deetrayn

There's no Carnival ship that I would say never to sailing on again. My worst cruise experience was on the Sensation, but I know each sailing is different and I would get on it again if the price and itinerary was right. 

My room steward did not do a good job! I never remove gratuities, but he is the only room steward that did not receive any extra tip from me. Also, there were a lot of passengers on that sailing that made it less pleasant. So, it wasn't the ship that was a problem for me. Lol

Dee 

Hi everyone! So how many Carnival cruises have you taken?

 

For those of you that stick with only Carnival what is that keeps you going back for more and more?

 

Any tips on how to plan for future cruises so it doesn't hurt the pockets? Do you plan last minute or book when you are on a cruise...

14 Carnival cruises. I have also sailed RCCL and have a cruise booked on MSC, but I mostly cruise with Carnival. The prices are good, and I always plan at least a year or more in advance so I can make payments. Have yet to book a last minute cruise.

Dee

The title of this post made me think maybe the engine was using more oil after drydock!:confused:

Same here. Thought something was wrong with the ship. :o

Last post was in December of 2016

Wow, ok thanks for letting me know. I miss seeing her reviews.

A group of us have booked the 11/30/2019 sailing. :D

I don't come in often, but I haven't seen anything posted by Gapearl in a long time. Does she not chat here anymore?

On the Victory in Jan, I received a blanket.

On the Vista 2 weeks ago, received headphones.

Dee

Thank you for taking the time to share your vacations with us! I have enjoyed reading your reviews and the pics are awesome!

Me too!! I'm boarding the Triumph this Saturday, and can't wait!! :D

I just booked my first solo cruise last min for next week! [emoji4] Never cruised by myself but wanted a vacation before I started a new job in 2 weeks. My husband and kids couldn't go but I got a great last min. deal

 

This would be my 13th cruise so I know the ins and out on cruising.... I still can't believe I'm doing it!!!! Only thing I'm nervous about is dining at night

 

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I'm going on my first solo cruise in January. This will be my 15th cruise, and will likely be the first one that I eat dinner on the lido deck every night. I'm really just looking forward to some "me" time for those 4 days, so I'm okay with eating at the buffet instead of being seated by myself, or with others in the MDR.

I hope you have a great time on your cruise! :)

So with the news that the Dream is moving to Galveston and Nola is getting the Glory and Valor does it seem that Nola is getting a bit of the short end of the stick. Has Nola done something to upset Carnival.

My first thought was that Galveston ships must sail full the majority of time, and that's why they want a bigger ship for the 4 & 5 days cruises.

I missed out on sailing the Vista in Sept because of hurricane Irma, but quite a few people I was supposed to sail with were able to change their booking at the last minute, and hop on the Dream out of NOLA instead. I remember telling my mom how surprised I was that the Dream was not full and still had room for people within a few days of departure.

It appears that Carnival is sending the larger ships to the ports that are going to fill them up regularly.

You're the first to mention that these are two totally different shows. Did you prefer one over the other?

I enjoyed them both, but the episode of Dream Cruises had more interest to me because the Vista was doing a Southern Caribbean itinerary.

I've enjoyed watching the Vista documentaries. I have them both recorded now. The episode of Dream Cruises that came on AWE, and the episode of Mighty Cruise Ships on the Smithsonian Channel. :)

We are booked on the Conquest October 14th, I checked on ports.cruisett.com to see how many other ships would be in each of the 4 ports we were stopping in. It looks like only Grand Turk will have a boat other than us in port. I have never been on a cruise that didn't have other boats in the ports, is the link I went to outdated and is there a better place to get this information? Or are we really going to get lucky and have islands to ourselves this trip?

Wow! Grand Turk is one port where I would rather there only be one ship docked. I'll be on the Vista in a couple weeks, and have been wondering how Grand Turk is going to be with two ships because the Conquest will be also be there.

I wonder why people have to mention "I've seen more unruly adults" when the thread is about unruly kids. Another thread can be dedicated to situations where there are unruly adults, but this one is about unruly kids. Makes me wonder if the people who change the subject are parents of kids who are unsupervised and unruly on the ships. :confused: :confused:

There were some unruly kids splashing in the hot tub on the lido deck while we were watching a movie. I had to raise my voice to one of the girls because she was dunking another girl, pinching her nose and trying to hold her head under the water. She looked at me, got out of the hot tub and stomped away. I was sure hoping I would see her again with an adult so I could tell them what she was doing. :mad:

I have been fortunate to have someone that will honor my request of no phone calls. The only time I get the calls is when my PVP changes to a new a person. Once I tell them I do not want those calls, it stops. There's no reason for them to call me. When I'm ready to book, I will do the calling.

