TPG40

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Thanks.  The coffee roast duck I thought was outstanding, echo the comment on the additions.

I had the fried catfish on the Paradise. It was very good.

37 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

No. Just off the Vista and we had to turn the temperature up in the cabin because it was too cold. Public areas were very comfortable. 😎

We were on the Paradise a few weeks ago, and that was the coldest ship I’ve experienced in 25 years of cruising. Usually I bring a hoodie and never use it, but this trip I forgot it and it would have come in handy.

On 4/30/2024 at 1:28 PM, Noledad77 said:

I just pitched this idea to 2 of my kids the other day, but for my wife's car (we're taking 2 cars with 8 total in our group). Since I don't like to do a whole lot of walking (don't tell my doctor, please), I'll probably just have my son drop his 3 passengers off, go and park his car and meet us back at the terminal. 74 days and counting!

Self park is right across the street from the port. If you don’t get caught in a thunderstorm it’s not a bad walk.

On 4/22/2024 at 3:00 PM, Noledad77 said:

If you don't want to be on a giant ship, the Paradise sails out of Tampa. Probably a little late to book for 9 weeks from now, but good luck!

 I second the Paradise. We just did a 4 night on her earlier this month and it was fantastic. Great service, great food, excellent Fun Squad staff. Tampa is an easy in/out port as well. If you’re driving in, pay the extra $20 to do valet parking.

Just off the Paradise on Monday. The wife and I each ordered the NY Strip off the Steakhouse Selections menu, and it was *fantastic*. The Paradise had some of the best dining room food I’ve had on a cruise ship in years, and we were on the Celebration last May. The wait staff on the Paradise was excellent as well. Ask for Lawrence if you’re sailing on Paradise.

Just got off the Paradise this morning. Extremely easy. The staff had the process down. We were off the ship before 9am.

16 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Hi neighbor! We're thinking of heading out to Sharky's tomorrow night for dinner.

Can't beat the atmosphere at Sharky's. I think the food at Dockside is better, but the wife likes the bar service at Sharky's. Sharky's also throws a great NYE party.

31 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

We've been hearing the current should keep it away from the southwest Florida coast, but that Miami area could get hit hard.

 

 

The red tide advisories were finally lifted today for all the beaches in our area. If this holds for the weekend we're going to have a beach day Saturday for the first time since Ian hit us. And our roof replacement was finished yesterday, so we're almost finished with all our repairs. Good thing, since hurricane season starts in just over two months. 🤦‍♀️ 

I live in Venice, and the beaches have been pretty nice for the last 2 weeks or so. We've been out to watch the sunset a few times and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. Seems like the last front that came through really helped.

The Intercontinental Doral has a park and cruise package. Up to 14 days of parking and a $25 Uber gift card to help pay for transportation to the port. Total for our cruise in May is a little over $300.

Not a free shuttle, per se, but the Intercontinental Doral has a park and cruise package that gets you 14 days of parking and a $25 Uber gift card to help pay for transportation to the port. I booked the package for our May 14th Celebration cruise for $323 total. Rooms with the package can be had for less, I paid a little more for an upgrade.

14 hours ago, DeanDeeDee said:

For our May cruise out of Miami, we are booked for one night pre-cruise at the Intercontinental in Doral for $300 with their cruise package.  That includes parking for up to 14 nights, free breakfast, drinks and snacks in the evening and a $25 Uber gift card to get to the port.

We're on the Celebration leaving May 14th. Just grabbed a room for $323. Thanks for the tip!

We just upgraded from a regular interior to a Havana interior on our May 14th Celebration cruise. The upgrade we were offered was from Interior to Interior(higher deck), Cloud 9 Spa interior, or Havana interior. We took the Havana interior because we liked the extra access to the bar and pool in the Havana area. It came to my email and was in the "Manage My Booking" section on Carnival's website.
After reading this thread I've got my fingers crossed for a last minute phone call in the spring offering a balcony upgrade, lol.

EDIT: We booked in November, got the upgrade offer a week or two ago, a little over 100 days from embarkation.

Echo the cavetubing.bz recommendation. I did a cave tubing excursion through them a couple of years ago, and they are excellent, and the food is DELICIOUS! At Mahogany Bay, I would suggest getting a day pass at one of the all inclusive resorts on West Bay Beach(the prices vary, check the websites and call the resorts. The resort I went to actually stopped providing day passes, but I had called months in advance, so I still got mine). West Bay is beautiful and the day passes give you use of the resort's facilities. The locals have their tour stuff set up to the right of the port facility, they have cabs and stuff to take you, and they'll set up a time to pick you up and take you back to the ship.