Tapi

My perfect cruise would go to HMC, Roatan, Grand Cayman & St Maarten. :)

Bit hard to do that unless you go for more than 7 nights.

But you could do back to back itineraries (7 night Western and a 7 night Eastern) and you'll be able to cover all of those ports and more.

I agree with others. It may be time to branch out to other cruise lines or another regions of the world.

If flying on Allegiant, give yourself PLENTY of backup plans and fly down a few days early.

Allegiant is an ultra low cost, point to point airline, with very limited schedules and no interline agreements with any other airlines.

What that means is that if your one flight is delayed or canceled, you may be stuck with no other flights for days (sometimes a week). The fact that they fly to smaller, alternate airports reduces your options further. Many times, Allegiant only offers one or two flights a week from some of the cities they serve since they are strictly a leisure airline. They will NOT protect you on another airline and in many cases, they may just refund your money because, plain and simple, they don't have an alternate flight to offer you.

You may find yourself booking last minute flights on another airline which will most likely cost you a lot more than you probably budgeted for.

I think you either have the ships or the ports mixed up.

I'd pick Liberty. I've been on her twice. Our Eastern Caribbean sailing on her has been, to this date, the best Carnival cruise we've ever taken.

carnival cabins are slightly bigger

I actually had to look this one up because I could swear that our standard balcony on the Westerdam was bigger than our standard balconies on previous Carnival cruises (Dream and Liberty). And it does seem like HAL has bigger staterooms, at least when comparing these specific ships and categories:

• Westerdam: Sq ft cabin: 200, sq ft balcony: 54
  
• Carnival Liberty: sq ft cabin: 185, sq ft balcony: 35
  
• Carnival Dream: sq ft cabin: 185, sq ft balcony: 35
  

Can you request a refund on the FTTF?

For $98, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Normally I consider suites to be a big waste of money on Carnival, but for that price, I'd give it a shot.

Holding an ice cream cone in each hand could be an option too. :)

you should tip bartenders.

Bar tabs get an automatic 15% tip.

Personally, I don't tip anybody (except room service) beyond the prepaid gratuities, unless they go way beyond their call of duty.

The $649 rate was for all balconies.

I'm showing $1099 for the 12/22 sailing and $1499 for the 12/29 sailing.

I looked at prices on other 7 night Caribbean sailings during the same week (Crown Princess and Caribbean Princess) and their balcony pricing are in line with the Royal.

On HAL they got an early start to get the best window seats in the Library. lol

That was absolutely, 100% true! The Exploration's Cafe and Crow's Nest (both attached to the library) were, without a doubt, some of the most popular places on the entire ship.

The floor to ceiling windows, the plush, leather recliners, the nice selection of coffees and beverages, along with the extensive book collection and interactive tables (powered by the NY Times), made the place very inviting. For our Alaska sailing (with the constantly changing and breathtaking views), seats in this section of the ship were always full, even at 7 in the morning!

I don't think I've ever spent more than a few minutes in a Carnival library, but on HAL, I was drawn to this place several times during the cruise, even at night!

Just more people...

Personally, I've found the Fantasy class ships to feel more crammed and crowded. Yes they carry less people, but they are also substantially smaller.

And the numbers do support that impression. Conquest class ships have a better space to passenger ratio of 31 while Fantasy class ships have a worse space to passenger ratio of 29.

We did the reverse. We just did our first HAL cruise this summer, so I'll try to give you my perspective coming from the other side. :)

HAL seems to wow you with the little details. Things like the white gloved service, the fresh flowers in staterooms and public areas, the use of china with HAL logo and availability of full menu for room service, the laundry delivered folded in tissue paper and a gold seal, the almost non-existent loudspeaker announcements, the multi-million dollar art collection throughout the ship, and the upgraded in-stateroom toiletries, are all things that we appreciated on HAL and that you won't find on Carnival.

Here are other differences. Our point of reference is the Westerdam, so keep that in mind.

- Carnival ships don't feel as "intimate", but at the same time they do feel much more open. One thing that we didn't like about the Westerdam was the fact that it felt a bit "gloomy and dark". The atrium was small and closed in. On Carnival, atriums tend to be "grander" since it's the ship's focal point. You will be trading HAL's understated elegance for Carnival's neon and wild decor though.

- Service, both in the Dining Room and in stateroom were comparable. We found both teams to be hard working, polite and pleasant.

- Alternative Dining: the Steakhouse on Carnival rivals the Pinnacle Grill on HAL. We considered the food on Carnival's Steakhouse to be more memorable, but service and ambiance to be better on the Pinnacle Grill, but the differences were minimal.

- HAL MDR cuisine was better, but lido buffet cuisine and selection were about the same.

