txcruiser1234

I saw it under shore excursions for the embarkation day... here's the listed description: Tour happens on the last sea day of your voyage. See additional notes below. Most Carnival guests are aware that behind the scenes of their cruise vacation there’s a bustle of activity to deliver fun memorable experiences, but few have gotten an up-close look at these inner workings. Experience an array of “back of house” areas that are vital to a ship’s daily operations on our Behind the Fun Ultimate Tour! Explore beyond the public areas with visits to the ship’s bridge, engine control room, main galley, staff dining areas, storeroom, laundry, and other spaces for a rare insider’s view of many areas typically seen only by the ship’s crew. The tour is extremely exclusive, offered only once during the cruise on a sea day and is limited to only 16 participants. Led by our onboard Learning & Development Manager accompanied by a member of our security team, you'll get to visit sensitive areas operated at elevated security levels. Tour participants will also be able to meet and interact with shipboard staff while visiting the different areas. What’s Included: Limited edition Behind The Fun baseball cap, identifying guests as Honorary Team members. Complimentary commemorative photos. Carnival branded goodies. Light snacks and pastries. NOTES Tour happens on the last sea day of your voyage. If there is only one sea day on your voyage, your tour will take place on that day. Please stop by the Carnival Adventures desk to collect your tickets. For security reasons, no cameras, recording devices of any kind or cell phones are permitted on the tour. The tour will be visiting a few areas that are accessible only by stairs. Some of the stairs are rather steep. Guests must wear comfortable closed toe shoes or sneakers, no sandals or flip flops. No bathing attire or skirts are permitted. Minimum age for tour is 8 years. Any guests under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult. The total tour, including check-in process, lasts approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes.

2023 2023

just to jump back in for a minute...I'm all for drug screening when it's used effectively - i.e. if you are not carrying drugs and do not smell like drugs, you should have no issues. We should have no issues. Random inspections used judiciously sound ok - as in if I'm selected once in a blue moon, that's cool. Twice in 3 months, however I was selected, is a little less random than I'd like. These were the reasons for making my original complaint to Carnival (inpo): 1) the volume of people selected for searches on these two occasions The first time (aug 2024) I was the 28th cruiser in the room (yes I counted) On my way out, the room was still full meaning roughly the same amount of folks were brought in behind me while I was going through the 30 minute process. The second time (nov 2024) I was the 25th cruiser in the room with the room being just as full behind me on the way out. 40 min to get in and out this time. If my math is correct, that is an intake rate of about 50 cruisers and hour. Yes, that is a lot of people. Each time they were staffed up with 8 people running inspections, frisks and paperwork. The load was planned for. The time of day did not seem to matter - we arrived at port at about 11a the first time and 1p the second time. 2) The apparent inefficiency of the process Out of the 50+ searches (combined) I witnessed in front of me, not a single person was found to have had anything. That's a lot of collective wasted time and resources (imho). It's a wide net approach that does not serve as an efficient solution to the problem. 3) The nature of the inspections So when it's finally your time to go, they put your bags on a table and do a challenge-response inspection of your things. For example, they pull out a ball of socks and ask "am I going to find anything in this?" and watch your body language as you respond. Or when I shift my body weight they ask "Are you okay?"...that sort of thing for about 5-7 minutes while they take just about everything out of your bags (clothes, toiletries, camera gear, electronics), inspect it and place it in a pile in the middle of the table. Then they ask you a few questions about the nature of your drug use. I had no problem per se with this part - these staffers were just doing their job as trained. It's simply not what I want to be doing instead of being on my vacation. Now the pat downs - different people have different tolerances for these - bothered me. These were not your typical 10 second airport pat downs and move on (which nine times out of 10 do not bother me). They were as thorough a body inspection as I could imagine while still keeping my clothes on.. My wife asked me "How'd it go?"... I just said, "They gave me a new definition of 'Faster to the Fun'." It's was kind of like when you see something disturbing and can't unsee it for a while.. yeah, I'll leave it that. Again, nothing against the staffers in all of this, just doing their jobs. My complaint is directed at the decision-makers who put these things in motion. And again, we're two (of the apparently few) cruisers who have not experienced pot issues onboard 15 cruises/100+ sea days since the restart, so this kind of wonky solution to a problem we have not experienced seems like jumping the shark. Good on ya if you like this solution... you have more patience/tolerance than me! I'm normally a Carnival cheerleader.. a 10 out 10 guy on surveys, but I had to drop this one to a 9... maybe they'll take notice..ha

