bar1068

Guess I needed to be clearer. We brought 4 bottles of WINE onboard at Port Canaveral prior to a B2B on Mardi Gras, assuming we would be instructed to leave 2 behind for the second leg of the B2B, We had the bottles in our carry on's as "required"....maybe they WERE napping at the port letting us board with all 4 bottles of WINE. Ironically, the last time we cruised out of PC, for an 8 day sailing, with 2 bottles of WINE, the security person stopped and questioned us about having the wine...grabbed them out of our carry on. Another port agent instructed him it was ok for us to bring them onboard.

On our last b2b, we boarded with 4 bottles and took them all to our cabin

Guys Pig n Anchor is also included, or at least was when we sailed on Celebration last year.

We've cruised on Sunshine 6 times, including the 15 day Transatlantic cruise after the conversion from Destiny to Sunshine, then 5 months later an 11 day repositioning cruise from New Orleans...to Port Canaveral.....of the 6 cruise we've taken on Sunshine, none have been fewer than 8 days!! When Sunshine was first sailing, she had the most varied food options of any other ship at the time Carnival was sailing, all of which has changed with the Vista and Excel class ships, but we loved our sailings on Carninal...oh yea...my wife and I are both 60 plus!!!

We cruised on Celebration last May and Bolt was running on embarkation day. Our first indication to that was after boarding we grabbed lunch and were sitting in the Lido dining area, and took a bit for us going, what the he$$ is that rumbling noise!! Oh, that must be Bolt!! So after lunch we checked it out!

Totally agree, the restriction is a complete crock of poo, however, we and our travel companions inadvertently fell into a umm....workaround to this silly rule. We infrequently go to Sea Day Brunch, and when we do, prefer not to drink. However on our last few Carnival cruises, we've gone to various bars on the last day of the cruise, ordered a drink, only to have the bartenders ask us did we want to use our "free drink coupon", the one we didn't use at brunch. We of course we're like, sure! My wife even went to a bar, got a soda, the bartender mentioned the coupon not being used, put it to the soda, wife asked not to, tender reversed it, and she used it later for a booze drink. Can't say this is an absolute, we'll see again next month if this still happens, but thats been our experience.

Whoa...that sounds like it was nuts. How did they let you on the ship, were you able to print a boarding pass without having a cabin assigned, set up an onboard account?

Thanks for reminding me of that...printing the luggage tags...just tried...still TBA!! Sure hope we don't get the Royal Caribbean treatment!! We're still about 4 weeks out...hopefully soon!!

It's been a while since we last booked a guarantee cabin, but have one booked for next month. I get the pitfalls and gotchas or whatever when booking a GTY, but what I'm curious about is assuming Carnival does not assign our cabin on embarkation day, how will they notify us when a cabin is assigned, will we get an email notification? I've been stalking our booking since we booked it to see if a cabin number pops up. We originally were wait listed for YTD, but received email that our YTD dining time was confirmed, just curious will we see email once cabin is assigned, I just can't recall how it went in the past.

Totally agree about Alchemy on Sunshine (we sailed the Liberty years ago, well before she got an Alchemy bar, same with the Breeze). If I recall, Sunshine may have been first ship to get an Alchemy bar. We sailed the Sunshine TA and spent LOTS of time at Alchemy! As for Magic, we sailed on Magic in November 2021. Probably what we were most disappointed in were the bartenders. They simply were not good, could not make drinks the way we prefer and have had them made at other Alchemy bars. We had to show them how to make a "very dry" martini. Same with the bartender at the Steakhouse bar! But we also were not fond of the location of the Alchemy bar on Magic...I'd guess same location on Breeze. Sort of wedged between the Red Frog Pub bar and Ocean plaza. Was way to busy and noisy for us. Alchemy seemed more like another party bar rather than the toned down more "intimate" and interactive bar we enjoyed on other ships, which includes Vista. We felt it's location on Vista lent the Alchemy bar to be the more interactive experience we prefer. Just to add, We recently sailed on the Celebration and Mardi Gras....While we did visit the Alchemy bar often on both those ships, we were disappointed with the location of Alchemy on those ships as well. Way way way to noisy and busy. While we found the bartenders to be of the same expertise as others, the open area where Alchemy is located jammed next to the LimeLight lounge and next to an "major walkway" that led to the Steakhouse and Aft dining room. Plus overly loud music from the bars one deck below. We actually enjoyed the Golden Jubilee and Brass Magnolia bars on those ships more. Sorry for the long winded rant!!

