pjhootch

We were on the Horizon in September, and came home with Covid. Just a coincidence the Horizon and Vista are twins. The ships are more crowded and harder to keep some distance from people, even outside. But the real issue had more to do with us being a bit too relaxed about wearing masks- most likely. We just got off Magic December 11th, and we did not get sick, although many people did. We were in the casino and not using masks. Stupid of us, but I was really hoping I still had immunity from September's bout. Apparently we both were still fairly immune. Because people were packing the elevators and the casino was packed solid. The MDR is not what it was before the cost of food shot through the roof. We started our post pandemic cruising in September of 2021. The first few cruises we had some really excellent MDR meals. On Horizon in September and especially on Magic a couple of weeks ago- the food was really "meh". We usually enjoy it for what it is. Have to say we ate about 5 meals out of 8 elsewhere. We had some OBC so used it at Capitano for a meal, and my husband ate at the Seafood Shack. We mostly just snacked at the buffet. We did attend both elegant nights and the prime rib was perfect. The filet was cooked nicely and the lobster was not tough. But it was a 2 hour ordeal and I was really tired. 🙂 We used to find the MDR food better than restaurants at home (that I am willing to pay for), I hope they bring the quality back up. Our wait staff has been consistently fantastic, even when they are clearly understaffed for elegant night. We did have a comped steak house meal in September, and it just wasn't that great either. I would have been disappointed if I paid for it, even before the recent price increase. Allowing unvaccinated passengers isn't causing the virus to spread any more noticeably than prior - when cruises were mostly vaccinated only. Hard to be certain since there are no accurate numbers and we can only guess from anecdotal evidence. Probably some issues are because the boosters aren't a perfect match for the most recent virus making the rounds. We are leaving again January 22nd and I am getting a booster a couple of weeks beforehand and crossing my fingers!

Nothing real. They may say there is a "sale" but it will just be priced the same as their other offers before Black Friday.

I haven't been in a hurry to sail on huge ships. We have done Vista and Horizon and I am not really crazy about either one. I feel a bit closed in on both of them- but assume that is just psychological and not objective. We were on Mardi Gras in October 2021. It was a covid sailing so there was a passenger limit at about 2/3 capacity. It still felt pretty crowded. I liked the ship and some of the venues and ideas they incorporated, but there were obvious issues with the dining venues simply not being able to accommodate everyone wanting to eat dinner. Even with 1/3 capacity missing. We aren't into the gimmicks like the roller coaster or sky rides so that stuff does nothing for us (except maybe keep some other people's kids occupied for a while. 🙃 We are booked on Celebration in January and April. I am looking forward to it and hope to really explore the Celebration more than I did the Mardi Gras last year. What I really liked about Mardi Gras was the variety of venues with music or shows. There was a great band on board and multiple places to comfortably listen to great live music. I don't like going into the main theater for a crammed in show, but loved the shorter shows on Mardi Gras in the open stage area that is the main lobby also.

We were just on a 10 day and one night there was Seafood Newburgh and maybe fried Oysters too?

I do not care about these changes. I presume food costs have increased for the cruise lines the way they have for everyone else in the U.S. and elsewhere. I would rather see the dining costs increased than overall cruise fare. The steakhouse is okay. I have paid for it a couple of times and been sent by the casino a couple of times. It is good food, but just far too much of it. Probably not as good as our local upscale steakhouse… but we don’t really eat there either because my husband, son and I all cook pretty mean steaks ourselves. I don’t see the point of closing down the ice cream machines at midnight. It doesn’t impact me since I don’t eat it often even during the day, but we wander through the area where the ice cream machines are left open late, and have never seen much mess or traffic. If my husband decides he wants a 2nd little lobster tail to go with his lobster entree and prime rib or steak entree… I will pay the $5 and not complain. I agree that more food goes to waste from the buffet area than main dining room- and sometimes I am stunned to see people pile up huge servings and not eat them. Don’t get me wrong, I have wasted food here and there when I didn’t care for something or my eyes got bigger than my stomach. But I am sometimes really surprised to see what people do with the food they think of as “free”.

