Badfinger

I am "only" 58 and I would prefer to be around the younger crowd than the senior set.  More energy, lively crowds and better conversation.  And typically the kids are not that bad...who really cares if they push all the buttons on the elevator (should take the steps anyways!) or cut in the buffet line to grab a dinner roll.

I  have only been on the Magic, Breeze and Triumph.  

My favorite is the Breeze.  Love the Cloud 9 Spa with the T-Pool.  Won't sail without it.  Just like the colors and feel of the Breeze vs the Magic, even though they are pretty much identical layout.  

They no longer pay a dividend.  A few months ago they reported having about $32B in debt.  Doubt they will start paying a dividend anytime soon.  Guess you will have to consider the OBC as your only dividend now!

For us it was ease of access to Galveston and price.

Traveling with 4 in the past and having done 6 cruises so far, only once did RC ever come close in price.  

But even if they matched, it would have been Carnival for me.  The deal breaker is the Cloud 9 Spa.  I absolutely love it and won't sail with it our its equivalent.  So right now I am a Dream Class or bust kind of Cruiser.

Admittedly I have not look at RC for a while to see if their newer ships have an equivalent Cloud 9.

Wife and I broke a 5 day on the Breeze...Cloud 9 Spa Balcony (includes access to the Spa of course) for $673 total for both including ports fees and taxes.  

Since we drive to the port, I aim to arrive about 12:00 so we can still get some lunch in the Italian Restaurant.  That allows us to sleep in until about 7am and also allows more than enough time should we have a flat tire or hit some traffic.  Typically the cabins are ready about the time we finish our meal.  If not, I know a way to sneak to our cabin without going around any barricades, etc.

To me non-refundable means just that, unless of course the ship doesn't sail.  Realize port fees and taxes would refunded no matter what.

We booked an October N-R cruise.  I am taking them at their word, since words mean things.  Of course would ask for some consideration if WE cancelled,  but would not expect it.

Sailing on the Breeze 16 October.  We sailed on CCL 6 times, with our last being in 2018.

This time just the wife and I up in a Cloud 9 Spa Balcony.

We are looking to just do nothing.  Wife is an RN and just needs to decompress and escape from the calls and texts begging her to work.

We want to do basically nothing, pack light as possible and just wing it the entire cruise.

But we do like going to the dinning room for the early seating and decided that is about the extent of any advanced planning.

So..has the dress code continued to relax (or not be enforced) to the point that I could wear some non-denim shorts, golf polo and Teva type sandals every night, even on elegant night?  Not trying to disrespect anyone who may dress up, but just looking for ultimate relaxation and comfort.  

On 8/22/2021 at 9:36 AM, mrpayroll said:

To save you from reading any further, some will say fine, some will say just o.k, and others will tell you to bring your own they never use it.

Yes but their post will be THE DEFINITIVE post.  Yours and mine is just more noise!

I live for the Cloud 9 Spa and frankly will only sail on the Dream Class ships because of it.  Three on the Magic and three on the Breeze so far..all Spa Cabins.  Have not sailed since 2018 but will be on the Breeze in 6 weeks.  On our last cruise I logged about 30 hours in the thermal suite.  Here is my take:

Masks:  No idea what rules we will have.

Drinks:  Not allowed.  And frankly you would not want them unless you are talking about coffee or hot chocolate.  They will get very warm very quickly.  As stated above, there is ice cold fruited water available in Spa Services waiting area.  Glasses are provided but suggest stashing your Yeti in a locker to fill up before you depart the Spa area.

T-Pool:  It is warm.  Not hot.  Not hot enough to work up a sweat.  The heat will not drive you out of the pool.  Stupid conversation of others might.   Benefit is the water jets that relax the muscles.  I think the supposed "water chemistry" benefit is a bunch of BS.

Tepidarium (Heated loungers):   It takes a while but they will heat you up.  I am pretty tall so they were not all that comfortable for me.  Not all that quiet as all visitors to the three saunas pass through this area so there is constant traffic and noise when the doors to the T-Pool or lobby area are opened.  Once I was talking with another person in there and was "sushed" by a Karen.  Too funny.  