Vista....Better Alchemy bar

That looks like the original TA that was schedule to leave Southampton on October 28 that was canceled several months ago. We were on the Mardi Gras a few weeks ago, spoke to crew that will be bringing the Jubilee to Galveston in December...without paying passengers.

Did a B2B on Mardi Gras a couple of weeks ago. Received surveys for both cruises.

The Carnival FAQ Obstructedview2 posted above shows the cost range of $90-150. On Mardi Gras 2 weeks ago we did the tour at $150pp.

If it's anything like the Mardi Gras and Celebration, which it is, board on deck 6

I'd do a balcony for sure for $1800, however the 3 TA's we've taken, we stayed in effectively "interior cabins"....those were the forward, 4J cabins, or interior with walkway view cabins. Sort of an ocean view, but with the forward deck, or secret deck some call it, to go out onto. Was nice to have that view closely available.But I'd sure do a free oceanview!

Seems the CC search function is having issues, so posting this question here. Sailing a B2B on Mardi Gras this weekend. Meeting friends on second leg and we've all decided to do the Behind the Fun tour if we can get it booked. Carnival website shows a cost range of $90-$150. I'm thinking the Mardi Gras cost will be $150, just wanted to ask here if thats what the cost is from anyone thats done the tour. Thanks.

These days, the tail is always wagging the dog,.

We're doing a B2B on Mardi Gras starting next week. While it is not necessary to check in and print boarding passes for the second cruise, I'm printing ours as we plan to bring wine onboard for both cruises. Other sources I've looked through suggest having the boarding passes for the second cruise available when boarding the first leg to help contain any confusion when we check in at the port next week.

Here's the link to Carnival. I may be reading it wrong, but looks to me like check in for the second cruise takes place either onboard or back out in the terminal. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4529/~/back-to-back-cruises

Curious why Carnival's website states checkin is only needed for the first cruise of a B2B?

Scotch

I just double checked, but when you select the options to book excursions, specialty restaurants etc via the HUB, the app redirects you to Carnival's website via the app, something you can more easily do by just going to carnival.com, especially from a laptop or computer without the added layer of the HUB app. I agree with the OP though. We did an RCI cruise this past May and their app was much more functional prior to the cruise than the HUB app is.

What will it be like, well, that depends, but, will pretty much be like any other cruise you've been on. Weather and sea conditions can impact that the most. We've done 3 TA's...shoulda been 5. We had to cancel one, and Carnival canceled the 18 day Jubilee TA, we're really bummed about that, but is what it is. Many, like my wife and I do TA's for the larger number of sea days per cruise. For us, the more the better. All 3 of our TA's originated in Barcelona Spain, terminating in Miami, New Orleans and New York. Our favorite cruise out of the 2 dozen+ cruises we've taken was the 16 day Sunshine TA back in 2013. We had great weather especially during the 6 day crossing, sea was like glass and temps were damn near perfect. Last TA we took was on the Vista. That one ported in NewYork so the more northern route brought some unsettled weather, but we still had a great time. Like i mentioned, TA will be pretty much like any other cruise. I believe the Freedom TA is a Journeys cruise, so you get the additional "bells and whistles" that come with that. Should be lots of activities on sea days if just relaxing out on deck gets to boring, or if the weather impacts that. Oh and the ports, certainly different ports than in the caribbean. I think our favorite port stop was in Gibraltar on the Vista TA, good bit of interesting info about the rock, and was pretty cool to stand up top and look out over the straits and peer into Africa. One of our traveling companions tried to talk us into trying to rent some sort of boat to take us across the straits to visit Casablanca. We had to nix that, thinking we'd more likely get stuck there than getting back to the ship. Similarly visiting the Canary Islands were cool...mostly for me again close to Africa and a spot I'd had never thought I'd travel too,.though not sure I'd ever though about visiting Africa, but did just that last month! Anyway, this is dragging on. Enjoy your TA cruise!!

Or...do as we're doing in October and do a B2B...First cruise Western Carib...second Eastern Carib!!