navyvet8395

I thin k at the end of the day it is all based on why you cruise. when i started cruising in 1997, lines such as premier and commodore were still in business. there ships were old and small but they had real comfortable cabins, great service and outdoor deck space everywhere...70 cruises later of which 67 have been in the caribbean, i sail to lay in the sun during the day, gamble and enjoy a show or 2 in the evening and have a large comfortable cabin to sleep and relax in .carnival delivers these important things to me better than any other line..i also have watched their food and service evolve over the last 10 years. I have been on rccl and ncl quite a few times and they have much smaller cabins and less outdoor space comparativly so i think carnival is doing fine with what they have and offer and will continue to attract folks like myself who love the things i love. i have no desire to ice skate at sea, etc.. i also like that at carnivals pricepoint i can go on 3 or 4 cruises a year and not 1 or 2..keep up the good work carnival. keep the deck space, keep the cabin size, great job with the george lopez comedy clubs and keep improving the food and service and i will be there to spend my money on your product!:cool:

True, I started cruising in 98 after doing 12 yrs in navy. I sailed on Premier (2 times in 6 months), CCCL (Cape Canaveral Cruise line on the Dolphin 4, also on Commodore Enchanted Isle, and other very small Italian line from Port Canaveral to which I cant remember the name. All out of business now. But I enjoyed them all due to the size. Also the NCL Norweigan Wind that I took a 17 day REPO cruise on through the Panama canal for 500.00.

Since then Ive been mostly on Carnival since im Platinum now. Hard to leave that perk. I do like smaller better then larger, gives you a better feeling of being on a ship and the motion, etc.

Was only on the RCCL Independence of Seas when it was new back in 2008. Was very impressed with the crowd control, expecially at check in. And did like the décor expecially the layout of the adult serenity area and they did police the chairs. I did Princess Grand Princess as well. and enjoyed that. Only had balcony cabins on Carnival, rest were OV or insides on the other ships.

LOL I said the exact thing !!

He just angry that he has "Zone 30" passes instead of "Zone 1" LOL.

If you want to avoid arrest, don't strip or f)&$# on your balcony. In the case of those who were arrested, staying on the ship didn't help in Grand Cayman.

 

If you prefer not to financially support places that are homophobic, then you should avoid the Bahamas and Jamaica and Grand Cayman.

 

D&J

If that incident happened in GC, then the people who saw it need a very powerful telescope as the ship is anchored over mile off shore..... Cant see from the naked eye anyhow.

Good or bad, I will book though Carnival due to the insurance that in case of a screwup or breakdown the ship will wait for you...

you are from atlanta. St thomas is not a foreign country.

lol... True..

Wow, after reading this thread bless my $25 Timex I got 14 years ago at a Walgreen's near a cruise port day before a cruise as I'd forgotten my Seiko at home! I've put 2 batteries in the Timex in all this time, runs like a champ!

Right.. the 10-20 dollar waterproof watches seem to run forever. I only get rid of them when the battery fails, because it seems to not be very water proofed after the battery gets replaced. So I just get another since the price isn't bad...

Im sure those "Gloaters" feel the same way to Platinum cruisers like myself.. Ive earned it....

I had one of those cabins on the dream this past dec. I have another booked on the Pride this dec. Im not conserned about being seen by people next door.

Probably has something to do with expences and capacity. Probably same reason they don't stop at St John.

113 "lookers" so far... Wonder how many of you booked? LOL.

Anybody that stayed in this cabin, what is it like? does it have the sofa? Its next to one of the wrap cabins. I booked it while on my last cruise in Dec 2013.

Anyhow. Im not picky about the layout, just curious. Thanks.

My sister stayed in a 1A on our last cruise on the dream. Hers was all way forward on Rivera and so far forward she could of had the steering wheel in her cabin.. LOL. It was at end of hall, my cabin was a aft balcony on deck 7. Talk about a walk..... Took me over 5 minutes just to get down to her end of the ship. Anyhow. it has 2 portholes and 2 twin beds and sofa.