Good question - we've had our standard travel bags since 2016 - a pair of backpacks and a pair of carry-ons. They're always stored together so they, I assume, share the same smells. Her bags have never triggered. Plus, we passed drug dogs three times on other travel between these instances with no issues. Same bags, same basic travel stuff. So I really don't think its the bags (or the contents). Agreed. And I've read others problems with pot smells on balconies, in halls etc. So I do get that. From our perspective though - on 15 post covid cruises for over 100 sea days, we've smelled pot just once on the Mardi Gras for about 30 seconds while passing the outside smoking area. Anything can happen to anyone on any cruise, but (again just from our perspective) it hasn't been an issue. Yes, these on-ship dogs have never had a problem with my bags. My question is were they pulling anywhere near 50 people an hour into interrogation? Or was it more normal where next to no one gets pulled? Agreed on the having nothing to hide.. I just don't enjoy the bag tossing, the chain pulling (especially) or the questioning. I did not see who was handling the dog. The second time, it was definitely a port authority (arm patch) staffer who pulled me out of line a ways after the dog near the entrance to the interrogation area (and port authority staff doing the searches). Not sure how much or how little Carnival is involved in this part of the boarding process. Well, I don't think its the bags so you may have something there. Just seems excessive to pull so many people out of line based on looks/behavior and none of us having anything nefarious. Understood. Just does not seem like mass embarkation interrogations fits the problem (from our perspective). This to me makes sense. Never had a problem on board - this seems simple enough and just enough.

I know it's a port authority thing, but these enhanced drug searches occur inside the Carnival embarkation process and affect the beginning of the cruise experience. I've been pulled out of line 2 out of our last 3 Carnival cruises (both from Galveston). The first time I chalked up to happenstance, but two out three seems like a trend. Both times, they were pulling about 1 person a minute into the interrogation area. None of the 50 or so searches I witnessed turned up anything. Seems like they are casting a very wide net. **************** My cruise survey comment to Carnival: Great cruise... would have been a 10 if not for the needless embarkation drug search. I know it's a port authority thing, but it nonetheless affects the overall cruise experience. It turns our normally great priority boarding experience into a questionably invasive pre-boarding interrogation. Having your neatly packed bags tossed in front of you, the groping head to toe (and everything in between) pat down and having to answer personal questions about non-existent drug use are off-putting to say the least and the 30-40 minutes of wasted time are unrecoverable. The fact that the 25 other cruisers pulled into the detention area with me had no prohibited substances (we were all sent on our not so merry ways) leads me to question the methods used to rope folks into these searches. This was the second time in our last three Carnival cruises that this has happened. Together, I've witnessed about 50 of these searches and no one had anything. At the rates they are pulling people into these searches, it's an inefficient and ineffective process that puts hundreds of targets and their traveling companions in foul moods to kickoff the cruise. ***************** Anyway, just wondering if this is something others have noticed or experienced recently...

Yeah, we've noticed uber aggressive port-side photogs on our last few sailings. 4 times out of 5, a simple smiling "ah, no thanks" while we keep walking still suffices. But, recently there have been instances (4 that I remember) where the photogs went into a back pedal in front of us as we were walking away to get a snapshot. It's weird. On the flip-side, we used get a lot of hard-sells from photogs at dinner that would require a mini conversation before they would move on. We haven't experienced that recently.

noticed the same! most of my deal offers are not there though.. had 22 different offers on Fri.. now just the 4 basic standard offers are there.. maybe there is still more work to do (maybe not!).. we'll see.. all my future bookings were there with the right details.. so that's something site is running painfully slow though..

I ordered quantity 2 for each cruise, but in the order details of the cruise manager it just lists my name for both cheers packages... does that matter?... never ordered cheers before...

Early in the survey they asked something like "What could make your comedy experience better?" I suggested adding a late, late show or having more R shows in the theater to spread out the crowds. Later in the survey, they asked about the 5pm comedy show - I said no b/c I assumed that would be a PG show, although the survey did not specify... I suppose if the normal two later shows were R that would serve the purpose of spreading out the crowds though. On the question about the types of comedy I was interested in: I liked them all except for the "wordplay" option - I don't think I could sit through half an hour of puns...

Very true. But, due to normal life work in healthcare, we are 2 of the others. We are just night creatures by nature at this stage of our lives. It's not something we can totally turn off on vacation - it's kind of like overblown jet lag. We really appreciate the nights where we can catch a late night comedy showcase, followed by a midnight dive-in movie and then a few hours in an almost empty casino! We would absolutely use the whirlpools if they were open later into the night. Looking forward to having more food options later into the evening too. We caught a midnight showing of John Wick 4 on our last cruise and were surprised to see how many people made it through till the 3am ending (probably 100 or so). I think the more Carnival can "stretch" out the evenings for those so inclined, the less crowded the public spaces are during the days...

One silver lining born from the narrative that Carnival is a lesser cruise experience is that overall demand/pricing is lower than it would otherwise be, meaning overall value is higher than it would otherwise be. Works for me.

We were on Mardi Gras with Your Time Dining last November and could eat complimentary dinners at Cucina, Chibang and Guy's Pig and anchor. We could sign in for a table through the HUBapp (just like the MDR) for Cucina and Chibang - Guy's was just a walk-up anytime venue. I think it's still the same now and for the foreseeable future except on Mardi Gras, Chibang is only complimentary one night - additional nights have a $8/pp surcharge. Last I read, Jubilee was set to sail with the same plan, but, of course, things can change between now and December.

