Thebosn1

Currently 3 booked.  First is next April, then a TA on Legend next fall, spring cruise 2021.  Unless the DCD succeeds in destroying the industry altogether.  

Pool in my back yard.  Still looking for a steel drum band and someone to bring me drinks though...

I don't sail again until next spring (I moved my cancelled cruises to next year to be safe), but I hope Carnival is still sailing at reduced capacity then.  I was worried that Carnival would fully book every cruise and then have to decide who could go and who could not.  That would have been a disaster.  Can you imagine of they cancel your cruise, then ask you to have faith in them and re-book instead of taking the refund, and you do, but then they tell you you can't go anyway?  Something like that would have been last straw for me. 

It's a trust issue for me.  I know some things are out of their control but if I book with them, I would expect them to honor it and sail.  I have continued to book cruises, and even bought stock in CCL, because I trust the company to be able to survive this shutdown.  If they start doing things like over booking just to cancel, I would have a hard time trusting them.

On the BRIGHT side, It would be very nice to sail on a ship that is at 60% capacity a few times!     

Some of these ships are 30 years old, or close to it.  I think a couple of them were set to be laid up or sold anyway.  They must cost a fortune to maintain.  

That said, I know a lot of us have special place in our hearts for the smaller ships.  One of the best cruises I have had was back on the Imagination, and it could be one of the ships they are looking at.  Ironically, these bigger ships they have now will not be able to sail at full capacity for a while anyway.  

On 6/17/2020 at 6:18 PM, cruisin from vegas said:

Just spoke to one of my closest friends who is a Carnival CC (30 years), I am also a past Carnival crew member; she said they were directed late yesterday no more bookings for August or September due to over capacity.  She said the last two weeks have been the highest number of bookings she has ever seen.  She says that’s all she knows, but anything can happen.  They can book October forward only.  She and I have a 60th birthday booking for October 2nd... but who knows 

That makes as much sense as anything.  Obviously they won't be able to sail at 100% for a while, and I was worried they would take full bookings then have to decide who could go and who can not.  

On 4/24/2020 at 11:03 AM, tauep24 said:

I have my 20yr wedding anniversary cruise scheduled for May '21 on the Horizon.  Anybody think its to soon or shall we be fine?

I'm Booked for April.  I think you will be ok.  Do you have specific concerns of just the COVID stuff?

Sunrise.  The re-build was a disaster.  They packed in a bunch of staterooms to increase capacity, but they made the common areas practically unusable.  Serenity area was the worst in the fleet, and if you were not up there guarding a spot by 9 AM you could forget about getting in.  Lido area just added a bunch of tables.  You are sitting right up against the person at the table behind you, like touching them.  The area to walk past the burger and Mexican food stands  is the same spot where the people waiting for food have to stand, so you can't get past them and you have to go up a deck and over.  

It sucked.  

Sunrise.  The re-build was a disaster.  They packed in a bunch of staterooms to increase capacity, but they made the common areas practically unusable.  Serenity area was the worst in the fleet, and if you were not up there guarding a spot by 9 AM you could forget about getting in.  Lido area just added a bunch of tables.  You are sitting right up against the person at the table behind you, like touching them.  The area to walk past the burger and Mexican food stands  is the same spot where the people waiting for food have to stand, so you can't get past them and you have to go up a deck and over.  

It sucked.  

Love the pictures, really cool.  First cruise was on the Valor when it was still brand new.  I fell in love with the experience immediately.  My first wife did not.  My current wife loves cruising hahaha. 

I WILL BE BACK!  My wife and I have cruises scheduled for next year and we will be there.  No doubt about it.  I need my cruises and I have already waited too long.    

On 3/25/2020 at 8:11 AM, Luckiestmanonearth said:

We are Platinum on Carnival but as Diamond seems so far away, we decided to give Celebrity a try.  Sailed on March 8th on the Celebrity Edge.  This was our experience and how I felt it compared to Carnival
 

Embarkation - excellent.  From arrival to Pier to getting on the ship was 15 minutes.  Never had to do any sitting and waiting.  This was one of our worries compared to being Platinum on Carnival but turned out was a non issue

 

Ship - clean, beautiful and spacious (well thought out).  

 

Cleanliness - impeccable . Constant cleaning of all areas. Hand washing stations at entrance to buffet. Purell being squirted everywhere.  Bathrooms were always very clean.  To me it just felt more clean than we ever experienced on Carnival but I can’t compare to Carnival during this Covid crisis

 

Cabin - we had a sunset veranda (back of ship) and couldn’t have been happier . We were able to ask and get a lounger from the cabin steward.  Cabin space was very good, especially the bathroom and shower was a nice size.  Shower was all glass, including the door (no curtain)

 

Food - very good.  Really enjoyed Select Dining and the 4 smaller main restaurants .  The ocean view cafe buffet for breakfast and lunch was phenomenal and very fresh .  Impressed that there were many hand washing stations at all entrances to the buffet and staff there to make sure people washed up.  I thought the food was better than Carnival (quality and service)

 

Specialty restaurants - didn’t do an of these 

 

Pool - the Solarium was very nice on the poor weather days (inside space to layout and go in the hot tub and pool). The outdoor pool was large and easy to get a deck chair and everyone was very respectful of each other.