I stayed in 2 JR suites on 2 different ships (fantasy and Inspiration). I do like those better then the "welded" on balconys. Those cabins have larger windows even though the balcony is small. The Welded balcony cabins still have the smaller OV window which makes the cabin look smaller even though they added a balcony. Also the Welded balconys look kinda "trailer" looking or like "Cages" from a distance.. LOL.

I also like the location of those cabins, up top and forward away from most of the noise and traffic flow of people. Only drawback, if you sleep with the balcony door open you will hear people talking from the public deck below or the forward bridge wing. But I don't let things like that bother me or deter me from booking these cabins.

Everyone has there likes and dislikes, In my case.. the more people that don't like the JR Suite cabins, give me a better chance of booking one in the future.

I will be in 7300 on the Pride in Dec. Cant wait.

I went though this on the Libery 2 yrs ago. they were down to one engine and we missed St Thomas. Since I was in Navy for 12 yrs on 3 different ships and I used to work in the engine room, it dosent bother me any as far as what happens on a cruise ship, other then dealing with whiners...

Im going on the Pride in Dec, hopefully by then it will be fixed. If not... Who cares, im still on a ship..

Long time cruiser going on the Pride out of Tampa. Possibly going SOLO. If not I will be with a female friend. Im in my early 50s, young looking and in very good shape. :D.

Its funny how society will allow women of any body type to wear 2 piece or bikinis at any public place, beach, pool, cruise, whatever. And as soon as a guy wears a speedo, even young in shape guys (to which they dont at least from the USA), it becomes a major issue and people say "you shouldnt wear that on a public beach due to women and kids". Its no differant then women in bikinis, expecially the out of shape ones.

I wear Speedos, been wearing them for very long time. I saw a comment on here that I read that someone was complaining about someone was going to wear a speedo at a public beach where his kid and wife will be at... SO WHAT.. Its made for swimming.. GET OVER IT PEOPLE...

What bothers me about this person, is he is married with a kid yet he hangs out on the Gay forums on CC..... That I see a problem...

To close this comment, I will continue to wear them as long as I still have my 6-3, 160lb tanned, smooth toned up body.... LOL.

Most people? Not many get FTTF and the only benefit is not to board early. I always go to the port early and get on the ship early, but it is nice to get to the room and drop your stuff off. And there are some other benefits. Sorry you are so hard up that you can't afford $50.

The differnace to to some getting on early is being able to to get to the Mongolion Wok before the lines get long... I got on the Dream early due to Platinum and there was maybie 2 people in line at the Wok before me, which was great. After that first meal I wasnt able to get through that line on the rest of the cruise due to the long lines. To me it was worth it...

As i went through the terminal I seen some with zone cards with 35 on them, and that was around 11am. I cant amagine how how it took for them to board.

Some people have never heard of this line so may not be aware of their ships

 

Looking at the size of the ship it seems they are about 11000 GRT ..so how big can the cabins be :rolleyes:

 

Smallest cabin is 200 sq ft with a 43 Sq ft balcony

Owner suites are 484 sq ft with 97 sq ft balcony

 

there is limited space when they have 132 cabins on a small ship

The biggest standard cabin on Carnivals largest ships is 186 Sq ft.. So 200 Sq ft,that is pretty good for a ship of 11,000 tons....

I will be on the Pride next dec out of Tampa.

For what i just saw on my last cruise 2 weeks ago you shoudnt be embarrassed. There were several middle aged women that were well over 300 lbs wearing 2 peice bikinis and walking around like there is nothing wrong with it... It was so bad that the stomach flab hung over so far that you couldnt tell if they had any bottoms on.... Is that a good description for ya?

Why they make 2 peice suits on that size, I dont know... I have a speedo body, 6-3 155 with a toned up body.