People who define their identities through the products they buy will always disparage what they perceive to be lesser offerings. It's human nature.

trivia contests done through the Carnival HUB app... can participate from anywhere on the ship... set up kinda like the old school bar trivia games... questions pop up, you have 10 seconds to answer, the quicker you answer, the more points you earn... sure you can google, but that takes time. Would need huge databases (like the old school bar setups) so as not to repeat questions from cruise to cruise. Winners get a drink voucher in their account (or something trivially useful). Would love some ports of call themes - history, culture, food...

1) We absolutely love live music at sea. Most Carnival cruises have a solo singer/guitar player, a string trio and some sort of multi-piece band. We'd absolutely love it if some form of jazz could be added once in a while... maybe a trio or quartet... 2) We'd love to see a play at sea. On longer cruises and Journeys cruises, Carnival usually brings on one-night-only specialty acts like crooners and variety acts (our last had a 'stunt' juggler). We've seen small traveling theatrical troupes in europe that we thought could put on a good ship show. They're about 10 people strong, travel with their own costumes/minimalist sets, usually perform relatively cheap outdoor shows, set up one day and are gone to the next town tomorrow - very mobile. Anyway, we always thought this kind of troupe might be a good way to get a play on a ship...

Yes! Believe it all... these cruises are just like Escape from New York.. at sea. Although, I can't say we saw any drunken, pot-smoking kids fighting while thumbing their noses at security before returning their MDR dishes and pulling their grats.

OP, if you were "absolutely sick" of Carnival before, don't keep doing it. An even longer Carnival cruise will probably have you pulling your hair out. All Carnival cruises, in our experience, have been MUCH more similar than dissimilar in every appreciable sense - in terms of crowds, food, entertainment, cabins, service, low points and highlights. No matter the ship or length of cruise, the fundamental on-board experience has been more or less the same. We obviously enjoy the Carnival brand and overall product consistency, but understand that it is not for everyone.

I'll just throw out Splendor has two not-so-common itineraries next summer - one Singapore to Sydney Jul 21-Aug 5 and the reverse Sydney to Singapore Aug 24-Sep 9 2024 (both Journeys cruises). More sea days than port days, but the one-ways give you lots of pre and post cruise options to explore on your own in those parts of the world. All cabin types are still available, so Carnival is still working to fill those cruises. edit: Still hoping for a Carnival-proper South America deployment one day...

I booked one of those deck 2 aft cabins on Venezia a couple of days ago for a late 2024 cruise. I couldn't find a new Venezia video review of those particular cabins, but I did find video reviews of the same on Horizon by googling the corresponding cabin number taken from the deck plans. If you haven't already seen these, video for all three different layouts on those aft deck 2 cabins came up when searched. Other than the decor, these look to be the same cabin configurations...

Yeah, I think the 'booze cruise' thing is a misnomer. When I hear that term, I think of raucous nights on the Las Vegas strip and Bourbon Street - truly boozy places. In our experience, cruising has never ever approached those heights (or lows) of mass inebriation. We've been on 3 recent long-weekend (Thur-Mon) cruises and have not found them much different in terms of boozy-ness than longer cruises. Cheers people will get their preferred level of cheer on no matter the length of the cruise. We are night owls and it's been much the same story every Carnival cruise we've been on - lively evenings, things slow down after midnight and the ships are pretty much put to bed by 2am - nothing I'd ever term a 'booze cruise'.

On its face, it sounds like everything is still on schedule. Just a reminder not to show up early? GUEST ADVISORY EMBARKATION UPDATE CARNIVAL PRIDE – MAY 28, 2023 May 16, 2023 Dear Carnival Pride Guest, As you prepare for your cruise, we have some important information regarding our embarkation plans. Carnival Pride will be returning to service after the completion of dry dock (scheduled maintenance) and the team will be offloading equipment before boarding begins. Embarkation will remain as planned, but all guests must adhere to their pre-selected arrival appointments. Guests who arrive earlier will be asked to return at their set time. For your convenience, if necessary, you may drop off your luggage at the cruise terminal and return to explore Barcelona, while you wait for your arrival appointment. Please remember to keep your travel documents and any medication you may need with you. In preparation for departure, all guests must be on board by 6:00 PM. Thanks for your cooperation and see you soon.   Sincerely, Colleen Oliverio VP, Guest Services - Contact Centers

Good to hear! Fingers still crossed she gets out of dd on time... After a Saturday night out in Barcelona (big concert crowd in town too), we'll probably just check out, take a leisurely ramble down La Rambla to the port area, hop on the ship and... take a nap! We had a journeys cruise on the Miracle in Feb that was mostly Ps&Ds, but the Ps were still on board 10mins after boarding started - hoping for similar results here.

Even with the first checkin appts being 12:30-1p, the boarding passes still say "Stateroom access will be available at 1:30 PM for all guests, including VIFP Diamond and Platinum." which will be great if it all works out that way. I guess with an empty ship coming off dry dock, they will have the crew on with enough time to prep all the cabins sooner rather than later.

Sicilian Meatball Soup, Cucina Chicken Parm and the Double Roasted Pineapple