Drazil65

I understand trying to err on the side of safety. If you can really tell me having 3,000 people test three days before boarding only to hop in sealed metal tubes to fly into port means anything, then I would love to hear your side. Never has this industry been on the verge of bankruptcy then now. It's time to act or your staff will be looking for new jobs in a different industry. CCL will proceed in the way they feel is best for them at this time and if the crew/ passenger safety is how they choose to go for now, then so be it. Spend your money and your vacation time where you feel is best for you and your family. No one is telling you to stick with CCL, you have choices if you are not happy or frustrated with how they are handling things. BTW, not everyone flies to a port, a lot of us east coast people can (and do) choose drive to any of several ports and maybe that gives us an advantage in some sense when deciding to cruise, I dont know. Just dont understand the continued whining about something you (meaning anyone that is frustrated with the CCL covid decisions) can choose to move on from when you want to. I know in this world of instant gratification many people get frustrated with having to wait for anything these days. Relax and cruise (if you want to) while you still have the option (it wasn't too long ago we did not have the option)!

Yes, we ordered some yesterday. Be sure to check the expiration dates when you get them. Still seeing people getting the tests with a 8/21/22 expiration date (they sail after that in September).

Sorry to hear this as I know you were very excited about this cruise. We will be in UK next May for 8 day vacation and have tossed around adding a cruise on to that. DH on the fence cuz we have another cruise booked for this year and then one later next year. He said he is open to talking about it but your review is the 3rd one (in last month) that has not had a great experience with cruising CCL in UK. We are also looking at cruising from elsewhere in Europe in 2024 so maybe we will stick with that plan for now. Hopefully things will get better on this cruise for you, soon!

Thank you very much to all of you with the must-have balconies - you are a reason why we can sometimes get our insides and oceanviews so cheap LOL.. Our pleasure, glad we can help (and you're welcome)!

We watched the Deal or No Deal show on the Sunshine in May for a bit, not impressed with it compared to the Hasbro shows and it appeared many people were confused on how to play with the cards you purchase (it looked like many people bought the $40 package and received 2 cards?). They called people up from the audience (not sure how they were chosen) one at a time and as they would play the game (just like on TV) on stage the people in the audience would follow along on their cards. Lots of confusion from audience on how to win prizes, we left after the first contestant completed her run and they were looking for another contestant.

We are balcony (although not cove as we do not like lower deck cabins period) or suite cruisers. Its something we enjoy sunrise with our coffee each morning, wine before dinner each night after dressing and have read many good books over the years on the balcony of a cruise ship. A place to go whenever we feel like it and it always has a empty seat available. We spend plenty of time doing whatever we want to on the ship and have never felt like we had to spend extra time out there. Its just part of our whole cruise experience at this point and would be a deal breaker if we could not get one.

We typically do self debark BUT...if we dont we always use a porter for debarkation. You are right, some of the best money spent on the cruise!

You have no idea then what you are missing. LOL.. we travel often and have been to several continents and we certainly dont feel like we are missing anything at this point. Just not on our bucket list but I know many people who have enjoyed it so its nice they can get great deals right now.

DH and I both received some awesome offers for Alaska which is interesting since in 20 plus years of cruising, never once searched Alaska cruises (no interest what so ever). Oh well, guess they are desperately trying to fill the Alaska schedule? Good deals for someone, just not us.

Travelers under the age of 21 must travel with a relative or guardian who is at least 25 years old. Exceptions are made for legally married couples and qualified military personnel.

Thanks for all the MG info and pix, we are on the MG this December (corner suite) and 2023 in HC balcony. Looks like a blast (having the HC area pool to ourselves would be awesome!) and we are excited to get on MG. We are definitely fans of the bigger, newer ships and looking to book Celebration in the next year (so will be gathering info on that ship as well).

IMO, testing should take place on the ship if you're feeling symptoms, and then be confined to cabin LOL...funny, with all the people that have mentioned/indicated they would lie in some form to buck the system you honestly think people on a ship not feeling well will actually step up and be honest while cruising? Not happening, not in todays world. Have yet to pay for a Covid test pre cruise. Just stay in our vehicle get swabbed and the results in 30 minutes or less. Walgreens still doing it this way here in our area and not charging yet. Appts 3 and 4 days out.

I always go carry on but my advice is to check ON and carry off. i used to do carry on and off and then I realized just how nice it is to just have them take the stuff on for me Then you aren’t hauling your crap around and blocking hallways until 1pm 🙂 THIS^^^ We started consistently doing this about 10 years ago and are now quite proficient at packing for the week in each of our carryons and one tote/large purse or backpack type bags. We drive to port 99% of the time but use this method whenever flying as well (including Europe trips for more than 8 days). We have very versatile clothing and we lay out what we want to take then get rid of 50% of it before actually packing the carryons. I also am not crazy about having the ship do our laundry and if necessary, will either hand wash or since I get up very early every morning anyway, easy to throw a load in ships laundry room on deck and do it myself. Not a big deal and its done well before DH and DS get up.

Was on the Sunshine last week of May, the pizza place is near the buffet setups in lido marketplace dinning room. Actually kind of bad setup in that when the pizza lines were long the line kind of extended into the walking area to and from the buffets and the tables.

