calgaryhhr

On 3/8/2023 at 8:05 AM, ocean sounds said:

@dacunhja213 
 

If you stay with one room, try to get 8500 or 8200 on Liberty.  Much bigger layout than 9500/9200.   Gives your family more room and more separate spaces to spread out, which will be appreciated with the baby’s nap times. 
 

Both have separate room area for master: 8500 has an actual door to the room.  8200 has a room off living area, separated by curtains. 
 

My daughter’s family had 8500 and loved it, even with one bathroom. There are 4 windows - even one in the kids bunk room space, 2 in huge Living room space, and one in Master. 

 

with either of these cabins, you will have plenty of room for a pack-n-play.

 

see Liberty 8500 video on YouTube or Cruisedeckplans.com

 

We are doing our first Royal Caribbean cruise later this year on Liberty and I was looking at those 8200/8500 cabins and they look pretty sweet for a family. Only 8200 was available for our cruise and the lack of door on the master was a bit of an issue but with an 11 and 13 year old the single bathroom would have been a much bigger issue. We decided to stick with two cabins instead although I went back and forth between the single large cabin and two cabins.

1 hour ago, jerseyjjs said:

 

 

They'll have it showing on whatever ships have the movie screen on lido, Red Frog Pub and on a few of the TVs around the casino.

This would be ideal as I'd rather sit outside under the stars to watch the game instead of the sports bar. Although the bar might have a better environment.

So I'll be in the Horizon for the Super Bowl. I'm assuming I'll be able to watch the game at the sports bar or elsewhere on the ship. Does anyone know if it will be possible to get snacks at the bar during the game? Something simple like nachos and wings or chicken fingers or whatever.

10 hours ago, Hoosierpop said:

On the Mardi Gras now. I rarely take the elevators but I can see why it would be an issue. 
 

One thing though. If people are fit and can walk 3-4 decks, why not take the stairs? If you’re going from 6 to 16, fine. But watching some guy in his 10k racing shirt go from 6 to 8 while there’s a backlog is hilarious. 

We took the stairs pretty much all the time during our cruise in August because the elevators were such a hassle. I even made my kids drag their carryon suitcases down the stairs from deck 17 on debarkation day. The elevators that morning were the biggest disaster I had ever seen. 

I booked with Moby Dick a few times in the past and I was looking to book another Stingray City tour for Feb but it seems like they might be out of operation. Can anyone confirm if they are done? Website doesn't exist anymore, reviews on Tripadvisor are from 2020 at the latest and their Facebook page seems like it has no activity.

I guess I'll have to move over to Captain Marvin now.

3 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

 

I'd have to double check - I can only be certain about Mardi Gras off the top of my head. Maybe somebody else can help??

I don't think Guy's had breakfast burgers on Mardi Gras a few weeks ago. It did not open until noon every day that I checked.

18 minutes ago, matymil said:

We are a couple of rooms outside the family harbor on deck 4 on the Mardi Gras. Do you need wristbands to get or are they not real strict? Just asking because we have a toddler who may walk by and want to pop there if he sees kids playing. Hes very sociable

We walked by the lounge on Mardi Gras one time and it looked like the lounge was closed with a glass door and you had to swipe your sail & sign card to get in. 

Hey folks,

We were just on the Mardi Gras earlier this month and really enjoyed it. We are looking to book a cruise on the Panorama this winter because I prefer the shorter flight to LA versus going all the way to Florida again. 

We sailed in an interior cabin for the first time, two cabins actually - one for the parents and one for the kids. We realized that this is more than acceptable and that we really don't need to spend the extra on getting a balcony or suite. That being said, I'm looking at standard interior vs family harbor interior. One big issue I can see is that I do prefer a higher floor closer to pools and other things vs being in the bowels of the ship.

I noticed on Mardi Gras that the family lounge had video game systems which could be a major benefit if Panorama has the same. Does anyone know what the video game situation is like? What do they have for systems and games and is it always busy? My kid's were really frustrated and annoyed by the lack of access to the game systems in the kid's clubs on Mardi Gras. The clubs were always way too busy. Another big benefit even though it is pretty stupid is the espresso machine in the lounge. I'm assuming that Panorama family lounge still has self serve espresso? Do they stock the lounge with stacks late in the evening like fruit and cookies and cakes? 

Any recent info and reviews on the Panorama family harbor would be helpful in making up my mind on a higher floor interior vs a family harbor interior.

The sandwiches on Mardi Gras are definitely great as is the pizza. I wanted to like Pig and Anchor but the service there was awful and slow but maybe it was just our waiter. It took 20 minutes to get drinks and over 30 minutes for food which is odd because it seems like the food is basically served cafeteria style so I don't know why it took so long. 

The biggest disappointment for me on Mardi Gras were the Caesar salads. I tried them three times as I enjoy having one with dinner. Twice in the dining room and once in the Italian restaurant. All three were awful with terrible limp, wilted lettuce and bland, watery dressing. The croutons were awful as well. 