 

Excursions by Celebrity - awful.  We booked 2 tours and both cancelled with no reason.  One was a tour to St Barths during St Maarten stop and no explanation as to why it was cancelled (a little communication and empathy could have gone a long way)

 

Ports of Call (San Juan instead of Tortola) was an Epic Fail.  I realize weather is not cooperating but decision was to move San Juan to the Tortola day and cancel Tortola (Tortola was why we booked this cruise FYI). And of course it poured all day in San Juan

 

Port of call (St Maarten) - excellent. Interestingly there were 4 ships due to dock that day but we were the only ship allowed in that met the more stringent St Maarten health requirements.

 

Entertainment - Music/Dancing shows just OK.  The comedian and the illusionist were fantastic. Loved the fact the comedian was in the main theatre as opposed to a smaller room like Carnival 

 

Debarkation - very smooth and organized.  We were group 32 in the Theater and from the time we got the call, we were outside the cruise terminal in 10 minutes (didn’t even have to show passports to customs )

 

All in all a great cruise and we would definitely sail on the Edge again.  Definitely a big step up from past Carnival experiences

Thank you for that comparison.  I was thinking of trying Celebrity as well.  Did you find less kids on Celebrity?  

1 hour ago, Tracey.kinney425 said:

My 1st cruise got cancelled and my same itinerary isn't available except for when I can't go. We are 2 women in our 40s, (best friends), no kids going. What ship would you recommend for us? Im leaning towards something newer because I think it will have more to do/options.

Hard to say without knowing what you are actually looking for.  The Vista class ships are great IMO, and I sail without kids as well.  I LOVE the Havana cabins, no kids under 12 and the area is like your own little neighborhood for the entire cruise.  I actually have one booked on Horizon for next spring.  

People with petty complaints: I'M NEVER cruising Carnival again!

Carnival: Hold my beer...

I wan't my plastic straws!  

7 minutes ago, l2f said:

OP or to anyone... I looked on Carnival website and some other places and couldn't find this update.  The screen shot in post 1.  Was that on Carnival website.  All morning before this post, I was looking.   Is there a secret Carnival news link LOL.

 

Thanks.

I saw it on facebook

7 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

They know they won't be able to offer the cruises in April, so they could have cancelled them today.  They said they were going to have a decision today and they should have kept their word, even if it only involved April cruises.  Other cruise lines already announced cancellations, yet Carnival keeps putting it off.  This will only make people more likely to want a refund and not rebook.

I agree, WHY the delay?  They are going to have to do what the other major lines do, and they announced a couple days ago so why is it, once again, Carnival that doesn't have an answer.  

Probably the same reason the went from "Look at the Amazing Carnival Mardi Gras" to "The first 8 cruises are cancelled" with nothing in between.  

26 minutes ago, outdoors27 said:

You can still book in July and August. I just did two mock bookings on the Horizon. 

Oh that's good.  The first few I looked at didn't have anything showing for the summer at all.  

On 3/19/2020 at 6:32 AM, paulgraff said:

Can Carnival survive or do you think they are going to go bankrupt? Their stock is just a little over $9.00 this morning and I heard yesterday they just took out a 2 BILLION loan to help them for the next few months.

 

Also, should a company that registers its ship out of America so they don't have to pay taxes to the US get government support in the form of  a bailout?

 

And finally will you go back to cruising ASAP?

1. Yes.  What they are looking for is a backstop for the loans, not a bailout.  Even with the beating they took today the stock is at $14.40.  I bought more the other day and intend to hold it.  

2. They are not part of the bailout package.  Even though millions of dollars in the stimulus package did go directly to foreign countries and have nothing to do with US workers or taxes. 

3.  I intend to sail on the cruises I currently have booked, and then book a lot more after that.    

1 hour ago, Chief Vette said:

So why is the stock price tanking?

It already tanked.  They screwed up the Mardi Gras delivery, they had other cruise ships with the virus and they stopped sailing.  There are going to be virtually no dividends for like 2 years.  I bought the stock anyway, when it was at $13, but I never would have guessed they would be talking about blowing off a whole year of sailings.  I'm as loyal as they come, but they can't do that unless ALL lines do it.  If another line starts sailing sooner, and Carnival just cancels millions of people's cruises, I'm finally going to have to be done with them. 

3 hours ago, khewston said:

Carnival Legend isn't showing any available sailing until November. 

Mardi Gras isn't either.

Just looking at "any" sailings out of Miami and the earliest date I see is September...

18 hours ago, DryCreek said:

That's not much when you consider all of the overhead they are still carrying.

They still run diesel generators to keep their ships powered up.  They still have crew salaries.  They still have port fees to pay every time they come in to replenish fuel and other supplies (food, consumables, etc.).

I would be very curious as to what the average daily cost is to keep all of those ships in non-revenue status.

Even if they start sending some of their nonessential crew home as RCI has, they will still need bridge officers, navigation and communication, engineering and the crew support (cooks, laundry, general maintenance).

 

I wonder what a skeleton crew would number for a unique vessel such as a cruise ship - ChEngP?

They are sitting OK for cash, but have massive loans due in the next 2 years.   

"Donald said that the company is prepared for a cruising pause to last for the rest of the year, but he thinks the industry will come back stronger."

Hope that is not what he actually meant. 

I know that me and many of my "cruise family" will be sailing again as soon as we are allowed.  I have no intention of cutting back on future cruises because of what is happening right now.  

I'm curious what new cruisers, like people that were just about to take their fist cruise are thinking?  Are you all planning on trying cruising, or has this put you off from even trying it?  

State Department posted THIS.   Never thought I would see something so irresponsible and specifically targeting cruise ships.  I don't see a similar warning for planes. "U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship."