seannyice81

7 minutes ago, shof515 said:

Some pictures of the damage:

https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-freedom-fire-damages-funnel-again/

Wow, so I guess this was a lightening strike. Still odd its not a more common issue.

9 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

The ships are the tallest things in the water so yeah they are lightning rods for sure. It does seem like we'd have more funnel fires than we do if this was the case. It also doesn't seem like the fire would be billowing out of the smokestacks if it was a lightning fire.

I would SPECULATE that perhaps Freedom has a sooting issue, but thats really just an uneducated guess. Of course assuming it isn't a lightening strike.
 

2 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

Well they do have a camera pointed at the funnel at all times so if they wanted to they could prove it (or not) 

Good point!

I don't really buy the lightening strike. The ships probably get zapped fairly often so I can't see how this wouldn't happen more. I could be wrong though.

They really have no effective way of enforcing this that I can think of.

I'd go with the middle cabin on deck 7. Personal preference. Been there, done that with a cabin above the theater. It wasn't awful, but more intrusive than neighbors on either side.

Was on Pride and the drinks in the casino took a pretty long time. There was no bar and just a couple servers.

Being in an Excel suite, access (to the area) is free. You can use the open loungers and pools at your leisure. Unfortunately the cabanas are separate and can cost over $500 for a day. If you're a high-roller in the casino though, they'll sometimes comp them. When I looked at one for Celebration on my planner I got the same issue. On a Mardi Gras sailing I was able to book a cabana in person ($700) at the stand, but didn't try on Celebration.

2 hours ago, DreadPirateRobert said:

We had a speaker with us on our most recent Vista cruise 2/25-3/4. We kept it very low and asked everyone around us to please say something if it was a problem. 

People shouldn't have to confront another about such things on vacation, including myself. It may be agreeable music to you, but subjective to others. Even at low volume. I usually have no problem moving, but if its a busy Sea Day, then it's a problem.

I'd go with 4K. The lower decks can be more convenient for port days, but that's about it in my opinion.

1 hour ago, TxTeach79 said:

Weird cabin, weird chair. No idea why it’s set up in twins. I’ll have them fix that tonight. 
 

 

 

 

Chairs placed this way always crack me up. I refer to them as "A front row seat." 

The meat "display" in the steakhouse never grabbed my attention, but the difference is considerable haha!

Too bad about the mufaletta. I never tried it last year and I should've. Fingers crossed it's better than that on Celebration. 

Would like to see them return to Monte Carlo, but understand there isn't much to do (within reason) there. Overall just happy they're doing Europe. Will be sailing Portugal and Spain with them.

When I was on Mardi Gras for the Sailabration, I booked one of the Loft 19 suites for the ship meet-up and Almost none were reserved when I went in the morning. A few did get used later in the day, but not nearly all of them. I did think the price was a bit much but that said, the service was awesome. Also I split the costs with as many friends as I was allowed to have there. I will probably book another one for an upcoming cruise on Celebration.

It really is a big pity that Carnival pulled out of San Juan after decades sailing from the port. Such a great itinerary too, even if it hardly changed. I do remember the PR government starting to make things a little difficult for cruise lines around the time with some lines going to seasonal only (before Carnival announced exiting). I THINK it was raising port fees among other things. On top of that was Carnival had to work quite a bit to fill the ships with locals at times and after Irma/Maria, many Puerto Ricans were not in a place to take a cruise vacation. Most continental US guests were not as fond of the longer flights to SJ as well. They tried enticing mostly British guests with embarkation in Barbados, but still numbers weren't too strong. This is how eventually Liberty was moved to TX for increased demand and Fascination was sent to SJ. The final and biggest piece that ended SJ service was the need for Fascination to replace Fantasy. All other ships and ports were strong enough not to pull a ship from for SJ, even seasonally.

I've done the Southern itinerary from San Juan 4 times and loved it. It would be awesome to sail it again, but I'm not counting on it with Carnival for the foreseeable future. I'm not placing bets on Sunshine moving there.

We arrived at the port at roughly 11:30 and after check-in walked right onto the ship. Then again, we had a suite so we had the earliest boarding time which had just commenced not much earlier.

