talkorpi

13 hours ago, stobe1 said:

Not sure how you meant your statement to come across as either questioning the OP on where else he expected Galveston departures to be able to sail to or if it was just a general rhetorical question.

 

But I think the OP was more pointing out the fact at how Carnival was attempting at marketing the 2025-2026 Galveston season as having "great new options" , but as we all know, that is not possible without longer voyages like Miracle will be doing starting next year. Carnival used some word salad to say a whole lot of nothing about the same itineraries, because, as I stated in an earlier post, unless they are bringing in another ship to do longer and more varied voyages that has yet to be announced, there is nothing new, fresh nor exciting about these itineraries. I believe that is what the OP was driving at.

Spot on. When I see “brand new refreshed itineraries” from my homeport but then not a single thing is new or changed, it sets the customer up for disappointment. Not sure why CCL would use that terminology if they never planned on doing anything different, not even mixing up the ships or anything. 

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Breaking news: Carnival Jubilee is still too big to tender. Forget Grand Cayman.

 

But... Carnival's new port on Grand Bahama should open next year (so 2025).

I was hoping they would use the Dream for that so as to not lose that option. I mean the Jamaica - Cayman - Cozumel run is realistically one of three itineraries that CCL can run from here so it baffles me why they won’t put the 6-8 day smaller ship to work doing that in its rotation. 

Carnival released itineraries from Galveston for booking up to 2026 today. In the press release (https://carnival-news.com/2023/08/17/carnival-cruise-line-begins-opening-2025-26-deployment-with-new-sailings-from-galveston/), the execs advertised the itineraries as “new,” “fresh,” and “great new options.”

Uhh, correct me if I’m wrong, but these copy & paste itineraries literally haven't changed? I don’t see any new sailings or any type of variety here. It’s the same old rinse and repeat itinerary that they run, and they’ve not even bothered to switch out the ships to attempt any sense of making things “fresh, great NEW options.”
 

Pretty frustrating for me. I get that port selection is somewhat limited from Galveston but there are other ports and/or combinations they are leaving out, like Jamaica and Grand Cayman, etc. The false advertising is just frustrating sometimes. 

14 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I've never had a Sidecar but have meant to try it for a long time. It always just skips my mind. We have 32 days on Grand Princess coming up so I need to start a list of "drinks I  need to remember to try". The Sidecar will definitely be "on the list". Thanks for reminding me.

Yes, I hadn't either until my first Princess cruise in April. There's a bar in my hometown called The Sidecar and I had always wondered what one tasted like. Turns out, it's delicious - definitely my new favorite drink! I ended up getting at least one every night of the rest of the cruise.

Have fun on your Grand Princess cruise! 32 days, wow, I can't wait till the point in my life when those kinds of trips can become a reality!

I love the Captain's Bounty to drink up on lido, its basically a rum and coke but with some fruit flavors.

As for a classier drink for dinner/shows, I can't pass up a sidecar, straight up, in a rocks glass with a cinnamon rim. Mmmm..... September can't come soon enough!

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Interesting you're finding better deals on Princess out of Galveston. We sailed almost exclusively on Princess until a few years ago when they left Galveston to wait for the new Corpus terminal. Because we'd gotten some great deals on Princess, now that they're back in Galveston, we were excited as we prefer them over Carnival & started looking to book them again.

The prices have been through the roof! We keep looking every couple weeks for any itinerary, but so far haven't booked anything because of prices.

Interesting. Everything I am seeing has been extremely cheap compared to the competition. Seems like they are undercutting CCL/RCCL to get some market share. 

As a side note, I doubt Corpus Christi will ever become a passenger port. While it would be more convenient for me, the only people it would benefit would be people who live within 2 hrs of CC (so basically San Antonio or south) or northern Mexico. Galveston has built up so much that it makes competing difficult if not impossible. Oh well!

Just found this thread and I have to agree, unfortunately. Two things have pushed me out - high prices and the lack of itinerary diversity.

1) High Pricing - I don't know if it's because of the new trend in CCL stock or what (although it isn't happening to other CCL brands, so idk), but Carnival's pricing has felt like it it getting too big for its britches. Yes, I know supply and demand are driving this - I have a degree in Economics and my job is a Business Analyst - but I feel like it priced me out. Galveston used to have great deals and now the prices I see are kind of crazy. I am getting a 7-night cruise on a newer Princess ship in a balcony with the plus package (drinks, wifi, tips) plus airfare plus hotel plus $400 OBC for cheaper than a five-night Progreso and Cozumel run out of Galveston on the Breeze in an interior at the base fare. Carnival's pricing right now just doesn't match the product for me and I probably will have to look elsewhere until they cool off a bit. It stinks because I wanted to try the Jubilee, but not at the current prices.

2) Itineraries - Yes, I know that options out of Galveston are limited, but I still feel like Carnival is fumbling here. You can only do the same exact itinerary so many times before it becomes boring, and now there are only three ports to choose from out of Galveston. They should redo the Dream's 6/8 alternations to be a 6-day to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Jamaica since we are losing those ports permanently with the Jubilee only able to do Roatan/Mexico, but they won't. The "Journeys" cruises on the Miracle to these destinations are outrageously expensive. Cruises from Florida aren't much better - I have zero interest in the Bahamas or the Dominican Republic, and that seems to be the only places Carnival sails to now. I know that these destinations are probably cheaper and save on fuel or something, but Carnival doesn't really offer many options.

I have switched to Princess where I find much more value for my money. I am very happy with their product and shocked that it is cheaper than Carnival. While I do miss the variety of free dining found on CCL, Princess is my new go-to line. I haven't ruled out Carnival completely, but the prices aren't getting any lower, so I don't see a return anytime soon.

