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Saint Greg's Magic Super Bowl cruise - Live - February 11-19

Saint Greg

By Saint Greg,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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4 minutes ago, scottasp said:

Hey Greg, another reason besides what you mentioned I don't like PC is because when we fly into MCO my wife thinks it's mandatory to go to Disney. I thought we were done when the boys grew up then we got grandchildren. Here we go again.  

 

Well if you're going to go to Disney or Universal it's probably fine. But just going there for a cruise I don't think it's worth what they're charging for hotels. At least my weekend. August 2021 was fine. Friday night...not fine.

 

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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I know people usually ask about future cruises. Most of 2023 is going to be a mystery right now. For the first time since I started cruising, I have nothing booked in the August/September timeframe. I kind of kept that open hoping for the New England/Canada one to work out. Those usually start in September which is football season so I want to see that schedule first. 
 

For the first time since 2018 I don’t have a November/December cruise booked. That’s because they canceled my Jubilee. I’ve pushed that one to next year. I’m eyeballing the December  Venezia cruises because I’d like to see New York decorated for Christmas. At this point I’m just going to wait until the NFL schedule comes out for this one as well.

 

So unless Carnival comes up with a great sale like they did last spring, no news on most of 2023 until early May.
 

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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18 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I know people usually ask about future cruises. Most of 2023 is going to be a mystery right now. For the first time since I started cruising, I have nothing booked in the August/September timeframe. I kind of kept that open hoping for the New England/Canada one to work out. Those usually start in September which is football season so I want to see that schedule first. 
 

For the first time since 2018 I don’t have a November/December cruise booked. That’s because they canceled my Jubilee. I’ve pushed that one to next year. I’m eyeballing the December  Venezia cruises because I’d like to see New York decorated for Christmas. At this point I’m just going to wait until the NFL schedule comes out for this one as well.

 

So unless Carnival comes up with a great sale like they did last spring, no news on most of 2023 until early May.
 


For August I was kind of eyeballing the celebration cruise that goes to St. Thomas. I’m not sure which week that one is but I’ve kind of made other plans that rules out and cruise leaving the weekend of the 20th or getting back on the 20th. That one may have been the week of the 27th though.

 

 

 

 

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vacationlover16

vacationlover16

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2 hours ago, scottasp said:

Hey Greg, another reason besides what you mentioned I don't like PC is because when we fly into MCO my wife thinks it's mandatory to go to Disney. I thought we were done when the boys grew up then we got grandchildren. Here we go again.  

I agree with your wife! LOL! I just got back from a solo weekend on 1/30. So much fun!

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#55worktoplay

#55worktoplay

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Along for the ride. I will be on Magic in about 8 weeks for the first time so will pay closer attention to things this time around. I enjoyed your review from NY but will be interested in seeing how things work from Port Canaveral. I don’t have room booked but am flung in day before may just crash at friends in Orlando or head to beach somewhere south of Cocoa. I have one way rental car for the overnight. 

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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If you read my big long post, you know I’m doing Chef’s table next week. I don’t know how close the menus are ship to ship but I did get my hands on the celebration menu from the other day. I believe it’s the same as the one I saw from the transatlantic.


 

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Megan_Strick

Megan_Strick

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On 2/4/2023 at 12:07 PM, Saint Greg said:

Booking

I wanted to book this cruise for December of 2019. I was only booking about six months out and the room selection was limited. Prices were through the roof. I booked a six-day Magic cruise instead. I then booked this itinerary on Breeze for late August of 2020 with a better room and a lower price. That cruise was of course canceled due to COVID. I booked the same cruise on Breeze for the spring of 2021. A few months later that was canceled as well. Finally, I booked this one on Magic two years out.

 

At the time I booked this cruise it was purposely scheduled to be the week after the Super Bowl. As you may know the NFL has since added a week to the season. They tacked that week onto the back end of the season, pushing the Super Bowl back a week. I went back and forth on whether or not to keep this cruise or change it. I dithered too long, pushing my decision past the deadline to keep the $600 onboard credit I got from Carnival for my COVID canceled cruise. In case you haven’t figured out yet, I decided to keep it.

 

When I was first interested in this itinerary I had not been to San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, or Grand Turk. I have since been to Grand Turk on Magic in 2019 and San Juan on Mardi Gras in 2021. I still have not been to St. Maarten or St. Kitts so that part of the cruise is exciting for me.