GREAT PERK. The best part of being platinum. Yes, don't send anything delicate. Not a problem for us because my husband and I barely own anything delicate and definitely don't bring that type of clothing cruising. 🙂 We have been using the service for years. Roll your clothes or the paper bags hold very little. Make sure you put your folio number in the place where it asks if you are platinum. We have sent t-shirts, underwear, socks, pajamas, jeans, trousers, shorts, swimsuits, bras- never an issue. Edited: NO SCENT. None that I can detect. I have a pretty severe allergy to scents and I have never had an issue with any scent coming back on the laundry. A couple of weeks ago on the Pride we did get our laundry back with an extra pair of men's undershorts. First time that ever happened. Sorry dude. Hope that wasn't your only pair.

Jimbo, I am sorry to hear about your home town. So much devastation- I hope your family and friends are safe. I am very much looking forward to your review, because we board Pride on the 11th and are looking forward to it. Have a great cruise.

Has anything popped up that would be a good alternative for a couple that like to just go to Calico Jack's and hang out in the water in between drinks? I see we may need to just go to Public Beach- and that's okay. I kind of loved the old dive beach bar feel- but suspect the $$ from the condos and such on 7 mile beach may rule that out these days. Any ideas?

We cruised in March and May. Both times we got messages to complete our health assessment repeatedly after it was complete. We had no trouble boarding. In May- we got messages to complete our health assessments AFTER we got home. Just a glitch.

Great review. Loved Glory out of Miami but haven't been on her since restart. Will sail from N.O. in April and really looking forward to it. No guest should be blasting anything at other guests outside, but easy listening is a scourge upon the planet. 🤣

In my house, 31 year old son and 69 year old husband find nothing funnier than bathroom and fart jokes. They never outgrow it. I understand not wanting to get back on a ship that left a bad taste in your mouth. I also would feel personally compelled to not lose my money to a company that made me mad. We canceled our Australian cruise because the flights were just going to be too much time traveling. I really did want to go and snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef, but not probably going to happen. We were able to have them shift our deposit to a different cruise without losing any money. Of course- that won't work for you if you cancel all your cruises. Since you have time to decide everything except October, don't rush into deciding about Europe next year. We will be on the Pride from Rome this October and I have not read anything about there being tendering problems on the Mediterranean sailings or the sailings from Barcelona.

Eli- glad you came back to update and add more information. You've been around long enough to know there are always the people that doubt a story because it never happened to them. One bad crew member is all it takes create the type of incident that happened with your son. Stand your ground and don't worry about the people who don't believe you. The purpose of your post was to give us a heads up about what happened on your cruise. Mission accomplished. I am booked on Pride this October in Europe and next July around Britain and Ireland. I appreciate the heads up there may be a mess embarking, since I bet school lets out the same week next year. Hope Carnival is more responsive to you than they have been- but it doesn't sound hopeful to be honest.

Trust me, a good chunk of US folk sail on these older ships and love them. I am one of them. I loved checking out the Mardi Gras and am looking forward to a trip on Celebration- but those tend to be unusual sailings for us. I love the older ships and really prefer the smaller passenger load.

I think they are trying to entice low level gamblers that are consistent about playing a little bit most cruise days. I received one also. I usually get Ultra offers, but not for great prices or a huge amount of "fun play". Sometimes I take the offer if it is a cruise I wanted to take anyway. I know some folks have offers that allow them to book August 16th. My offer doesn't start until August 18th. I presume these are going to be fairly expensive cruises, since they doubled my normal free play offer. 🤣 The way I decide if it is a decent offer is if the "free play" + "guaranteed gift possibility" + value of "drinks on us" for me and my husband= more than the cost of the cruise itself. For a while the lowest gift you draw for had increased to $500. I have heard it is now back down to $300. If you have some idea of what you drink, you can do a rough calculation of how much having drinks in the casino saves you on your overall bar bill. We utilize the DOU before or after dinner- or for bloody mary time on sea days. So we probably save a couple of hundred per person utilizing that instead of just stopping at a different bar. If the offer value and cost of the cruise are a wash- then the cruise costs me what I spend to gamble. Sometimes they make money off of me, and sometimes they don't. But I never take a cruise only for the ultra offer. The casino is crowded and you have to be creative to get drinks sometimes. I am not a big fish gambler at all- so there has to be something additional to make me want to take an Ultra Cruise, like a new ship or destinations I really like.

