JimmyTheSaint

Even if you find the cruise you describe, which I very much doubt you will find, you've still got the issue of a long haul flight back to the UK. I think your best solution is a one of the repositioning cruises at the start or end of the Caribbean season when you would only have one flight to contend with.

As someone who's sailed three Transatlantic crossings with Carnival and we have the Mardi Gras Transatlantic booked for Oct 2025 I would recommend you book as early as possible. These sailings tend to sail at or very close to capacity so the price only goes one way from now, upwards.

Personally I found Felipe Couto to be, by far, the worst CD I've ever sailed with so anyone is going to be a major upgrade compared to him.

We did one MSC cruise in the Mediterranean a few years ago and it was one and done for us. The ship was the nicest ship we've sailed on, great cabin, really nice fixtures and fittings throughout the ship. Everything else about the cruise and the ship was very disappointing. The food, service and entertainment were very poor, nowhere near the standards you get with RCI, NCL or Carnival. Multiple announcements throughout the day in multiple languages so they lasted about 20 minutes per announcement. There were passengers embarking and disembarking daily and using some of the communal areas for muster station reporting or assembly before disembarking. It all seemed a bit chaotic and lacking organisation. No thanks.

Thanks for the excellent report and photos. We're heading to Singapore pre cruise in October and found your report very informative. Thanks.

We've been to Valletta a few times as a cruise port and agree with everything Purple Traveller said. Just walk out of the port and head toward the lift up to the Barrakka Gardens and enjoy your day. You must visit the Co Cathedral, one of the most ornate church buildings in Europe. Every time we've been in Valletta on the way back onboard we passed through a duty free shop after the security checks and were able to buy alcohol etc and bring it to our room. Hopefully that still applies. It's a really good harbour to watch sailing into / out of as it's quite narrow passing the city and the forts at the entrance.

Not all Carnival customers are eligible for the credit card, you have to live in the USA to get the Carnival Mastercard. I'm Platinum, live in the UK, I'm a Carnival shareholder and I'm a Mastercard customer but I can't get the credit card. I have tried.

We are Platinum as were about 80% of the people onboard during our past two cruises, Transatlantic crossings. No company can sustain freebies and giveaways when so many customers qualify. Okay so Carnival aren't going to go bust giving out kazoos and fanny packs but they aren't going to change the loyalty program to add more costs on to their accounts. We've achieved Platinum status because Carnival offers a cruising experience that appeals to us. Getting a free bottle of water or fanny pack doesn't make us choose Carnival over RCI, MSC, etc.

A cruise we have booked and paid the deposit on for 2025 has recently been reduced in price, by $40 per person. I think I might have read sometime ago about Carnival having a policy of refunding the price difference. Does anyone have any experience of this or am I just making up something I wished would happen?

We stayed in the Premier Inn London Bank (Tower) last October and it's in a great location. 5 minutes walk to the Tower of London, less than 5 minutes walk to the nearest Underground station by the Monument to the Great Fire of London. A one minute walk from the hotel will have you on the Thames river walk directly facing HMS Belfast, look left for Tower Bridge, look right for London bridge. The underground system is really easy to use. I wouldn't recommend the bus or Hop On Hop Off bus tours as you'll be stuck in traffic a lot and wasting time waiting on buses. London has a lot of sights that are walkable, e.g. from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament is easily walkable in less than 20 minutes but you could extend it by walking down the Mall to Admiralty Arch, Horse Guards Parade, Downing Street before getting to the Palace of Westminster or Westminster Abbey.

This cruise sold out a while ago. I'm booked on it and recently had an upgrade offer from Carnival as people who had booked and paid their deposit have now decided to not go ahead with the cruise. As the final payment date gets closer more people will drop out and more rooms will become available.

You don't need to drink alcohol to enjoy a cruise. I'm Platinum level on the Carnival loyalty programme and I don't drink alcohol. If you tell us what you do like and why you're considering a Carnival cruise it will give us a better indication of whether you'd like it or not.

Our favourite is also the Spirit class, our best cruises have been on Legend and Pride. The only class of ship we've sailed on and didn't like was the Conquest class.

No brainer, Vista. It's much more modern, has more entertainment and dining options. Freedom is the worst Carnival ship we've sailed on, terrible illogical layout, never again.

I've done three Carnival Transatlantic cruises and it's far from a three day booze cruise to the Bahamas. As others have said it's an older crowd, far fewer kids than you'd normally get on a Carnival cruise. It's much more relaxed but it's still a Fun ship. Following our experiences on the Freedom Transatlantic I would be very reluctant to book any cruise following a drydock. Our experience onboard was similar to the one mentioned above by Vagabond Knight. I've pasted a link to the review I wrote after the cruise. https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=708817 We've sailed on Mardi Gras and loved it. Dining and entertainment are on a different level from anything we've experienced on any previous Carnival cruise.