As far as covid, yes there are cases on your ship. If this bothers you don't sail. I am sure each trip has covid cases. What do you expect them to say. hey, we have three cases of covid. There is nothing else they could do. THIS...THIS...THIS The entire world knows (very first hand) about covid after the last 2 years. We should not still be talking about what to do, how to test, do we test etc...if you are cruising you should be well versed at this point in covid protocols and expect that there will be cases at some point along the way. The longer you are grouped together with a lot of cruisers or in port walking or riding around, the bigger the risk and you could be one of them, full stop! As someone else suggested in a previous post, if you dont know about covid and you need reminders, then maybe cruising should not be your vacation of choice...just sayin 🤔

Some of you seem to keep saying, despise children, etc… We love all the little ones, but would jump at the chance for kids free cruising…sometimes. ‘Last cruise was just DH & I, we’d have booked adults only for that one. ‘Next cruise is 2 adult kids and a granddaughter, so not that cruise. 2023 cruise is adults only it looks like, so…kid free ship would be most excellent. We consider ourselves quite versible and would enjoy either cruise. ‘The Costa ships do afford them a chance to try something new. We hope they do! Agree with this, no one is a child hater etc (or whatever the other references were that were posted). This whole idea is just an option, it would just be something different for current CCL cruisers especially and does not mean cruisers with small children are being targeted or whatever. It is just something new and may be a chance to find out if there is opportunity there for CCL. Each person could choose to take advantage or not, its not that hard. Not sure why anyone would be so against CCL trying something new and different given the right circumstances. Again the whole family thing is a ruse since CCL is all about drinking (with and without cheers), smoking (even in 2022 🙄) and gambling, many cruisers of late have complained excessively that with the altered kids club hours they have nothing for their kids to do (hmmm maybe these cruisers would love an all adult theme???). The Costa ships may present an opportunity to try something different, why not, options can be a good thing.

Carnival is a family brand. A mass market cruise line. They are not going to have adult only ships. LOL...OK...lets see, children witnessing lots of drinking and smoking certainly has its place in some families I guess. Oh yes, lets not forget the casino, lots of family stuff there!!! Please, you are speaking as if CCL is all about the family experience...its not Disney...they will get the money from wherever and convince you its all about the family (hey, if that works then why not, that is what companies do). If they thought for one minute that they could be profitable with a ship with an adult only theme they would be booking it in a minute (and there would be plenty of people ready to pay the deposit I'm sure).

They have the medical ability to stabilize in many instances BUT you are still out in the middle of ocean and "immediate critical care" is not always close at hand. Case in point, we were on the Sunshine last week of May and on our way back to Charleston the last night of the cruise. During early dinner time the captain and the CD announced there was a medical emergency on board (we had heard through grapevine it was heart attack???). They let us know that we were going to be going about 3 hours out of our way off route to meet the nearest coast guard ship for a helicopter to extract the patient from our ship. There was also a thunder storm that night with a lot of lightening. About 3 hrs later in very windy conditions due to storm the helicopter was dispatched and we watched from our balcony (for about an hour and half as the copter tried (many, many times over and over) to hover over the ship to hook the patient into the basket. It was very intense and took a very long time to do it in the dark but thankfully they finally accomplished it and then flew off with patient once they were safely inside the helicopter. Now, several things but first and foremost, figure out the time frame I just laid out, we have no idea if they made it in time to save this passenger or not but point is they may have stabilized them on the ship but it took hours after that just to evacuate them and the conditions were less than favorable for all things concerned that night. Second, your friend should make sure she has travel insurance that definitely includes medical evacuation as I am sure that effort and helicopter were not free (and they were not even at the nearest hospital yet).

The balconies are also rear facing for the most part. Our HC balcony cabin on Mardi Gras next year is port side, deck 8 and there are many of these cabins on both sides of this ship. OP...maybe look at the Mardi Gras to see what is available but you will need to do a mock booking for your dates to see if this cabin type pops up in the rates.

Are the tests at Walgreens free? If not, how much do they cost? Our Walgreens test the last week of May were free, I would check with your local (or wherever you plan on testing) Walgreens for updated info.

Fall into early winter has always been very nice as it still pretty hot in the islands and we have cruised many times in October and November. The cruise lines will stay away from the storms and watch the weather pretty close, you may get rerouted if a big storm is brewing. For the most part it should be a great cruise, have fun!

Royal was our very first cruise 21 years ago (honeymoon) and the cruise that got us hooked! We have occasionally cruised Royal (bigger ships) and once on NCL (not a fan) over the years but have mostly stayed with CCL. We feel that there are hit or misses with both RCCL and CCL but CCL continues to be our go to choice. Glad you tried something different and now you now.

If you haven't already, try calling the special needs dept. for CCL and just ask if they can do anything to help with this (you never know unless you ask). The worse that can happen is that they cannot do anything and you are no worse off than you are now. But they may know something that can help out and then it will be worth the call. Good luck!

We always pack a 9 inch square fan and regular ext cord in one of our suitcases. Just need that air circulation factor at night (we generally sleep with our ceiling fan on at home).

Breeze (and Magic) are 2 of our favorites (we are on Mardi Gras for our next 2 upcoming cruises so that may change) so no surprise there! We love this class and is our go to normally and a great place for a newbie to start cruising. That being said, if they go again and dont book this class or higher they will need to manage expectations of the smaller, older ships as they may have a much different experience (but will learn what they like and what they dont).