Just back from the Holiday*Must read for 1st timers

[F5Loar]

Just off the Holiday 5 day yesterday and I will type fast so expect many mistakes in my typing and word phrasing so bear with me. This was our 30th cruise, 11th on Carnival so we are Platimium class. We booked E155 on the Empress Deck 7 at the upper end of the aft section. Yes it was noisy but didn't bother us. Rather pleasent to be rocked to sleep but when coming into ports it can wake you up with the grinding noise. Let's start with the begining. Left NC and drove into Montgomery, AL for a cheap LaQuinta $44 night motel around 10PM(gained that hour at the AL State line). I believe in spending a night not a fortune especially when you are going to be there less then 9 hours. Arrived at the terminal in Mobile at 10:50 AM and was turned away saying to come back at 11AM. So we drove around the block real slow and got there at 11:01AM and we were on the ship by 11:30AM. The most effiecent terminal I've seen ever. Easy,easy,easy to get in and out of. Parking for 5 day is $75. Didn't see the free lot as it may have been full for the Festival in town that weekend. We were escorted to the card photo place in front of others since we were Platimun class and then onto the ship for our first meal and then dip in the hot tub before going to our huge oceanview cabin. We had a fold down bunk, two twins together for that fake queen size and a roll away for our 4th person. Plenty of room and storage space for 4. My first impression and final impression of the Holiday is that it is the same as Celebration. If you liked the Celebration you will like the Holiday. Ship never felt crowded. No lines, easy to get around and this makes it easy for those first timers. I believe there are two types of people in this world: Cruisers and non-cruisers. The only way to find out which you are is take a cruise and you will find out real quick if this is how you want to spend your vacations. Many get hooked and you wind up here talking to others about your experiences or regrets. Either way with a ship like the Holiday or Celebration you find it out without the hassle of being too overwhelmed by the bigger ships and larger crowds. 4 or 5 days is perfect to find out what you need to know too. To me 3 days is not enough and 7 might be too much your first time out. The price is right for this ship as I believe if you can come in under $100(including the tip but not the excursions,bingo,casino and photos) per day per person you are doing good. I had read many reviews of the Holiday and see why so many just love it so much they go back time and time again. I wouldn't say I would do that as it is my belief that with so many ships to choose from why do the same one twice at anytime? I like seeing what a different ship has to offer.

One thing I really liked about the Holiday was the decision to take out the hardly used topless deck and put in a really nice 9 hole putt-putt coarse. It was a perfect place for it with the wind shields around it. Sure the pool is small but we never had a chair hog problem. Brown water? Yeap, saw it a few times in the room for a few seconds and then gone. Sewer smells? Yeap smelled them everytime I used the toliet but in all honesty I do believe they were emited by me not the ship. We had a water pipe break down the hall from us and they fixed it so fast the people never had to move. The food was great. In fact I'll say every time we cruise Carnival the food continues to improve with new items and improvement over the old ones. One new twist was the lobster tail(I asked for 2 and got them)coupled with some shrimp. The last night I got a tough tenderloin but instead of complaining about it here, I complained to the waiter and he brought me another one which was perfect this time. Why is that such a problem to those that complain here and won't ask for it to made right on the ship? The highlight was the offering of the famous warm Chocolate Melting Cake every night. My 11 year old daughter had it every night and I had to have a few bites too. Formal night was the 2nd night on sea day and what I saw on dress for the men was: 10% true tux formal, 65% acceptable formal like suits of all colors, coats with ties(sorry just coats or just a shirt with tie don't count in my book for acceptable) and then there was that 25% Other meaning whatever showed up whether it be Tshirts, polo shirts, jeans, sneakers, ball caps they were there with the others. Ladies to me always look great in whatever they wear on formal nights and this week was no exception. Only a very, very few would fall in that other category and most of them I suspect ate up on the Lido deck that night as they looked like those "all you can eat" type personalities. Great serving staff on this ship. We had Steve Cassel on CD and I remember him from the Celebration some years back. They sure get their monies worth with Steve since he can be CD and be an entertainer from fiddlling to juggling to comedian and you will get to see his many talents that cruise. The shows were as great as any I've seen. I still love that Carnival has those adult only comedians on late night. We had 2 different ones and they were great. The dancers really worked hard and put on a super show. Our week we saw the change over dancers coming on board to train for a swap out on Feb. 1. One thing a first timer must understand is just because you read about a certain show or activity that happened one week on the ship you are going on does not mean you will see the same people,show or activity your week as they do change out these employees. Someone says to go see a certain bartender at a certain bar only to find out it was not so good when you went. The reason? Probably a different bartender your week. Even the guest talent show varies week to week. Some weeks you might have some real Gong Show talent but on our week we had some really great singers with a nice lady doing a dance to a Shark Tales songs to a real deal mandolin picker dressed in full Mexican dress.

