sparks1093

I also love seafood (so of course I marry someone who is allergic) and I will eat frozen lobster when I have to. Heck, the 3 oz tail isn't that big that I can't finish it even if I don't like it. Lately the lobster on Carnival has been all right. Certainly not in the same ballpark as a fresh Maine lobster, but still edible. But there are certainly enough options on the menu (note to self- try the sea bass next time).

I would second this. One of the pleasures of cruising is meeting new people and dinner is one of the areas where it's easy to do that.

Yep, following directions is not practiced very much in the States. It's always do your own thing no matter what. I look around me at the muster drill and all I see are future casualties. As for the question, no, we don't do anything differently.

Here's the thing (for us, likely for many, but who knows)- we typically cruise about once a year, year and a half. If it weren't for Cruise Critic most of these changes (whatever you want to call them) would go absolutely unnoticed by us. We never go thinking things are going to be the exact same thing they were, or that no changes will ever occur. We go and take things as they come. If something that we liked is no longer available we make do with what is available. We cruise to have fun. To be at sea. To visit different ports. To eat food we wouldn't eat at home prepared by someone else. To have different activities available day and night. To spend time together. Actually, spending time together, either as a couple or with family and friends, is the most important part of any vacation. We do recognize that other cruise lines offer more amenities, but that always comes at a price. If we can cruise with another line for about the same price as Carnival we won't hesitate to jump on it (that is what happened when we cruised Anthem, Royal was actually $400 less that time) but we are more than comfortable booking Carnival at the prices they charge. (And Royal was nice but they didn't "wow" us enough to get all of our business, either.) I don't sweat the small stuff at home, I am certainly not going to sweat the small stuff on vacation.

Yep, we found that out processing our own meat chickens this year. How any animal is handled from the time it is harvested until it is frozen is going to affect the final quality.

The prices I gave were for a mid-ship balcony. We are in an Ocean Suite on Glory this upcoming April and that one was $2811 when we booked it about a year and a half ago (and yes, I am aware that the perks are very scanty but it still suites us😁).

I would if I could but the cruise on the Mardi Gras is a group cruise. I will definitely include X in all of my future price checks when choosing/booking a cruise.

Tom made me look. We are currently booked on Mardi Gras for April 2024, so I looked to see what kind of deal we could get with X. Our balcony on MG is $2086. Celebrity came in at $5343 with the drink package, wifi and tips included. Add in Cheers, Wifi and tips to the Carnival fare and it comes in at around $3350. Now, I'm sure that X has a much better product for that price, but I'm not willing to pay that much more for a cruise.

When we've ordered morning room service it was a pot that held 4 cups of coffee as I recall (but of course my memory isn't what it used to be).

From what I've read the PBJ is the best that most people have had (not high on my list of things to try) and the same thing is said of the tenders. They call what is added to the bar bill a service charge also, don't they? I know that they do for CHEERS.

No, it's an 18% service charge. You may leave an additional tip if you'd like to. I wouldn't like to, so I won't.😉

As far as I'm concerned the service charge is the tip. The only tip I leave now is if we only get the complimentary items. Two sandwiches are $10, plus $1.80 plus whatever you would leave in addition to that. Nowhere near $20 unless you are leaving a lot as the customary tip. (And I will note that Royal and NCL both charge for room service as well, with the added benefit of paying more to sail with them as a rule, although good deals still pop up.)

If it is, it is. Wouldn't be the end of the world at all.

We don't use room service very often and if we do it's normally for breakfast. I've tried two of the breakfast sandwiches- the biscuit/sausage and the English muffin/bacon. I much preferred the English muffin one and felt it was worth the $4 that I spent. The biscuit was off somehow and while it was filling just didn't taste right.

Exactly this. I grew up eating fresh Maine lobster and I've never met it's equal. Frozen lobster can be ok if it is cooked right, but that is the trick. My first experience with frozen lobster was in the Navy and they didn't cook it right. The last few cruises they've done a decent job with it and I found it edible. I have toyed with the idea of getting the steak and lobster from the steakhouse from the MDR menu but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet (and that might be a bigger lobster, possibly even from Maine, but it is still a frozen lobster).

All passengers are vetted during the cruise so by the time the ship disembarks they've all been checked (at least for closed loop cruises), so even without those numbers they have ample time to find someone in the database if needed. Customs has become a formality for declaring any purchases made (and since they've stopped handing out the declaration form it's sort of a moot point unless someone has made a large purchase). When we disembarked Legend in February they didn't even make a show of it, they stood outside of their checkpoints and waved everyone through.

Probably would have meant trouble had you not produced it when asked though (but only by being sent to secondary inspection). (And our experience was similar disembarking in Florida following a closed loop cruise using facial recognition.) Maybe if the time comes when they use facial recognition at check in it might be a reality.

We always bring soda to mix with the rum that we purchase for the cabin. Much more convenient (plus we have a wider variety of brands to choose from and can bring a soda we like).

DW ordered the shots that came on a tray in the MDR that came in different colored shot glasses with Carnival etched on them. As I recall Cheers covered the cost of the shot, but not the shot glass itself.

Yes, it is possible that CBP (not immigration) might be able to use the number to shorten the search in that database by a few seconds. If the time comes when we won't need physical passports I suspect that is a long way in the future.

They didn't ask for it for our November or February cruise. No idea why they would. TSA has nothing to do with cruise port security. (I know, on their website they claim they do, but that's just agency puffery.)

It's good that you have time to research and that you take the time to do that. I don't have that kind of time and as a rule I don't do other people's research for them, if I don't already know the answer I just skip it and leave it to others.

Since she has a countdown in her signature it didn't take long to research, but I do agree that it would be helpful if posters did include the information in their post. OP, Carnival allows you to bring on 12 cans per person in your carryon only, so as mentioned you will need to wheel it around with you until your cabin is available at 1:30 or so. Security will usually do a visual check on the cans so we always take our out of the box and put them in the carryon.

It's been a different brand every time we've ordered.

I can't believe that any MDR would be that bad. I wouldn't put too much weight in those reviews.