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This varies greatly by ship. We are platinum (we were on 6 different ships in 2022) and it was always different. Once our room was ready as early as 11:00 but that was definitely not typical (it was usually closer to 1:30). We just got off Radiance today, and our room was not even ready by 1:30 (even though they made the announcement that all cabins were ready). On the ships with staffing shortages they simply can't get everything done as quickly. As someone already mentioned, they also gave us a hard time for wanting to drop our carry-ons outside our cabin door (but I carry the email with me saying that although Carnival can't guarantee Plat/Diamond cabins will be ready upon embarkation, we are allowed to drop our bags at the room) so then they let me.

I can’t say you all didn’t warn me, but we’d had such good luck with these shorter cruises in the past. We just got off Radiance this morning (this was our 3rd time on this ship). We had really enjoyed seeing her emerge from her $200 million renovation and provide another good option for the west coast (it’s a fairly convenient port for us). But now we are done - it just wasn't a good experience. Granted our first two cruises on Radiance were likely capacity controlled (which I had not taken into account when I booked this one). Carnival crammed 3600 passengers onto this ship with a published capacity of 2,984. I understand how capacity is calculated (based on double occupancy, etc.) but this was just way too many people for this size ship. Common areas were always extremely crowded, and there were constant lines for everything. At 1:30 on embarkation day, when the announcement was made that cabins were ready, we found that they had not even started to prep ours (the beds were still stripped, etc.). In 23 cruises with Carnival, we’ve never had that happen. Later we discovered we were not given enough towels either. It was clear the crew was overwhelmed. Worst of all was the yelling, loud laughter, and door slamming throughout the hallways until about 2:00 am each night. It reminded me more of a college dorm than a cruise ship. And I had purposely booked a room at the very front of the ship (which has proven to be a pretty quiet location in the past, but not this time). The smell of sewage in a variety of areas around the ship was bad, but again, I think the system was overloaded being so far above capacity. And for the first time, I have to say the food was not very good (or maybe I should say hit or miss). I’m not a foodie, and just not that picky - I can usually find something decent to eat. And I will say, there were some good meals, but there was one evening where nothing on the buffet was good (soup way too salty to eat, meat was cold and dry, etc.) so I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and called it a night. The salad bar/fruit was good the entire time. We never made it to the dining room – with the huge crowds, we were afraid service would be slow. I’m thankful we got to experience Radiance when she first started sailing as she is unique ship, but unfortunately with the way things are now, we are done. On positive note – we thought the check-in-process at Long Beach had really improved since we were on Panorama about 5 months ago. We arrived during our arrival appointment window and were through check-in/security in about 6 minutes. The Captain’s Lounge is once again open/designated as a Diamond/Platinum waiting area, which is nice.

We have arrived late several times recently due to delayed flights (both Galveston and Long Beach) and the staff told us we were fine, and ushered us right in.

Tough choice - I have been on both ships fairly recently, and would definitely choose Horizon Havana area over Celebration. But I like your ports a bit better on #2. But I'm in the minority who just didn't care for Celebration all that much. The crew just seemed to not want to be there (which I don't find typical on most Carnival ships). In our experience service was very slow in all restaurants.

I have heard very little in updates. The last article I saw was the December 9th one that explained that due to supply chain issues, the October delivery date had been re-set to early December (but the first cruise out of Galveston would be December 23rd). I saw a picture posted January 17th from the shipyard, and from the outside it looks great (has new livery complete and everything). So hopefully that is promising.

Do you think it's going to get cancelled? I'm having Covid cancellation flashbacks and worried these sailings have a good chance of getting cancelled. If I understand correctly, the week of Christmas is now scheduled to be Jubilee's first sailing out of Galveston (the prior weeks have already been cancelled). Anyone else concerned that Carnival didn't want to process all those refunds this early (since those two weeks are high revenue cruises) but will end up cancelling eventually? I know it sounds crazy, but I typically book airfare this far out when it's during a high demand travel time like the holidays, so I'm debating whether I should buy airfare or not. I guess I should make sure it's changeable/refundable.

I hate to admit, but this doesn't surprise me as I have not heard good things about Conquest in general. We have been on many different Carnival ships since cruising resumed and most were great experiences, one or two just average, but none were bad. ( We have purposely avoided Conquest). We have only cruised over Christmas once (on Horizon when it was new) and have no plans to do it again (for a variety of reasons).

Khakis and a button down would be absolutely appropriate for formal night. I think your kids will enjoy the club and it shouldn't be overly packed that time of year. In my experience, the shorter cruises are a younger/louder crowd, but it certainly doesn't deter me from booking (we'll be on Radiance in a week for a 3-night cruise). I can always find a quiet place away from the crowd to relax, and it beats being at home working (where it's freezing cold). I don't buy the Cheers package, but it is my understanding that you can't use it on the private island.

My teenage daughter and I both absolutely love it.

The bathrooms were the exact same size in an interior room, a balcony room, and a Havana cabana room when we were on Mardi Gras. We had connecting extended balconies (which turned out to be a lot of space) but as you mentioned, we spent very little time in our rooms and felt like it was not worth it. We have done both Mardi Gras and Celebration in various balcony rooms, but for our next trip I booked an interior (we really were only in our rooms to sleep). I am also wondering about the square interior rooms - we are booked in one on Jubilee, and am curious how people like them. It seems like a better space as the regular cabins are so narrow on the Excel class ships.

We were on Panorama in September. According to my Uber receipts, we were off the ship and in the car by 7:54 am. We do priority debarkation (because we are platinum) but if you have an early flight or other urgency, you can go to guest services and they will usually allow you into the priority debarkation group (if you aren't platinum/diamond).

