notyours75

Great review! We were on the Breeze as well and the lady who fell ill was in the stateroom across the hall from us; pretty sure it wasn't just a broken leg from what we saw (heard it was an aneurysm).

I did not address this in the review but the general info (all rumor of course) seemed to be that the lady on deck 7, whom you were thinking about didn't make it and that the medical emergency that was evacuated was the broken leg. I spoke with the nurse as she was getting back onto the elevator from deck 7 with the crash bag and her responses while completely professional seemed to be the patient had passed away. Really no way to know for sure either way.

Thanks for the review! We are embarking this Sunday for the same itinerary.

 

I am one of those new (clueless - 1st cruise!) people and have been wondering about weather. Since I see you mention windy/cold several times, I thought you might be a good one to ask. What exactly should we be expecting during our cruise? Was the windy/cold normal for this itinerary this time of year?

 

Our family is coming from Kansas, so we are used to weather of all types but am definitely hoping for some sunny warm weather to offset this horrible cold we've been having.

 

I appreciate any insight as I try desperately to pack and plan appropriately. :D

Ideally it will be in the 60s in Galveston and go up as you head south. On our trip it was freezing (literally) in Galveston when we left was sunny but cool the next day and then warmed up slowly after that. Our problem really was the wind, it just blew all the time until the last day. When its 75 outside and its windy then it just feels cool to us. 75, sunny and little wind and it feels very nice. Also the ocean temp was generally cool. That's just one of the disadvantages of cruising this time of year, the fare is cheap but the weather can be less than ideal. You'll be fine, plenty to do inside on the ship.

Greeting fellow Whale Tail enthusiasts, lovers, haters, Heald Homies and just the plain curious,

We just returned from the January 14th sailing of the Carnival Breeze. Wanted to share our experiences in a short review for everyone to ponder on. There were three of us, DW, DD and myself. This was our 14yo daughter’s first cruise and our 5th (all with Carnival). We last cruised in January of 2016 on the Freedom and this was fourth cruise out of Galveston and live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The itinerary was Jamaica, Grand Cayman and then Cozumel and is a Sunday to Sunday sailing. Overall we had a wonderful cruise and but for the weather would have been nearly ideal. We don’t consider ourselves over picky or pretentious about things and can pretty much roll with whatever comes along. But I am a planner and made most of our excursion decisions and plans months ahead of time. I will just kind of break this down into the different categories and not a play by play day by day review.

The Ship

The Breeze is a beautiful ship. Her interior design really stands in stark contrast to usual Joe Farcus colors and décor. I really liked it. Softer colors,soaring atrium, etc. Besides the design I found the evolution of the cruise ship design quite interesting. We have previously been on the Destiny(before she became the Sunshine), the Celebration, then the Triumph (after the poop cruise) and the Freedom. Her Lido deck buffet was well laid out and having deck 4 to be able to move from front to aft without going through the Casino was nice. The Lanai wrap around deck 5 was ok, but the weather was so chilly it kept most people away from until towards the end of the cruise. From a balcony prospective I didn’t like the Lanai because it made the balcony much less private and obscured the view of the gangways in port. She was last dry docked in April and I saw very little in the way or rust or deterioration. In Cozumel we parked next to the Dream and she looked much worse the wear tome.

The Cabin

This was our 20th wedding anniversary so we decided to go big, and bring the kid. We chose an 8S Spa Balcony on Deck 11 port side, 11210. I liked the décor of the room very much as its colors were much softer and had some additional furnishings like super plush robes, Elimis bath products, etc but was otherwise identical in size and layout. I liked the easy access to the Cloud 9 Spa and Serenity, I otherwise disliked its physical location on the ship. Seems like everything we did was Deck XX, Aft and we constantly were hiking back and forth. (Our last two cruises we’ve done balconies on the rear in a sandwich deck.) According to my fitbit I hit 50 flights of stairs on the first day. Noise wise the room was fine, if your neighbors were quiet (and ours were) there was nothing else around to bother you. Engine noise and vibration was minimal. However on our two rough sea days the movement was quite noticeable that high. Easy access to the Deck 11 secret deck but you cannot move down any secret decks from 11.

Cabin Steward

Oliver from the Philippines and his unnamed assistant. One of the best we’ve had. Oliver was on the final cruise of his 7 month contract and his 13th year on ships. He was due for a 2 month vacation before he returned to the Breeze. Needless to say he was happy and cheerful this cruise. Did everything we asked ofhim and then some. Gave us the once or twice a day option, we choose twice and he as reliable. He did tell me that he had 30 cabins assigned to him and in the morning he had a full time assistant. In the evening he still had 30 cabins but only had an assistant half the time.

The Drinks

The Cheers package was really a no brainer for us. (Ok me really.) We did it last time on the Freedom before they upped the limits and added the non-alcoholic drinks. This was great. DW may drink a few each day but I viewed the 15 drink limit as a goal. I hit it twice. I roamed the ship far and wideseeking out the most expensive alcohol on board, then drinking it constantly. From a money prospective I was breaking even after 4 or 5 drinks. I didn’t drink a beer or anything that wasn’t “top shelf” all week. Here are the top three most expensive drinks I found: Grey Goose VX $20 – Alchemy Barand Steakhouse Bar but limited quantities, when it’s gone its gone. Roca Patron $16.50 – Blue Iguana TequilaBar. Never ran out and it’s on the menu. Hennessy Cognac $16.00 – SteakhouseBar. He said it was “Better than XO” and honestly at that point I don’t couldn’t remember anything more. We did find that if you were dressed nice anddidn’t act like a slob they were more than happy to let you set just at the steakhouse bar and drink. Pro-Tip: The staff often don’t know the prices of thedrinks, so asking them “for the most expensive liquor you got” often went no-where. Pick something you know is expensive then ask if they have something better. They do know what is the top shelf stuff andwhat is not. And a lot of the expensive stuff is not on the shelf where you can see it, you have to know where to findit and ask for it directly.

