the comedy club was big, too, and comfortable. Hope you have a great cruise!

Yes, you will be priority and can check in whenever you want. Have a lovely cruise!

I sent an email to FRSteakhouse@carnival.com. It could not be delivered. Help! Anybody know Freedom's email abbreviation?

 

 

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Freedom is FD