sunkey1

Totally agree with the review. We went on a last minute cruise with friends on an older Carnival ship and it was awful. The ship was run down and I actually got locked out on my balcony one day due to a broken handle. No apologies from anyone. The Equinox, when we went on her (prior to dry dock) had very few rust spots and overall was in fantastic ship. Also agree about the food, service and entertainment all being excellent. 

On 4/19/2024 at 6:50 AM, Cruise a holic said:

We are elite plus on celebrity and diamond plus on Royal.  We have sailed three times on Princess, and the ships, service and food do not compare to Celebrity or Royal.  We consider Princess on par with Carnival and NCL- not for us.

I've only sailed once on Princess so far but they are definitely a step above NCL and two steps above Carnival in ship decor and service. NCL has some good entertainment, Carnival still relies primarily on the guests as entertainment. I do love Carnival's newest ships, largely because of the (adults only) Serenity deck, with padded loungers, designated bar and pool (all free of charge). Just MY opinion.

Thanks for he heads up! Called, got a refund and rebooked - saved $40. About an hour later I finally received the email from Celebrity about the sale....

25 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Last time I checked we are in the middle of the school year...unless I guess those kids are on spring break maybe.

Yep, and the problem these days is that spring break, which used to run a week or two before or after Easter, now encompasses most of March And April....

Just came back from our third trip on the Mardi Gras - we still LOVE this class of ship. That said, although the ship, food, drinks and service were ALL wonderful, our biggest issue was with the guests. We knew to expect kids given the timing of the cruise, but we've never experienced so many young kids running around unsupervised. Parents were just partying, drinking and letting the kids do their thing. Some of the parents were worse than the kids. SO different from our first two MG cruises (both in October). Didn't spoil our cruise but definitely will not cruise Carnival again over spring break, just not our thing.

As far as the restrooms on the Mardi Gras, while I truly love the ship, it's probably the worst I've been on in over 60 cruises when it comes to restrooms. There are simply not enough for the number of passengers.

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Right you shouldn't have to go somewhere else because of unruly behavior. The unruly behavior should be kept in line.

Problem is that it's too often NOT being kept in line. I saw TONS of security people on this last cruise but didn't see them doing much...

On 3/24/2024 at 10:56 AM, ober134 said:

It's not the kids that bother me as much as the parents that let their kids run wild and create havoc in hallways at night and clog up all the hot tubs. No offense intended, I raised mine to be respectful... I guess times have changed.

Yep, just got off the Mardi Gras and one night in Brass Magnolia there was a group of adults there drinking at one table, had their kids, about six of them, all under 10 at another table. Kids may have been okay except for the one dad who had them all worked up, literally picking them up and throwing them over his shoulder, while the musicians were playing. I've seldom seen anything so disrespectful to the performers as well as to the guests who were trying to listen to them. The two tables on either side of us finally gave up and left.

No difference, just a really large ship so bear that in mind. Much larger than the Glory.

15 minutes ago, Daruma said:

 

Fair enough, I guess I upgraded, looking back, because at the time I was interested in the specialty coffees, etc. 

That's one thing that Carnival definitely has over NCL, their drink package includes everything, alcohol, soda, bottled water, specialty coffees. NCL's does not....

You don't have to "upgrade" the alcohol package to get soda, that would be included in the alcohol package. I sail both lines (among others), Personally one of the highlights for us on NCL is enjoying the waterfront dining, nothing like having a nice meal at sea, watching the sunset. I also think that NCL still has the edge over Carnival as far as most production shows (although the Carnival Excel class are in a different class altogether, why I'm sailing for the third time on the Mardi Gras). It truly depends on what you want out of your vacation - that's the beauty of it - different strokes...

Nor on the Mardi Gras, so doubtful.

Carnival is not as bad as it used to be since they cracked down on young people traveling without someone at least 25 in the group. The worst offenders now are typically grown adults, but still not as bad as Carnival in past years. I've seen drunks on Carnival, NCL, Royal and Celebrity.

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

I guess it’s only illegal if you get caught. One other lounger in the Solarium the other day had an “Out of Office” sign on it when unoccupied. I didn’t grab a picture but I’m sure it will be back.

 

Crew were walking around and cleaning in both areas and walked past them just as I did.