Aroma Steam Bath:  Entrance is just inside (immediate left) the Tepidarium.  This one has no view outside. For the serious sauna person as it can get very hot.  Poor that water on the "coals" stand up, and breathing can be a bit tough!  My favorite.

Laconium:  Entrance is inside the Tepidarium past and to the left of the heated loungers. Not too hot.  Kind of step down/cool down from the two steam baths.  Nice views of the water.

Oriental Steam Bath:  You pass through the Laconium to enter this one.  Not quite as hot as the Aroma Steam bath...probably due to being a bit bigger, the emergency exit door that did not seem to have as good of a seal as the one in the Aroma and of course the windows.   Still plenty warm though.

In any of the saunas you can sit, stand or lay down (if not overly crowded..never is).  Bring a couple towels for sitting or laying.

Plenty of towels either in the T-Pool or Tepidarium areas.  If not, more to be found in the nearby locker rooms.

On Sea Days, the busiest times seem to be late morning and mid afternoon leading up to dining hours.  On port days, the busiest times could be early (if arriving to port later) or just after the ship leaves port.  Late in the evening on any day it can be pretty quiet in there.  Many of times I was the only person in the entire Thermal Suite.

Locker Rooms:  The lockers have the locks similar to the room safe in that you set your own code each time.  The showers (at least in the mens locker room) are huge. I never showered in our cabin.  Never had to wait for one of the two showers.   Always pretty clean. And even though you were not suppose to, I left things in a locker overnight without issue..nothing valuable though.

On our 2018 cruise, one of the Spa gals recognized me from our 2017 cruise.  Asked if I was actually going to do anything else that week.  Too funny!

Going out on a limb here...I think it means they changed the order and port times.

Our last cruise I just use a folded up piece of paper.  Lets not overthink this.  And frankly if you husband cannot figure this out...my guess is he will be having some more challenges ahead.

Not watching TV is fine by me.  We go on vacation to "get away from it all",  not to bring it all with us.  

Not a snowballs chance in heck would I go on a cruise right now...at any price.

And I am not living "in fear", just living sensibly.  There will always be cruises in the future.

My concern is not so much for getting sick, but just getting trapped on a  cruise ship and/or in quarantine for weeks because somebody else got sick.

On 1/3/2019 at 12:36 AM, CdrescherRBL152 said:

Sometimes I have to laugh. Carnival makes a change that rises prices a bit.  IE: the new room service fees.  Everyone goes nuts. But yet there is no end to the post about how to cheat the system to avoid paying for what you should pay for. Carnival is a company and like all companies they are in business to make money. Every time someone cheats them out of money they have to make it up somewhere. Now a drink or two for each of your daughters may not seam like much.  Maybe $10 a day each. Keep in mind Carnival has 25 ships, holding 2000 persons, sailing roughly 350 days each. So if each person takes just avoids paying $10/day  that makes $17,500,000 per year Carnival loses.

Agree 100%. But then maybe we don't understand how special some people are, or how delicate some are in they cannot drink a certain brand or out of a certain container.

Go to the carnival website and start booking a cruise.  When you come to the "Tell Us About Yourself" screen, click the box for past quest number.  Then click the "Forgot your VFIP Number". Enter your name and birthday and your number will pop up.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:40 AM, luvsboozecruises said:

I was also on the 10 day trip. Worst cruise ever. NO..... Carnival did screw the ship up, YES, cutting the lido buffet area in half  and adding more cabins was really stupid, but crying over it will not work.... Alot of first timers on that cruise so you have to figure ways  around them like I did. When we all got onboard you could see the confusion of the passengers and the crew. Refub boat and new crew = HELP.. if you want to complain write to carnival and tell them.. instead tell others ways around that mess were on, breakfast as said, in cucina ,no one in it, also on sea days, eat in the dining room, lunch , don't have it at the same time as everyone else, 4,000 people on board when there should be 3200, makes Long lines,every where, as I said carnival screwed this one up and I will call them tomorrow and complain..  my wife and I had a great time and the great weather is always a plus. NEVER been on a bad cruise, have been on 50+ Cruise's and enjoy your time and make the best of it ,as you can.. have had, hurricane's and really bad seas and am lucky that we don't get sea sick, make the best of your next cruise and enjoy not being at work, because,  work sucks, not cruising...

