jsfromsc

Book shore excursions? Also purchase trip insurance, if you haven't already done so.

Have a great trip.

Does the Miracle still have the ugly "grape" lights in the dining room? That was the only thing I didn't care for. We sailed her in 2006.

The Miracle is my favorite of the ships I've been on, too EXCEPT for the ugly grapes in the MDR. I wish they'd make more Spirit class ships. There were so many nice places to hang out on the ship and the Serenity area is the best, especially having a whole pool that kids can't use.

Fortunately I was able to sit for my last muster drill. I can't stand for even 10-15 minutes anymore.

I always find myself looking for the "like" button when I read posts like yours. We don't get to cruise often either and for me planning and looking forward to it is half the fun. We love St. Maarten. It's one of the locations where you can do a Sea Trek Helmet Dive. That's one of the coolest things we've ever done. Check it out under the shore excursions. Only been to St. Kitts once and did the railway tour. It was okay. Never been to Grand Turk but I would like to. Make sure you let John Heald know you're cruising to celebrate an anniversary or at least have your PVP note it on your reservation. John sent us chocolate covered strawberries and champagne for our 30th anniversary on our Baltic cruise. The wait staff will get notice that you are celebrating an anniversary too and do something special for you one night. I'm so excited for you. Enjoy looking forward to your cruise and planning all your shore excursions.

My grandsons were 4 and 6 when we cruised on the Ecstasy in June. That's a much smaller, older ship than either of the ones you're considering and they had a great time in Camp Carnival (or Camp Ocean or whatever they're calling it now. :) Anyway, I think a young child that's not afraid to be left in the kids' program alone will have a ball. But I would opt for the cruise with the extra day, especially since you say they're comparable in price. Longer is always better in my book. I'm not opposed to trying other lines, but always weigh the number of days, type of room and price as well as the destinations. So while I"m sure your grandson would enjoy himself on the Vista, this seems like a good time to give Royal a try for the good price and the extra day and the chance to see the different amenities, food choices, entertainment, etc.

Twice have had the aft wrap balcony on deck 7 of the Triumph and loved the room. Great size and layout. Windows aft and side. Nice big balcony and the side portion of the balcony is covered so you can get some shade during the day and some privacy during the night. ;) Bathroom is a good size and has cabinets that close to store your stuff so it doesn't fall off the shelves with the ship's movement. Love being able to see the moon on the ship's wake.

Been on the Triumph twice, once with just my husband and once with most of our adult kids, and loved it both times. Kids loved it too. Cruised on the Ecstasy in June with all of our kids and grandkids. It's the same size as the Fantasy. We were all disappointed in the size of the ship, the age of the ship, the condition of the ship and the destinations left a lot to be desired. I vote Triumph.

Watching right now on TV. Very scary. Wishing and praying for safety for all.

We always pay the gratuities and then give our wait staff and cabin steward extra on the last night. But I think if they raise the auto gratuities significantly they will run the risk of more folks removing the auto tips. They'd be better off to charge more overall for the cruise and pay the staff more. They work like dogs to take care of us and barely have any time to themselves.

We haven't been lucky enough to make it to Alaska yet, but I keep pestering my husband about it. He feels that he is "Caribbeaned out" and doesn't really have an interest in cruising the Caribbean again. We did a Baltic cruise a few years ago which he loved. He loves to see things, and I love to relax. But I'm dying to see Alaska. I figure if the photos I see here are breath taking, imagine what it would be like to see those sights in person.

It won't matter. I was on the Ecstasy, one of the smallest ships, in June and was in terrible pain from arthritis and could barely walk. I wished I had a scooter. My husband refused to let me bring a walker, which would at least have kept me from using a cane and leaning on one side. It also would have given me a place to sit if I got worn out since my walker has a seat. It seemed that I was always having to walk from one end of the ship to the other and there were several elevators not working. I think the larger ships have more areas where you can sit and rest a while and perhaps will have more working elevators. Anyway, I'm just saying that even on a small ship there is lots of walking and the older ships tend to be laid out so that you have to walk just as much and maybe can't get straight through on some decks.

My favorite Carnival ships are the Spirit class. Kind of mid-sized. But definitely get your folks wheel chair assistance for boarding. Standing in the long lines and having to walk such a long way to board can be difficult for those with mobility issues. And if possible rent them scooters or power wheel chairs.

Good luck and I hope everyone enjoys the cruise.

Same thing on Paradise , violin music in the atrium ,that feels like a step backward in time :eek: . For entertainment ,really :confused:. T A convention long delays as well. I wonder why Carnival started catering to TA's again? A few years back they were trying to distance themselves from TA's.

 

Very fair review.

We actually enjoy a string quartet or classical music in the atrium. There are so many other venues where other music is played. It's nice to have a little variety.

But I am disappointed to learn of what Carnival did with the public venues on this ship. There's no point in choosing to sail on a bigger ship if it's only going to mean more crowds and not being able to see some of the shows.

Not good at all. And since their web site is often problematic, outsourcing IT is going to only make it worse. This really irritates me.

I would never not carry on my CPAP.

 

Bring a cord. Room service will deliver distilled water for $3.00 a gallon.

Yes. The one time my husband put his CPAP in his suitcase and checked it for a flight, his suitcase did not arrive and when he got it back the CPAP was damaged. Never again. It is too expensive, sensitive and vital a piece of equipment to risk losing or damaging it. Also, if he just got it, it's probably small enough and light enough to carry. Inconvenient, yes, but I can tell you my husband and I both use CPAPs and neither of us can sleep without ours. They always are one of our carry on pieces when traveling.

Also, make sure you bring a new extension cord with you so they don't confiscate it.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your boyfriend. I hope you get this worked out.