 

IMHO, it’s systematic of people today. I paid, I get to do as I please. Unless enforced it will only get worse.

 

Scoff at Carnival, but they just rolled out a plan to address it, where the chair police will put a note on an occupied chair with the time the note was placed and noting the time, 40 minutes later, when the stuff will be moved. Let’s see how it works. Companies are just so concerned with alienating their customers, even when the customers are wrong.

 

mac_tlc

Yep, too many people live under the "entitlement" umbrella lately. And for all those Carnival haters I will confirm that they have cracked down more on this (albeit not enough) on my last few cruises with them than they did on my last Celebrity OR NCL cruises. I still remember one cruise where my husband and I settled into chairs at 9am one day, saw stuff piled on a few chairs nearby and when we left early that afternoon no one had shown up yet. Ridiculous....

12 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

You still totally can...

Yes, I could, except you'll note that I said you can USUALLY get hard copies of menus, Fun Times, etc. I didn't say ALWAYS, and there were times that I had to use my phone to access those items.

4 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Our current position:

 

 

 

Cuba:

 

 

 

E-class ships have a lot of great photo opportunities. Here are some from my walk this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the chair hogs were up early today::

 

 

That's just so wrong - wish the lines would start REALLY cracking down on this. Gather it all up and people can collect their stuff when they decide to show up. 

They've definitely digitized almost everything, deck plans, menus, Fun Times, are all available on your phone. You can usually find regular menus at the restaurants and bars and hard copies of the Fun Times as well. I use my phone on the ship, but as little as possible, typically only for the occasional picture. I personally miss the days when we got on the ship, locked our phones in the safe and didn't touch them the whole time. Simpler days.....

For me it's largely the atmosphere, which one appeals to me the most? That's the one I'll likely go to the most.

On 2/12/2024 at 6:40 PM, nwcruiselover said:

When my sister and I scattered our brother’s remains, we used a biodegradable “scattering tube,” which I found on Amazon.  After the remains were put into it, it was securely sealed.  There was a small punch-out hole on top, so we were able to punch that out and scatter a portion of the remains into the sea, then throw the rest of the remains and the tube itself into the sea.  Carnival made sure the tube was biodegradable before we did it.

My father in law was just cremated and they offered a box of sorts which was biodegradable and allowed my husband to place him at the inlet in Ft. Pierce. That "packaging" keeps it simple and saves money on an urn that would otherwise not likely ever be used. I know that's my plan.

Exactly why we're heading out soon on the Mardi Gras for the third time - love this class of ship.

On 2/11/2024 at 5:33 AM, hopeless holiday booker said:

I know we can not understand Celebrity's logic but if you're not 'anytime' why give you a time.  Do you think because of the non edge class the computer can't cope with individual ships?

 

Most likely as their website is sorely lacking in a LOT of ways.

Just now, Megan_Strick said:

I have given my kids explicit instructions that I want this done.

Yep, told them to book a cruise, drop me off and have a blast.

Is there any additional paperwork that needs to be completed when bringing ashes onboard? 

If you're wanting to dine with friends then YTD is actually perfect as you'll always be able to get a table together. I don't see what the fuss is about and I certainly would not let it ruin your poor wife's cruise. Eating early you should have no problem getting a table pretty quickly.

18 hours ago, RLM77 said:

Vista is in (or just out of) dry dock right now FWIW.  Personally, I would avoid Port of Miami at all costs - took us nearly 4 hours to get out of the garage and port area last November.  If you are looking for a newer ship that is very similar to Celebration I highly recommend Mardi Gras out of Canaveral.  The itineraries are not as good, but just about everything else is as good or better than Celebration.  Cheaper, easier parking.  Faster embarkation/disembarkation.  Slightly fewer passengers.  And the combination of Brass Magnolia/Fortune Teller is miles ahead of Golden Jubilee/Latitudes.  We have accumulated 630 cruise-nights on seven cruise lines over the past 18 years and Mardi Gras is our current go-to.  If you can deal with the queues (both virtual and physical) you’ll love it.

Rich

Agreed! We were  going to try the Celebration as we love the Mardi Gras but after looking at pictures and figuring in the trek to Miami vs Port Canaveral, it was an easy decision to just book the Mardi Gras again.