geneparmesan

5 minutes ago, stobe1 said:

Love your screen name by the way. I loved Arrested Development. Such a funny and cleverly written show. I always laughed at Gene and at Bob Loblaw. I will need to start watching it again on Netflix now. 

Haha, thanks! It still holds up on a re-watch. I think I chose this screen name many years ago when I was watching it for the first time.

Thanks for the replies. We found a good example of a Mexican Riviera itinerary change on the Panorama last September due to Hurricane Kay. So it seems like there are options even in that region.

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-ship-changes-itinerary-due-to-hurricane-kay/80975

Bumping due to the forecast pictured below... I'm on the Panorama sailing this Saturday going to PV, Mazatlán, and Cabo San Lucas. Does anyone have experience with how a Mexican Riviera cruise could be affected? Seems like there are less port options or port regions to to consider as alternatives than there are in the Caribbean. 

On 7/4/2023 at 7:35 AM, jsglow said:

1) Panorama does NOT switch it's ship clock while in port in PV. It is the one port on that itinerary where 'local time' will be one hour ahead.

 

Is this different in the summer now that Mexico doesn't observe Daylight Savings time (just started in 2023)?

Does check-in still open at midnight eastern time if you are sailing out of Long Beach CA?

I was on the Oasis last week. We pre-purchased $100 in arcade credits (I thought my kids would visit it often). We still hadn't made it to the arcade until day 7. We visited and it was in rough shape - about 30% of the games were not working. After using $49 in credits, my card stopped working. I used the arcade phone to call guest services who did not know the problem and said they were sending a technician. No one showed up after 25min of waiting, so I figured I'd stop by guest services on the way to my room.

Guest services made some calls and offered to refund my pre-paid arcade credits. I accepted as we didn't want to play anything else with so many games broken. Guest services made another call and found that there is a $50 max spend limit in the arcade daily - they offered to override it but I declined and said I would rather have the refund. They said I would have to pay for any credits used ($49). I asked if I would still get the 20% discount I had by pre-paying, but they replied they "couldn't" do that. 

Note it was also hard to see your remaining pre-paid balance - I only found one (working) game that would display it. The instructions say you can call guest services to ask (which seems like a hassle).

On 6/20/2023 at 9:25 PM, nottypixz said:

Yes, on deck six on the port side the stairwell leads to the Havana area on deck 5.  The starboard side is for crew ony.

 

Sailed on Panorama Havana area in 2021/2022 and will be sailing again on her same cabin in Havana on NYE 2023/2024

Thanks! That's great news. Funny that neither the Deck 5 stairwell nor the door into the Havana bar is present on the deck plans.

3 hours ago, MT_Sea_Cruisers said:

We did a B2B in cabin 5230, which is about as close to the Havana bar as you can get.  It was one of our favorite cabins of all time!  There's an entrance near the bar into the hallway (really close to where the cabin is located), which made it very convenient to get to and from the Havana pool area (and bar).  I was hesitant at first to book it due to the many comments I had seen regarding evening noise from the band in the Havana bar, but since it was a casino "free" offer, I decided to try it and was so glad I did.  We enjoy many late-night activities, so didn't get to our cabin most evenings until late, so never noticed a noise issue.  

Interesting, so the door is in the grey area?

I'm on Deck 6 in the Havana area - is this grey aft stairway accessible to passengers? If so, can we take it down to Deck 5 to get into the Havana bar? Can we use it to go all the way to Deck 10 (Tides Pool)?

Note, I was recently on the Oasis (June 9th 2023) and the early dining was at 5pm. When my group selected early dining, it said 5:30pm on the website. On the ship, late dining was 7:30pm.

20 hours ago, dbancroft said:

The arcades on all of our last 6 cruises have been terrible. You would think this would be easy money but half of the machines are always out of order or like you said no one shows up to help.

I was surprised - the rest of the ship was in very good shape; I wasn't expecting to see that level of disrepair. Maybe it's difficult to get an arcade technician to fix things on debark/embark day, but not worth having someone with that skill on the ship full-time?

On 6/19/2023 at 2:01 PM, Another_Critic said:

Nothing but pizza on the Spring Anthem transatlantic.

Interesting, the Harmony last summer always had 3-4 sides at Sorrento's.

Great review! My family and I were on this cruise as well. I made it to the running track 3x (a record for me on a cruise). I'll put some quick thoughts here.

For those who were interested earlier in the thread, our embarkation check-in time was 10:30. We arrived to the port at 10am. After parking the car, we were on the ship about 15 min after getting in line for security. 

The ship felt crowded the first day or so (maybe my impression was formed before the staterooms were ready), but after that we didn't have a problem getting seats at the pool or having to wait in lines for food. 

We pre-purchased $100 in arcade credits (I thought my kids would visit it often). We still hadn't made it to the arcade until day 7. We visited and it was in rough shape - about 30% of the games were not working. After using $49 in credits, my card stopped working. I used the arcade phone to call guest services who did not know the problem and said they were sending a technician. No one showed up after 25min of waiting, so I figured I'd stop by guest services on the way to my room. Guest services made some calls and offered to refund my pre-paid arcade credits. I accepted as we didn't want to play anything else with so many games broken. Guest services made another call and found that there is a $50 max spend in the arcade daily - they offered to override it but I declined. They said I would have to pay for any credits used ($49). I asked if I would still get the 20% discount I had by pre-paying, but they replied they "couldn't" do that. Lesson learned I guess on pre-paying for something before the cruise without seeing what state it was in first.