The final singer sounded and acted so much like Neil Diamond I expected Neil to come out from behind the stage to sing with him on the final chorus to Sweet Caroline. I will say I missed seeing the guest spoon on a string first night. That was always a laugh to first timers do that one.

I've probably said enough for now and will do a part II about the ports of call and what we did later tonight. I will check back the next several days to answer any specific questions about the Holiday.

[Kurbanfan]

Sorry but you need to take a breath....too hard to read..

[swansonia]

I enjoyed your enthusiasm and points of view. Can't wait to read your port reviews.

[PValadao]

We are booked on Holiday for Feb 25 for our honeymoon. I've cruised before but it's Mark's first. Any info would be greatly appreciated. What about shore excursions. We are interested in snorkeling. Any suggestions?

[Travel Angel]

Sorry but you need to take a breath....too hard to read..

Is that comment really necessary...??? The poster took the time to give a nice review and all you can do is find a negative about the way it was written (he admitted in the beginning to look out for errors and grammer, etc...). You were advised in advance..... shame on you !

 

To the OP... can't wait to see more of your review no matter how you type it :D

[Kurbanfan]

Is that comment really necessary...??? The poster took the time to give a nice review and all you can do is find a negative about the way it was written (he admitted in the beginning to look out for errors and grammer, etc...). You were advised in advance..... shame on you !

 

To the OP... can't wait to see more of your review no matter how you type it :D

 

Was my comment necessary? Probably not any more then any one else's lol! Just trying to point out it was hard to read....

Negative:confused: Shame on me:confused: Wow!!

[SheriNtexas]

Never cruised on the Holiday and not sure I ever will, but enjoyed reading your review!!:) :cool:

[dmhtc1]

Good review:D But just one question, What does a "all you can eat" type personality look like?

[Travel Angel]

Was my comment necessary? Probably not any more then any one else's lol! Just trying to point out it was hard to read....

Negative:confused: Shame on me:confused: Wow!!

 

Yes.... shame on you... if you meant your comment in jest, perhaps a smiling icon would have made your addition to the thread more understandable ! Posters like you may intimidate others and become hesitant to post on the boards... it's called "cyber bullying" !

[Travel Angel]

Sorry but you need to take a breath....too hard to read..

Perhaps you need to take a refresher course on the Community Guidelines as below:

 

Spelling and Grammar Errors

It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, and that there are many users who use English as a second language, especially on our Cruise Boards. There are also a number of people who suffer from learning disabilities and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. Do not make comments on the spelling and grammar of other users. It is simply not a productive expenditure of energies.

[F5Loar]

PART II: Holiday 1/19/08. Sorry I don't know how to make the font bigger and double space here. Other than that I thought it read like any other long review. Long winded? Is that what you meant? Needs to be quick and to the point? I like reading other's details when they post so I thought some would enjoy mine. Sorry I offended a few. And speaking of offended... the "all you can eat personality" is not meant to degrade in anyway. There are those people who think cruise food is just too fancy and when on vacation prefer to eat like they do at home like a Ryan's Steak house buffet or Chinnese all you can eat buffet. These are the type people that have figured out a way to "stack" soup in a bowl at a buffet. When they leave the salad bar their plates are so full they drip Ranch dressing all the way back to their seats. They usually don't like to get dressed up to go out to eat either so the Lido deck buffet at night suits them to a tee.

Now to the review. Ports were Progreso and Cozumel. Progresso was a new port to us and one reason we chose this cruise. Well actually when we booked it the port was costamaya another port we have not been too so when it got whiped out last year the change to Progreso was fine for us.

We did not book excursions there since we usually just like to check out a new port for the first time to get the feel for it when we return. We found the shopping mall near the pier was fine. Great prices on real Mexican stuff.

We took the free bus into town and found the little local flea market to be nice and clean. Even had a nice live band for our entertainment. There was a double decker open bus giving $2 per person tours of the town sitting outside the Flea Market. Way cheaper then the ships's bus tours of the town. We did venture off that area into the main parts of town and found friendly vendors and store owners but found it not be as clean as Coz. Best to go in groups if you go too far out as you are really getting into unsafe areas for tourists and it's unlikey they will speak English anyway. We saw some from our ship enjoying the little beach area. That would be something you could do on your own. They even had massage girls under tents that were cheap.

