CruiseAdict218

On 9/27/2023 at 3:56 AM, Pellaz said:

 

Yes, and sometimes you might get a group photo AND an individual photo with the Captain.  

 

As with every tour I've done, you just never know quite what you'll get, and what you'll see.  But I've always learned something new.  

 

 

On 9/26/2023 at 12:52 PM, shof515 said:

Yes. the picture is with the captain 

Thank you, it was totally worth the money, we did a group photo. Definitely want to do it again on the other classes of the fleet. 

9 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Yes it is, and I understand their reasoning, but you will get at least one and possibly two professionally-taken photos free as part of the deal.  

Are one of them taken on the bridge do you know?

12 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

 

Go to Shore Exc Desk as soon as they open first day. They'll have a book for you to sign up. We got our tickets a couple days later. 

Signed up the minute I got onboard, can’t wait! 

La Strada Grill and Asian Lunch buffet on seas days are excellent.

Entertainment wise everything else will most likely be the traditional Carnival activities. 

1 hour ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

The first cruises to have it again was on March 6th. My cruise was the week before 😒

That happened to me as well, I wanted to do it on the Pride this past March but didn’t start till a week or two later. My next cruise I was told Venezia wasn’t starting it right away but turns out they did. Leaving again for Venezia Saturday so that’s what I’ll be doing the minute I board. 

We join on your second leg, can’t wait to sail on this ship again, will be my second time. 

You kinda answered it, some don’t want a large crowded ship and that’s it. It could also come down to amenities, some prefer a simple pool, open air deck, without the extra toys like a roller coaster or Sky Ride. 
 

I personally like sailing on both large modern and smaller older ones, the older ones remind me of a different time of the cruising age. 

Name has been revealed, cruises going to the port go on sale soon with first ships expected to arrive in July 2025. 
 

Further Details and Itineraries Open for Sale Coming in Late September
MIAMI, Aug. 28, 2023 – Cue the Junkanoo band, drumroll please… Carnival Cruise Line has announced that the name of its new destination in the Bahamas is… Celebration Key.
            As Carnival gets ready to open itineraries in late September for cruises that will call on its highly-anticipated exclusive cruise port destination on Grand Bahama, it revealed the name – Celebration Key – to guests, employees, travel advisors and Bahamian officials today. Celebration Key is the first port destination exclusively designed for Carnival Cruise Line guests and its name is based on the vision for the destination to be a celebration of all that Carnival and The Bahamas has to offer for a memorable vacation. Once complete, it will be capable of welcoming two million guests each year.
“We are working very closely with the Government of The Bahamas and the Grand Bahama Port Authority to ensure that we are highlighting the best of Grand Bahama and its culture, combined with fun like only Carnival can provide,” said Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy. “Invoking the natural beauty of Grand Bahama, every day at Celebration Key will be a celebration of our guests’ own making with a variety of experiences and something for everyone.”
Grand Bahama is a northern island of The Bahamas and is known its breathtaking beaches, lush vegetation, and friendly people. Celebration Key will offer a uniquely Bahamian experience with an abundance of features and amenities, including a one-mile stretch of white-sand beach, as well as Bahamian-operated retail, food and beverage options for Carnival guests to enjoy. For the ultimate convenience and maximum enjoyment time, the adjacent cruise pier will be able to accommodate up to two of Carnival’s Excel-class ships simultaneously to allow guests to walk off the ship and arrive at Celebration Key. A groundbreaking ceremony for the destination was held in May 2022 and design, engineering and construction work is now underway.
In late September, Carnival plans to announce further details of the destination, along with opening for sale the first itineraries on at least ten ships from multiple homeports that will include a visit to Celebration Key, with the first cruises calling on the destination in July 2025.

Should be getting more over the coming weeks I would think. Galveston for 2025-2026 was just released for Jubilee, Dream and Breeze. Alaska was just released two days ago? For Spirit and Luminosa. 

