jasong38501

I am wanting to book Cucina for my cruise in September on the Magic but I want to do it on the second formal night. I just really do not care for that menu. Anyone know which night is the second formal night on the Magic's six day cruises? Thanks in advance.

We enjoy playing cards and love the tables around to the side of Alchemy Bar in Ocean plaza. You can see out the windows to the ocean, you can hear the music or activities going on in Ocean plaza without being in the middle of it, and that area goes nowhere so there is almost no foot traffic around you.

57 minutes ago, Hobie said:

Since Splendor has not yet left the harbor and is now accompanied by two tug boats, I'm guessing that she will return to the dock after Independence departs this evening.  Not sure if they will cancel the Splendor cruise or offer an even shorter (5 day) cruise (just guesses by me).

I agree that Carnival definitely made the correct decision to stay in Long Beach.

In 2010 or course, she was stranded at sea for over 72 hours without power, propulsion or electricity.  The guests were fed spam and were forced to poop in biodegradable bags since the toilets didn't work.  I remember that Carnival was very generous in their compensation at that time.

Carnival's obligations (after passenger safety of course) are to their shareholders (including me), so I'm sure that they made the correct decision to stay in Long Beach rather than to risk problems when off the coast of Mexico.

I'm glad that you are not offended by an offer of $50 OBC for a shortened cruise with 1/3 of the ports missed because of mechanical problems, but as a shareholder, I'm greatly offended for the harm to the reputation to a company which would treat their "guests" this way.

 

I'm looking forward to when the new Carnival Panorama  home ports in Long Beach, later this year.

 

As such a concerned shareholder, perhaps you should start learning the names of the ships Carnival has homeported at a port you can apparently see from your home. Carnival doesn't have a ship named Independence. Imagination is at port in Long Beach today. She is joined by Inspiration doing three and four day cruises.

20 minutes ago, Hobie said:

Splendor is still "stranded".  She cannot leave the harbor and she cannot return to her dock.

I don't want to be negative but when there is nowhere to go, I think it fits the definition of "stranded,

My home overlooks the Harbor of Long Beach so I"m keeping a close watch.  I really do want her to get repaired and want the guests of the ship to enjoy the rest of their cruise.

It's now 1:14 pm. on Sunday and she is still anchored in the harbor.  Making it worse is that it is now lightly raining (I hope the rain doesn't get worse).  Guests on the ship cannot now even enjoy the outside decks because of the rain.

 

Again, I apologize for my negative attitude.  What set me off is the offer of $50 OBC which I think is insulting.

The definition of stranded is to be left without means to move somewhere. That is the opposite of the case here. Should Carnival have opted to sail the ship with her limited propulsion she certainly could have became stranded. Instead they chose to stay in Long Beach to await a repair of the problem. They can move back to the dock as soon as the other ship leaves. While it is no consolation to those trying to enjoy their vacation in less than ideal conditions, I believe Carnival chose the most responsible course available to them in this situation. As for compensation, I will leave it to those on board to decide if they are appropriately compensated. It's certainly not my place to be "offended" by something that doesn't happen to me. 

I understand the disappointment with missing a port but I think the title of this post is beyond misleading. They aren't stranded by any means. By all accounts the opposite is true. The ship moved under her own power to an anchorage point. All accounts I have saw indicate the ship has full hotel functionality and the crew is running a full schedule of activities. In the cruising industry this has a special term, it's called a sea day. I'm very sorry these guests are missing a port and fully understand the worry about further changes to the schedule, but let's not pretend they are stranded.

1 hour ago, AAAAmerican said:

Sorry, the Best Rates and/or Cost basis is from an ASTA Travel Agencie/Agent.

 

Do you know who books the largest Volumes for Carnival?

 

An agent in New Jersey!

 

Oh BTW in NYC, NY last week a major refurb ship was renamed and as well obtained a new Godmother. But not even one mention on the View Media either??

 

After NYC makes Millions from having Two Ports in it too..

Sorry Boo HISS NYC

Uhmmm.... drugs are bad???

