Napagirl

I was really surprised that the staff seemed to be lacking training. Our room steward was inappropriate with one of my travel mates! And out at the pool, one of the staff started talking about a gay couple to ME saying things like, "I don't like people like that. They should stay home." OMG I actually had a conversation with him about not judging others, discrimination and certainly to not talk about it to the guests! I didn't name him in my survey that Carnival sent but I did tell about all the issues we had on the cruise. I never heard a single thing back from them.

I have only done one Carnival cruise and that was Feb 2020. For me it was one and done but I think it depends on what you like/don't like. The reasons it didn't work for me: They did a lot of teaching dance steps at their parties. Even their big 80s dance party on the deck was dividing up the guys and gals and teaching us dance moves - step, kick, snap. We hung out for about an hour - surely this would stop at some point? We finally gave up and left. I'm not talking line dancing, it was a very slow process of "let's show the gals how to do this next step..." "Now let's try it...ok let's go to the guys now..." The food was fair, but as someone who eats plant-based it was slim pickings. I'm usually able to find something just about anywhere I go. It was as if I had stymied them completely. lol There just wasn't much of anything that wasn't meat or dairy based. I mean, I survived lol but it wasn't pleasant. And even my travel mates (no dietary restrictions) weren't super impressed with their meals. Every single night in the MDR, right about when they placed your entree in front of you, it was time for extremely loud music and everyone must get up and dance. Now, I like to party and I love to dance. But this goofy display was not fun and our food sat getting cold. All conversation at the table was interrupted and I felt that was irritating. I found myself a bit bored in general. There wasn't nearly as much to do as on other cruise lines unless you just wanted to do the water slides and sit by the pool all day. And it was lacking in live music which is one of my favorite parts of cruising. The "crooner" was in a strange kind of basic room with doors that opened like a grocery store. I'm not going to hate on any of the performers but it just wasn't the caliber and availability that I have found on Princess, RC and Norwegian. By contrast, my travel mates were on a cruise for the first time and they LOVED it (other than the food haha)! It suited them just fine. To each their own! 🙂

On the Grand they came up with all kinds of delicious vegan options including soups and desserts! I don't think I had eggplant once.

I'm reading a thread reporting from the Crown, an Alaska cruise. I see a few options here and there when they post the menus. I usually do fine on Princess by letting our server in the MDR know I'm vegan - but that was pre-pause. Our last cruise we only ate in the buffet. So this will be the test!

I'll be on the Crown in October so fingers crossed! Will you please come back to the thread and let us know?

We have been using the same cruise TA for all of our cruises. Never a problem, and we always get a great deal and extras. He's a gem! I don't think we'll ever book directly on the website.

Well now - I scrolled back and saw that I missed the first two replies! I guess when I clicked on the notification it took me to the third reply. I would have never asked the follow up question had I seen those. haha Sorry and thank you all for your replies!

Another fan of the Grand here! We did this trip so here are a few tips... Get at least one small binoculars that you can carry with you at all times including ON board! We used them many times - spotting whales in the ocean and seeing wildlife as you go through the inside passage to name two circumstances. And it's totally worth it to get up early and be one of the first and only folks on deck for the inside passage. But this will be the coldest part of your trip. Wear everything. We're from CA so we didn't own warm coats. We purchased them at our first Alaskan port and they were warm, nice and reasonably priced. My husband didn't wear a tie - he goes for a button down shirt, sport coat and slacks for dressy nights. Overall the dress is casual to casual/nice for dinner in the MDR and specialty restaurants. We didn't do any ship excursions - we explored on our own. Don't skip free tours from a park ranger, historic locations. Look up info on your ports to get an idea of what you might want to do. Not everything is offered through the cruise line. Even though the pool is covered we never felt like swimming. General cruise info: For all cruises I bring an over-the-door shoe organizer for my bathroom door. We put our toiletries, brushes/combs, medications, sunscreen, etc etc etc for easy access. There is not much room in the bathroom! Don't preplan everything. Leave lots of room for everyone to do what they want on board when they want it. One of the things I love about cruising is that we can do things together, but we can also go our own ways and enjoy what we like. I'll be doing the line dancing class while hubby relaxes on our balcony. lol Since you have the drink package, take that opportunity to try something new. We like to pack light and carry our own luggage off at the end. It's not for everyone but it works for us. We don't like waiting for our group to be called and then sort through a million bags to find ours. I pack items that mix and match and rewear things. No one cares. You can also do laundry, have laundry done for you or wash a thing or two out in your sink.