Great review! This is one of my favorite ships. I totally agree with you on the food. I'm surprised how much the food quality can differ between Carnival ships. We were on Panorama in September and I thought the food was better than on Celebration last month (but overall no complaints). Even though we sailed during Hurricane Kay, it was a good experience and as soon as we got home, we booked Panorama again for July.

Although I totally agree with the comment above, it would be the only thing I would count as an advantage Celebration has over Horizon right now. These are my 2 favorite class of ships, and we've been on both in the last 5 months. Unfortunately for us, the Celebration crew was just not up to par. I know it's a new ship and the crew has not necessarily had a chance to get in sync yet, but they just seemed tired and unhappy. We experienced a lot of slow service and confusion. Unless the added dining venues are a big deal to you, I'd pick Horizon and the Southern itenerary in a heartbeat.

I was debating mentioning the differing crowd. 🙂 The last Journeys we did was Spirit to Hawaii and next we will do Spirit to New Orleans. I love the calmer atmosphere. But I've read here that you can expect a huge percentage of people to be Platinum/Diamond so our Platinum perks might not mean much.

That's a good point (Booze Cruise could be perspective) - we were on this one last year also, and there were a lot of great young families too. It's a school holiday and a great way to get some sunshine over the long weekend. But this is the only cruise where I've encountered someone vomiting in the hallway (after a day in Ensenada), so maybe that just traumatized me. I don't know if it was just my particular experiences, but I thought the miracle out of SF was a calmer/quieter crowd. But I enjoy both cruises/ships.

We have done this itenerary multiple times (on both Radiance and Miracle) and are booked for the upcoming President's day weekend on Radiance in 18 days. Yes, I would say they are booze cruises, but like any trip it's what you make of it and how much you let others impact your experience. I go into these cruises knowing what to expect. We drink very little, and for the most part go to bed fairly early and are up on the track first thing in the morning (and usually have it to ourselves as this is a crowd that sleeps in!). 🙂 I book a cabin that is way for forward or way aft to try to get a quieter location (mid ship near mid elevators are the worst for noisy people in the hallways). It's a very young crowd, and yes they can be loud, but I wouldn't say obnoxious (in my experience). We tend to do our own thing, avoid the clubs/crowds and just try to get some rest and relaxation. Since I'm still booking these cruises, they obviously don't bother me too much, but they are different from the 7 day (or longer) itineraries.

Well we finally decided to give up waiting on Carnival and booked our Europe cruise on another line (found a sale I didn't want to miss). So ... with my luck, Carnival will publish their Europe schedule any minute. 😄

Interesting - we are booked on Spirit Sept 19th - Oct 5th - I wasn't aware we were just prior to a dry dock.

We recently had the exact same problem on Celebration (we never fell but came close). There was a drain in the corner of our balcony but the water did not drain properly and instead pooled right in front of our door (not only on balcony cleaning day, but we also had rain). I would say the puddle was there for half our cruise. Not only a slipping hazard, but annoying to track dirty water into our cabin every time we went out on the balcony.

I was wondering about that too. We are trying to book May or June 2024 and although we prefer Carnival, we were going to discuss (tonight actually) if we should just book Royal. I'm glad you noticed that about Legend ... maybe I will give it a bit more time.

Just curious - which ship are you on?

If your trip were sooner, I would definitely recommend Mardi Gras, but hopefully by the time you go, the Celebration crew will be able to get their act together. We were on Mardi Gras in Aug. of 2021 and April of 2022 and absolutely loved it both times. We were just on Celebration earlier this month, and we definitely felt like the crew just was not in sync yet - there was lots of confusion, service was slow, the crew just seemed stressed out and tired. The ships themselves are the same for the most part. Your kids will love it - there is so much for them to do. The dining options are one of the main reasons we prefer the Excel class. Although we have no complaints about the MDR, we thought Cucina, Chibang, and Pig & Anchor restaurants were nice change of pace for no additional fee. On a 7-day cruise we felt like we barely had a chance to try all the dining options we wanted to.

We have been on the Breeze twice since cruising has resumed and it was a good experience both times. Yes, Thanksgiving is going to ensure a full ship and lots of kids, but it will be a bunch of families like your own (your kids will likely have a great time). I found the food to be fine (but will admit I'm not a foodie). I certainly never had trouble finding something good to eat. Yes, the lines for pizza will be long later in the evening when a show gets out and it's the only place to eat. The other place I remember seeing a really long line was Guys Burgers on embarkation day (but again, it's usually just timing). I think the cruise lines are doing well considering what they went through with the pandemic, but things won't be exactly the same. We have been on 12 cruises since the pandemic (all Carnival) and some ships are struggling more than others. On the Celebration recently, they just couldn't seem to get it together. Confusion/slow service, etc, but it is a new ship and the crew likely wasn't in sync yet.

I'm jealous of those who find Southwest to be a bargain. They typically are not the lowest price for our location, but many times offer the best schedule. We don't check bags, so even that is not a benefit to us. I have been watching their fares recently (was going to try to rebook some of my future flights if there were any deals) but not much luck. Yes, it was bad for PR and their 4th quarter reporting will take a hit, but for all the people I've seen on the news saying they will never fly Southwest again, their planes are still pretty booked up well into June (at least the flights I'm looking at).

I think you will have a great time - we have sailed Mardi Gras twice and enjoyed it so much we have already booked both her sister ships (Celebration and Jubilee). I have nothing against Freedom, but I think you will find Mardi Gras to be a whole new ballgame. 🙂