CanTex

If you pre-purchase, you get 10% off Cheers and 15% off internet packages.

All these posts just saying some cruise line is “better” trying to continually one up another person’s preference. Let it go already. None of this cheerleading changes anyone’s opinions. 

This post has devolved into a cheerleader back-and-forth. Both lines are very successful at what they do, and they're also not trying to pretend they're something that they're not. While both have nice ships and niches of exclusivity in their offerings, they're not upscale lines -- their parent companies have lots of other options for those markets. I think the OPs original question has been answered...

I think this is the source -- it's a Cruise Critic ranking:

https://cruisefever.net/carnival-named-best-cruise-line-for-the-money/


 

12 minutes ago, palmettostatecruiser said:

 

Same - source please...because when I google it, I get:

 

 

🤷‍♀️

https://cruisefever.net/carnival-named-best-cruise-line-for-the-money/

3 minutes ago, nofocruiser said:

 

 

I agree with both of these statements.  NCL really has a handle on Anytime Dining, but using the Hub App on Carnival makes it easy also.  On our Magic cruise earlier this month, there was a line for people who don't use the app for making a reservation, not everyone has a smart phone.  My suggestion would be for Carnival to have kiosks near the dining room for this purpose or make it available on the tv's in your cabin.  I haven't been on the Vista or Horizon lately so maybe it is already available on these ships.  I also have to add, the only reason I knew to make a reservation on the app was because the hostess in the MDR told us to do it this way.  There wasn't any information about it, they need to advertise it to the passengers better. 

It is available on Vista, Horizon and all of the other newer ships (about half so far) and is being extended to the other ships over time. I heard / saw them promoting using it on Vista and Dream.

10 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

My opinion is totally opposite of BNBR's.  Ever since the cruise lines went to anytime dining, it's all I have done.  To this day, NCL is the only line I've been handed a pager and made to wait.....and not just once.  It was consistent.  On Dawn, the wait was upwards of an hour.  To try to appease all the people waiting, they walked around handing out free champagne....you know, the really awful kind.  I also don't agree with the "good food" comment.  NCL has consistently been the worst free dining I've had on any line.

 

JMHO. 🙂

I fully agree with this.  Frankly, making Your Time Dining table requests through Carnival's HUB app is the slickest experience I've had with this. We make our requests while getting ready for dinner and wait time is rarely more than 10-15 minutes from that point, so we literally walk right up to the dining room and are seated immediately.

12 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

That looks nothing like the 12 hour French Toast I've had on other ships... it's supposed to have peaches on top and obviously not soggy like that inside.  Yuck.

11 minutes ago, soccersharon said:

The menus are posted on the Hub App 🙂

LOL.  That's what I posted.

3 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Actually..I’ve been posting those the past few cruises. I couldn’t find it last night.

Hmmm.  It is under the "Food and Drinks" section of the app , then there is a Menu button for the main dining rooms. But -- maybe not all ships post the menus in the app. If it is there, you can also go back and forth from the current day's menu.

42 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Yeah sure seems like one.

Likely a piece of nut shell.  On the Vista recently, the "granola" in the parfait was almost entirely nuts.

8 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I’ll tell you the way I know. Maybe someone knows a better way but I haven’t figured it out.

hub app

access wifi
logout

access free sites

I think once you have that link you can just keep it in the browser and refresh each day.

 

 

 

Awesome -- thanks! You'd think they'd make this possible within the app like you can see the dining room menus.

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Here’s a download link that should be better

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ePtpffoc-XIk8rR1bEj1_V4WOOSPr_39/view?usp=drivesdk

 

 

Awesome review so far!  Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Question -- how are you capturing these PDFs of the FunTimes?

6 hours ago, Ellusionz said:

For the new tender ticket board, how soon do they put it out and where is it located?

I was on this sailing too. The OPs points are pretty spot on, but I actually found the tender process worked well for us (we weren't in a rush to get off as we were just going to 7 Mile Beach on our own).

The tickets are available the day before (this was the Cozumel day on our sailing), and are located just outside the RedFrog Pub on deck 5 starting at 3:30 PM. They will leave a detailed sheet of water shuttle (tender) information in your stateroom the day before (or maybe it was even two days before, I can't remember for sure).

18 hours ago, Jimnbigd said:

OP...Sounds like you haven't tried any RC ship with the ice rink -- voyager, freedom, and oasis class. The ice show is fabulous. Plus, Cafe Promenade (free) is open just about 24 hours (close for a half hour or so in the wee morning for cleaning) -- A previous poster said they could not find free food late at night. Sorrentos pizza (also free) is also open until 2am or so, on ships that have it (freedom and oasis for sure). Room service has a fee, but I think Carnival does also now.

 

Carnival does have Guys burgers, Mongolian grill, and made-to-order sandwiches, but these lines move very slow. My last Carnival was the Conquest. I was 4th in line at the Mongolian grill and it took 15 minutes before I had my food.

 

Dining room:  Carnival = neon lights; RC = chandeliers, especially on larger ships like voyager and freedom. I don't know about oasis and other RC large ships but these probably have elegant dining rooms also.

 

Music: RC had 23 musicians on my last cruise (Liberty of the seas, Halloween 2019) -- a 4-piece dance band, 3-piece salsa band, 4-piece pool band, piano bar, classical guitarist, pub singer/guitarist, and 9-piece ships orchestra. The Carnival Conquest (my last Carnival cruise) had maybe 12 -- 5 piece ships band, 3-piece dance trio, piano bar, 2-piece pool band, and maybe a couple of more but I can't remember so it might be only 10. I've heard Carnival has done away the pool band and uses a DJ.

 

Carnival cabins are bigger, but for me does not hold as much as RC.