5 hours ago, Kermarkim said:

I've been on the Victory twice and absolutely loved both cruises.  Each time we had an amazing entertainment staff.  This last time which was Thanksgiving week 2018, we had Ryan Rose as our CD.  I'm now torn between him, Dr. E and Donkey.  I can't tell you who the best out of the three is, but I can tell you that Ryan Rose was probably the hardest working CD I have seen on any of my 10+ Carnival cruises.  I saw him everywhere on the ship and he was always entertaining us and trying to get folks involved and boy can he dance.  Dr. E and Donkey were great also, but I only remember seeing them at the general select times when CDs are usually putting on a show.  I saw Ryan in the hallways, in the dining room, in the buffet areas, in the elevators banks.  He was everywhere.  I'm saying all of that just to say, the entertainment staff is a big part of what makes a cruise great.  I have never had a bad team on Carnival so I am sure you will have a fabulous time. 

I will throw some love Ryan Rose's way too. He was great. Just like you said, he seemed to be everywhere but never acted too busy to stop and say a few words to people. But I was amazed at how many members of the crew we actually seemed to make a small connection with for it to just be a three day cruise. Not just Ryan but a girl named Katie from the Fun Squad was awesome, the Entertainment Director chatted with us for a long while one night, of course our wait staff was great but also one of the girls at the host stand came up with a nickname for our group and would come by several times to make a small joke or chat with us for a minute. I was surprised and impressed with the effort each crew person made considering we were only on the ship for three days.

The only thing I can really help you with is ship selection. Elation is part of Carnival's Fantasy class of ships, which is their oldest and smallest. She however did receive a pretty intensive dry dock back in 2017. Dream is the lead ship in Carnival's Dream class, which is their second largest and second newest class of ships. As far as features that you will find on Dream that you won't on Elation, they include the following food outlets- the Steakhouse (upcharge), Guy's Bar-B-Que (free), Seafood Shack (upcharge), Bonsai Sushi (upcharge), Mongolian Wok (free), and a free build your own pasta bar open at lunch. Dream also has the ever popular Alchemy Bar that the Elation does not. Dream has a pool side movie screen where they show movies at night. And if you are interest in the Spa services, those are much more extensive on the Dream. I will freely admit however, I am a bit biased considering the Dream is my favorite ship that I have been on so far. Having said all that though, Carnival does a very good job of providing the same level of service and the same "fun ship" experience on all their ships old and new. You will have a great time either way.

I treated myself to a birthday cruise last Dec on Victory with my best friend and we had a great time. The ship really is very pretty with all the blues and greens. I hope they keep some of that when they turn her into Radiance. The staff was great and I loved the ship being decorated for Christmas and all the additional programs that went with that. Have a great cruise!

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Would that not be nice.... at any rate, I will be at the SUNRISE naming ceremony and will ask.

I will be interested to hear what you find out. Like I said, I will be on the Mardi Gras for the ship not the ports, but I certainly hope this is not a sign of things to come for Grand Turk. When you mentioned earlier that there may be shoe left to drop that Carnival hasn't announced yet that might change a schedule the first thing that came to mind was the private development Carnival announced they were constructing on Grand Bahama Island. However the article I found stated it wasn't going to be ready until 2021 so I don't think that could be it unless they think they can get it done early but don't want to commit to scheduling port calls there yet.

I would probably go with the Dream for the simple fact the accommodations sound much more realistic on the Dream. I would recommend staying away from a trundle bed if at all possible. I would also recommend checking hotel prices if you are planning on arriving the night before because hotel rooms in both Galveston and New Orleans can be pricey at times. Have you looked at a cove balcony on the Dream instead of a regular balcony? I absolutely love the cove because of the extra privacy and I love being close to the water plus they are cheaper than a regular balcony room. I know a lot of people don't like to be down on deck two but for me it was ideal. The cove balcony has lots of shade and great views of the water. Either way you are going to have a great time, I loved both ships!

Just now, jimbo5544 said:

Thanks, I cannot conceive how they could physically do that?

That's what had me wondering. I double checked what I found on the website I used with Carnival's published intenararies for each of those ships and it all seemed to match. Luckily I booked this trip for the experience of a new ship and not the ports.

3 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

which date is this for?

