evandbob

Sadly, when cruise lines drop safety precautions, they attract folk who don't tend to follow sane healthy procedures that keep some diligent cruisers safe from COVID (or whatever). We saw plenty of crowded elevators filled with unmasked folk on our recent sailings, e'g'.

I'll guess that with the latest contagious variants, cruisers will begin to show symptoms 2 or 3 days after their 5 day or shorter cruise, making it much harder to blame lax conditions on board for the virus spread. Sure, we're all COVID fatigued, but let's not lose sight of what the issue is - staying healthy, not cruising blissfully ignorant of the consequences. We've sailed 5 or 6 times in the last year, and have an 18 night B2B in a few weeks, but we'll continue to stay masked indoors, in theaters and the casino. Even a "mild" case of COVID is something to be avoided. Take care E1!

It's funny watching cruisers on Celebrity when they tune in to different tapes on their headsets yet try to dance together. I doubt that's what the OP had in mind when posting though.

Sounds like I won't want to either. And they probably wouldn't want to hear what my loud, brash, uncensored mouth would say. How can adults be so close minded and puritanical in the 21st Century?

If you hear a buzzing sound coming from lil rubby ducky, don't touch it!

This is an issue for adults? C'mon man, who cares?

We have seen the menu stay the same for the first 4 or 5 nights and then change to a different menu for the remaining days of a week long cruise.

Or, your secret paramour and your significant other, very messy!

We have only sailed Alaska once, so our experience is limited. However, Princess pulled off our land/sea tour seamlessly with no hitches or surprises. We flew into Anchorage and spent a week or so exploring interior Alaska prior to our one way weeklong sailing to Vancouver. We felt we optimized our time and made great memories on this one time destination for us.

I usually wish that the Carnival CDs develop a week long case of laryngitis on embarkation day! They happen to be the loudest, most long winded announcements amongst all the cruise lines!! It's much more relaxing when a CD just reports general ship info and forgets the harangue about an inch of gold or some "presentation(s) I can't afford to miss". I didn't realize that difference until I gave up cruising Carnival exclusively started booking other cruise lines!

Either Lamanai or Xanantunich. Both are all day affairs, large grounds with several buildings, huge temples to ascend with wondrous views. It was easy to imagine a bustling town below the temple when gazing out. Bus ride in, water ferry out. lunch included, I would dismiss Altun Ha as insignificant and small, and was poorly "patched" when I visited 15 or more years ago. Seeing Altun Ha as representative of Mayan ruins IMO, is like visiting Peoria to get a sense of America's metro cities.

If you plan to "surprise" them once on board, keep in mind that they probably have planned out excursions, activities, dining times, etc. One may not be able to join them if you wait to announce your presence after you all board.

My experience has been that I could see some stars from my balcony after midnight, especially if I shielded my eyes with my hands, (kind of like blinders on a horse). Not anything unusual though, and certainly not able to see the Milky Way. Kind of disappointing, similar from what I see from my home in SWFL. I've never had the energy to go up on the aft deck to see if there was less light pollution and therefore better star gazing. I do have fond memories of seeing the Milky Way during blackouts at home when I lived in NY, and especially on overnight stays in Roatan when nightly power failures were routine years ago. Some lines advertise late night star viewing as an activity, but I haven't had that opportunity yet.

A letter for permission to cruise is generally required when a non custodial non parent brings along a minor. Since the OP is parent to the daughter, and last names match, shouldn't be an issue. Worst case, a letter supporting the OP as medical proxy might come in handy for an accident, illness, etc. When I travelled with a minor nephew with a different last name, the only issue I had was at USCustoms exiting the ship. I had to show a letter from my nephew's Mom to avoid any inference to trafficikng a minor.

I've played slots every night on all of my 40 Carnival cruises. Currently my best offers have been a free balcony on a 5 night or an ocean view on a 7 night. I generally hit approx. 2500 -3000 points on a week long sailing. I've sailed many Elite and premier Carnival casino cruises pre COVID. But after cruising Celebrity 3 or 4 times, their blue chip casino started offering me free mid ship mid deck balconies on the Equinox, Silhouette, Edge, and Apex. It was a no brainer to keep accepting the Celebrity offers and wait for Carnival to come close to matching. I have free 18 might B2B balcony and 3 different week long balconies booked through next January on Celebrity. Yay to Celebrity and its smoke free casino!!!

It's possible to walk off with your luggage by 7:30- 8:00 or so. The airport is about 15-20 minutes away at the time, and is generally empty of passengers as well. It becomes a zoo by 10AM. I've used diamond walk off and been to MIA by 7:30am numerous times. Hopefully the OP has security clearance to zip thru airport lines since he'll be arriving later than I would have.

It's possible that the 20% rate questioned by the OP is accurate, but there is no data to support it. Cruisers might get a mild case of COVID 3 days after a sailing. If someone self tests, it's generally not reported to health authorities. So it's just as easily higher or lower than 20%, and with the cavalier attitude towards precautions we've witnessed on our recent sailings, I'd say it's higher!

There are 5 ships in this class: Glory, Valor, Liberty, Freedom and Conquest. I've been on all of them, maybe a total of 15 to 20 times? These 5 ships are basically physical clones of each other. The main differences are in "decor"as noted, not in layout or design.

I haven't - yet. The 2 times (Panama, Florence) I was delayed due to heavy traffic I was on ship excursions.

The AC port area is off Puerto Plata, on the Atlantic side of the island. AC is a manufactured port built solely for the Cruise line. This area has 2 star hotels, a beach in Puerto Plata that reminds me of Coney Island (ugh) and a nearby Ocean World compound. But that is a limited view of the DR. Take a land vacation to Punta Cana at any of the 4 or 5 star hotels there to appreciate what the DR has to offer.

Done many solo cruises, on 4 different mass lines. I had the freedom to choose what activities I wanted to do solo, and when I wanted company. Didn't need to decide all that prior to cruise. Could decide on a day to day basis. I did bulk up my downloads for my kindle though. Some lines like NCL offer solo/single assistance with dining, excursions and meeting lounges. CC has threads here on line in this forum for singles(date hopefuls?) and solos, you can get lots of tips there.

Medium rare filet mignon at the Steakhouse, hands down!! Huevos rancheros at the brunch seaday is my fav MDR, followed by the new chicken shack on the MG for mass produced items.

Personally, I welcome the Diamond lunch or get together with the Captain and officers, since I do enjoy talking about our Italian Grandmothers with many of Carnival's Captains! There were hardly any tidbits to eat at the last half dozen P&D parties I attended, so they kind of lost any appeal to me as a non drinker. I realize this will not be the attitude of most P&D's!!

Exactly, and the same can be said for threads on tipping, food choices, dress options, etc., etc. The reason why these threads repeat might be to inform new readers of their options, since the search engine has difficulty retrieving prior threads, as well as to allow previous posters to augment, expand upon or modify previous posts. Serves a purpose - if no one really cared, the post wouldn't exist.