Thanks for sharing, love seeing the positive reviews flow in. Glad you enjoyed the breakfast and brunch for the Terrazza guests, I'll be in that area in January so good to know. 

Great review, glad you enjoyed the ship, can't wait for my next cruise on this ship which is the 6 Day Canada at the end of September. 

They had this on Venezia, nice to see it’s going to the full fleet. Glad to have other options, few of which are dairy free. 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have yet to sail on either ship but have enjoyed two cruises on Horizon, one when it first debuted in NYC (2016) and then in September 2021. The latter being when cruising first resumed and capacity was cut, that made for an even better time.

Now most recently sailed on the recently added sister the Venezia, with two more booked on that one.

2 hours ago, craig01020 said:

Any guess which Carnival ship will be in Europe for 2025...maybe Venezia?

JH said Venezia is returning to NYC after its season in Florida for summer 2025, unless they shuffle ships around. 

Definitely the two nights, so much to do. We just did the 4 day on Venezia, it was more so to try the ship out but it ended up raining the entire day so we made it to the beach for a hour before getting caught in heavy rain.
 

Luckily we go almost every year now so it wasn’t a total loss for us but someone like you who had never been would end up being disappointed. 

Also currently onboard we absolutely love the ship, we were skeptical with something’s but all in all it was a great time. Will probably post a separate thread at some point. 

8 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Never heard of a Godfather before. Hope that doesn't jinx the ship 

NCL has done it once or twice, regardless Jay Leno is an interesting choice. 

Can't wait to follow along, boarding the ship for its first round trip sailing to Bermuda following this one. Also have two more cruises in the future as well. My only question would be is if its doing the Behind the Fun tour. 

Sadly I’m pretty sure New York is going back to being seasonal. I don’t think they will move another ship to the area for the winters. 

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Not at all. The Carnival joint venture is scheduled to have two ships sailing by the end of the year.

Three ships now, Atlantica, the new Vista (Magic City) and Mediterranea in that order.
 

The interesting thing is one Spirit will keep its Costa livery the other will get a “bigger” makeover to match the new Vista. 

19 minutes ago, jsglow said:

May not be the only announcement. 5 ships from Canaveral seems like a ton of capacity (20,000+ berths), especially when that total swells to 10 ships by adding Miami (an additional 21,000+ berths).

 

Look, I have no doubt this wasn't the original plan and that winter bookings have lagged. We ourselves have an 11 nighter planned on her for late next March and it was quite inexpensive relatively speaking.

Yeah possibly, we have 3 booked in her including an 8 day to the Bahamas in January because of the cheap prices. I guess we will see. 
 

Wouldn’t mind if they swung Mardi Gras up here but that’s just being hopeful. 
 

2 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

It leaves for Port Canaveral in December 2024 so presumably it would cruise from New York through November every year

Is there that much more demand to fill up Vista, Mardi Gras and now Venezia? Not even including Freedom and Glory which do the shorter run. 

How disappointing for NYC, that didn’t last long at all. I wonder what the reason is, she had a more variety this time around but I guess it wasn’t enough? Royal Caribbeans and Norwegian don’t seem to have this issue and well I guess we will see how MSC does. 

1 minute ago, steveknj said:

 

Seems kind of pricey.  I'm debating whether I want to try it or not.   I remember when the specialty places were like a $10-$15 surcharge, and maybe the steakhouse was $25.  $42 seems crazy to me.  Maybe I'm just cheap?  I get that on land a meal at a top Italian restaurant would probably cost more, but $42 a person, without drinks is even expensive on land!

No I agree it seems rather expensive, would hope it would be open to lunch for free but that’s just wishing. 

23 minutes ago, kona_wahine said:

I tried making reservations this morning and “something went wrong” keeps popping up. Not sure if it’s too many people trying to reserve or it’s just basically not working. 

John said so many people are trying to book it, that it “broke” the site and they are working on fixing it.