I'm following along! It looks so beautiful.

I needed to see this! My husband likes to have hard copies of everything when we travel and I was thinking - everything is digital now, we don't need this. I was wrong. Don't tell my husband though.

We were unprepared for those instant spotlights on the Ruby the last time we sailed. Every time I got up in the night I thought it was showtime. My husband did not appreciate me breaking into "Moon River" each morning at 3am. We used the decorative pillows to hide the sensors on the nightstand. But we will be armed with painting tape for our next cruise. And just like THAT my early morning cruise ship gigs were terminated.

There is an online help chat that might be able to solve this. Or you could try contacting your travel agent. One person in our party could not log in on the app to get set up for our cruise. He was doing everything right so we used the chat. It turned out that his birth date was entered incorrectly. The chat agent had it fixed and all was well.

I like the idea of the white/gold theme NOT being a formal night. I like to wear a cocktail dress on formal night and I'm not going to buy one just for the color theme. BUT...I have fun and sparkly clothing in the theme, just not quite dressy enough for the formal night.

Thank you. We are not departing from L.A. so we can't come early or stay late. It's a port stop. What makes it not feasible if I may ask? The time it takes, the location of the ferry or something else? I'm in Northern CA so it is something we could do sometime when not on a cruise.

We were on Ruby in April 2022 and after getting through the disembarkation crowds (another ship that was in port) we waited three hours in line at Pier 35. FYI someone asked about bathrooms. The line was all the way backed up to Pier 39 and we made friends in the line, took turns holding their space while others used the public restrooms at Pier 39. I think my question was answered in this thread about showing up extra early even when your boarding group is later. I didn't know if they'd make us wait to the side until our time comes up. We're traveling with a couple that would struggle to stand in a three hour line, just in case that happens again.

I'm one of those who will choose to be in costume, in a theme or in formal attire every chance I get! I saw that the Love Boat gold and white theme dance is on the schedule for my next cruise and I'll be packing accordingly. I might even go with a 70s look since that is the Love Boat era! Just call me Julie

The SF to Hawaii cruise has been on hubby's and my list since it was available. We'll get there!

We're doing the CA Coastal that departs on Oct 22. Just booked it today! We were *this close* to booking the SF to Hawaii trip but one in our party has never cruised before and so we thought a shorter trip for his first time would be best.

Since we just booked the Crown I'm so happy to hear this! I've never had a big problem on Princess (but have with another cruise line) but I didn't know if things might be more difficult after "the pause". Sounds like they got better because the last time we ate at Crown Grill there was no vegan entree. I'll let my traveling companions know that we can dine in the Crown Grill together!

So many good tips here already. I wanted to add - we carried small binoculars with us everywhere while on the ship in the daytime. You never know when suddenly there will be something to see! It was a few years ago for us - but there was amazing scenery to observe one morning (glaciers, mountains nearby with bear, eagles, etc) and we got up at the crack of dawn to go out on the deck. I'm not a morning person but it was SO worth it! Very few people bothered getting up that early and it felt like we had it mostly to ourselves. But bundle UP - it's very, very cold.

To answer the question of how to know which port - I looked it up on sfport.com. Sounds like it will be the luck of the draw on whether or not there's an hours long line. During our last cruise we heard some folks say they sat at a restaurant near the line and watched until it went down. lol It was a bummer for sure but my main concern was for our travel mates who might not be able to stand like that for hours at a time. We'll figure it out. Many thanks to all who shared!

Wondering if it's feasible to do an independent excursion to Catalina Island whlle we're docked at Los Angeles. The ship doesn't provide one, which would have been our first choice. Has anyone done this on their own?

We sailed the Ruby in April 2022 and we had to board at pier 35. It was a mess I'm sorry to say. The line was about three to four hours long. We're looking at another cruise departing from SF and it's from the same pier - ugh! Have they worked things out? There didn't seem to be adequate space and whatever they needed for boarding, as I don't think that pier was intended for that purpose.

We tip for food/drinks delivered via the app, room service and in the bar for drinks. It's just how we roll. We budget a buck or two per interaction depending, it doesn't add all that much to our cost in the grand scheme of things and we know that the servers appreciate it. We also give extra to at the end to anyone who went above and beyond.

Always!