virginiab

If you are asking whether you could possible end up in a handicap cabin when you book a guarantee, the answer is yes. The benefit to the cruise line of guarantee bookings is they can use them to fill whatever cabins are left, which may include some handicap cabins.

If you are asking if you can request a handicap cabin as a guarantee booking, the answer is no.

All Carnival balconies seem to have that potential problem of door slamming -- it all depends on the level of consideration of your neighbors.

The ocean view cabins on this class of ship all have sofas. Some are also "deluxe oceanview" and have a second bathroom to make it easier to get ready in the evening. The second bath does not have a toilet, only a small tub and a washbowl.

Whichever you decide, have a great cruise!

I booked guarantee interior cabins (often guarantee 1A cabins, in fact) and were happy with what we got all except one time. That time, we got the farthest forward cabin on Riviera deck (a 4A) and just didn't feel like taking that hike, so we just waited until rates went down then spent a bit to upgrade to an oceanview midship. Of course, if you don't get your assignment until the very last minute, it's hard to buy your way out of it if you decide you don't care for it. And if rates don'r go down near sailing time, you may not be able to afford an upgrade. It helps to be flexible!

We did get one other undesirable guarantee cabin, now that I think about it. But we didn't know it was not such a hot cabin until we were on board. It was an interior on the Lido deck, and we thought we had lucked out on the location (which we had) but it turned out that it was a handicap cabin and had little storage space, little floor space, and, if I recall correctly, did not have a chair. It only had the vanity stool. The bathroom was big, but at the expense of cabin space, so that was not a good thing for us. But I got over my irritation and had a great time on the cruise.

At the end of the day, you are on a cruise. RElax and have fun!

From the deck plan it looks like these cabins are located under the lido deck restaurant, either under restaurant seating areas or (for the interior cabin) possibly under the buffet line. If you are a late sleeper, you may be hearing noise of chairs or serving carts from above. If, like me, you always travel with ear plugs just in case you run into some noise, you should be fine.

It looks like each cabin is designed to sleep 3, so if you are booking one of these for 1 or 2 people, there is a chance you would be moved to another cabin if they needed to use all three beds for another group.

Carnival cabins are remarkably similar and the only real factors in "good" versus "bad" is that some are in locations which some people find noisy or inconvenient. These particular cabins offer great access to the lido deck and are pretty close to the aft elevators to take you down to dinner or to the promenade deck.

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks you so much, Alicia! That is the very diagram I had seen. I was just looking for it on the wrong deck!

Perhaps someone knows whether this is also an issue on deck 9.

I really appreciate your posting this. I'm guessing that the dead-end hallway will make your cabin location delightfully quiet! I hope you enjoy your cruise.

Virginia

Thanks, Serene. I didn't see anything on the deck plan either, but the elusive bit I found when we were looking at possible rooms -- to which I paid insufficient attention because I didn't think my friends would want that room -- that elusive bit said that it varied from the printed deckplan. I'm hoping someone knows. One of my chums in the other room is on an electric scooter, which is how we ended up in this location. There were no handicap balconies or OVs available.

I hope someone can shed light on this. I'll keep trying to find the thing I saw before and if I do, I will post it here for others who might find the knowledge useful.

Virginia

We have booked these 2 cabins on the Dream for a 2015 cruise. I THINK I saw an explanation about crew stairs actually blocking off the hallway between these two cabins, but I'm not sure if they were talking about the Dream. I saw it on one of the websites that features photos of some cabins, but my searches are not showing it to me again.

Do any of the wise CC folks know about this? Will our desire to have nearby rooms be thwarted by a wall? I'd appreciate any answers from your own experience!

I cancelled a cruise two years ago because I was scheduled to finish chemo just a few days before our scheduled cruise and I was very worried about low white cell counts at that point in my chemo cycle. So we put it off and took the cruise a couple weeks after the end of radiation. I was still pretty tired, but enjoyed a quiet cruise. It was a great excuse to splurge on a balcony so we could have a quiet place to enjoy.

You will definitely want medical advice on this question. If the chance of scary side effects from the recent chemo are not an issue, and if being in crowds is okay, then go and have a great time. I know how much you both need a break!

I feel so sad for you! I know it is a blessing that he got the new job, but I also know what it's like to have counted on that cruise vacation, to have needed that cruise vacation, and then to not be able to go. It happened to me 2 years ago when I chemo interfered with my nicely laid plans. We were also booked Early Saver, and cancelled before final payment was due, so only lost the $50 per person. Of course, they kept the rest of our deposit and we were able to apply it to a cruise a few months later.

I know you will be waiting for the time when your husband has accrued enough vacation days so you can take that much-needed vacation.

Thank you for reporting on your experience. I really appreciate it!