I have met people on cruises that could singlehandedly crash the system constantly reporting "issues" . About the Horizon temperature- I was on the first week in May. Have sailed Horizon a handful of times. Our stateroom temperature was fine and thermostat response worked. I did notice that I did not need to bring a sweater to the dining room or to the casino (as I usually do). I didn't notice any other indoor areas that were horribly cold or hot. I know for sure I got a sunburn the day we were in Bonaire and normally that would make me feel really cold at dinner, or afterwards in the casino. Although I didn't need a sweater for dinner in the MDR each evening, neither was I overly hot. The casino I did find uncomfortable. Usually it is cool to cold. I was too warm. I didn't think much about it since I assumed my person internal thermostat was broken by sunburn or alcohol consumption. 🤣

Lucky you. You clearly haven't spent much time in New York City. 🙂 I have absolutely had employees yell or scream at me a time or two. I definitely have had more experiences where an employee has barked at me about something and been very rude or abrupt. It happens. It has never happened to me on Carnival. But that does not mean it cannot happen. Carnival, like all companies, sometimes hires employees that suck. I personally think they do a great job of having their employees put on a cheerful pleasant demeanor for guests. But sometimes people lash out. OP- I had a border crossing agent put their hands on my 11 or 12 year old son at one point. Scared the living crap out of my kid. Border agent was way out of line and on a power trip. Yelled at me when I tried to explain the situation. I wanted to melt down on him- but when you are crossing back into the states from Mexico- you say "thank you" and just keep moving.

Yep 🙂 Looking forward to it...

Technically "no". But if you go near guest services in the 24 hours before disembarking, you will see extremely long lines of cranky looking people. They aren't standing there to get luggage tags.

We are on the Pride October 11th from Rome, so I have been watching these posts closely. OP I am sorry your son was scared by an employee and I hope you ultimately enjoyed your cruise for all the other things that went on. I was last on the Pride in March for the sailabration silliness, and I was very outspoken about that being a bunch of over hyped nothing. But the Pride itself, I enjoyed quite a lot. I was paying close attention to the ship because I knew we would be sailing her again in October for Europe. Yes- she isn't a spring chicken anymore. There were rust spots here and there but nothing I haven't seen on newer ships that are in service. I was amused that despite multiple days of "balcony washing" notices, the balcony never actually seemed cleaner from one day to the next. But it was just salt spray out there on the glass- it wasn't like it was covered in garbage or anything. 🤣 I figured at that time (March 2022) it was because staffing was low and at any time there was staff in quarantine on top of that. Didn't bother me. I found all the staff to be perfectly friendly and trying very hard, despite obviously difficult working conditions. I did see the temporary/substitute CD lose his stuff at one point. He clearly was struggling very much in that role. Disembarkation in Tampa was a flipping nightmare. And I am a patient traveler who rolls with the punches. But that disembarkation got me aggravated to the point I decided to avoid cruising out of Tampa again. Overall I found the Pride to have a great layout and a great crew. I realize this was 4 months ago... Something OP said about the tendering and bad directions does ring true with me, however. I think our only tender port was Belize- so this must have happened in Belize. I watched crew that were loading the tenders send people back and forth from one door to the other and get very frustrated with a couple of people. We were sent downstairs in one location, told to go back upstairs and over to the other location, and we got in line there. It happens. We were fine. But there was a lady who normally used a scooter trying to get on a tender.. She was on crutches that day. She was in the group with us that was sent down, back up, and down to the other door. When we boarded the tender, she couldn't, because there were stairs there. She said she couldn't do the stairs. They sent her back to the other door again. So she had to go up, over and down, to the place we all started. We were still sitting on our tender, about 20 minutes later, when she showed back up our door again- madder than a wet hen. The crew over there had sent her back to our tender door. Again. Now- I recognized this lady because she was a solo cruiser and a bit loud and noticeable. But she wasn't a mean type of loud. And the guys at the tender gave her a really hard time. She was mad and almost tearful by that point because apparently someone at the other door had been very abrasive about her showing up over there again. She said he yelled at her. I wasn't there. Don't know. But I do know they sent that poor woman back and forth god knows how many times. I did eventually see her in Belize on the way back to the ship. So just a note that OP may be completely accurate about being "yelled" at. Sometimes it isn't the volume but the tone of voice. I don't know why she would make up a story about someone putting their hands on her son. I am really looking forward to being on the Pride in October and I am not hearing anything that makes me nervous about our trip.

