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glad I work 50 hours a week as a nurse and can only take vacation once a year rather than deal with this nonsense. I am so happy to be able to get away from work and stress at home, I honestly could care less what people are wearing in the MDR. Maybe it is because I am only a gold card member and don't cruise 60 times a year that this stuff really does not affect me. The conversation at the table with my husband and children are more important to me than some person at another table wearing shorts. I was on that repositioning cruise and I really could have cared less what people were wearing. I only noticed "the couple" because I loved their outfits. My 14y old son didn't want to get dressed for formal night because I told him he had to wear a long sleeved shirt, pants... and he opted out and went to windjammer. The waiter actually had something sent to the room and told us that it was more important for him to come with us to enjoy himself rather than worry about a dress code for one night. That to me is what a cruise is about. Enjoying yourself in places you may never see again and being with friends and family. NOT looking around to see if rules are enforced. I am sure that a lot of the complainers had no problems with the hogging of chairs in the solarium. Now that did annoy me but did I complain? Nope. Just went to sit elsewhere.

Totally agree with you!!!

There is no dress code to enforce, the "suggestions" are just that - suggestions - and not a dress code that can be enforced since it is a suggestion. I guess they could enforce the no shorts, tank tops, flip flops rule since it is actually stated but like you, I could really care less if people showed up in shorts or tank tops, even on formal night, as long as they don't come and sit on top of my table or on my lap.

Wow - what ship was this and what year ? We have been on quite a few Carnival cruises and don't ever remember having free drinks and appetizers ?

It is called the Captain's Celebration and is on the first elegant night. I don't believe they serve free drinks anymore, but discounted drinks.

Loved your review. Great information that will definitely be useful when we go on her in 2016. Some of the info may change due to the dry dock coming up but I still cut and pasted a lot of info into my notes :) Thanks!

I recently made a TBA reservation with no problems.

Shorts are not normal in the MDR despite so many posters stated. You will always have those that do not respect the dress code. The word suggested is a polite way of telling you what you should have already been taught as a kid. Adults should understand this and should have no need to ask to justify being lazy!

sug·ges·tion

/sə(ɡ)ˈjesCH(ə)n/

noun

noun: suggestion; plural noun: suggestions

an idea or plan put forward for consideration.

synonyms: proposal, proposition, motion, submission, action point, recommendation; More

advice, counsel, hint, tip, clue, idea, trial balloon

•the action of suggesting something.

Nothing in that definition indicates "these are the rules abide by them". The dress code is just that - suggestion - wear what you want other than shorts, sleeveless shirts and flip flops.

We went on a behind the scenes tour on Carnival and learned a lot of questions similar to yours. We went to the galley, food storage area, laundry, crew quarters/dining room, backstage theatre, engine control room, environmental services and the bridge. We had time to ask questions in each area including a long time speaking to the captain and mates in the bridge. It was an awesome tour and something I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. I believe it was $100 and was 2-3 hours long. We got lots of "stuff", chocolate covered strawberries, carved soap from the fruit/veg carving staff, back pack, baseball cap, lanyard, a picture of the group and a couple individual pictures with the captain, a couple drinks and snacks but the information alone was totally worth it.

This is the policy as stated on RCCL's website:

Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women

Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for women

Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

It states suggested guidelines, to me that means they suggest you wear this but you are not required to. Is that correct or is there a different policy once on board or somewhere else on the website that I am not seeing?

Itinerary: We like to go to new places or maybe return to places we really enjoyed. There are certain places we do not want to return to. We like port intensive itineraries.

Ship/Cruise line: Would not want to go on the same ship twice. We would like to try different cruise lines but only those that offer anytime dining and casual dress as we are on vacation and do not like to have a set dining time or require formal clothes on vacation. Like to have lots of on board activities/shows/eatery choices.

Price: It usually comes down to a few ships with comparable itineraries so then we go by price.

I've been on two Carnival cruises and have booked my first RCCL cruise. I look forward to doing an unbiased comparison between the two lines when I return. I didn't ask "RCCL or Carnival?" because I know that every person's experiences are different and very subjective especially when they have never cruised one line or the other! I chose RCCL for the activities on the ship that will thrill my teens and secondly for the itinerary. If Carnival had a ship with ice skating, 3D theatre, rock wall I probably would have continued on with Carnival because I like it! I've seen many of the threads on here asking people to compare the two and many people have said that the two are more alike than different and quite a few have mentioned that the food is actually better on Carnival. I sure hope RCCL has generators as well since there very well could be a power failure on any RCCL ship just as with Carnival!