I'm at work so I don't have it in front of me but I'm fairly certain it's Oct 29, 2020.

It's my Grand Turk day on my Mardi Gras cruise the last week of October, 2020.

I guess this will just be a good "stay on the ship" day. Maybe the lines for the Bolt roller coaster will be shorter. I booked the cruise simply to experience the Mardi Gras so I guess that is a good day to do that! Oh and for the people asking, I always use www.cruisetimetables.com  for my research. I have yet to find any inaccuracies on that site.

9 minutes ago, mets123 said:

One ship will be there from seven am to noon or one pm. Another will be there from two to seven pm. Kind of like San Juan on busy days.

That isn't the way Carnival has the ships scheduled. They have Elation from 8-4, Magic from 11-4:30, and Mardi Gras from 7-4. That is a ton of people there at one time.

Has anyone been in Grand Turk on a day with three Carnival ships all docked there at the same time. I thought there was only room for two ships to dock so will that mean one of them will have to tender or is there another dock nearby?

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

there are other options....  based on recent posts, most here would put Nassau not eh bottom of lists to stop at.

No argument about that. Just thinking maybe this Antigua dispute is possibly about more than just Antigua. Could be Carnival's way of flexing some muscle to other Caribbean ports as this port development company expands its footprint.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this this same company that has won the contract to redo Nassau's cruise port? After the Bahamas government turned down an offer from a group of cruise lines to redo the port themselves? Hard to imagine any cruise line dropping all their Nassau stops even if the cost goes up though.

17 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

YTD was the mid dining room in August and December. I don’t remember what that one is called. I had YTD and the only time I was in the aft dining room was for brunch.

 

 

I will confirm this was the same on both of my Dream cruises, last September and the September before. I will also mention because someone before mentioned vibrations in the aft dining room and I'll just throw out that I never noticed that during breakfast or brunch.

For anyone reading this topic and currently worried about their upcoming cruise on Victory, I wanted to take the time to share my opinion. I was on a three day cruise on Victory back in December and I cannot remember a single item that I can complain about. The food was good in the dining room and up on Lido. The ship was beautiful with all the blues and greens and the service was great. I had a wonderful cruise!

We used Lyft. I think it was around $15 and I couldn't imagine a simpler way to go.

On 10/17/2018 at 11:29 AM, ProgRockCruiser said:

Snort! 

Anyway, I am glad Carnival has completed the plans for fleet upgrades - just in time for the new LNG ships to come out, and we can all goo-gaa or moan-groan over those next.

I do wonder when Carnival will start rotating out some of their older ships - it has to happen at some point or another.  Fantasy is the oldest in the fleet, with the other Fantasy class ships following suit, and Sunshine getting in the mix.  

I dunno - Fantasy is "only" 28 years old, and goes into dry dock in Jan 2019.  Maybe another decade in her?

When I read the press release about this being the final phase of their $2 billion fleet enhancements it has me wondering about Carnival Miracle. She still hasn't received any of the Funship 2.0 upgrades. She is the only ship in the fleet other than Splendor (who will be in dry dock next year) not to receive these upgrades. Combine that with the fact that she is the only ship without any sailings past Feb 2020 and I feel like something is up with her. I am hoping there will be a big dry dock announced around that time and she will be brought up to date with the other ships. But I am not sure why they haven't did that already.

I am planning a short birthday cruise in November/December on the Victory so your review is very timely for me. Not a lot about Victory on here recently!

A friend just booked Glory. It stops in Roatan but doesn't mention Mahogany Bay. Does it go there even if it isn't mentioned?

Just checked on Carnival's website and looked at all the sailings for the Glory they currently have on sale. Every one that goes to Roatan says Mahogany Bay, so I'm not really sure what to tell you. I would say perhaps look at Carnival's website for the date in question and double check that because I am not seeing what you might be talking about.

How so? Personally I loved the Sunshine. I know reviews were split on it but it seems to be doing fine as far as being able to fill the ship up with people.

And at a higher price per passenger per day than either Triumph or Victory is doing. Saying the Sunshine conversion hasn't been a success for Carnival simply means someone isn't paying attention to reality.