pjhootch

Thank you for the details. I definitely would prefer to not day tour from a cruise ship. 🙂 I am definitely thinking of it as a compromise as opposed to not managing to do any game viewing at all. On the other hand, after making the effort to get to Africa from the U.S. Midwest, it seems kind of silly to spend most of the time on a cruise ship instead of actually in Africa. Just as when I was looking for guides and lodges, it didn't really appeal to me to stay in huge, luxury lodges either. I can do that at home if I want that experience. I don't want to sleep on the ground either ... maybe something in between. I appreciate the clarity.

Thank you for the information. I have spent some time, pre and post covid, sorting through information and trying to find tours or packages that would work for us- and be within our budget. The information overload is high. It is simply impossible to figure out what is what from reading because many reviews aren't trustworthy. I really hadn't considered a cruise until quite recently. I think the best option would be to plan my own land safari type trip- BUT- I am still working full time and have time constraints and budget constraints. My husband is in good shape. I am less so, but very mobile and can climb ladders and walk and that sort of thing. Won't be jogging or hiking up a mountain, that is for sure. Of course, I am looking at 2 years away, and thus, the cruise idea popped up. Never know what 2 years from now may bring, health wise.

Does anyone have experience on Norwegian on an African cruise? I am wondering if there are opportunities to do one day game drives at some of the SA ports. I was wanting to do a basic African Safari trip- but it is a lot of organizing, planning and research. Suddenly realized a cruise might be a type of compromise that would also perhaps account for my husband’s age of low 70’s.

I cannot help you with Israel, but Greece definitely tip with Euros and Turkey although they do have a different currency, as a general rule, the guides will prefer Euros. Dollars are not helpful to them.

As an older adult who went with an adult friend... the theming was cute. We enjoyed it and had our photo taken with the cat and the things (I think). The food is really gross. 🤣 I mean- it sounds great and it looks really fun. If I was 10 I probably would have loved the food. And don't get me wrong, I ate PLENTY of the food. But it is sickly sweet and there isn't really anything on the menu that doesn't land in your stomach with a big THUMP. The characters paraded around and kids got books signed. If I had young kids again, I would take them. But I wouldn't take a 2 year old, to be honest. There is a bunch of chaos and tons of sweets and colors and music and movement and it is just a lot for a 2 year old unless they are super into the Cat in the Hat. All of my kids would have handled it okay at 2- despite the noise and chaos, but wouldn't have gotten anything in particular out of it other than a tummy ache and needing a bath afterwards. We shared a table with a woman who had a boy about 4 who really enjoyed it, and a little girl about 2, who wore her pancakes on her head, had frosting up her nose, and looked pretty confused or blase most of the time.

As a 60 year old with a 70 year old husband, I don't think you need to worry about your 70 year old parents' cruise being a "nightmare". Even if you smell some weed, or some morons get in a fight- that doesn't make the cruise a nightmare, right? I have smelled weed now and again on Carnival ships. The last time I clearly remember was when I was sitting with my feet in the main pool and someone was smoking up on the smoking deck and the scent was being blown toward the pool. We were outside and there was a breeze and there was no danger of anyone being intoxicated or having a breathing problem from the weed smell. The ship was moving. I have smelled it vey strongly randomly walking through the smoking section looking for someone. Don't do that. 🙂 I have once or twice gotten a whiff on our balcony when the ship was moving. I have never had my balcony be unusable from any kind of smoke. I have witnessed fights of varying intensity on my cruises. I agree this does seem to be more of a problem now than pre-covid. I am not going to begin to guess why. Too many moving parts. But I am going to push back strongly that it is because of "lower income" people. I think that is just silly. No one "lower income" is on a flipping cruise ship. I work with impoverished people. They are not cruising. If people think that a people earning $100,000 a year are less likely to get into a brawl than someone earning $50,000 a year- go ahead and live with that illusion. The best advice I can give to people is: 1.Don't book a booze cruise. 2. If you hear voices raising and yelling escalating, go somewhere else on the ship (if you stay to watch the entertainment you can't complain about a brawl starting) 3. Don't go near the smoking section or sit right below it when the ship is in port.