Thanks for pointing me over to that site. It was reassuring to see a bed and a sofa!

Does anyone have pictures of 1205 on the Splendor? I booked it thinking it was one bed and a sofa, but I'm afraid I was wrong....

If the suite is still selling at the same price she booked, you should be okay.

Last year I changed my rate to Early Saver (which had been unavailable when I originally booked the cruise). I actually paid in additional money, because Early Saver was more expensive than the rate I had first booked, plus I needed to increase my deposit. Then I immediately applied for a Senior Rate, which was better than the Early Saver rate or my original rate.

It took a couple of extra minutes to get the Early Saver rate set up, as the customer service rep had a hard time understanding my logic and wanted to be sure she wasn't putting me in a bad position. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I filled out the online form for the Senior rate and got it.

Weird but useful stuff you learn on Cruise Critic....

Have a great cruise!

Congratulations! That's a fabulous upgrade -- enjoy your cruise!

Congratulations! Enjoy all the goodies and your new-found knowledge!

Might the charges have been for sodas from your mini-bar?

Well, since this is not going to work the way we all wanted it to, at least I hope that your daughter and your wife are having a good girl-bonding cruise and perhaps enjoying some of the aspects of the vacation that ate more girl-friendly, to make up for the loss of your presence with them.

Also got one of those. But here is the funny part. The flyer quotes a couple of difference cruises and my husband got one and my son got one (he went on his first cruise this past May with a friend). We both got the platinum for one cruise but the pricing on his offer was about $50 less per cruise than ours? But, we both got the some $ off and $ OBC. Go figure!

You probably got different offers because they are testing different offers to see which produce the best returns. They just didn't mean to send differing offers to the same household. My spouse and I often get catalogs on the same day from the same company with different offers emblazoned on the front...

Back in the old days (80's and early 90's) Carnival served everyone a glass of Champagne on formal nights at dinner and they did a formal toast. They haven't done this in probably 20 years. This was either a special holiday event or the people bought champagne.

 

On our Princess cruise in December our steward came to the room with 2 small bottles of Champagne and flutes on a silver tray shortly after we boarded. Turns out is was a suite perk we were not expecting. Nice touch and decent champagne too!

On the Glory last month, we got champagne for a toast on both elegant nights as part of the new American Feast dining. It was nice to see the return of the champagne toast!

On our first cruise in 2000 we asked for early dining, as it was closer to when we ate at home. We got it and enjoyed it, although it sometimes seemed a bit rushed ash the dining room needed to be turned over for late dining. On our second cruise there was a large church-related group that filled up a lot of the early dining slots and we ended up with late dining. Like the poster above, we liked it and have requested late dining for every cruise since then.

I tend to feel rushed at a multi-course meal if it is less than 90 minutes for the experience. Others, of course, would rather finish their meal in 45 minutes or an hour, and they will be hard to satisfy in the main dining room. The more we cruise, the more we figure out what is important to us, and the more we enjoy cruising!

We had the cabin right behind 2462 on our recent Glory cruise. Those far-aft cabins have a different noise issue than the waves that make noise in the forward cabins. In the back, there is a LOT of vibration all night when the ship is moving fast to the next port. Also, there is additional noise when the thrusters are used going in and out of a port.

Now, we were okay with this and usually sleep with earplugs anyway, but I know some folks are VERY bothered by the noise. You'll need to make your own assessment about that whether that could diminish your enjoyment of the cruise.

Lobster is also available in the steakhouse, and also a turf and surf combination there with lobster and a steak of some kind. Crab cakes are available in the steakhouse as an appetizer, I think, and maybe in the main dining room as well, but not crab legs.

We had dinner in the Glory steakhouse just last week. It is a great experience and a terrific value. I had a tuna tartare started that was easily worth the $35 charge for the whole dinner. I had lobster, my spouse had lambchops and we shared our entrees to create our own version of surf and turf.

If you like a pleasant relaxed, fairly quiet dining experience, you will be delighted. Because they serve a lot of food and because it is so good that I eat more of it than I should, we like to schedule our steakhouse dinner pretty early (around 6) even though we usually embrace the late dining on a cruise.

Go. Enjoy. Report back on your experience.

Let me clarify what ACTUALLY happened on the Glory cruise in regard to appetizers. One night out of seven (the first dress-up night), they served the tapas-style appetizers to everyone. Each of the other 6 nights, guests chose their favorite appetizers from the menu.

I enjoyed the single night of tapas-style. Some folks didn't. But either way, it was a single night.

Also, on the first formal night they served the same dessert to everyone. I can't remember if they also did that the 2nd formal night. All other nights, there were choices for dessert. I do not recall seeing a cheese and fruit plate on any of the desserts menus, but I may have just missed it. I think there was a fruit plate one night.