 

I really like RC voyager and freedom class ships much more than any Carnival I've done.

 

If Conquest 8 years ago was your most recent Carnival cruise, then your experience is very outdated to make a comparison. Guy's Burgers wasn't even on any ship at that time (so not sure how you experienced that), and nearly every ship has since gone through major refits with the Funship 2.0 amenities. Newer ships (especially from Breeze onward) have left behind the Joe Farcus era of gaudy design to a much more contemporary style, and as older ships go through major upgrades / re-names (Sunshine, Sunrise and soon, Radiance), the neon gaudiness is no more.

OP, the Spirit class ships -- while older and smaller -- have a great ship layout unlike any other class of Carnival ships.  Like others have stated, probably the highest deck space : passenger ratio of any mass market cruise ship.  It has a high ratio of balcony staterooms vs. other categories. I think you'll be very happy with Spirit. 

5 minutes ago, Kenster said:

We leave on the Vista tomorrow with kids and two grands.  Can you tell me more about this "secret breakfast" place?

It's in Ocean Plaza on deck 5.  Not the variety of the full buffet, but super convenient and uncrowded.

Recent experiences have been awesome. Arrive at our appointment time window and we never stop moving until we're on board -- last time I think it took us less than 20 minutes. They really try to get the people through fast there.

19 minutes ago, jjh9 said:

You need to finish cruise on Carnival and Celebrity to get new level.

True on Celebrity:

Your Captain's Club membership falls into one of six tiers: Preview (prior to sailing), Classic (after first completed cruise), Select (after earning 150 Club Points), Elite (after earning 300 Club Points), Elite Plus (after earning 750 Club Points) and Zenith (after earning 3,000 Club Points). After you complete qualifying sailings, your membership will automatically advance to the applicable membership level. You will enjoy your new membership benefits on the sailing after you reach the next membership level. Your membership number will remain the same as you advance to the next level.

(see https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/enroll#Terms)

But not on Carnival -- you get it during the cruise you pass the new level:

Will guests automatically receive recognition/benefits or must they be requested?
VIFP Club members will automatically move from one level to the next level based on their VIFP Points and will receive the benefits of their level on each sailing.  

Guests graduating into a new level during a cruise will receive the benefits of the new level they are graduating into from the beginning of the cruise (e.g. those graduating to Gold on the 3rd day of a 5-day cruise will receive Gold benefits for the entire duration of their cruise). Please note that ‘debarkation day’ is not considered a ‘cruise day’, therefore, points are not earned for that day.

(see https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2938)

I will be reaching a new Voyagers Club Level during an upcoming cruise. On other cruise lines whose programs I belong to, you get all the new level's benefits applied from the first day of your cruise during which you pass the new level's point threshold. Is this also true on MSC? I have searched everywhere for an answer on this and still haven't found a definitive answer.

Thanks for your help!

Google the prices of custom printed soft vinyl luggage tags like this (with multi-color printing too), and you'll quickly come to the realization that this likely cost Carnival less than $1 each, but certainly no more than $2 each. I bet the lanyard cost them more.

Yep, they listened. 🙂  

3 hours ago, RoperDK said:

I guess I just don't get that Galveston is so popular that it can support so many ships.  Not only Carnival, but other lines, too.  They do the math, so they know what they're doing.  I hate to see both the Dream and Breeze there while New Orleans has older, smaller ships.  What's going to happen to Port Canaveral?  The Mardi Gras is a great option, but the same old tired itinerary will, well, get old. They used to have unique itineraries from Port Canaveral, along with the shorter and standard 7 day cruises. I wonder when the repositioning cruises will be available to book? 

Why so many ships? 29 million Texans and a huge drive-in market from surrounding states adding to that. The ships from here sail totally booked (you can never book a room with one of the extra beds open), and fares are often higher than those from the Florida ports sailing comparable itineraries. Add a robust, diversified economy in the region. $s speak.

Plus, they're having to keep on top of the competition. RCI is building a new hundred million $ terminal at Galveston to accommodate Oasis class ships.  Disney has re-upped with a long-term contract and is doubling their sailings.

Panorama does have the library bar like its Vista class siblings.  If it's like Vista, the room should be close to empty most of the time except when I  saw some of the art sales activities going on some days. It will be a perfect venue for your games -- I often saw people playing cards or games there. The bar wasn't staffed anytime I walked by, but there were wine dispensers there where you could get wine by scanning your S&S card.

The Horizons Restaurant is the dining room for YTD on the Vista -- it's the aft dining room, accessible from both decks 3 and 4.

We love YTD for the total flexibility it allows. Shortly before you're ready to dine, you can request your table through the Hub app and you will be notified when it is ready (much easier than having to go up to deck 5 to request your table in person).  Our waits were typically 5-15 minutes before we received the table ready notification, and this was always at least 5-10 minutes sooner than the estimated ready time when we first submitted the request.

11 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Is it totally waterproof? What is it called and where did you get it?

Yes. Search for waterproof card holder on Amazon and lots of examples of these will come up.  The Witz brand has worked great for me.

19 minutes ago, tkportersat said:

I was a single mom for a few years and traveled with my kids alone, so I bought one of these to hold my money/credit cards/cruise card.  I still use to this day, causes me less stress worrying about my stuff sitting unoccupied.

I've used these for years.  They work great.  I even use it on the ship, I find it easier than using a lanyard.

I feel certain Carnival will not deny you the opportunity to give them more money.

The OP was asking about whether they were any on-board opportunities. Sometimes they have special promotions for future cruises booked while on-board.

No opportunity to book as part of an on-board promotion was offered during our March 9, 2008 sailing. I really wish they had!