I called customer service to apply the FCC. We had FCC for NOT boarding, but instead turning around in Europe and heading home instead of taking the shortened cruise starting on 7/24. Honestly, Carnival's tech/web leaves so much to be desired that I figured I would screw something up royally trying to deal with a FCC request electronically. The rules about the FCC are kind of funky. You can use it towards a new cruise, but not as the deposit. You can't apply it to port fees or taxes either. You can apply it to a cruise you already have booked. The folks in customer services really have the easiest time and for the most part, they can figure out how to get it where you want it the most. 🙂 And just to add - I have a buddy still on the Pride who was B2B2B. She LOVED every second of staying on the ship and took a ton of photos of the ship essentially without any people. I probably would have loved it too, if I was already boarded when the breakdown occurred.

We have tried to choose a check in time that suits us for each port, instead of just grabbing the earliest possible time slot that is open. I see in the "group" pages where people obsess about getting the first possible check in slot. I also have noticed when the Platinum and Diamond check in is over, folks with regular check-in (instead of 2 days early) still get some very early slots. So not all the early boarding slots are allotted during early check in. Personally- if I have been traveling the day before and get to my hotel late, there is no way on earth I want to drag my butt out of bed and rush to the port by 10:00 or whatever it is. The last couple of times I picked 1 p.m. arrival times. 🙂 I have also observed people taking the very first arrival appointments post online their plane was delayed or some other thing happened, so they arrived at noon. Life gets in the way of rigid planning. We arrived a bit late a couple of times and were waived through once and put in the later arrival time line another time. So I too, believe the agents at port make decisions based upon crowds and conditions. I don't understand the issue. Just choose a check in time that works for you and show up at that time. If your preferred time is full, take the next slot. We are all getting on the ship. When Platinum and Diamond got "priority" we wound up sitting in the "priority" lounge full of people, in a loud terminal, usually hot and sweaty- for god only knows how long before the cleared the wedding parties and suites for boarding anyway. I much prefer to walk at a nice pace through a quickly moving line instead and basically trotting right onto the ship.

Joanne I'm not going to lie- I was pretty stressed for a few days! But I was never angry at Carnival. I was frustrated because the first cancelation email said they would update us about a possible new itinerary "tomorrow". That email didn't actually reach us until after midnight our time the following day. In calm and rational retrospect - that is perfectly reasonable. 🙂 As someone in Dublin checking email every 5 minutes to see if I need to change my flight and hotel that is non-refundable and scheduled in a matter of hours... I was definitely stressed about $$ flying out of my pocket. My refunds were processed (and showing on my cards) by Carnival within hours of phoning them to cancel on Friday the 21st. We made the best of it and enjoyed extending our stay in Dublin before flying home. I am bummed to be missing some things and very bummed not to sail with my friends who were on a BtB and are still on the ship this week. They seem to be having a great time. I know there were people on my cruise that were in London, or decided to go ahead and fly into London to do the shortened cruise. Some had to bounce from and to hotels. Some people headed to dover but had to switch hotels down there. I did read a few people were lucky and extended their hotel stay for what Carnival was willing to cover. If I had young children with me- my stress level would have been higher, no doubt. I had travel insurance and my husband and I are old hands at traveling on a shoe string or without a firm plan in place. I sure understood some of the angst that people were feeling and expressing on FB and tried to remind the people having a wonderful experience that they needed to stop shaming and chiding people freaking out online. LOL. I think Carnival handled this all as well as is possible and despite being caught in the cancelation cross fire, I have no problem sailing with them again. AND AGAIN- I love the Pride. I would take the Pride over Mardi Gras or Celebration any time (cruised both and am going on Jubilee this winter).

Pride is not a junk heap. I like her. I was on last fall in the Mediterranean and enjoyed the ship and the size. I was very much looking forward to the July 21 sailing. Yep- I am one of the persons who had their vacation blown up when the Pride broke down last week. If I was back to back I would have stayed on. However, we were not B2B. We were supposed to board on the 21st. Got the cancelation notice on the 19th while we were in Dublin about to fly into London. We froze in place in Dublin waiting for more information, and when it didn't arrive by fairly late on Thursday night, I got on the phone with the airlines and started trying to arrange to move our flights home from the 31st to the 21st or 22nd. Unlike many people who went ahead to London, we sat tight. London is very expensive and was very full. I didn't want to get stuck there. Flew home yesterday. I really am bummed to miss the portion of the cruise to the Orkney Islands and Hebrides (and Edinburgh too). As a frequent traveler to Ireland and the U.K., I wasn't really wanting to cruise to Holyhead and Cork and Belfast. I would have enjoyed it as part of the the cruise including Scotland, but on its own- I didn't want to undue all the arrangements I made to come home before the sent out the letter about the shorter itinerary. I sure hope everyone on the cruise right now enjoys themselves and has a good time. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Pride as a cruise ship overall. It is not a ship that needs to be scrapped On the other hand- I was on Freedom just post covid when she sailed at 30% capacity for a 6 day cruise and it was a blast. The crew was still getting sick and quarantining, including the entertainers. There was no piano bar guy at first, so the solo guitar player was instructed to play piano in the piano bar for us until we picked someone up in one of the ports. 🙂 Anytime there was an activity, the cruise director (T.J.) would announce it and walk around trying to gather people to come participate because there were so few of us on board. A great time was had by all.