I called and got mine changed - fare was the same but I got the OBC.

We also did a tour with Victor Bodden tours and had a great time.

I was also trying to decide between NCL Spirit and RCCL Freedom of the Seas. I choose Freedom. There are so many extra things for my teenage son and his friend on that ship. Also the Freedom itinerary goes to Labadee which is RCCL's private island. One of my prerequisites for a cruise - it must go to the cruiseline's private island :)

I go to My Cruises quite often and haven't had a problem but the agent I spoke to last week about viewing my reservations told me not to go through My Cruises as it doesn't work! He suggested to go through Countdown to Cruise.

The current "sale" ends today so the prices might be lower tomorrow :)

I sailed on a Carnival ship first sailing out of dry dock and there were absolutely no problems at all. There was not any work still being done, the staff weren't confused, in fact, I think they were more upbeat and rested! I would not hesitate to do it again.

So if you get caught do they just open your suitcase, take it out and send your bag up to your cabin or are you called down to open your suitcase?

I read a post on the Private Islands board that said the only difference the poster saw was that the upgraded buffet had shrimp.

I recently had an experience with an on-board booking and it translated into a problem that i've recently discovered while looking at all future bookings.

 

I know the reason WHY they do it this way, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

 

Basically I tried to get a booking on a coveted aft corner cabin but was told that ALL cabins in that catagory were SOLD OUT. This is for a cruise in 2016. I thought that was kind of sketchy. Sold out? really? this far in advance? Must be a very popular time of year....

 

HOWEVER... when you put in 3 people for a reservation, magically, there are TONS of cabins in that category available.

 

While I understand why they try to fill the two-person rooms with just two people I am frustrated that I can't get the cabin I want because of it. Seems to be a disadvantage to booking too far in advance.

 

Anyone have any experience in trying to fix that?

I found the same thing with my 2016 cruise - all 4 person E1 cabins are sold out. I also can't see them all being sold this far in advance. Do they keep some to release closer to sailing or do they hold some back during "sales"??? I know there were 4 person E1s open the day before the this latest sale but I thought I would wait until I found out if we would actually have four people in our party before I changed my 3 to a 4. Now when I check (and I even called) there are none available. I had called and spoke to a cruise consultant last week and he told me that it was fine to book a quad cabin for three people and we would not be required to move if they needed another 4 person room.

Thanks, that's good to know! What a way to end your last vacation day - getting the whole family up and out to meet with them at 6 am. We've only cruised out of Miami since then and I swore I would never cruise out of Tampa or any other port that worked that way. I guess I can look at itineraries out of Tampa again now :)

Any Canadians debark from Port Canaveral lately? Do you go through Immigration with everyone else or are we required to get up at an ungodly hour in the morning to report to Immigration? First cruise we ever went on was out of Tampa and the whole family, kids and all, had to meet with Immigration in the theatre at 6 am. We will never do that again lol! I know at the time there were several ports that operated this way, just want to make sure Port Canaveral isn't one before I book.

Freedom is rumored to have DD by next spring so that's probably why you couldn't get traditional dining.

I just booked yesterday for Feb 2016 and had all three choices for dining - my time, early or late. I chose my time and did have to prepay gratuities.

Anyone been in this cabin? I booked it for 3 but when I did a mock booking for 4 it came up as well. It is possible that a 4th person will be coming with us. I had called a cruise consultant yesterday and he said there would be no problem booking a 4th person in the cabin at a later date and we wouldn't have to move if the 4th person did not come. Today I called again and asked but was told it is only a 3 person cabin???

484!!!!

I put a courtesy hold on a booking last night before this promotion started. The same booking today gets $600 OBC but costs $605 more!!! What a deal!!!

I know what you are feeling! I have been going through the same decision process all week with most of the same choices - I could've written your post lol!!! I ended up choosing Freedom of the Seas Western Caribbean mostly due to the onboard activities for my 14-year-old son and Labadee and Farmouth will be new ports for us. We have only cruised with Carnival and I was determined I was going to go with NCL this time - it was between Spirit, Breakaway, Getaway and Escape. Spirit and Breakaway are the only itineraries that really stuck out for me but Spirit is NCLs oldest ship and really not much for teens and Breakaway leaves from NYC and I didn't want to endure 1.5 days of cold each way. Good luck with your decision.