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pfleer

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Posts posted by pfleer

    Another FTTF increase

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I'm not going to get it now on principle. :) We don't have any tender ports, we rarely have to go to the service desk, and typically by the time we have lunch and walk around a bit, our cabin is ready. It's nice to have, but isn't a must have for us.

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Forums

    Vista during Spring Break - extreme lines and long wait for everything?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I would recommend eating in the MDR for breakfast (or Blue Iguana). I'd avoid the Lido Buffet. The line was at least 30 minutes long and the selection wasn't great. If you wanted other items, you'd have to stand in that line, then go stand in another line for an omelet or whatever other option you are looking for.

     

    If you want to do the Imax or Thrill Theatre, don't wait until the last day. Showings will be almost sold out.

     

    I'd recommend staying on board on one of the port days to really take advantage of all the ship has to offer, without the crowds. We stayed on for Cozumel and rode the sky ride multiple times within a half hour. No lines for the ropes courses, slides (although the yellow slide was closed because the ship wasn't level...????), food, etc. The ship was awesome that day.

     

    I wish our spring break was as late as yours!! It was really only warm enough to swim on ship in Grand Cayman and Cozumel and even then, it was pretty chilly!!

    Carnival Vista - Crowded normally or just because it was spring break

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Sounds like my wife and I will just plan ahead a little more for shows and things of that nature. A few extra tips to that special server for us and I'm sure they'll go out of their way to find us and make sure our beverages don't need topped off. I won't let it ruin my vacation one bit. :)

     

     

    We had Cheers and tipped additional in cash for 75% of our drinks. I even had the dollars in hand to show that I was tipping extra. I never received any faster service or even a thank you for the additional tip.

     

    I'm glad you plan ahead to stand in line for shows. That's just not how I want to vacation. Personal preferences I guess.

    Carnival Vista - Crowded normally or just because it was spring break

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    While there are many factors that influence crowding and lines, passenger to space ratio is one of them. Carnival's ships are already at the very bottom of the list, and the Vista took this to a new low with a space ratio of only 33.75. The Sunshine is a bit better at 34.23, but still second lowest in the fleet since they crammed in more cabins during the Destiny rebuild. For reference, the highest space ratio in the fleet is the Spirit class at 40.4. Conquest class is 37.0.

     

    https://www.cruisewatch.com/top-10/ships-space-ratio/

     

    This is great! Thank you for the link!

    Carnival Vista - Crowded normally or just because it was spring break

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hi everyone!

     

    We just got back from our spring break vaca on the beautiful Vista on 3/25. We have taken many cruises but this one was our first time going over spring break.

     

    While we had a great vacation, the one thing I noticed on this trip were the lines. They were EVERYWHERE! It would take over 30 minutes to get to the breakfast buffet. Never went to any shows because the lines were so long. Lines for guest services, lines to pick up liquor on the last day, lines for Java Blue. And getting a drink from a bar was at least a 15 minute wait, and many times longer. I never did get a drink at Alchemy because after waiting 2 different times for over 20 minutes, I gave up and went to the Ocean Plaza bar.

     

    So, my question is this......Is this normal for the Vista or was this just a result of this being a spring break cruise? I booked the Sunshine for next year's spring break and not sure I want to deal with the spring break crowds again if that is really what we ran into last week. It also concerns me that there is only 1 public pool on the Sunshine, with the only other being in the Serenity area. I'm excited about next year's cruise though because we got an aft extended view balcony on deck 5 which is supposed to be fantastic.

     

    Thanks in advance!

    New Release Movies on the Vista?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hi all! We will be on the Vista in 17 days! Woo hoo!

     

    Beauty and the Beast releases on March 17th and I can't wait to see it. Does anyone know if the Vista ever shows new release movies in the Imax theatre? If so, is there a schedule somewhere? I've seen the Dive in Movies schedule, but those are typically brand new movies.

     

    Thanks in advance!

    Port of Miami to West Palm Beach for Noon Flight?

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    I may have to just live on the beach after our cruise because flights back to Columbus from Miami or nearby airports just stink!!

     

    I just found a noon flight from West Palm Beach for a reasonable fare and transit time. Is this doable (please please please)?

     

    Flights I'm finding from MIA, FLL, PBI, or RSW are either really early in the morning or really late and are super expensive. I paid $124 from CMH to FLL on Southwest for the trip down, and I'm having trouble finding a decent flight back for less than $300. This is where they get ya!

    9:55am Flight from FLL

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    There's a reason those early morning flights are cheaper. :D They know cruise passengers can't make them.

     

    Roz

     

    I can't believe how many flights there are in the morning! There are 7 flights between 6am and 9:55am! Really??? Spread out the love! LOL.

    9:55am Flight from FLL

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    We are sailing out of Miami for spring break next year. I've booked our flights down (got a heck of a deal on Southwest), but the flight back home is really where they get ya!

     

    Southwest has a ton of morning flights out of FLL. The latest of the morning flights is 9:55am, however. Is this doable from Miami? The next flight after that is a direct flight to CMH at 4pm for $329 and then the next flight is like 7pm with an after midnight arrival for $250.

     

    Flights from Miami to Columbus are over $400 + baggage!

    Victory Cruisers that received the "beautification" email

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Anyone heard any details about the "beautification" project?

     

    I'm dying to know!

     

    As we were debarking last week, we caught glimpses of other cabins and I know one of the things that was updated in many cabins (not ours) was the bathroom. The pink sink and 1x1 tiles have been replaced with a blue sink and blue 4x4 tiles. This is good since the grout was pretty gross looking.

