RoperDK

13 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Then I'd call Guest Services and ask if they could get the Hotel Director to deliver some ice.

Lol, that is not his job.  I can figure it out.  Perhaps I will have a sympathetic cabin steward again and they will bring me my ice and receive a wonderful tip at the end of the cruise.  

Well, at least my cruise is this January.       

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Call your cabin steward when you want more. You can also call room service.

Unfortunately, I've been stuck in that loop before.  The cabin steward said to call room service and room service said to call the cabin steward.  We can always pop up to lido and grab a few glasses of ice for my icebag. 

Honest question here....how do you get extra ice?  We've only been on Carnival once since the restart, but our cabin steward was nice enough to bring me 2 ice buckets and filled them twice a day and also refreshed our towels.  I was recuperating from knee replacement and that ice was a godsend. I am healing from hip replacement for our cruise in two weeks and I am going to need ice!  Our other cruises were on another line, so we had twice a day service.   

Is the casino still open in Grand Turk?  FYI...it's a premier cruise.

4 minutes ago, Theosprey247 said:

If some people ever cruise with RCL or NCL they’ll be sorely disappointed. 

I love RCL!  Different strokes.

You are getting good input on this thread, OP.  The Celebration is Carnival's newest ship and should be a great way to try Carnival. Carnival really does offer a "Fun Ship" experience.  People seem to be more outgoing and willing to strike up a conversation with you.  The crew is more likely to interact and chat with you.  Everyone seems to relax and engage in the fun.  The food isn't the same quality in the dining room and buffet as Celebrity.  However, there are a lot of quick type eateries especially at lunch that offer a ton of variety.  They are short staffed and services suffer.  The staff is overworked and it shows sometimes.           

Would you explain the duck for two a little more for me?  Do you just get the duck meat or do they make different dishes with it?  If you were at a table with 4 people could you share with the table and then order other items to fill in the meal for everyone?

5 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

No.  But order it the night before if you don't want to wait for it.

Do they still have the door hangars or do you call room service for morning delivery?

It will be aired on ESPN, so there might be a chance.  Tell your husband to ask if it will be aired and keep putting up a fight.  Enlist as many football fans as he can to ask, too.  They may have to pay an extra fee to air it, but they do have access to ESPN.  The more interest in the event, the better the chances are that they will show it.  We were successful on getting the championship game aired on Royal even though they said it wouldn't be available.  They even made an event out of it like the Superbowl.  Good luck!  

23 hours ago, CanadianCruiseCritic said:

Thank you! Yes having to drive to Fort Lauderdale is a bit of a pain. Odyssey looks beautiful, but it is missing the Comedy Club that Mardi Gras has... we loved it on our last Carnival Cruise! 

Mardi Gras would definitely be more convenient than the drive down to Ft. Lauderdale.  Wonder of the Seas sails from Port Canaveral.  Have you checked that ship out?  We don't usually make it to the comedy shows because we are always in the casino at night, lol.  However, I do know that Odyssey has comedy shows.  Don't remember the venue's name.    

I have been on both Mardi Gras and Odyssey.  I preferred Odessey, especially for $2000.  There is plenty to do on both.  Mardi Gras has Bolt and obstacle course. Odyssey has bumper cars, IFly, the flowrider, and the jumpy thing.  Lol, I can't remember the name.  I felt the food on Odyssey was better than Mardi Gras.     

We are long time Carnival cruisers.  Before COVID we were increasingly unhappy with food quality and reduced staffing leading to long lines for drinks and poor cabin servicing.  Of course, after COVID things got even worse.  While we haven't totally given up on Carnival, we have enjoyed cruising on Royal.  Princess is a bit too subdued for us.  We have a Celebrity cruise booked and are looking forward to seeing how we like it.  I think trying new experiences is a good thing.  It helps you find your sweet spot and that does change as we get older and aren't cruising with the entire family anymore.   

We have a JS twice next year on Wonder.  Haven't heard much about access to Coastal Kitchen for dinner while in a JS.  Haven't heard much about Coastal Kitchen on Wonder at all, actually.  Any insights would be appreciated.

Following along. We are on the Mardi Gras next month! 

16 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

I'm tellin' you, these waiters are on it. Every time I finish the last bite of something, it disappears and the next course arrives...

 

Lobster... Looks massive in the picture, but it's pretty small.

 

 

 

Is there a worldwide broccoli shortage?  I know they are serving smaller portions, but that is a bit ridiculous. I guess I'll have to beg for extra veggies.  I wonder how much is allowed before they charge me extra?      

46 minutes ago, CallistaSkye said:

lol its so true! On our last cruise this past August on Royal, it was this family that let their kid harass another kid on an excursion and the parents did NOTHING to intervene. We were in line for the tram in Juneau. They have one of those coin machines where you put the pennies and quarters in so that it stamps the penny. This girl had paid for hers and was going to turn the handle with another girl RUNS UP and grabs it and starts cranking away on it. Won't let her even have a turn. We thought they were related. Turns out it was that families youngest daughter. The parents literally stood there, did nothing to stop her. The older sister had to run over and grab her and tell her that it was not hers to do that with. The Grandma of the girl who paid bought her another one and they were whispering to each other and everyone felt so bad for the older sister because she has to be the parent in the family instead of the adults. The little girl then proceeded to throw a HUGE screaming tantrum because they wouldn't pay for a penny for her. Then she was trying to climb on everything, and proceeded to strip down to her underwear in the line. The parents did nothing. We literally kept running into that family all over the ship and the Dad was so weird. The parents were completely checked out and did nothing to parent their children. Like yes, I get being burnt out and I don't know their story. But if you're an adult, then act like one! It was just so sad for that older girl because she doesn't even get to be a kid. She has to parent her younger sister instead.