- The main pool deck on HAL was blissfully serene most of the time, while on Carnival it's like an ongoing party. DJ music, line dancing, and pool games like hairy chest contests, bar-tending competition, the "Miss" Carnival pageant, etc

- We had heard extensively how clientele on HAL is much older, refined, and well traveled, yet on our 7 night summer Alaska cruise from a US port, fellow cruisers seemed to be a bit more comparable to what we've encountered on Carnival. Basically a little bit of everything. Young, old, families, singles, couples, refined and not so refined.

- Formal night on HAL seemed to be taken much more seriously. on Carnival, it's not uncommon to see people in khakis and polo shirts on Elegant Night. We saw more tuxedos and dark suits on HAL than we've ever seen on Carnival. We've also noticed that on Carnival, a lot of people tend to go back to their cabins to change clothes after Elegant dinner, while on HAL, people stayed in their formal attire throughout the night.

- As mentioned before, we had families with small kids on our HAL sailing, but it paled in comparison to the number of families that we've seen on Carnival cruises (even off season). Carnival definitely aims their product at families with much better children's facilities and activities, while HAL's children facilities looked like an after-thought.

- Shows at the theater on HAL were not very good, and that's a lot to say compared to Carnival's theater shows. On our HAL cruise, we fell asleep on one, and walked away on the other night. They had an illusionist one night that was more hype than substance but it was entertaining enough to keep us seated until the end. Carnival's theater entertainment is comparable with HAL's (in my opinion).

Feel free to read my recent reviews for my last HAL and Carnival cruises (both links in my signature). I hope they give you a better idea of what you can expect. :)

How does the Fantasy compare to the rest? Don't want to waste my vacation time / money if I'll b let down. Thanks.

Go with realistic expectations. She's not the Dream, Valor or Breeze. If your main goal is to save money (and the ship, amenities and itinerary are secondary), you'll have an enjoyable cruise. If you're going expecting the Dream, you may be wasting your vacation time / money.

We've done Fantasy class ships extensively, and in my opinion, they don't compare to the newer and larger ships. Things are either in a smaller scale, or not available (like alternative restaurants and a series of bars). While this ship has been renovated periodically, she'll feel outdated (decor is early 90's with lots of neon, and a bit disjointed between areas that have been completely redone and sections that have only received cosmetic updates). Atrium is more compact, dining rooms are single story, theater is smaller with worse sight lines from the back seats. More compact lido pool deck. No standard balcony staterooms, oceanview staterooms are the same size as the inside staterooms, and no interactive TV system. Cigarette smoke seems to permeate more indoors (most likely because of the older ship design and ventilation system), etc.

Fantasy class ships are good for what they do: short, inexpensive getaways from drive-to ports, which attract many first time cruisers who have nothing to compare it to. Because of that (and because of loyal followers who love the simplicity of sailing close to home on a smaller ship), I think that reviews on ships like the Fantasy (and the Fascination from Jacksonville) tend to be unrealistically skewed on the positive side, which can be a bit misleading for those who have experienced Carnival's larger and newer ships and then expect the same experience on these older and smaller ships.

Personally, our last sailing on a Fantasy class ship was a let down, to the point of almost making me NEVER want to sail on Carnival again. Thankfully I did cruise on Carnival again after that (on the Dream) and the experience was MUCH better. :)

As I said at the beginning, if you choose to sail on the Fantasy, do so with realistic expectations. Cherish the lower prices and the convenience of a shorter drive.

I think a lot of people forget that cruise lines are evolving and the Royal is an EVOLUTION of what Princess has been doing. Maybe they are trying to appeal to different groups of people.

The Royal is exactly the reason why we have finally chosen to try Princess for the 1st time. :D

I honestly feel sorry for Princess traditionalists who would prefer that the cruise line that they have grown to love remains unchanged (I know how it feels from sailing on other cruise lines and watching them change), but a lot of times, these changes are necessary to remain relevant and attract new clientele.

I'm looking forward to sailing on the Royal (and on Princess) soon.

and the prices of her itinaries dropping all the time...

Dropping?? Where? My sailing is not for another year and my category is already sold out and the next category up available is a good $400 more than what I'm currently paying!

I have been reading extensively about the Royal since I decided to book it, and I have noticed that its indeed a handful of people here on Cruise Critic who have created this micro-environment of "gloom and doom" around it.

Even if you only get 4 days of warm weather, that's still 4 MORE days than if you didn't go on the cruise. :D

Remember that the cruise is more than just being outside in the sun. Get your indoor activities out of the way on the colder days (shopping, casino, shows, games, etc) so that you can enjoy as much time as possible outdoors on your warm days.