Have a good trip. We are boarding Pride in Dover on the 21st and will be watching your review! Have some friends that boarded today also!

I felt as if both Mardi Gras and Celebration felt a bit crowded. I don't remember spending a lot of time in lines, however. I just felt like in most areas there were quite a lot of people around me all the time. The least crowded place was Emeril's. Trying to eat at the MDR on elegant nights is frustrating for YTD if you forget to ask for a table well before you want to eat. The app makes it totally manageable, but my brain kept forgetting to send the table request before my body was hungry. 🙂 User error. The center stage area is a pain. The shows are interesting and worth watching for me. I don't like the playlist shows too much so can't speak to that. I agree with the person that said Horizon and Vista felt crowded. I also have that experience inside on those ships. I can find peaceful spots outside, but inside I feel a little claustrophobic. I am sure it comes from not have the large atrium area that opens up. I have no idea if it really IS crowded, or I just perceive it that way.

OP I hope you get your claim refiled and processed correctly. I tend to use AIG or another similar company- and generally purchase through insuremytravel. I have filed claims a time or two for travel related difficulties. I recall being reimbursed for a hotel, meals and buying a clean sweatshirt and odds and ends when we got stuck overnight in Atlanta one time. Our luggage had already been flown home. Not us. Since I have been cruising very cheaply on casino offers for several months, my major concern is medical and evacuation. I purchased a year long policy this year. Everyone should read the terms before they purchase any travel insurance closely. For instance, most policies are only secondary for medical and will "reimburse" you for medical expenses incurred. If you don't have a solid amount of cash or credit available to pay a hospital in Mexico or further afield, you want to look for a policy that pays medical a "primary" benefit. Travel insurance shopping is a pain to find a good fit- but it really is necessary to have the right company with a good reputation for processing claims. AIG, Generali and Travelguard have all been pretty decent, in my experience. Also- pay close attention to the requirements for CFAR reimbursement. As far as I know, all policies require you to purchase your policy within a short period of time of putting down your initial deposit. Some of the policies I have seen require insurance to be purchased within 24 hours of deposit on your cruise for the CFAR to be valid.

Where are you renting cars or jeeps from? Anyone have experience and recommendations? We have been to Aruba quite a few times and think renting a car or jeep next time is the best idea. Thanks

Yes people sometimes get upset when a ship delays to rescue people. I have seen it once or twice. Haven't seen anyone actually "jeer" from the balconies or decks, but have heard grumbling and complaints afterwards. Yes- I agree with Blerk some people fail the "human test". Even more astonishing are the people that get all out of sorts because a medical emergency interrupted their enjoyment of a bar area, deck area, or some other entertainment. I am not even talking about folks disgruntled because a ship altered itinerary for an evacuation or something major. I mean people who grumble when medics need them to move and give someone space. I don't usually confront people about their behavior but that has brought a "are you $^#$^#( kidding me?" our of my mouth once or twice.

Thanks- we were on her in January and will be again in a month. We had a balcony in January and will have an ocean view in May. Good information- I didn't realize Pig and Anchor had breakfast but that sounds perfect! Will have to give it a try this time around. We too enjoyed a couple of the big lobby area shows but found the viewing and sight lines to be really difficult. For the magic type show there were people staking out seats a couple of hours early - all the down in front seats were roped off until closer to show time. Dive in movies the same thing- if you aren't early it may be hard to find a good view for a popular movie.