There are hotels near MCO that offer a rate that includes round trip shuttles to the Port. Look at Hyatt near MCO. Can't remember which one, but like cruisinsusan70 said, the rate includes a shuttle from the airport, breakfast the next morning and round trip shuttle to and from the hotel to port.

I like balcony cabins and like you, my first cruises were all balconies. Then we got an offer for a free "journeys cruise" that was 11 days- but an inside cabin. It was only a deal (and only affordable for us) if we took the inside cabin. I was nervous. I can feel a bit claustrophobic sometimes. I prepared with lights and alarms and took advice. It all was just fine. I slept better than I normally do. We were close to an elevator and a short ride to the outside of Lido deck. Our room was quiet most of the time and I only missed the private balcony a little bit. I go back and forth depending on my budget, on the cruise, on the deal... I have two cruises booked in an inside cabin for the fall/winter. Looking forward to both. Had two cruises this past winter in suites due to low capacity and sweet upsell offers. I am looking forward to the inside cabin as much as I was the other cabins. Have a great trip.

I hear you. I also understand Firefly's explanation for why the "gratuity" on the coffee mug. The explanation makes sense. If a person buys the mug in a box, with the intent of having a gift for someone at home or a keepsake- the gratuity would seem to be a scam. If you buy it for use on the ship- the gratuity wouldn't be a surprise. Since I don't really buy much on the ship itself, I probably would have been surprised/amused by the gratuity added to something I considered a souvenir. The first few cruises we had teenage kids with us and I watched the charges like a hawk. Partially because we cruised on a very VERY tight budget back then, but also because I didn't want my kids getting up to stuff. 😅 I confess when my husband I cruise these days that I only scrutinize my charges at the end, if the total looks much larger than I expected. Rarely happens. I do notice the gratuity charges when I order a drink or on room service, but only to the extent I decide if I am adding an additional gratuity or not. Those of you describing all the extra charges on Norwegian are making me grind my teeth. I haven't cruised with them. I am open to cruising with any cruise line I consider a good deal, but I would be stressed by having extra charges pile up that I wasn't aware of ahead of time.

I guess it is okay to ask someone in a tight space- no harm to ask. Not cool to demand or insist, however, if masks are not required. Truthfully, we have taken 6 cruises since September, 2021 and masks were required in inside (and some outside) public areas for the first 5, and only suggested on our most recent cruise on April 30th. Despite the requirement on the first 5 cruises, I routinely encountered folks in the elevator, theater and casino that simply refused to wear their masks. I never said a word to any of them- even in the elevator. I just didn't see the point because my opinion isn't changing anyone's mind. Some of these were people I recognized or was acquainted with through social media groups. More than a few of the people I recognized wound up ill at the end or immediately after our cruise. The social media groups are just about the only way to know if people on your specific sailing turn up covid positive, because the cruise lines are not sharing that information. Some people got ill that wore the masks religiously too- so there is just no guarantee. Neither is there a guarantee the mask rules won't change mid cruise- or while you are in flight to your cruise. ALL OF US are booking cruises knowing things could (and probably will) change. Those of us unwilling to deal with rules we don't like should just wait to book until this is all over. That means me (who hates masks but is fine with the rules requiring them) and the folks that won't wear masks. I am so disgusted with all the bickering and arguing about whether we should or shouldn't and must or won't. It seems there isn't any room for chair hog threads anymore and what is this board without complaints about chair hogs? 🤣 I am cruising and enjoying it. Hope everyone else stays healthy enough to enjoy it too. Blerk- I do agree with you some cruisers need to be fired. There have always been some- before covid they were nuts about other things. I bet it is the same basic group of people.