mikenbon

Carnival's Ambassador, John Heald, has posted on his a Facebook page, that if you have requests for the dining room you should send the request to him. Apparently the Maitre D isn't obligated to reply to requests by email. You could also go to the MDR as soon as you board, and speak directly to the Maître D at that time.

Hope those suggestions work for you.

We too have cruised on RCL, and agree that Carnival has more of a "fun" vibe. We wI'll be on the Magic with friends at the end of Feb., and can't wait! It looks like such a beautiful ship, and since Keywest1 and her family have been on it before, I'm hoping she will guide me in the right direction I get turned around. 😉

On 9/17/2019 at 10:43 AM, reeinaz said:

Oct 2021 - NCL Escape - Baltic  (Berlin, Tallinn Estonia, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm)

This will be such a different cruise, visiting Europe with all the history, instead of focus being on the beautiful Caribbean. We've visited Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm a few times and would love to go back.  The people we met or even spoke with were always eager to share their knowledge of their cities, and so helpful when we got a little lost one very cold winter day in Stockholm. 

On 9/9/2019 at 1:56 AM, JerryFinn said:

Thank you all for very useful info. Thank you dogs4fun for the link. I think we'll do Tallinn on our own. Jerry.

 

Tallinn is easy to do on your own, and the old town is amazing. The first time I visited was 2 weeks before the coup, so we've seen a lot of changes there since then . In Helsinki, I suggest taking a tour to see as much as possible . The Sebellius monument is a must see, in my opinion, as well as the "rock" church, and even the indoor market in the heart of the waterfront. Helsinki is my favourite city on the planet! Stockholm is easy to do on your own too with just a tourist map. The people are friendly and always willing to assist tourists, from my experiences there. 

We've only cruised 8 times so far, and repeated one ship, Carnival Conquest 2 yrs in a tow. The ship wasn't our favourite, bug the date and itinerary worked out best gor us. This year  we will be on RCL's Adventure of the Seas for the 2nd time.

3 minutes ago, BillOh said:

Is that out of Florida or Port Liberty?  I don't think  even they know the schedule yet and things can change, but I know Adventure is relocating her home port about then, so that seems like a likely change over, but that is speculation on my part. i suggest you check back in  early 2020.

We will be cruising out of Port Everglades/Fort Lauderdale. I will keep checking on updates. The CD really doesn't matter much to is, but I was curious so I could learn about his/her background before cruising. 

Will Drew Devine be on the Adventure of the Seas in March?

We've booked a promenade view room on deck 8 for next spring. I will definitely remember to close the curtains! Lol. 

We were a group of 10, 2 yrs ago, on the Carnival Conquest, and we went for dinner at 5:45 when it opened. We were seated immediately. Our wait staff were so enjoyable that we requested the same table each evening.

When we did our online check in for our last cruise, we chose the earliest boarding time, even though we had FTTF. We always arrive  at the port early, and get through the embarkation quickly .

5 hours ago, StolidCruiser said:

You're now familiar with the dining arrangements.  There are no truly private tables in these high-capacity venues.  Continuing to ask, for and expect, will only frustrate and disappoint you.

 

Instead of looking at it as a negative, find a way to enjoy the experience knowing there are thousands on board who probably want the same level of privacy you do but realize everyone can't have what isn't available.

I agree. With thousands of guests, tables have to be close together in order to seat everyone. We have asked for a table for 2 in the past, said hello to the people beside us, and then enjoyed our private time together in a busy diningroom. Another time we spoke to the couple beside us, and that began a great friendship which has continued for about 5 yrs. We've cruised together ever since that first time we met. 

Hopefully once he fully recovers they will be able to cruise for a belated honeymoon.

On 10/1/2019 at 5:37 AM, kcbookworm said:

Can you only call and request an adjustment until final payment?

I've paid our March 2020 cruise in full, and was given a refund of $230 which will go back on my credit card, when I called and asked about the new cruise price.

14 hours ago, welldone60 said:

John Heald posted today that Carnival is doing away with plastic water bottles and is going to cans. Not sure what size the cans will be.

According to his post this morning, John doesn't know what will happen to the plastic bottles and he doesn't want to guess.

Yes, so please keep checking a few times a day, and hopefully you will be able to nab one. No one knows if or when more will be released.

Unfriendly crew and staff was what we noticed on our Adventure of the Seas cruise last spring, except for our room steward and our dining room wait staff. Our room steward never called us by name like they always do on Carnival, but she always smiled and briefly chatted whenever she saw us. The "washy washy lady" at the entrance to the Windjammer was always super happy and she made the morning bright with her friendly attitude. We had the same table each night in the dining room, and the wait staff were great! Throughout the ship, we noticed other staff walked with heads down so they wouldn't make eye contact, or they walked right by and still wouldn't make eye contact. 

We loved the ship and will be cruising on her again in March, so hopefully the vibe is improved. No matter what, we will have a great time.

We always stay at either LaQuinta Airport or Comfort Inn &Suites Airport. They are very close together, and provide shuttle from the airport as shuttle to the cruiseport. Both have good complementary breakfasts too. There is also a shopping centre next to the hotels - Oakwood Plaza with several restaurants/ bars, Ross'Dress For Less, shoe stores, Target and lots more  for any last minute items needed. 

We have it every morning while cruising, from Room Service or from the Lido buffet at breakfast. You might want to order a few to keep in the room fridge, for your son for lunches since they don't seem to have it out at lunchtime.

On our last cruise I had some trouble, and a fellow working in the photo area had me all set up with just a couple of clicks on my phone. I sure appreciated his help, and he reassured me that was happy to help. 😊

We've used a TA, PVP and booked our cruises ourselves, and my preferred way is to do it all myself. The 1st cruise was booked through a cruise specialist TA, and she was terrible - tried upselling us on everything, tried talking us out of cruising with Carnival saying due to our age, we wouldn't like it. Our Carnival PVP shared some personal information of mine with another client and it got back to me so I reported her. After that, I started booking all of our cruises snd have not been disappointed at all with the room chosen or any aspect. Do some background work reading reviews, checking deck plans and you'll be fine booking your own cruise. 

Chloe  Loddo - we liked her so much we named our energetic kitten Chloe 😂

John Heald

Brittany Boyd

Thanks for posting your review. We were on the Adventure of the Seas last spring, and going again in March. We loved the ship, the shows, food.... everything. The "washy washy" lady at the entrance to the Windjammer was so comical, and having the washing stations plus her squirting Purrell, really helps prevents germs from spreading. 

Joe's Airport service is a private company, not a shuttle service so he will meet you in the luggage area of the airport and drive you directly to your destination. He also took our luggage from the carousel, to his van for us? We highly recommend him, snd the price a couple of years ago was only $35 for my husband and I to go from MCO to our hotel in Cocoa Beach. 

8 hours ago, MzOhioLady said:

I'll be visiting HMC Next Week from the Magic and I'm Platinum. It'll be interesting to see if we get to go to the front of the line on our return back to the ship. If we do cool and it not it's still cool.  I'm good either way.

The shuttle boats run continually so there is no way to get to the front of the line on the way back. People just head to the dock whenever they want to go back to the ship. With FTTF, we have always been escorted by a crew member and were on the first shuttle boat going to the island. 

We love lots of port days, and even though we've been to San Juan, St Maarten, and Grand Turk a couple of times, we'd go again. We haven't been to St Thomas yet. I think your family would enjoy an excursion to MaHo Beach to see the planes land right next to the beach. We've book through ShoreFox and gone to Orient Beach (not the nude section) and MaHo on their Beach Bum tour.