Anyhow sorry to hijack with my rant.

Oh my, trying to nickname that family would definitely not be appropriate for this forum!  Too bad for the kids.  It really isn't their fault.  It is uncanny how once you see them, they are everywhere on the ship.

2 hours ago, ballarinamom said:

Im curious as to why not Carnival? We've cruised on various lines for years. Or last cruise was Carnival. and it seems they have more/better free food options. more extended food options. Their app is amazing and MTD is actually that- you click on the app and they notify you when your table is ready. They have plenty of space in the dinning rooms for separate tables for two. he food was quality and variety in the MDR was very good but the price was good enough that he could pay for premium dining and still have money left over from the price of what we are paying for our next Royal cruise. And the clientele is beginning to look the same on both lines. So im just curios as to why so adamite about no Carnival? No trying to be rude, truly curious for your feedback. 

My best guess is that because this is the Royal forum and therefore most people prefer Royal.  Carnival has been making many cutbacks and food downgrades, along with rowdy behavior in the news.  I think that 7 day or longer cruises on newer ships are fine on Carnival. They do have a lot of great free lunch options and good pricing.  

21 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Miss Alabama just walked by. I could hear her from twenty five feet away, and knew exactly who it was... 

 

Lol, she is your "person" of the cruise.  You will now see (and hear) her everywhere.  It seems to always happen.  We give our "person" a nickname.  It seems like "Miss Alabama" is it for you.  Our nicknames are many times not politically correct.  It's so funny that we might not remember which cruise it was, but everyone will remember that special "person".

15 hours ago, Pellaz said:

lol, in my recent experience on RCCL I've gotten towel critters on maybe 30% of the days...tops.  

A bit disappointing, unless you actively hate towel critters.  

 

Couldn't help but contrast that with Carnival, where the towel animals join us in the room virtually every evening; my friend Kathy then preserves them on one of the shelves until the last day and gets a group-photo.  🙂   

 

 

Lol. I save my towel animals all week and then group them together on the bed and then they give the cash tip to the steward on the last day.  After all of these years you'd think the fun of towel animals would wear off.  

19 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

So I was on one of the first cruises when Carnival switched to once a day in 2019.  You had to pick if you wanted morning or evening service.  If you selected morning, the steward would still come back in the evening for turn down service but would not clean.

We experienced that, too.  It isn't that way anymore.  However, when we were on our last Carnival cruise on Mardi Gras in Oct. 2021 our cabin steward did bring us ice in the evening too because I had knee replacement and needed the ice for swelling.  He got a large tip! 

16 hours ago, Longford said:

Question:  My cruise was 7 nights.  Western Caribbean.  I was uncertain of the appropriate cash gratuity I should leave the room steward.  I was pleased with the service and interaction.  So, I left $50 cash ... the morning before arriving back in Tampa.  After leaving the gratuity I encountered the room steward twice.  Not once did he thank me.  Is lack of expressions of thanks typical, or required by RCL?  I know that when my hotel housekeeping staff was rewarded they typically left a note of thanks.  Since I'm a newbie to cruising, I just don't know.  😁

 

 People's extra tip choices are all over the place.  Since you had already covered the steward's basic gratuity with your daily charge, then I would think $50 is quite generous.  There are only two of us and we keep the cabin very tidy, but do request extra towels, ice, and leave a few glasses that need to be picked up.  We usually leave and extra $20 to $40.  If we have asked for something unusual or more time consuming, then we tip more.  Only once did we not tip extra when we received some pretty awful service.  Once we start to receive once a day service and the service charge remains the same, I doubt we will tip extra.  As far as not acknowledging your extra tip, we have noticed the same thing post covid on Royal.  In general, Royal's stewards have been polite, but not overly friendly.  This is just our experience.       

13 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I must be the ancient mariner. Started Carnival in 1989, moved to Royal in 2008. Our last ship was Glory out of PC

Started on Carnival Triumph in 1999. Really loved their 50% off military rates and the value product they used to offer.  You could get filet mignon every night in the MDR.  Things started slipping about 10 years ago.  We've been trying other lines and have settled on Royal for now.  Our last Carnival cruise will be next month on Mardi Gras.  It's a milestone cruise and it is hard to pass up all of that OBC.  We will have a good time regardless and try not to end up on YouTube! 😉  

11 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

The talking lady is from Alabama, that explains it.

 

***No offense to anyone from Alabama, but...

Lol, I worked and have since retired in Alabama. Grew up in Miami.  Spent 23 years in the Air Force moving about.  I do enjoy it here, but I have zero southern accent.  A lot of people still say "you're not from around here are you" even though I've lived here for twenty years.  🤣 

1 minute ago, mpdog42 said:

But on Carnival you get to be on "Youtube"...Would that be a "Improvement?🤪

Lol, we are Carnival old timers...been cruising on them for over twenty years.  I defended the brand for many years and felt they offered a good product.  Not so much any more...