The price works out best for me, and the people I travel with. I also think the fellow passengers on Carnival cruises are fun to be around.

I wouldn't book a flight before noon. I have cruised out of Miami and flown in & out of FLL several times. I have always gotten to the airport a couple hours before my flight, and I prefer to do it that way. I know people who have had earlier flights, and made them with no problem. I just don't like to be stressed while traveling. It would be my luck to have some sort of delay leaving the ship if I choose to book an early flight home. Lol.

81 days until my first platinum cruise. Vista 9/9/17! :D :cool:

I felt the same way about Galveston. I've cruised out of New Orleans four times. In New Orleans the shuttle from the garage drops me off, a porter is right there to get my bags, I walk in, go upstairs, through security, and check in.

 

Galveston it was walk 50 yards one way to get to where you drop your bags off. There were tons of porters walking around with empty carts but none seemed interested in taking our bags. Finally I just dropped them off myself. Then you have to walk that 50 yards back to get to the port entrance. Then there was a ridiculous line to go through security. Then another ridiculous line to check in. I'll take New Orleans any day over that.

That was our experience. I have friends who sailed from Galveston prior to me that said the same thing. I was hoping that maybe they were there on a bad day, but no. There were 17 of us who cruised together on the Freedom, we did not all arrive at the port together. Once onboard, everyone agreed on the ridiculousness.

If I ever win a free cruise, or someone invites me on a cruise that they are paying for, or a future brand new Carnival ship moves there directly from Europe, and I can't sail on it from anywhere else, I'll cruise out of Galveston. Lol....other than those reasons, no thanks.

It sounds like overall, you had a great cruise. Hopefully, you will hear back from Carnival about the items left behind in the safe.

We sailed on the Freedom last September, same itinerary. We enjoyed the cruise, all had a great time at the port stops, had fun prior to the cruise in Galveston, but not at the Port of Galveston. It was very unorganized, and if I can help it, I will not cruise from there again. Which is why I'm sailing on the Vista twice before she moves there. :D

For a prior sailing, we ended up doing self embarkation by "accident". During some confusion, no one showed up when we arrived to take our luggage. By the time we realized we still had all of our luggage with us, we were already in line to check-in, and did not want to lose our place. So, we took everything with us when we boarded the ship. And our luggage did fit through the scanners. Luckily, we had FTTF, and went directly to our cabins once onboard.

The cruise I took after that one, I purposely did self embarkation, and will do so from now on. Since I'm able to go straight to my cabin, I like not having to go back to check on luggage arrival.

I bring one suitcase that I can pull, and one carried bag. Self embarkation and debarkation are convenient for me. :)

Dee

I might be confused but you say you are flying in the day before the cruise....why would you want to go to the pier straight from the airport if it's the day before the cruise?

This is my question as well. Are you spending the night at the airport?

I think she means they are spending the night in Houston.

Hello, I have never purchased this before and I am wondering how it works. I am flying in the day before the cruise. I am booking a Carnival Transfer from Hobby (Houston) to Galveston cruise pier. How does this work? Obviously I am going to take the airport shuttle back to the airport the morning of the cruise but here are my questions.

 

1. I want to get to the cruise pier as early as possible since I do not need to wait until my check in time (as per Carnival's website they state that if I purchase a Carnival Transfer I will be allowed to check in immediately after I get off the shuttle). What time is the first shuttle generally arriving at the pier?

 

2. At the airport what do I do? Do I show them my paperwork showing I have paid for the transfer? Do they give me a voucher or something showing that I paid for the transfer which will allow me into check in and enter the terminal prior to my assigned check in time?

 

Thank you all for replying. I am traveling as a solo for the first time so I need to get this all figured out prior to leaving home.

I have used Carnival's transfer a few times, but do not prefer it for taking me to the cruise port on embarkation day.

There will be an area near baggage claim for anyone taking Carnival's transportation to the port. They will have your name on a list of passengers scheduled to ride with them. They will leave when the bus is full, so getting to the pier as early as possible will not be an option if you ride with them.

On our group cruise this past Sept on the Freedom, me and my family used Galveston Express, but some of our friends used Carnival's transfer service. All of us left from Houston Hobby. We arrived at our destination first both times (the port on cruise day, and the airport afterwards). They had to wait until the Carnival bus was full before leaving.