4 hours ago, MikeNKim said:

Thank you!   Did you book it at a Costco in Canada near the port?

Costco in Canada. Not all Costco pharmacies in Canada do Covid testing though.

1 hour ago, MikeNKim said:

I just want to make sure I have this correct as there is a price difference in the testing on my sucky Canadian $$.  😂

 

can we do a rapid antegen test if we are fully vaxxed or does it need to be a PCR test?

Thank you.  

 

Rapid Antigen is fine based on the FAQ page. We are scheduled to do our tests at Costco and it is only $17 or so.

https://www.carnival.com/legal/covid-19-legal-notices/covid-19-faqs

Just to piggyback off the original question, are there any dinner restrictions for guests with MDR seated times at Pig and Anchor? I think I read somewhere that people not on your time dining can't get a table until after 7:30.

Great posting and thanks very much. We are on the Mardi Gras in two months and this stuff is very useful.

One question though as I haven't been following the cruise news very closely but are the Mardi Gras cruises all going to San Juan now? Our cruise was supposed to include SJ but they switched it to Nassua because of Covid and I was really bummed. Are they switching ports back to SJ now? My itinerary still shows Nassua.

On 2/23/2022 at 12:43 AM, SNJCruisers said:

It's a mistake to only cruise for ports.  If ports were the top priority, then cruise the southern route.  If you don't feel like going on the jewel of the Carnival line because of a changed port, then cancel.  The Mardi Gras is a game changer for the line.  I know from first hand experience being on her for 14 days from February 5-19.  

To each their own. The ship and amenities are part of the experience but for us the ports and excursions are a larger part of the experience. The importance of finding itineraries with new places or new experiences is important so losing SJ, a place we have not been, and going to Nassau is a big deal. If we lived close to a cruise port and could cruise more frequently I think it would become more about the ships and less the destinations.

5 minutes ago, noleguy84 said:

We got the email too. They are replacing one of the best ports with one of the worst. Not happy about this decision.

I agree. I just received the email for our August cruise and I am really disappointed to the point where I almost don't even feel like going on the cruise. I hate Nassau and have never been to PR and was really looking forward to it. Amber Cove is not very intriguing either so this itinerary is really weak now.

6 hours ago, keels81 said:

 

17215 and 17212 are listed as Spa Interiors, but they're actually oversized premium interior rooms. The X over where the balcony would normally be is actually square footage inside the stateroom:

 

Very cool. I did not notice those two cabins when looking at the deck plan. I think my brain just naturally assumed they were balcony or cove. 

13 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

I will but so far we heard nothing!!  Try to pick the bonus room as they call it.  It’s bigger.

What are the bonus rooms? We are booked in 17427 and 17251 because we are traveling with two kids so we wanted the connecting rooms.

It is great to follow through your review and to see the spa interior cabins and to read your comments. We previously chatted about potential noise concerns from the Serenity deck and it looks like so far, so good. If anything changes please note any noise issues as I am very interested in knowing about that stuff.

I think overall it should be pretty quiet in the deck 17 cabins and my only concern is with setup/takedown on the serenity deck. If the staff is dragging loungers around in the morning or late evening it could be really annoying.

Hey folks, does anyone know what the noise situation is like in the deck 17 Spa cabins from above? The Serenity deck is above the cabins and from the videos I have seen the Serenity deck seems pretty quiet and chill but I'm wondering if there is noise in the morning that could wake us up from staff moving loungers around or anything like that.

3 hours ago, pks3 said:

How are you guys seeing these lower rates, are these offered to customers who've repeated a lot with Carnival? 

For my offer we had only cruised once with Carnival about 10 years ago. But we had recently done a status match with the Carnival casino program where we submitted our Caesar's Rewards Diamond for a match. I'm assuming that might have been a contributing factor for the offers we received.

We received some pretty decent casino offers. I was offered up to balcony for $100pp which includes $200 OBC and $100 Freeplay. My significant other received the same offer but only for interior rooms. We were able to book two cabins for August, 2022 on Mardi Gras. We went with Interior Spa cabins and mine booking came out to $459 and the SO cabin came out to $669. 

question reagarding the kids playroom wristband with tracker, do you need an internet plan for it to work?

You do not need to purchase an internet plan to use tracking. We paid the tracking fee and did not have a package but the kid's location showed on the map in the app.:*

Regarding the cooking classes, I too was disappointed that they weren't offered and apparently it has something to do with US health and safety/food safety guidelines. The classes have been discontinued on US sailings. It sounds like on the first couple of sailings they did the classes but after that they stopped.

My kid probably would have liked to try it out.

That looks much better than the dinner buffet during my Feb 10 cruise. I would not have negatively commented on that buffet if it was offered to us. Well done MSC.