The check-in tables were slightly chaotic, but got the job done. Security was post check-in but could have used a little more room for the lines as it was literally right after the check-in. Overall a good experience though to be honest.

Cool. I keep waiting for Carnival to appear on my Amex offers. Not sure it will happen though since they offer a Mastercard.

My understanding is port scheduling is getting somewhat congested with the return of certain ports and more ships. Ocho Rios is a fairly busy port so I'm sure given that, adjustments are being made. I'm not sure why they're choosing certain ships over others though.

I usually book port side. I feel I have a better chance of docking on that side and seeing pier runners, haha.

16 minutes ago, groundloop said:

I hear that it's better on the newest ships, but I've yet to experience anything other than the horrible internet that's the norm on most of their fleet.

It was pretty decent on Horizon back in November, which may have been due to the reduced capacity. Mardi Gras was not good at all. 

6 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

Tampa -Pride, We had one extra sea day due to cancelling Grand Cayman. Two sea days and returning home easy, then day 2 we had some bumpy seas for about 21 hours, so we slowed. Then were told we would be 90 minutes late to return due to Marine traffic.

Once we finally arrived, there were some issues with gangway. Also suite-platinum were waiting in dinning room, at some point someone gave greenlight and a lot of people left, which was an error. Should have been self debark only. Those with checked luggage also got off, but luggage not ready. 

It also appeared the next cruise was not told to wait an hour or two and everyone was arriving while we were trying to leave. the parking lot is also under construction. Two crowds competing for the same real estate with a lot of emotions from both. 

Ooof, that's awful. I'd take our debark over that any day.

 

3 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

It's difficult enough getting "kicked off" the ship (debarkation morning, lol) - but to add these additional challenges can really test your patience. No fun... not the way a vacation should end...  😞 

 

Tom

I was really losing my patience as were many others. This doesn't bode well for Celebration or Jubilee, and we weren't nearly as bad as Tampa.
 

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Well, that was about 40% of the ship. And there is always a significant portion of the remainder that ignore simple instructions and make things even worse.

We had an emormous amount of Diamonds/Platinums along with many suite pax so it might be higher than that number.

7 hours ago, matymil said:

What was the issue with the debark? Just that they weren't prepared?

I can't speak for Tampa, but Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral was really bad. All the Suites/Diamonds/Platinums that had priority debark led to a bit of a traffic jam. On top of it, we started slightly later. Probably one of the worst debarks I've seen in a while and we were even first off with the suites. The weather didn't factor so much for us at port, but the airport was a whole other story.

I was on Mardi Gras. We had a good time, but it wasn't too much more of any other cruise. One highlight in particular is how much the crew and staff were enjoying it as well. I was standing at the top of the stairs for the water slides to get a good view of the ships and was joined by many employees who were taking pictures, watching the ships, and having a good time. It was awesome to see them smiling and enjoying the moment. It was nice having John Heald on the ship, although he was a fairly rare sight onboard.

We were given free 50th lanyards at embarkation, buttons one night, and some retro options for food/drinks. There was a towel animal with a 50th sticker. You could purchase 50th tumblers for Bottomless Bubbles, and Pixels had a 50th photo book for sale. There were also a number of 50th items in the Fun Shop for purchase.

One downside was how people were behaving when the Fun Shop opened the second day with the anniversary goods. The shop manager was only letting 10 people in per side of the shop which was nice as there were crowds outside. Later when they brought out the shirts though some people were acting ridiculous.

The best part of the cruise was the group of friends I cruised with. Haven't seen many in a long time.

I've received a stationary kit, headphones, and now a Tervis cup. I was actually kind of looking forward to getting the blanket 2 weeks ago, but got the cup. No biggie though. Theres always October.

Good evening.

I've sailed on this ship twice and have found boarding generally starts 11:30-noon. There is a separate area for Platinums and Diamonds, but the area depends on how many are sailing. It'll either be a smaller room, or the embarkation hall behind the check-in area.

Hello everyone,

I'll be sailing to St. Vincent relatively soon. From your experiences, what are some must see places?
I've read about Bequia. Is coming and going similar to St. Thomas - St. John?