csm5986142

We have done 32 cruises with Carnival and in our experience, booking early has been better. We are already booked on the Mardi Gras TA October 2025.

Another vote for Celebration. We've really enjoyed both ships, but Celebration has more options (more "included in fare" dining venues, more comedy shows, center stage in addition to the standard theater, etc). I do like the Imax theater on Horizon though.

Thank you for the replies, I think I will change it just to be on the safe side. Is LGA better than JFK?

We are sailing on Venezia in September and booked our flight home for 1:00 out of JFK (as Carnival states that 1:00 or later is required if we want to use their transportation). We just got notification that the airline changed our flight and it's now leaving at 11:45. We can get a refund on the airfare and rebook, but the other flights add 4 hours to our travel time. If we did an Uber instead of Carnival transportation would we have sufficient time? We always do priority debarkation with the diamond group, only travel with carry-ons, and have TSA precheck. But this is a flight across the country and don't want to risk missing it or being stressed/rushed. We have never flown home from New York before so any advice would be appreciated!

That's a good point - we were on Miracle (and that was before she went into drydock so maybe the issue causing the vibrations has been fixed).

I am in the minority here - I'll never do an aft extended view balcony again. Between the soot all over the balcony and vibrations that would wake us up in the middle of the night, once was more than enough.

I'm also more inclined to take my chances on Carnival choosing my cabin and flying in the day of the cruise (although I always fly direct in that case) when I'm solo. I guess I'm fairly flexible, but don't want to worry about stressing out somebody else. 😄 Look at it as more of an adventure!

We had digital debarkation on Jubilee back in January and it was kind of disaster. To be fair, that was a sold out New Years Eve cruise (and only the second sailing of Jubilee) about 50% of the passengers had "priority" status, and it was a new process, new crew, etc. So considering all that, not too bad. We had no notice at all that they had switched to this process and we didn't get any notifications in the app, so we were late selecting our debarkation time. We are Diamond so it usually doesn't matter, we just go to the gathering location for Diamond debarkation and it's really easy. From what I understand they combined Platinum and Diamond and then split us into different group locations. It was absolutely packed. I overheard lots of complaints and heard the crew telling people that the same thing had happened the prior week (inaugural sailing and Christmas). I think the issue was that when everybody has priority, nobody has priority. I think they did pretty well with it considering. I'm sure things have settled down now and the crew is more familiar with the process.

We stayed at the Cambria the one and only time we sailed out of NOLA, and loved it. Great location and the staff were so nice and helpful (recommended places to eat, see, etc). We walked everywhere (to the mall, to dinner, to the Casino (I think it was Harrahs?), to the fire station where we bought shirts for the firefighters in our life🙂), and then the next morning we walked to the port. I would definitely stay there again.

Our Journeys cruises were my favorite (Spirit to Hawaii and then Spirit complete transit through Panama Canal). Yes, there were more Platinum and Diamond than usual, but the Spirit never feels crowded to me. And although Carnival warned us not to expect priority embarkation and things like that, it wasn't an issue (not everyone showed up early for boarding so priority was still in effect and boarding was quick/easy). In both cases it was a really calm/quiet/laid back crowd. Mostly couples (very few children). The bars were almost desolate. People seemed more interested in the journey/destination than partying/having fun. It was definitely a different feel from the Caribbean cruises on Carnival (but I love those too!).

And it was also not an option for us as the complimentary beverage at sea day brunch (for Platinum/Diamond).

We've only booked one Balcony Guarantee, and we got a cove balcony under the dining room (absolutely loved it!) and now I'm hooked - it's my favorite. I'd been on over 30 cruises at that point, and felt like I'd been missing out having never tried one.😄

Add me to the list of people who love Mardi Gras (actually I love all the Excel class ships - we've done Mardi Gras twice, Celebration twice, and Jubilee once). Yes, there are more people on board, but these ships were with built with that in mind. Embarkation day (before people can get into their cabins) is a bit crazy, but after that, I think the crowd spreads out fairly well.

I agree! Even with Hawaii, Alaska, and Panama Canal where people say balconies are a must, I was fine in an interior. When we do have a balcony, I don't to stay on it when watching the scenery. I'd rather be on one of the upper (or back) decks where I can go back and forth depending on which side is interesting. We have done the Alaska itenerary many times (usually in an interior since the price was exactly double for a balcony). We spent very little time in the room, and both the Spirit and Luminosa have an excess of really nice interior and exterior common space, and never feel crowded. Of course I'll always take a balcony if it's close in price to an interior, but never for double the price - I'd rather take another cruise! 🙂 In regard to Spirit vs Luminosa, we were on Luminosa in August and Spirit in September. I can see why people (especially if traveling with kids) prefer Spirit, but Luminosa has its positive aspects too. Both are are great ships and Alaska is such an amazing itenerary.

On Celebration a few months ago we went to Pig & Anchor for embarkation lunch and it was so nice and quiet - we only saw about 5 other couples there.