 

At the time I booked this I was very intrigued by the 4J cabins. Those are the cabins in the front of the ship with a window overlooking the “secret deck.” At that point in time I was trying to book those for all cruises even though I hadn’t been in one yet.

 

Now that I have stayed in a couple of them, they are no longer important to me. I found I didn’t use the window very much because the curtains have to be closed at night. And ideally you want them closed anytime you’re changing clothes. Mine were basically closed anytime I was in the room other than maybe a few minutes in the morning.

 

Now my preference is an interior room close to the secret deck. If it’s just a small price difference, I’ll take the 4J. But more often than not it’s not going to be worth it for me. I do have a 4J on lido deck that I booked two years ago on this cruise.

 

Port Canaveral

Having now cruised from 9 different home ports with Carnival, I can say Port Canaveral is my least favorite. I didn’t really think it was anything special the last time I was there.

 

It would’ve been cool if I could’ve caught a launch. But I ended up getting up at 2am and walking a mile for a scrub. And I’m not talking about bathing. Apart from that there’s not really anything I want to do there. There’s certainly nothing I want to do that’s worth paying $400-600 for a hotel.

 

The Radisson Resort at the Port I stayed at last time was starting at $370 before taxes and fees. That’s more than double what I paid in 2021. Even hotels by the airport were starting at $300 for not so great hotels. I’m not interested in paying Disney prices just for a hotel the night before a cruise. After months of watching hotel prices, I decided to fly in on embarkation morning. This may be the last time I cruise out of Port Canaveral. 

 

Flight

I was looking at my Spirit flight options and I could leave at 6am the day before the cruise, 1pm the day before the cruise, or 6am the day of the cruise.

 

I have had no problem taking those 5am flights when I’m going some place like New York or Miami or Seattle. But there is really nothing I want to do around Port Canaveral that warrants me getting to the airport at 4am the day before the cruise. I started looking at the afternoon flight. This would just leave enough time to get dinner and drinks. After being unable to find a hotel a price I liked, I ended up booking the 6am flight on embarkation day. I paid about $300 with a checked bag and the exit row aisle seat upgrade. A month later I went ahead and added another $100 to upgrade to the big front seats I like so much. 

 

Parking

I strayed from The Parking Spot Thanksgiving weekend because they were up to $25 per day. This time they’re down to $12. I usually book them at $8-10. I went ahead and booked the DFW Remote South Lot again. I got 9 days for just $40.50. Not bad at all. 

 

Transportation

Since I’m flying in on embarkation day and I have a lot of onboard credit to spend, I went ahead and booked the Carnival Transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral. My flight is scheduled to arrive at 9:28. I’m hoping I can make the 10am shuttle. Otherwise I’ll have to wait until 11am. If it’s anything like Miami, the 10am shuttle won’t leave until 11am.

 

On the return trip I have a late flight. I was hoping Carnival would have an excursion that takes you to the airport at the end. They had several of those in Miami. All they have available at the moment is a regular transfer to the airport. If they don’t come up with something better I’ll either find something to do on my own or just use more onboard credit for the transfer. Each of these MCO airport transfers cost $35.99. 

 

The last time I cruised out of Port Canaveral I spent $62 on a Lyft to my hotel. Uber would’ve been $133. On the return trip I spent $30 on an 888 shuttle to the airport. They had a stand outside of the port. I remember it being a long wait for a shuttle. Uber and Lyft were running $80-90. GoPort is a popular option at $30 each way or $60 round trip. I remember last time one of their shuttles broke down on the side of the highway and a bunch of people ended up ordering an Uber/Lyft to take them the rest of the way. I figure I have the onboard credit, spend it on something I need.

 

Onboard Purchases

I loaded this cruise up pretty good during the various sales Carnival had since the COVID shutdown. I purchased the discounted Cheers package during the shutdown, transferring it to this cruise after the first two were canceled. Last spring when Carnival had a 20% off spa code that worked for everything, I added premium internet for 20% off. Then just before they raised the prices of the specialty restaurants I booked the Steakhouse and Cucina Del Capitano at the old prices. I of course used my Carnival gift cards for everything so knock another 10% off the top.