The food in the MDR and Windjammer was excellent - maybe the best I've had on a cruise. We did Giovanni's as well, and it was as great as I remembered. I prefer it over Jamie's on other ships.

It was weird there were no sides (caprese salad, etc) at Sorrento's - is that an Oasis thing? 

Overall we had a great time and realized we really enjoy the Oasis. My wife and I were on the Harmony back in August, and while it was a great cruise as well, we did miss the Solarium pool.

I was on the Harmony back in August 2022, and at the time, you couldn't reserve any shows until you boarded. Did that change in the meantime?

I'm going on the Oasis in June, and all of the shows (except Cats) are "sold out". They weren't even available on the app when I last checked a couple weeks ago. I'd be surprised if even the 1030pm aqua shows would truly be sold out.

Bump - any feedback on this one?

On 3/6/2023 at 10:21 PM, alias47 said:

We were on the Spirit last June, there was a naturalist onboard, who mostly did various talks and made the occasional PA announcement if something was spotted. 

Interesting, I was on the Spirit last May, and we did not have one. I believe we were the second or third Alaska sailing of the season, so maybe they hadn't found one yet. 

23 hours ago, Livesteamer said:

I have not seen anything since the Department of State advisory in Oct 2022 but only going off of news reports from some of the major (non-cable) networks.  I am checking Department of State on a near daily basis.  Our port call in Nicaragua was canceled due to security issues (so I was told)

OK, thanks, same here... I've been searching the news reports, and regardless of what the headline says, the actual articles have all said that the State Dept is only "renewing" the existing advisory from what I can see. Maybe there are changes coming soon, or maybe it's the news outlets insinuating something that isn't happening. I'll keep an eye out as I have a cruise to the Mexican Riveria later this year.

5 hours ago, Livesteamer said:

With the increased level of crime in Mexico, the US State Department is raising some of the threat levels for Mexico.  Is anyone starting to rethink about getting off a ship in the cruise ports of Huatulco or Puerto Vallarta?   

 

Can you link to where you are seeing the threat levels are actually getting raised? I can only find articles saying the State Dept has renewed the existing warnings. The current advisory is dated Oct 2022. I'd be curious if any warnings have actually changed.

I went to Nachi Cocom years ago, and had a great time. The food, drinks, and scenery were great. It was very quiet though - my wife and I were some of the only guests there (<10).

We recently (Jan 2023) went to Mr Sanchos. We made a reservation beforehand. When we arrived, it was pretty crowded, and were informed (after we paid and entered, of course) that the loungers were first come, first serve, and all occupied for the day. So we only had the option of sitting on plastic outdoor furniture for the day with a lot of people between us and the ocean or sitting in the pool without a good place to put our things. We had a couple drinks and then left.

24 minutes ago, geneparmesan said:

I cruise tomorrow out of Tampa... After Carnival fixed this week's document printing issues, my documents no longer show FTTF or priority luggage. Any ideas for what I can do? I can show FTTF on my phone if I go into my booking, but I don't see how that'll help with our luggage. 

I called Carnival. This is what they said in case it helps anyone else:

- They noticed on their end that FTTF wasn't showing correctly on my booking. They could see I purchased it, but it didn't show as applied to the booking or something.

- They said that it would show up at the port whenever anyone scanned my ticket's barcode. They recommend I also bring the printed email receipt as a backup.

- For the luggage tags, they said I could just write "priority" on there, but also it should be in the system somehow (although I don't see a barcode on the luggage tags?). 

I cruise tomorrow out of Tampa... After Carnival fixed this week's document printing issues, my documents no longer show FTTF or priority luggage. Any ideas for what I can do? I can show FTTF on my phone if I go into my booking, but I don't see how that'll help with our luggage. 

41 minutes ago, Ptown said:

Yes. . . Can't wait!!  But I don't head to Tampa until the 5th. and getting on the the Pride on the 7th.   Just noticed you're from Chicagoland.  I live in Huntley and work in Belvidere.  Head to Milwaukee on the 4th. to avoid the O'Hare chaos!  

Have a great cruise!!

Thanks! I hope you enjoy your cruise as well! I don't blame you for going to Milwaukee instead of O'Hare. 

51 minutes ago, Ptown said:

Hi geneparmesan. . . are you also sailing out of Tampa?

Thanks and good luck!!

Yes, I am sailing out of Tampa this Saturday! Excited for it. Are you too?

On 12/25/2022 at 11:51 AM, FTLCruiseGal said:

Log in o Carnival and try type this into the address bar:

 

https://www.carnival.com/booked/document?BookingNumber=******&IsPrintLuggageTagsSelected=true&IsPrintPassFlightSelected=false&IsPrintCruiseInfoSelected=true

 

Replace the *’s with your booking number and it should bring up your cruise documents, including the luggage tags.

I like the idea, but unfortunately that is just redirecting to the Cruise Manager page as well. 

I am having the same issue. I need to print my docs today as I am leaving for Florida tomorrow. I'll keep trying.