Great review with valuable insight and information.

My husband and I aren't drinkers, but we still appreciate having a table to rest a soft drink on during the shows. So they removed the tables, but still there are fewer seats? Wonder what the reasoning was behind that?

Thank you for including the info on Europe. So many Americans are so ignorant when traveling. They don't realize that other parts of the world live very differently than we do. I would love to do a Mediterranean cruise.

The Carnival Spirit class ships are my favorite, but I'm not keen on those ports. I've never cruised with an infant, and usually I'd vote for the longer cruise, but perhaps with your infant, a shorter one would be better. If there were any problems, you'd be home quicker. On the other hand, if Carnival is cheaper, maybe you could afford a larger room where you'd have more space for all the baby items. I'm sorry not to be more help by giving you a definite opinion one way or the other. These are just the things I would think about when traveling with an infant or small child.

I've never been on Celebrity, but as someone who has only cruised Carnival, I was disappointed in the Ecstasy. We live less than 2 hours from Charleston and thought this would be a nice change to not have to drive or fly quite a distance to the port. We were dissatisfied with the port, the terminal and the ship. It felt small, old, dated. There were some elevators that were out of service for the entire cruise and some of the others were out periodically. My husband and I definitely felt the food was a poorer quality than our previous Carnival cruises. For instance, my prime rib was dry and tough instead of that juicy, melt-in-your-mouth quality I'm used to.

There's only one pool and then the water park. Another disappointment was that all the lounges are on the same floor as the casino and that whole deck was smokey. There weren't any quieter, smoke-free places to hang out.

You will have to decide if proximity to the port out-weighs comfort, food quality, amenities and such. For us, I don't think we'd do a Fantasy class ship again.

You have a beautiful family! Thanks for sharing your experience. The Spirit class ships are my favorites, too.

I've only done land based vacations to Hawaii, but have been several times. There is so much to see and I doubt you could really see a lot just stopping for a day here and there. But that said, you would not have to pack and unpack as you would by traveling by air to the various islands and a lot of your meals would be covered on the cruise. So there are pros and cons. One reason why I wouldn't want to cruise to Hawaii, is that I would feel like I lost sea days. You really do not want to stay on the ship when you're in a place as lovely and relaxing as Hawaii. I guess what I'm saying is weigh what's important to you. The cruise may be more economical than staying in hotels and getting other transportation between islands, but you would actually see more if you stayed on land for a few days on each island.

When we did our Baltic cruise, we appreciated having the ship to come back to each night and not having to pack and unpack, meals already paid for on board, etc. We also got a couple of sea days to rest and recuperate from all the walking and long hours we spent in the various ports.

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. When I saw your name, I was happy that you were having another wonderful experience and I knew you'd have pictures for all of us who wouldn't be able to do the Mediterranean on the Vista.

Just looking at the deck plans, the cabins on deck 6 seem to be the largest and the ones on deck 8 appear smaller. We have had the aft wrap on deck 7 on the Triumph twice and it was our favorite cabin. As far as the balcony, you may prefer the one that has a bit more of the wrap around to the side because that is where you will be able to get some shade if needed and that bit of covering keeps those on the decks above you from seeing you. The one downside to the aft balcony for us was when kids on the Lido deck would throw their soft serve ice cream cones down onto our balcony. If we wanted to be on our balcony and be private at night, we'd have to go over to the side portion where there was an overhang blocking the view of those above us. We loved it. The cabin itself felt much more spacious with that layout as opposed to the typical balcony layout.

I've had a few excursions cancelled due to high winds and lightening - one that comes to mind was a boat ride to Passion Island Beach on Cozumel.

 

Mostly I've experienced sunny days, but there have been some downpours, which I just danced through. I can't understand why people rush out of the water at a beach when it starts raining......I'm already wet, I'll stay in the water, thank you, unless there's the threat of lightening. For sure I wouldn't huddle under a palapa!

 

I think I've had more rainy days at sea than on land though. I've seen that rear aft pool get covered many times on a Conquest class ship. With 196 cruise days on Carnival, it's unrealistic that every day be picture perfect sunny.

On our first cruise, our excursion in Cozumel was canceled. We were going to see the Mayan ruins at Tulum, but they said the conditions were too bad for the boat to the mainland. It rained all day and we just bummed around Cozumel, and that was back when you had to take a cab or a long walk into town and there wasn't much except a souvenir stand at the port. On our next cruise we did a snorkeling excursion on St. Johns and it was raining. It wasn't storming and the water was still pretty clear, but folks in our group complained and wanted to go back to St. Thomas, so they asked us all to go back. My husband and I wanted to snorkel and figured we were already wet so why not stay, but we had to go back. On our Baltic cruise a few years ago, it rained very hard in several of the ports. In Helsinki, folks didn't even want to get off the bus because it was raining so hard. We were stopped at a site and people just asked the bus driver to open the doors so they could take pictures and not get off the bus. Most of us ended up going back to the ship rather than get doused, but my husband decided it was probably his only chance to see Helsinki, so he got off the bus and stayed in town. It ended up clearing up and he had a very nice day. I think if it were an electrical storm, I'd be worried, but if you want to see something, you're going to just have to get wet. I didn't let any of the bad weather we experienced ruin the trip for me.

We've done the aft wrap balcony on deck 7 of the Triumph twice. It was my favorite cabin. Having the wrap around allowed us to get some shade during the day. It is quite hot out there. But we loved that cabin. It's a different layout from a regular balcony room and feels more spacious.

We loved the Ecstasy!

 

Here's a few from our last time aboard:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leeusry/albums/72157624429222924

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Thanks for the pics. That was what I was hoping to find in this thread. We will be on the Ecstasy with our whole family in June.