Tapi

A bad day on a ship beats work!

Some of those who sailed on the Carnival Triumph back in April might have a different opinion on that. :o

Personally, when I read that saying, I think that people either have real crappy jobs or they haven't had a really bad day on a cruise.

1. Undoubtedly, some one in PR filters the E-Mail in Adam's public E-Mail box and forwards a select few to him for a possible reply.

This has to be the case. Does Adam reply to emails? Yes, but after having a team weed out the emails that don't stand out.

I was watching yesterday a Behind the Scenes episode of a popular TV show where the hosts read and reply to emails from the audience. On the show, they make it sound like the hosts sit on their laptops and receive just a handful of emails. On the Behind the Scenes episode, they revealed that they have an entire department which needs to weed through 25,000 DAILY EMAILS! :Eek: I bet that Adam has his own little team weeding out emails as well.

PLEASE tell us why you liked Liberty better.

I know that many here claim that they don't care what the ship looks like, but we do. We want our sense of vision to enjoy the vacation as well as every other sense in our body! :D

With that said, Liberty is one of the most aesthetically pleasing ships in the Carnival fleet (seems like Farcus was taking a break from whatever he normally smoked when he designed this ship! Glad that he didn't design the Breeze).

The theme for the Liberty is European artists. The ship is filled with rich woods, art specifically commissioned for this ship, Murano chandeliers and wrought iron columns. The ship's focal point, the Flowers Atrium is toned down (and even though there are elements of Carnival's fun designs like the ever changing lights, it's all done so subtly that it's almost imperceptible).

Harry's Steakhouse is, to this day, the absolute best alternative restaurant we've tried on ANY cruise line. Everything about that experience was memorable.

We've done the Liberty twice and both times we've had a wonderful time. Our Eastern Caribbean cruise on this ship ranks as one of our best cruises ever.

We've taken 13 Carnival cruises and without a doubt, the Liberty is out favorite.

Keeping your prices a little more than the other cruise lines will make the people that don't care about the classiness take Carnival again. Instead, I'm hearing more and more good things about the ships I always looked down on.

Overall, your letter has many valid and legitimate points (although its a bit long, winded, and maybe you should've used better use of paragraphs. Makes it hard to read :o).

About the comment concerning Carnival: IMHO, I think that this type of comment just perpetuates the stigma attached to several Royal customers who think that they are better than they really are. I agree that Royal is a notch above Carnival in many areas, but as a Platinum cruiser on both of these cruise line, believe me, both cater to a similar demographic sliver of the population.

Finally, As you said, Royal may be keeping prices steady while cutting back on amenities. So is every other cruise line. Unfortunately, these days people can't sit back and wait for their beloved cruise line to "go back" to how they used to be. In today's economics, its not going to happen. If you're willing to pay more to get more, you may need to move to the next cruise line up.

I believe someone said Navigator calls on St. Maarten every other week in summer 2015 - which means she will no longer be home ported in Galveston and may replace Allure in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Or Independence may be staying

Someone posted recently that Anthem popped up in St. Maarten's schedule as well so maybe Anthem could be coming to Ft. Lauderdale....hmmmm...

I will be pretty upset if RCI DOES build 5 Oasis class ships and PC doesnt get one :(

Specially after Carnival has announced that their "newest" ship, the Carnival Sunshine, will be sailing from PC along with the Liberty. Royal needs to bring their newest ship too! :D

We avoided the WJ most of the time on the Allure just for the fact that the electronic board showed it to be red almost always. We opted for the Park Cafe for breakfast and lunch instead and we bounced around the ship for dinner.

The only time when the WJ was green was on embarkation night.

OP: What kind of table do you want? Ever since we started doing Anytime Dining, we've never had an issue getting the table we want. In our case, we like a table for 2 (or 4 if traveling as a family) overlooking the first floor and we always get it just by asking when we show up at the MDR for dinner.

next thing you know you doing the cupid shuffle with a group of grandmas from Boise....*shrug*

Been there...:o

(Fun review, BTW!)

Of all the Carnival cruises we've taken, Liberty has been the best, twice. The ship has one of the nicest decor in the entire fleet with its European artists inspired theme, rich woods, iron, Murano chandeliers, and art work specifically commissioned for this ship. Harry's Steakhouse is, to this day, the best alternative restaurant we've experienced on any cruise (including those on other cruise lines). The itinerary on the Liberty is FAR superior to the ones offered on the Sunshine (and an extra day is always a welcome plus!)

Are you planning on an inside stateroom? Those won't have a trundle, on Liberty, but on oceanview staterooms and above, you will have a sofa that converts to a twin bed. Much better than the trundle on older Carnival ships.

As others have said, the Waterworks on the Sunshine may be the biggest of all Carnival ships, but I wouldn't sacrifice other things in order to have a Waterworks. It's not a part of the ship where we would spend enough time to consider it a deciding factor. Sunshine may have been "refurbished" and prettied up, but it's still the 17 year old Destiny with less public spaces and more cabins.