Thats Carnival cruise lines for you.... LOL.

I have no doubt I'll get flamed for this, but after 8 days of wanting nothing more than to hop on a helicopter and magically land in my front yard, I feel that I'm able to speak on the subject. :p Please feel free to ask specific questions!! I'll be happy to expand on anything.

 

Bugh. That basically sums up our vacation.

 

First let me give you some background info on us. We're both 32 from CT. We love to travel. I'm a seasoned cruiser. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean 23 times, 2 Carnival, 2 Celebrity, and a variety of 1-2 night cruises back in the 1990's. I've done various island vacations in condo rentals in St. Martin, all inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican. We travel a minimum of 2X a year for week long vacations, and at least 4-5 weekend vacations around the country, so I'm relatively familiar with what to expect depending on the class of hotel / resort / ship you're staying at/in. It's 100% fair to say that you tend to get what you pay for. I WILL say that we got this cruise FOR A HECK OF A DEAL, so it's all relative, and when it comes down to it, I think we got exactly what we paid for.

 

So it's safe to say we'll never cruise w/Carnival again, and I'll tell you why. We might just not cruise at all again after this, since we realized we prefer the calmness, beauty, simplicity, and overall relaxation that an island vacation offers, as opposed the the bonkers ship that we just got off of. It's just not our cup of tea. The aggressive, pushy, pajama clad passengers on this ship just aren't our style. That combined with the crummy itinerary, crummy weather, freakish lido deck which felt like a mix between someones living room and a wonky indoor pool from the twilight zone....just NO.

 

That being said.....we made the best of it because we have fun together and can enjoy ourselves in a 4x4 room for a week if need be. Soooo let me elaborate on a few things.

 

Things we DID like:

-The food in the dining room was fantastic. We ate there every single day for brunch or breakfast and dinner.

-Our steward, Made (pronounced Made-E) was awesome.

-Our room was great! We simply had an outside, but it was a shockingly great size and decorated very nicely. Everything was right where it should be. The beds were pretty cozy as well.

-Embarkation and debarkation were great! Self assist debarkation was WO:NDERFUL. We were able to leave that thing ASAP!! We were OFF the ship by 8:30am and were out and in our car by 9am. Yipppeeee! Bbye Splendor!

-The adult comedy was very entertaining.

-Daniella, the hostess at the Black Pearl at night and Gold Pearl for brunch was wonderful!! She was so cheerful and prompt and always greeted us by name.

-Yurgita from the Martini Bar (El Mojito) was great! She makes an amazing extra dirty goose martini.

-The Gym was nice. We all got kicked out one day because the seas were so high, but I did enjoy the layout and the equipment was great.

-Kieth, the solo guitarist. His sense of humor and wit were wonderful. His condescending jokes and hatred for the cruise ship itself were spot on. He basically said exactly what we were thinking.

-The warm chocolate melting cake.

-The Serenity deck was ok. But why on earth the mini golf is directly above it is beyond me. There are constantly little children running around with swinging golf clubs on the Serenity deck. Not very serene....

-......YUP.....that's all we can come up with.

 

Things we DIDN'T like

-Everything else. :p

-The Lido deck. It needs to just be bulldozed and re-done. I'm not saying that I don't like the layout of the ship.....it takes like a 20 minutes to figure it out. I'm saying that I just don't like THE SHIP. It's so dark and cold feeling. I get it. I've been on a Carnival ship so I know what to expect and I know all about Joe Farcus style. I do have to say that the lime green grout with black tile ALL OVER was a nice touch. :eek:

-The Lido buffet is just crazy. Thousands of people with NO MANNERS just walking around in a confused stouper, piling plates full of bacon and then waiting in line for 5 burritos, pizza, the deli....really? How much food can you eat?! It's so poorly laid out. I've never experienced such mayhem in a buffet before. Gross. They need to dispense Xanax at the door or something because the whole area is just an anxiety attack waiting to happen.

