mfs2k

And on a cruise ship it’s unlikely they’re cooking the steaks on an open flame grill. Fire 🔥 and cruise ships don’t like each other.

If you’re looking to save money and have good massages your best bet is to look online for reviews of smaller local spas in ports you are visiting. Nothing like a beach massage or jungle spa treatment for less than $100 while on vacation.

The real question is “Which cow do you recommend?”

Take a cruise from San Juan and when the cruise is over fly to Aruba

I was on the original Jubilee. Not my favorite ship.

Ignorance is bliss. My wife and I got married 25 years ago at a Carnival port stop in St. Thomas. It was all prearranged. It never occurred to us that we could miss the port. 25 years later I’m well aware many ports get skipped because of bad weather, or other circumstances. I wouldn’t take that chance today.

This thread cracks me up.

Ahhh but I didn’t ask about upgrades. I asked about cabin locations within the balcony guarantee category (ie deck, location, view obstruction)

We’re booked in a balcony guarantee on a Med cruise this summer via a casino promotion. We’re Platinum. What’s your opinion of whether they assign Platinum or casino guarantees to preferable cabin locations or do you think it’s random and those things don’t matter?

Most of our cruises have been during Spring break in March or April in the Caribbean. The ships are full, lively and fun. The bars are busy. The pool is crowded. The ports are active. I’ve also cruised in May to the Caribbean and it felt like a week at a retirement community. We preferred the spring break cruises but it’s not for everyone.

Some of you think it’s just go big or go home. There will always be demand for smaller ships for certain destinations. There is also demand for mega ships. It doesn’t need to be all or nothing. And no one says you have to be loyal to a brand if you want to try something different. After 10 Carnival cruises I’ve tried NCL, Celebrity and Virgin. They’ve each had their pros and cons. Now I’m booked on my first Med cruise on Legend in September because of price and ports. I’ve sailed on her 20 years ago. I’m looking forward to being back on a smaller ship. The only way I’d sail on a 200k ton ship is if I sailed with my grandchild.

As a life long New Yorker who has sailed numerous Carnival cruises out of NYC in the past 40 years, I often joke: “The problem with cruising from NYC is the ship is full of New Yorkers,”

If it’s an on board credit it posts to your stateroom bill (folio) as a credit. So anything you charge to your room is offset against your credit. If you don’t use it on things like liquor, excursions, photos, shop purchases, etc, you lose it.

We booked it (Sept ‘24). Learning the ship will be recently out of drydock is reassuring. Hopefully they address the major issues mentioned above.

There’s a moral to this unfortunate tale. Book direct or with a reputable agency. If the agency doesn’t take all major credit cards I’d say that’s a red flag. When you pay an agency and you rely on that agency to pay a hotel, airline or cruise line, you’re at risk if the agency goes bankrupt or disappears. in your situation, it’s a little puzzling how a chargeback occurred between the time the payment was made by the agency and your sailing. Something fishy occurred.

Yes. We’ll fly from JFK or EWR so lots of options. Most likely we’ll take a late night flight and an Ambien will help us sleep. That’s what I do from LAX to NYC so hopefully the plan works.

Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you. And I didn’t know about the dry dock schedule. That makes me feel better.

The last time we sailed on Carnival was in 2013, yet we’re Platinum because of our cruise history from 1986-2013. Since 2013 we’ve done some all-inclusive Caribbean land vacations, sailed on Celebrity twice, and sailed on Virgin once. My wife and I want to go to Europe in September and I booked a very good deal on Carnival Legend (10 nights) from Rome to Turkey, Greece and Italy with a small deposit. I have two concerns I’d love to get reassurance or honest feedback on. 1. We sailed on Carnival Legend in September 2004 for an 8 night Caribbean cruise from NYC when the ship was relatively new, so it will be exactly 20 years later we’ll be on her again. Obviously I expect the ship to be dated and older but will I spend 10 nights regretting I’m on an old ship and not something newer and bigger? 2. Most of our cruises and land based vacations have been all about warm weather, days at sea, or days at the beach. This cruise has 7 consecutive port stops after two days at sea and it’s exhausting just to think about. I’m not 30 anymore. We’re 64/65 and in fairly good shape but I’m not sure if this is biting off more than we can chew. My wife loves to sleep in on vacation and I’m going to be waking her at 7am or earlier every morning to go on excursions or explore ports. So I’m asking you pros…Are we going to love this vacation or regret it? I welcome your subjective opinions. Thank you. -Michael

Yes

I get it. if I walked into a store on Tuesday and saw something was $4,000 and I went back on Thursday for a huge advertised sale and the price was $5,000 with 20% off, I’d feel ripped off.

Ate in Le Voyage on Beyond and we were sailing in the retreat. Yes, we thought it was a worthwhile experience. Food and service were great and better than Luminae (in our opinion).

Back in the day, when smoking was allowed on Verandahs, we loved having that access. My wife smoked her cigarettes and I could have an afternoon cigar on the balcony, sipping a drink. Since smoking is no longer permitted we rarely use the verandah. I did love having a sky suite on Beyond because of the added space, the real verandah, and access to the Retreat and Luminae.

Access to Blu instead of the main dining room is the only benefit I'm interested in. It's worth the same to me as the two of us eating every other night in a specialty restaurant ($120) so about $60 per night for the cruise. (We'd eat half the time in a specialty restaurant anyway if we were in Aqua Class)

We went to Le Voyage with another couple We ordered 4 appetizers, 4 entrees and 4 desserts and shared everything. We created our own tasting menu. Was awesome.