Does anyone know what the "Altitude Restaurant" is? At first I thought it would've been the suites restaurant since it is right above the suite lounge, but I thought there was a venue called "Signature Restaurant" off the Piazza so now I'm unsure.

Good grief this ship is cursed!

Sailed on Ruby in April, I had a pretty extensive live with photos. Just find the link in my signature. I was very impressed with the condition of the ship.

Thanks for the great thread! Would you mind getting a photo of the Salty Dog Cafe menu as well as any food you order throughout the cruise? Curious to see the “new items” and what changes were made. 

2 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Salty Dog Grill Menu up on the lido deck, deck 16

Haha thank you for responding so quickly! I know it is confusing but I am like 99% sure that the press release said they are replacing the old Gastropub with O'Malleys and the SD Grill with the SD Cafe which would have an expanded menu, new logo, and would have merchandise and promotions.

I found the listing on the PCL website but there's no menu of course. It looks like Sky didn't get this change so I guess it is only on the Enchanted. Weird.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/products/dining-included/salty-dog-cafe.html

Hi @Jeter02, loving your review so far. 
 

I do have a quick question, and depending on the answer, might also be asking for a quick favor. 
 

Do you know if the lido deck grill on the Sky has been updated to the Salty Dog CAFE like it is on the Enchanted? I have been trying to figure out the details and what exactly might have changed and have yet to find it. 
 

If so, would you mind posting a menu? I cannot find one anywhere! The Princess press release about the venue made it sound like they were completely redoing the menu but I have yet to see any proof of that 🤷‍♂️

I was on the Ruby in April. One of the first things I did was ask guest services if the Behind the Scenes tour was available. They told me it was not and nobody knew when it would return. 

😞

54 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

If it helps, I did see a posted menu for O'Malleys. Unique cocktails $12.50. Unlimited drinks for four $100. Those on recent sailings report few are eating in specialty venues so reports may take time to come in  The new upcharges are not well received.

You ask about Sabatini's. Recently, there were "barkers" outside to get diners in, but we only saw one couple inside from our vantage. Opinions will differ, of course, but we thought the increased charge was excessive for pasta, considering we had already paid for dinner and service in the MDR.

Interesting. 

What I am most curious about is the new "Salty Dog Cafe" which looks like it replaced the SDG on the pool deck. From the description, it sounds like it has a more elevated menu. Curious to see what it is and if it has any upcharges (I hope not).

5 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Here is a link to a recent thread on topic...

 

 

 

Thanks, I saw that one but it seemed to be a lot of speculation about what was to come and not much outside of renderings and discussion from those who were not onboard. I am hoping someone who has actually been on the ship lately can come here with actual reviews and photos.

Can anyone who has been on the Enchanted since her drydock last month give us any information and/or reviews of all the new venues that were added? O'Malley's Irish Pub, The Catch by Rudi, Salty Dog Cafe (apparently different than the Salty Dog Grill???), and the changes to Sabatinits and the Piazza. It has been hard to find pictures and reviews elsewhere online!
 

Bonus points if you can provide pictures. Thanks y'all!

Guess I’ll follow up here since this is my thread - was on the infamous Ruby Princess 4/2-4/9 cruise. We missed both Roatan and Costa Maya due to windy conditions. Guess I jinxed it by making this post. 😡

I just noticed when looking at the Jubilee that it also had Guys Pig and Anchor listed as an "Additional Cost" restaurant.  Wonder what is going on there.

Vista was my least favorite ship I have been on out of my 5 Carnival ships layout wise.  Not saying that it was all terrible but I feel like Carnival did everything they could to maximize capacity at the expense of public space and it was really obvious.  It was very crowded and I did not like the layout.  I'm sure that having Havana was nice but the lack of a full wraparound promenade deck was kind of a dealbreaker.  Also the atrium is tiny and cramped and the theater design is truly awful with zero good seats.

It did have a lot of good dining options and I do like the decor alot but unfortunately the bad layout and overall design took away from those things.

Ugh, I just looked through this thread again and BOY do I miss this vacation! I mentioned that I had to book it back home to prep for a work conference the next week.  Well I ended up catching COVID on my way home from that conference and it hit me HARD, so I was out all last week too. I'm a 22 year old without many health problems that has had four doses of vaccine too, and I still hit a 103 fever and I'm still coughing 10 days later.  YIKES!

Sorry that I haven't gotten around to post my post-cruise thoughts yet.  I'll get to that soon, hopefully over the course of this week.  Been a very busy April for me so far!

I set up a $ 10-a-month investment on Robinhood this morning as well as bought 10 shares outright.  Hope this doesn't come back to bite me...

Thank you for joining me this week everyone! I’ll be back with a full post-cruise review and breakdown that I’ll post here over the coming days, and I’ll answer any questions I get too. 
 

Overall, while there were certainly a lot of issues that made this a very out of the ordinary cruise, I was still very impressed with Princess! The food, service, and ship were all incredible. 
 

Until the next adventure! 😎🌅🚢

That was the easiest debark ever. We were on the road by 8:15 this morning. Making an obligatory pit stop at Buccee’s before we get to the giant stretch of I-10 between Katy and Seguin with not much in between. Got a DP Zero and I did NOT like having to pay for it - I almost found myself tapping my medallion on the credit card machine 😂😂

Should be home by 12:30. Sad the week is over but gotta go get ready to get back to reality tomorrow!

Hid our last duck and had our last breakfast. They’re already playing the 80’s playlist for the next cruise, which is one of the 80’s themed cruises with tribute bands and whatnot. Wish I could’ve stayed onboard for that one (there are a lot of B2B guests doing this that were on our cruise) but I’ve got a work conference on Tuesday…
 

Loving this playlist. Y’all are gonna have a blast if you’re on the next cruise. It’s a vibe 👾🎸