You will see this beach area to your left as you come down that long 4 mile pier dock.

I recommend all first timers for safety and the insurance the ship won't leave you to book through Carnival for any excursions. They had snorkels there but I don't recommend it as the water is just not as clear as in Coz. We had been to Coz about 8 times by cruise so we like to find something different to do each time. We are confident enough to do stuff on our own now and this time we choose the SeaTrek Helmet dive through Jeanies Beach Club. It was very nice and you will see all the fish you can imagine in 30 mins. 25 feet down. The operators were all professional and this is the same people that run the SeaTrek out by the park if you book through the ship. The only problem we had was our 11 year old daughter who has snorkeled with ease and is a good swimmer found the helmet experience too much to handle and she would not go down. She stayed on top of the water and snorkled and watched us below. The Holiday shop consulatant Graham Crackers recommended as well as others over on the Coz. chats to try Ponchos Backyard for lunch and it was fantastic. Authentic Mexican far different and better than any in our NC hometown. He warned me the Margarita was awesome and rather strong. So strong that after one the right side of my face was numb, my throat was numb to where I could barely talk and then my right hand became numb.....and then I ordered another one. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good walking back to the ship as Ponchos is on the far opposite side of town from the ship. Oh and by the way we did not tender in Coz. We docked at the pier near the Jimmy Buffet place which is close to walk into town. We then shopped the town something we had not done in many years and found a great improvement in the shops and offerings in Coz. There are many snorkeling places to go in Coz and best for first timers to just download the Carnivial listing as soon as you can and book as soon as you can as the good ones get gone and don't show up on the site to book when they get full. You Feb. 25 people better do it pretty quick for best selections. I would pick one with a Catermaran that goes out 30 mins. or so and drops anchor to snorkel. These guys know where to find the best areas with the most fish. My wife got one of those fancy Oprah watches that make you feel better with magnetic electrodes in the back of the watch. Does it work? Let's say by day 2 she felt as good as she did on our honeymoon 15 years ago. And if Oprah reccomends it, how can you go wrong? We found it at Diamonds International. We enjoyed shopping so much we almost missed the ship getting back. As we walked down the pier people at the top were yelling down "you got 2 mins" and sure enough the door closed behind us as we got on. That's cutting it a bit close!

When they say 4:30 they mean 4:30. Luckily Oprah's watch kept us on good time! On our day there was only 3 other ships in port and that's not many for a town the size of Coz. I've heard they can have as many as 9 in there and sometimes the Holiday will tender that port. I'm so glad we didn't and the town was not very crowded at all. Not much else I can say about the ship except it is showing wear and tear but it's clean and nice. You know the paint is rubbed off in areas in your cabin but the cabin is so clean it really don't bother you. Beds are nice and comfy. TV not so great. Seems the satelite could not hold some stations clear for long periods. And many times the in-house movies didn't repeat enough and you just got blank screen saying it was coming. Tip: you can manually punch in Channels 8,9 and 10 for more selections. These are usually sports and movies. No fridge in these rooms but the steward kept the ice coming. Nice new looking number combination safes. I went to the hot tubs on deck 11 several nights and found myself alone in them. Hard to believe with 1400 others on board it was not full but most of the time it was not. In fact amazing how many didn't even find the two hot tubs until the end of the cruise since they don't show up on the ship deck plans. Also many don't know about the small locker rooms with sauna and showers either. I used them by myself every time. The gym machines seem to get a full workout most sea days but not nights. The spa on this ship is really small. The shops are small but have a good selection. The kids acrade is nice and the casino is fine but not a lot of gamblers my week. So few it was never that smokey in there so I walked through it a lot and didn't see many hitting the slots. The shows were never full so you could always find a seat somewhere. My biggest complaint on this ship was no ship clock in the pool area. First ship I've been on that didn't have one somewhere. With so many activties going on around the ship you need to keep up with the time. Carnival still has great 24 hour pizza and just love those 24 hour ice cream/yougrt machines. The Lido food was fine. The little deli sandwhich are made to order. The salad bar always good. Soup at lunch was only on one side so be sure and check both sides if you are looking for the soup of the day. The food choices at lunch in the main buffet line was just so so but last day they had Southern Fried chicken that was great. They should offer that on this Southern cruise in the main DR at night with mash potatoes with gravy and fired okra and green beans. I bet it would be a big hit as there was quite a bit of cruisers within 300 miles of Mobile. Getting off this ship was by far the fastest we've encountered. We did the self assist carry all your bags walk off and were off at 7:40AM, in the car packed and on the interstate by 8AM. Customs a breeze here. Great Port, Great ports of call, great ship, great crew and staff and another Carnival "fun"ship.