That's what I'm worried about Tapi - we are going to end up on deck 1 or 2....way down below...:o

Don't worry too much. I don't think I would've picked a balcony for your sailing.

We bounce back and forth between oceanviews and balconies, and IMHO, while balconies do enhance the cruise experience, not having one hasn't really affected the experience to the point of making the cruise unenjoyable.

We had our first balcony in cold weather this summer (in Alaska) and I can tell you that, if it hadn't been for the breathtaking views right outside, we probably would've never set foot out there. We were FREEZING, even though the weather wasn't too cold (50's during the day, 30's at night).

I can only imagine sailing out of New York in January with sub-zero temperatures. Most likely, I wouldn't step out on the balcony until the ship is abeam central Florida! (We sailed from Jacksonville during the winter once and even THAT was too cold. Jacksonville was in the 30's and Nassau was in the 50's! :eek:)

I'm dreading not having a balcony and being able to step outside whenever I want.

You can still step outside whenever you want. You just need to put some clothes on and walk a little farther. :D

As sailing date approaches, I sometimes have dreams about missing the ship. But they are not Carnival-specific.

we're taking our kids on their 1st cruise in April, my son will be about 2 weeks shy of 2. I know they do night time sitting, but I doubt any of us will make it up for that. I really wish they'd offer sitting during dinner time. I wouldn't mind paying extra at all to have a dinner or two in peace and quite.

I wish they'd offer sitting during the day for under-2s

As a parent of a child under the age of 2, I also wish they had better offerings for children in this age group.

Carnival should take a cue from other cruise lines who offer a program for children as young as 6 months of age (and they could make money doing so).

For example, Royal offers the Royal Babies an Tots Nursery for children starting at 6 months of age. It's open from 8am until midnight so you can drop your children off at any point in time during those hours. They have Fisher-Price and Crayola sponsored activities and they will also feed your child during meal times. The program isn't free (I believe the charge was $8/hr) but it was money that we gladly paid.

We would drop our 17 month old off at night for a few hours so that we could enjoy dinner at one of the alternative restaurants, go see a show, or just relax at the Solarium.

I'm sure many families on Carnival would be glad to have this option and, as mentioned before, Carnival could generate extra revenue in the process. It would be a win-win situation.

My first cruise was on the Queen Elizabeth in 1967.

Thanks GrannyJ. I love reading stories like yours. :)

I got my "cruise big" from my father, who used to cross the Atlantic quite often during the 50's (he studied in Spain for many years). His stories of "the way things used to be" are mesmerizing.

The absolute best piece of memorabilia he possesses is a photo of the sinking of the Andrea Doria back in 1956. He was aboard the Ile de France, which was the ship that rescued the passengers from the doomed ship. The Ile de France's photographer documented the sinking of the Andrea Doria, and copies of some of the photos were sold to the passengers (which is how my dad got his hands on a glossy 8x10 photo of the Andrea Doria on its side).

So yes, apparently even back then, the photographers were taking every possible opportunity to make a buck. :o

I can remember on the Carnival in the early 80's having to go to a special room to use a hair dryer.

I just remembered that when we sailed on the very old Carla Costa, use of personal hair dryers in cabins was prohibited. Attempting to use one would trip the electricity for an entire section of a deck. For the first few days of the cruise, countless people tried to use their hair dryer, and within seconds , the power would go out. Everybody would come out of their cabins yelling and cursing at the "perpetrator". Thankfully, power would always be restored within minutes. :o

No TV!!

No TV, no in-cabin phone, no "Cellular at Sea", no Internet, NOTHING. Getting away REALLY meant getting away.

I remember going with my dad to the ship's Radio Room to call my grandparents back home.

No Sail and Sign card. You'd be given a plastic wristband to wear. You could purchase drink voucher booklets throughout the week. Cash and credit cards were acceptable currency onboard.

Theme nights. And people used to dress according to the theme.

Among the theme nights, there was a masquerade ball. Passengers were encouraged to bring their costumes, or you could swing by one of the lounges for materials to make your own.

Don't know if Costa still does it, but I also remember Toga Night in the early 90's. Passengers would be dressed in white sheets tied with a knot and gold leaves around their heads.

Of course, they could always put a Fantasy class in Baltimore, but that would be interesting since they all serve the 3,4, and 5 day cruises with an occasional 7 day out of Charleston or Jacksonville.

With the Inspiration (and soon Imagination) doing identical itineraries from Los Angeles, I think it won't be long until Carnival announces a new redeployment for one of those two ships.

Carnival already tried having two ships doing short Baja Mexico cruises simultaneously (one from San Diego and one from Los Angeles) and it failed. They practically had to give those cruises away and they still couldn't fill them up.