 

I am going to have $825 onboard credit this cruise with almost everything paid for. The automatic gratuities and write-in tips will take up some of that. If they bring back the “Behind The Fun” tour in time for my cruise, I will book it. I booked The Chef’s Table to eat up some of it (pun intended). I used up about $250 onboard credit booking a couple of excursions.  And I may do some Alchemy bar classes this time. 

 

Ports

St. Maarten

This will be my first time in St. Maarten. I’ve always wanted to spend a day a Maho Beach where the planes take off right in front of you and land over your head. That’s the plan. I may book transportation through Carnival since I have onboard credit.

 

St. Kitts

This will also be my first time in St. Kitts. What I’ve been wanting to do there is the St. Kitts Scenic Railway. This is not something that needs to be booked through Carnival, but I wanted to book with them just to use some of my onboard credit.

 

I couldn’t decide between St. Kitts by Rail & Scenic Drive or St. Kitts by Rail & Sail. I wanted to check into it further to make sure I wasn’t missing out on part of the train ride to book the catamaran. By the time I got around to looking at it, both were sold out. This was a month before sailing. I decided to continue checking back and two days later the St. Kitts by Rail & Scenic Drive opened up so I booked it.

 

San Juan

The last time I was in San Juan I did The Forts of San Juan. This time I just want to spend a little more time checking out the town. Maybe get some food and drinks.

 

Grand Turk

The last time in Grand Turk I did the Hop on Hop off tour that took me to the lighthouse. Then in the afternoon I took a dip in the ocean. This time I was going to just treat it as a beach day. But with the onboard credit I decided to book the Whale Watching Adventure. It’s an afternoon excursion and only a three hour tour. A three hour tour.  That will leave me the morning to hit the beach.

 

Since I hadn't cruised in a while due to Covid I was shocked at the prices of hotels in PC. I'm doing just a short 3 day cruise on March 3. I live about 3 hours from PC so I could drive the day of but since I'm doing my first solo I wanted to drive the day before. Those hotel prices are crazy. I typically cruise from PC and couldn't believe it.

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TxTeach79 "Live from...." Rare

TxTeach79

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Stoked we've got another Saint Greg review to get me through these next couple weeks! Killing time til Glory in five weeks, this'll be a fantastic way to make that as pain free as possible!

 

So a few years back during LIV (KC vs. SF) I was onboard Dream out of Galveston... for what it's worth, in addition to Lido, the casino bar and nightclub were jammed. The casino bar was electric, we had the whole bar and seating area behind it full, and people were dragging up chairs from slot machines to make a large peanut gallery in the back. It was a very Chiefs heavy crowd in there. Maybe the Mahomes thing, maybe a Dallas Texans thing for the old folks. 

 

In the nightclub, they flipped the whole wall of TVs to the games and brought a bunch of seats in to form rows on the dance floor. I only walked by, so I'm not sure what the scene was like in there. 

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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32 minutes ago, TxTeach79 said:

Stoked we've got another Saint Greg review to get me through these next couple weeks! Killing time til Glory in five weeks, this'll be a fantastic way to make that as pain free as possible!

 

So a few years back during LIV (KC vs. SF) I was onboard Dream out of Galveston... for what it's worth, in addition to Lido, the casino bar and nightclub were jammed. The casino bar was electric, we had the whole bar and seating area behind it full, and people were dragging up chairs from slot machines to make a large peanut gallery in the back. It was a very Chiefs heavy crowd in there. Maybe the Mahomes thing, maybe a Dallas Texans thing for the old folks. 

 

In the nightclub, they flipped the whole wall of TVs to the games and brought a bunch of seats in to form rows on the dance floor. I only walked by, so I'm not sure what the scene was like in there. 


It’s usually like that with football at the casino bar on the Dream because there’s no sports bar or pub. Now the night club thing is different. That’s cool if they’re going to make that into a sports bar on Saturdays and Sundays during football season.

 

 

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Saint Greg "Live from...." Rare

Saint Greg

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2 minutes ago, TxTeach79 said:

 

Yep. Amazing what a little RFP or Skybox/Heroes would do


I wrote a haiku about it back in 2018. It went something like this.

 

On Carnival Dream

There is an art gallery

Where the pub should be

 

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