What more can I say? Great way to find out if you are cut out to be a cruiser the rest of your vacationing life or not! And not bad for seasoned cruisers. When they put another ship in Mobile we will go back.

[cruisinsly]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review! :)

[preacher]

Sorry but you need to take a breath....too hard to read..

 

in case people don't know, go to your "view" menu at the top of your browser, select "text size" and "increase font". Then you don't have a problem reading no matter the size of the text!:)

[ToniWills]

Thanks sooooo much for this review. My family and I are going on our first cruise on the Holiday April 12, 2008. I am getting very excited after reading your review. Glad you had a great time. :)

[Snoozeman]

Thanks for your review.

 

Good tip preacher.

[jetskier]

I think what the OP was trying to say was to insert a couple of paragraph breaks in there which would make the review easier to read. (Also he dislikes the Holiday) Thanks for the review. The Holiday and Celebration are the same class ship.

 

Dave

[Montycruiser]

Great review, we leave on our 3rd trip on the Holiday Feb 25th, can't wait:D We are looking forward to a Fantasy Class ship be home ported in Mobile, love the Holiday but ready for a change. Thanks for the review...

[F5Loar]

I mentioned the Holiday was the same as Celebration to let first timers know they could choose either ship as nice first time 4 or 5 day cruise on the same class ship. Does the Celebration still have the topless deck or have they put in the mini-golf coarse there too? Also noticed that on the Celebration the bus on deck 9 on the Celebration served fresh made Sushi every day but it did not on the Holiday. Does the Celebration still do that? It's been 2 years since I last sailed the Celebration. The thing I have found about putting breaks in typing or paragraphs is this thing has a mind of it own once you push that submit button. I actually did not put breaks in my typing and I noticed they were there in a few places. If it won't do what you do then why bother with trying to please a few when it won't do it anyway? It's a chat room......just chat. I don't chat in paragraphs I just keep talking.

[Forchunut1]

Thanks for the great review and a trip down memory lane!

 

The Holiday was my first cruise and the ship that got me hooked on cruising! The funny thing is that yes, it is an older ship, a shorter cruise, etc. but I have never been on a cruise since the Holiday that has the same "feel" as that ship does. Since then I've been on new ships, bigger ships, and longer cruises, but for me, something about the Holiday was magic. :)

[CorbinCatFan]

My daughter cruised on the Holiday and had a great time as well. Your review only makes me want to have one cruise on this fine old lady of the sea before she is retired.

 

Thanks for a great reveiw.:D

[dmhtc1]

Sorry I offended a few. And speaking of offended... the "all you can eat personality" is not meant to degrade in anyway. There are those people who think cruise food is just too fancy and when on vacation prefer to eat like they do at home like a Ryan's Steak house buffet or Chinnese all you can eat buffet. These are the type people that have figured out a way to "stack" soup in a bowl at a buffet. When they leave the salad bar their plates are so full they drip Ranch dressing all the way back to their seats. They usually don't like to get dressed up to go out to eat either so the Lido deck buffet at night suits them to a tee.

 

You didn't offend me, just wanted to know what it meant, thanks for clarifying;).

[LakerMom]

This review is excellent! All my life I have wanted to go on a cruise and it is finally happening . . . on the Holiday, July 28, 2008. All the information we can find out in advance about the ship and cruising just makes our trip that more exciting.:) I tune into this board several times a day. I think this is really a great source for cruising information.

[bookworm82]

Thanks for the great review. I love all the details. We are leaving on the Holiday on May 19. All the reviews really get me ready to go.

[voyagerfl]

Perhaps you need to take a refresher course on the Community Guidelines as below:

 

Spelling and Grammar Errors

It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, and that there are many users who use English as a second language, especially on our Cruise Boards. There are also a number of people who suffer from learning disabilities and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. Do not make comments on the spelling and grammar of other users. It is simply not a productive expenditure of energies.

 

TRAVEL ANGEL.......TAKE A BREATH DEAR...! :)

WE THINK KURBANFAN GOT THE MESSAGE AFTER YOUR FIRST COUPLE OF SCOLDINGS......:)

[ala-kat]

Thanks sooooo much for this review. My family and I are going on our first cruise on the Holiday April 12, 2008. I am getting very excited after reading your review. Glad you had a great time. :)

 

OMG:eek: I used to live in Eastaboga...