Just did the Glory first week of April. I was with a friend so did things a bit differently than my husband and I (creatures of habit) usually do. Also- it was a "spring break" cruise so the ship was super crowded, which led to changing patterns of behavior to avoid crowds (for me). MDR food was okay. I agree it is worse than pre pandemic, but still a good meal most of the time. We do YTD so it elegant nights have a long table wait- especially with the spring break crowds. We had a lot of college students, lots of family groups that had multiple high school kids with them, and many family groups with small children. All the pools and hot tubs were people soup. 🙂 Folks were complaining about chair hogs and all the normal routine type of complaints. Lots of lines for food, but I found they moved okay. The buffet food was decent most of the time and that is usually where we went. Don't believe in the stepped up security thing too much. At least don't rely on it to be working the way people might like to see. There are definitely drug dogs and warnings to ditch the weed. I didn't really smell skunk on this cruise like I have the last year or so. BUT- security was really struggling to keep the drunks in hand. Not the college kids or the high school kids. The college kids were fine, if sometimes rowdy, and I didn't see any real issues with them. The high school kids roved in packs, ate pizza and ice cream and stayed up late but didn't seem to cause any drama I noticed. The drunk adults showing their a++ in front of their families, spouses and the world- sheesh. People need to learn how to hold their booze, or at least be happy drunks. There were quite a number of relatively minor security incidents. We called security on the cabin next to us on the very first sea day when a guy was in there pounding and screaming curses and it sounded like maybe slamming or breaking things. Never heard anyone from anyone in that cabin again so don't know what happened. Overall- most of the issues were due to the crowds over spring break. Nothing bad or earth shaking happened. I like the Glory and she was very clean and the staff was great. Alchemy bar tenders were fantastic. Piano bar good- I have no complaints about the cruise at all as a whole.

I did see a drug dog on the ship at the end of January, and it was no spring break cruise. We were on Celebration at the time. I have gotten a whiff of the wacky weed a time or two over the years, sometimes from a cabin, sometimes from Lido. The last year or so the smell of weed has been really obvious around the ship. I have never really cared about weed one way or the other. Other people smoking anything doesn't bother me as a general rule. But the dispensary stuff is super strong. The vapes are super strong, and the clouds of vape smoke blowing down onto Lido are pretty obnoxious. I was in the pool watching Minions in January and the pool was full of kids and the stench of MJ. Not a good thing. Definitely time for Carnival to do something. On the other hand, I always see the weed and the fights kind of grouped together. It isn't the stoners that are fighting. It is the drunks who are maxing out their 15 drinks and bragging about it. I have seen people cut off recently, so apparently they are working on that too. Given that their cruises are selling out while the price of everything goes up- I don't think people "leaving" Carnival are a concern for corporate right now.

That makes perfect sense to me. The waiters are carrying a lot more tables now on many nights. I can imagine that anything out of the ordinary will throw off the rhythm of service. I am already the "difficult" diner that sometimes asks for coffee BEFORE dinner instead of afterwards- so I have no desire to disrupt the flow of service. I am always relieved when I see another person near us with coffee before a meal, because it is much easier for them to remember to bring the coffee when multiple people near each other are drinking it.

There is no consistent method to ensure you get offers or don't get offers. I don't have a casino players card anywhere else. I don't gamble anywhere else and haven't for many years. I got a couple of great offers back in 2015/2016 from Carnival and then mediocre offers for premier or ultra cruises until Covid. When cruising started back up in fall of 2021- I got a "free" offer for their vaccinated only mid September Alaskan cruise. Jumped on it. Had more mediocre offers and booked a few cruises. I have friends that cruise a lot and gamble a little more than I do. They had the great "free" rooms with drinks and free-play and booked a ton of them. I was jealous 🤣 but glad for them. Then in the fall of 2022 I received a series of great offers for this year that all include free rooms and DOU everywhere, but only for me- not for a guest. Various levels of free play, depending on the room I book. I booked those like crazy for this year! But my play just doesn't vary much and isn't too impressive. Casino offers are unpredictable.

Yes. It says that. But our waiter very clearly said “no’”. He did not say it in a confused way- or as if he didn’t know what I meant. He was very firm that half portions were simply not going to happen. I can only guess that perhaps ordering a half portion glitches their ordering or slows it down since everything is preplated. I wasn’t going to make an issue of it so shrugged it off and just ate half.

It sure was. I remember that too. But I got the “we don’t do that” response when I requested a half portion of carbonara on the Celebration in January. I don’t like wasting food, but sometimes it is just too much!

Usually the groups form on the book of the face for the savvy user.

The body wash does the job- but looks and slightly smells like aftershave. 🙂. The 2 in one shampoo/conditioner is pretty awful for anyone with fragile hair. I bring small bottles with us, because all the salt water and sun fries me.

Puffer coats- take up no room in closet. Gold bond powder to put in stinky/damp shoes. Use the hair dryer on them in the bathroom to dry them out ASAP. Stretchable gloves- keep you warm enough but don't take up more room than a pair of socks.