JetBlue runs multiple daily flights between JFK and SJU. As the previous poster mentioned, if you misconnect, you'll be protected on the next available flight.

If you were attempting to fly on the day of departure, I would tell you to call and reschedule. But since you're flying 2 days prior, you have a good buffer in case there are delays.

I just looked at itineraries. If you miss your 5:30pm flight, there's an 8:49pm flight to SJU. Seems like worse case scenario, you'll have a 3 hour wait in JFK.

Grand Cayman was def a walk in the park compared to Belize.

Reading this thread, I'm thinking that there's no consistency. Our experience with the tender in Grand Cayman was actually worse than in Belize. Although the line in Belize was long, the one in Grand Cayman was beyond ridiculous, and under the sun. The number of ships may have contributed. In Belize, we were the only ship. In Grand Cayman, there were 3 ships in addition to ours.

one more

The waterfront, on our way back to the tender

Belize not worth it. 40 minute tender ride 1 way and Belize is a hole.

my son-in-law described it has a large dinghy and definitely not comfortable with that idea LOL. I think we'll skip Belize.

Here are some pictures from our "horrible" time in Belize:

Boarding the tender to take us ashore

The Carnival Dream from the tender boat

Approaching Belize City

St. John's Cathedral

We were greeted by the priest and the congregation

Museum of Belize

Belize is not 40 minutes and is totally worth it. We had a great day there.

If you read reviews from people that didn't like Belize, all of them have one thing in common: they didn't research and didn't explore beyond Belize City. Opinions from these people are unrealistically biased against a country that is, without a doubt, one of the secret gems of the Caribbean. It's unique and thankfully, not overly commercialized like other cookie-cutter destinations.

But I understand that not everybody feels comfortable unless they see a Señor Frog's or Margaritaville in a pretty Welcome Center. :rolleyes: Heavens forbid that their make-believe image of the Caribbean is tarnished by the real thing!

We are thinking about doing the same thing when we go to Puerto Rico. That port just doesn't appeal to me

Do some research. San Juan is without a doubt one of the amazing and diverse ports in the Caribbean. I've taken friends on 10 day vacations to Puerto Rico and even that wasn't enough time to see everything that this island has to offer.

We are planning on staying on the ship in Boston when we sail on the Royal Princess for the fall foliage cruise.

We've been to Boston many times and we want to enjoy having the ship all to ourselves for the day. We'll probably just do the things that we normally do on a sea day but without the crowds. It will be nice to enjoy hot tubs, outdoor decks, and lunch in a fairly quiet environment.

I'm thinking that this day may turn out to be the highlight of the cruise. :D

We are sailing Pride in November 2014. Last roundtrip cruise. We just are gonna book it after our cruise this year. But itinerary wise, which would you choose?

I'd go with the Pride's itinerary. As others have mentioned, Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay are phenomenal, and even though Freeport is not the best port, with a little bit of research you can find great beaches and other things to do.

You mention that with airfare the Dream is still cheaper, but don't forget to add transportation from-to airport, pre-cruise hotel (please don't fly on the day of the cruise), meals, etc. By the time you come up with the final price, the Pride may still be more economical.

Just for the record, the Dream is a great ship and it ranks as one of my favorites, but we sailed on the Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya itinerary which is IMHO better than the Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Cozumel itinerary.

Did you know that the Pride is leaving Baltimore in Nov 2014? I would do the Pride just because it may be your last chance to ever sail on a Carnival ship from Baltimore (Royal will be left as the sole cruise line from there).

Keep in mind a few things:

• The "tenders" in both of these ports are actually large boats, holding a couple hundred people.
   
  
• Both of these ports are completely worth the tender ride. Do some research beforehand (specially in Belize since the best attractions are far from the port area).
   
  
• Avoid "rush hours". Don't try to be the first one off the ship or the last one back on the ship.
   
  
• Make note of the last tender time and allow plenty of time for it!
  

The big question is, Will Carnival send Funship Freddy for a $155 million dollar makeover, change his name and reintroduce him as a brand new mascot? :rolleyes:

Personally, I think that the towel animal looks like a member of an organization whose members wear white robes and promote the supremacy of one race over the others.

Fun Ship Freddy creeps me out too, but he's an icon of Carnival cruising. And as creepy as he is, kids seem to love him (I know mine do. My son was even asking for Fun Ship Freddy on our last Holland America cruise).

I'm positive Mobile, Alabama is getting an Oasis class ship.

(I know, I know, but one can only dream to ever see something like Oasis at his closest port of embarkation. :o)

Carnival phone rep today told me they change the rule May 2013 forbidding leaving....

You need to call back and ask to talk to someone higher than the phone rep. Have Carnival's contract and the Passenger Vessel Services Act handy for reference. You are NOT violating any federal laws by disembarking in Curaçao and it doesn't seem like you're violating any rules in Carnival's contract either. The referenced $300 fine is for PVSA violations and you are not, even remotely, doing so. I think that the Carnival phone rep was severely confused.