    My thoughts on our 3 day Victory cruise

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted · Edited by pfleer

    Good morning all! As I sit here at the Orlando airport waiting on our flight to board, I thought I would reflect briefly on our 3 day short getaway cruise on the victory to celebrate 12 years of marriage. This trip was just myself and my husband, kids were left at home. We are 38 years old and this is our first short cruise since we got engaged on the RCCL Sovereign of the Seas 14 years ago.

     

    I was afraid that the 3 day cruise would not be nearly long enough, but I was surprised that I was ready to come home. This cruise was certainly a different clientele than we are used to as compared to a 7 day cruise. I would even categorize this as a "booze cruise". I have never seen so many drunk people. In fact, we went to get in the pool by the slide on the sea day and noticed that no one was in it and that the water was a weird murky color. Come to find out, a grown adult male had, well, pooped himself while in the pool. If that was not gross enough, kids began swimming in that pool just 30 minutes later.

     

    We did a couple things we haven't done before on the cruise. 1. We purchased the cheers program. We thought a 3 day cruise would be a good opportunity to try it out and see if it was worth it. For us, we have decided it wasn't. While it allowed us to try different drinks than what we normally would not have, the drinking completely ruined our appetites and left me feeling bloated and uncomfortable the whole time. Oh well, we now know and won't waste $800 on our next 7 day cruise getting the package.

     

    2. We selected to only have our room made up once a day, in the evening. We passed our steward the first evening and asked him to keep ice in our room (Victory has no fridge). We also gave him an extra $10 tip in cash at that time. Well, when we got back to our room later that evening, we had ice, but our room was not touched. Weird. In fact, I don't think he spent more than an hour working on our room the whole trip. So much for that extra tip.

     

    We did YTD and it was a great experience. We had Israel our first night and asked for him our 2nd night as well because he and his team were so good and efficient. Our dinner was never longer than an hour and a half. The first night, we had the escargot and spring roll appetizers. They were both excellent. My DH had a Caesar salad and I had the other salad....field greens?? Can't remember. Salads were good, my hubby wanted more dressing on his though. I had the the salmon from the everyday menu. It was delicious. My hubby had the pork steak. He said it was really good as well. We hardly ate any of it though because as I mentioned earlier, we didn't have much appetite from the drinking (we were not drunk). We took key lime pie to our room for later, but we only ate a few bites of it, again, no appetite.

     

    The next night we wanted almost every appetizer!! We shared the mushrooms, scallops, alligator fritters, and an appetizer of the crab ravioli. All were delicious. I had the sea bass and the hubby had the duck. Again, delicious. We didn't drink as much so that we could enjoy dinner. I had the warm chocolate melting cake for dessert and he had the Black Forest cake and orange sherbet. Yum!! We went to dinner around 6 pm and the dining room was empty since we were in port until 8. After dinner, we walked to the outside deck right outside of the dining room to watch the people coming back from Nassau. Very entertaining. [emoji3][emoji23]

     

    The next night, we decided to just grab a bite at the buffet for dinner because again, no appetite it was ok. I had a grilled ham and cheese from the deli served by a completely personality-less worker there. She was not thrilled to be there and it was obvious. No thank your, no your welcomes. Just what do you want and here you go.

     

    We had a couple bites at the buffet for breakfast on the first morning and went to the Seaday brunch on the 2nd morning. I had the huervos rancheros but regretted not getting my normal eggs Benedict. Hubby had steak and eggs and said it was good. The servers for the brunch were not friendly at all.

     

    Our room: we had cabin 7207 which was the very first balcony cabin, starboard side. The bridge hung over the top of our balcony. No big deal. I think, though, that this was the smallest balcony cabin we've ever had. I had to shimmy into bed each night with about 6 inches between the bed and the windows. The balcony barely fit the 2 chairs and table with the door. There was a ton of storage though. We did have the old tube tv and the sound didn't match the mouths which was annoying. Lol. This cabin hadn't received any of the beautification yet. It still had the old pink sinks and pink tile with the mildewy grout. The bathroom smelled like sewage when in port as well.

     

    Prior to our trip, we received the notice about the beatification project and delayed boarding. Unfortunately, we had already booked our flights. We left Columbus at 5:30am and got into Orlando at 7:30. We almost missed our flight in Columbus because security was so backed up! We were the last ones allowed onto the plane. Yikes! We had originally booked Cortrans shuttle from Orlando to the port, but since boarding had been delayed to 1:30, we decided to cancel the shuttle and rent a car. We rented a mustang for $55, picking it up at the airport and returning it to port canaveral. We drove from MCO to Grills in canaveral for a late breakfast. It was delicious and cheap! Then we drove over to the port to see if they were boarding yet (it was like 10ish at that point). Nope. People were standing outside but no one was getting on. So, we drove down A1A and spent some time perusing the merchandise at Ron Jons and bought a couple of gifts. It was about 11:30 when we were done and I couldn't take the wait anymore so we returned or car and took the shuttle over the the pier. We tried to tip the budget driver and he wouldn't accept it. He was super nice and informative. We got the the pier about noonish. We checked in in about 5 minutes or less and took a seat. They started boarding slightly early at 1:10. We were zone 4 and were onboard by 1:35ish. Cabins were ready upon boarding.

     

    Overall, we had a nice time. Spent time by the pool talking with others which is something we don't normally do. This was fun. I won a few hundred playing 3 card poker in the casino which my hubby promptly lost playing anything he played. Lol. Service, other than Israel and his team in the Atlantic dining room was really lacking and unfriendly. We hung out a few times in the skybox bar watching the Nfl draft and some hockey. That was a fun bar and had some yummy drinks. Sorry, we didn't take many pictures!! This review is pretty rambling and all over the place. [emoji3] let me know if you have any questions.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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