-The music on the aft deck was just bizarre. I have no idea what was coming out of those speakers. Again, I suddenly found myself in the twilight zone.

-The passengers. Why do people think it's ok to walk around in their pajamas whilst on a cruise ship? Oh and if not pajamas, bath robes! I'm sorry, I've always thought that being on a cruise was something special. It's just disrespectful to treat the ship like it's your own stinking living room. I don't want to see what you wear to bed, ok? One night, while walking through the Splendido, a guy flags down my husband and says "yo sh$&*t!!! Is it FORMAL night or something?!". Mind you my husband was wearing a dress shirt tucked into pants and I was wearing a maxi dress. No, it's not formal night. We just like to look nice. Geeze. A memo really needs to go out clarifying that there is no pajama night. It just makes the whole atmosphere seem so low class.

-The Promenade was freezing and smelled like cigarettes. I tried to avoid this area, but most things are off of the Promenade, so it was difficult to avoid.

-The ports of call were crummy and the weather was horrible, but I realize that's beyond the ships control, so I'm not going to fault them for that. It just didn't help the situation. The seas were crazy because of 60 MPH wind gusts, so the decks were all closed off to passengers. Again, it's obviously for our safety, and beyond their control, but having been stuck inside from Monday night until Thursday morning just made us a little stir crazy.

 

In closing, I think this experience made us realize what we like and DO NOT like in a vacation. I think I've just grown out of cruises. I hate to be negative, and I'm usually the first one to point out "what someone might have done wrong to have a bad time" when I read reviews, but this was HONESTLY the worst cruise (out of....28 or something?). I didn't have high expectations, and we pretty much got exactly what we expected. I just thought MAYBE we'd like it a bit more that we expected. The highlight was the food and service. But that's pretty much where it ends.

 

Please feel free to ask questions or flame away, teehee!

 

Laura

I agree. Yes Ive been on 11 Carnival cruises and #12 will be in couple days on the dream. Reason I still stay is im now VIP with Carnival and yes, the line attracts a "lower class" of people, kinda like the POW (people of wallmart site). Due to the price. Expecially on the shorter cruises. Im not one of those, I also dress decent for "formal" night, etc and wear a collar shirt in the MDR the rest of the time.

I do like RC better due to there decor and ship layout. Thought the IOS was awesome.

What gets under my skin, is people say its not "proper" on public beaches where familys and kids are around, yet you see women who are about to "fall out" of there bikini swimsuits, but yet that perfectly ok... What makes that any differnt?? There both legal swimwear designed for that purpose. To wear on the beach, boating, and swimming.. Yet a guy gets flack because its a Speedo.. You see the same body "contours" or "outlines" on a women as you do with a guy. The women have "2" and the guys have "1".. But yet when you talk to a women, your looking right at it and on a guy its below waist level and you shouldnt be looking there when you have a conversation anyhow.... LOL.

So any guy who wants to wear one on a ship. Feel free to wear it. Nobody will give you any flack over it. Only the jealious fat people that wish they could get away with wearing one. Those are the ones that judge and complain about Speedos around women and kids. I just ignore them or go to a part of the ship where those types dont hang out. Like the Adult Serinety areas.

As an Australian who is about to take my first Caribbean cruise with mostly Americans (I'm assuming), is this honestly an issue or just an amusing topic? I don't think twice about wearing them here nor do they raise a second glance!

 

 

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Im American and I dont care what others feel about me wearing them. There are always others wearing worse with worse bodies. LOL.

You wont have any issues wearing speedos. I havent yet had anyone come up to me and say anything. But you do get the "stares" from others, mostly behind your back when they think your not looking. On every ship ive been on, besides me, there were at least 2 other people wearing Speedos and they were usually up in the Adult only deck areas of the ship.

My post had 122 people looking at it.. Wonder if that is 122 guys going on same cruise as me. Probably not. LOL. 1 Week to go.