 

Never been on a bad cruise, but you are going to call and complain?  Color me confused.

Last August we were on the Breeze along with 4400+ other passengers.  We booked a private excursion at Grand Cayman...a tender port.  IIRC the tenders started running at 0700.  I did not listen for any announcements and did not get any tender tickets. About 0800 my family of four headed down to deck 0 and were about 10 people deep in line for the next tender.  We were on shore in no time.  The longest "delay" was just waiting for the tender boat to fill-up with fellow cruisers.  

But I can imagine initially it is a rat race with all the Platinums, Diamonds and FTTF trying to get "theirs".

Those sideways interiors are great rooms.  Not sure if they are bigger, but the layout sure makes them seem that way.  The three closets are by themselves down a little hallway, and the cabin door opens into the main part of the room.  So someone could be getting into a closet at the same time someone is going in/out of the bathroom at the same time someone is coming in/out of the cabin door and none of the three would be in each other’s way.  Even better if you book one of those on deck 12!

I hate missing workouts during a cruise as well, but like you don't care for cardio machines and the free weights are usually busy.

So...just an idea...go to the aft stairs/elevators and take the elevator down to the lowest possible level (Deck 0?).  Now take the stairs to the highest possible deck..start out about 80% effort in hopes you can make it to the top without slowing down.  Take the elevator back down and repeat 5-6 times (or more).  If you do this early, say before 0730, you will likely have the elevators and stairs to yourself on sea days.  A very intense cardio-interval training exercise that doesn't much time at all.  And when done, either head to the gym for a couple sets of push-ups for your upper body and planks for the core...another 10 minutes max.  Overall great workout that is not dependent on any classes, trainers, machines or schedules. I do five trips up the stairs, but that is on dream class which IIRC has 3-4 more decks.

So you want credit for dollars spent...but I will bet since you are retired that you generally cruise during the non-peak season to save money.   I don't expect an answer and I would probably be skeptical if you said you do sail during peak season so you can spend as much money as possible...being retired and all.

But beyond that...sure you spend more for a balcony...but you are getting "more" during your cruise...and that is a balcony to enjoy.

You cannot have your cake and eat it to...but in this case is sounds like you want someone to chew it for you as well having it and eating it.

Just another entitlement thread.

Flame away!

Sometimes kids need a vacation from their parents too!

Correct. She claims she lost $400. Well I know how much I paid to her for my cruise, it was $400. So she didn't lose a thing, She lost my money, not hers.

There is an old saying "I loaned my friend $50 and have never seen him since....it was the best $50 I ever spent".

Imagine what drama you might have found yourself in had she gone on the cruise, or had you remained friends and were invited to her wedding, etc.

This $400 might be the best $400 you ever spent!

This is making me so sad. I come to cruise critic for fun. The OP had a legitimate question. If you don't know the answer, move on to the next thread.

Do you see the hypocrisy in your post?

First time cruiser next June. Figured I should start getting these newbie questions out of the way. Pros and cons of carrying on one med rolling duffle or checking one bag. I'm leaning toward the carry on as it would suffice for the trip. I'm curious about the size limit though. All I've seen is it must fit through scanner. Can anyone be more specific as to the measurements of such a duffle?

"Lugging it around" with you is not a big deal. Our last cruise we had medium suitcase full of canned soda and 7-8 books. It was heavy. But it had wheels. And there are elevators on ship. We wheeled to the elevator after getting on ship. Up the elevator to the lido. Wheeled through the lido to stairs leading up to the Italian restaurant. I had my 18 year old son carry it up the stairs...oh the horror of it all. We had a nice relaxing lunch, and then about 1:20 we left the restaurant to go to our cabin. I carried it down one flight of steps...absolutely exhausting and at that time I wish I spent $90 for FTTF...NOT! Wheeled it to our cabin on the lido deck and were done with it. Again not a big deal...not a little deal...it is no deal at all.

I guess this might be like hearing "happy Birthday" sung for the 15th time in the MDR? Those involved will appreciate it and the rest of us either ignore it or think enough already?

My oldest son loves the Happy Birthday song in the MDR. He intentionally sings very loud and very off-key. Makes me laugh..a lot. My wife..not so much. Oh well.