Honorable mention this cruise were the chocolate based drinks. The Ultimate XO, Chocotini, The DealCloser (Alchemy), Tiramisuini and the Chocolate Mocha Getaway were allgreat. (For some reason I really craved chocolate the whole trip.) Thumbs downto the Texas Tea in the Blue Iguana and the Caribbean Bloody Mary. (And I don’t like bloody mary’s to begin withbut I wanted to try again.)

Quick side note on tipping while on Cheers. Always got good service if I didn’t tip, but when cash money came out the service became excellent and their memories improved. Here is a pro-tip: Bring $2 bills, the staff don’t see them very often and they remember you quite quickly as the $2 bill guy. I would tip $1 per drink so together with DWthat was a $2 bill each time. Our best friend on the entire cruise was the bar waiter Ian from the Philippines. He was friendly and chatty on the first seaday and I gave him a rather substantial down payment on our drinks and he followed us around the ship the rest of the week, memorized our folio numbers, gave us recommendations on which bars had the best liquors. He was great and earned some closing gratuities as well.

The Food

Here is the really subjective part of cruising. Let’s be honest, I’m an overweight middle ageguy that is not known for being picky. Ilike to eat the good stuff but any port in a storm for my stomach. We ate in the MDR 6 out of the 7 nights and had the Chef’s table the other night. Wedid the sea day brunch everyday as well. I do like to sit down and be served. We did do the breakfast buffet a couple of times and it was good. Pro-Tip: There are two identical buffet setups, front and aft and the lines in the aft ones were always WAY shorter than the forward one. So go aft, towards the pizza.

Before I jump into the MDR and the fine dining here is a quickie food rundown. Guy’s Burgers – awesome,worth standing in line. Blue Iguana –yummy, especially for breakfast. Pizza –good as always and the lines were usually pretty short. Deli – was really good, became one of our favorite snack places, good variety was quite impressed. Hot dog with sauerkraut, how I miss you already. Room Service – didn’t use, had the new menu the second day. Guy’s BBQ,looked good, smelled good, just didn’t eat there. Pro-Tip Plaza Café on deck 5 does a nice continental breakfast early in the morning and its usually not the least bit crowded.

We had the early seating in the Blush Dining room. Great pair of waiters, Rafael from Costa Rica, and Ben from Tunisia. There was female server that helped them but she never chatted and never introduced herself. There is no dedicated barwaiter in the MDR now. Here is one areaI will take Carnival to task on. Ourservers were happy to get us drinks but they had to stop slinging plates, go get the drink and come back. They were rarely concerned with the drinks. Everyother section of the ship has bar waiters roaming the joint like they were hunting wild game on the African Savana. Why not the MDR? Yes the shots guy came by usually but those souvenir glasses aren’t on Cheers. This was probably the biggest “cut-back” Isaw on the ship. Wasn’t a huge deal but was noticeable.

Oh yes back to the food. I generally liked the dishes in the MDR. I typically avoid the steaks and cuts of meat that are grilled etc because in the past I don’t think they are that good. This cruise they were ok, not great, just good. However meats that were roasted or braised tended to be really good. The braised short rib was the hands down favorite of the cruise. The lamb shank was a close second. I usually ordered two apps and one main so I could try some things. The Vietnamese spring rolls were our favorite apps. Pro-Tip: If it says “cake” on the dish and you’re not looking at the dessert menu get out, run, and don’t go there. Absolute worst dishes of the cruise: salmon cake and crab cake.

Desserts. Oh how we loved you. If there is one area of food I saw zero failure it was the dessert menu. It was all good, even the low calorie, low whatever dishes were great. CCMC? Yes and mickey mouse that bad boy. Bitter N’ Blanc? Better N’ Ever. Chocolate Panna cotta, where have you been all my life? And you’re no added sugar? Cakes, pies, fruits, ice creams. It was all good. Chocolate cake balls from the buffet on embarkation day while sipping a Fun Ship Special. That’s my definition of paradise folks. I’m going to close my eyes and recall that moment for a bit.

BBL

Ok that was nice but let’s talk about specialty dining. We ate lunch in the Italian place on deck 11 on embarkation day. It was good but nothing I was hot to trot to come back to. We drank (quite a lot actually) in the steakhouse bar and they gave us some bread, it was good but that was all the eating we did there.

But the Chef’s table.

Our second Chef’s table experience, first for our daughter and first on this menu. It was again a fantastic meal, worth the $95/pp and the culinary highlight of theentire trip. My only complaint, and it’s significant was that they did the meal in the middle of the galley and I mean the MIDDLE of the galley in the MIDDLE of dinner service. The chef had to go around the table and repeat himself so we could hear about the dishes and I could not hear anyone else besides the person across from me (DW) and next to me (DD) who I’ve met and spoken with before. I regret not being able to really converse with the others, or at least hear them. Service was impeccable. Food wise I was so stuffed and full and I thought about hijacking that old ladies scooter and hoping it had the horsepower and juice to get me back to the room afterwards.

Embarkation/Debarkation. The two most dreaded parts of the whole trip. And I must say these were the two areas that just blew me away. This was our first cruise in a while without FTTF. (For 340days I stalked that website for FTTF, checking for it 5 or 6 times a day at least. I even caught myself accidently doing it this morning, and I still never got it.) So I was nervous about not being priority, again this was our 4th time through Galveston, we remember. Our appointment time was 12 to 12:30, we brought snacks for the wait and gave ourselves a pep talk about being happy and positive. We dropped our bags with theporter at 12:10 and drove across the street to Galveston Park N’Cruise (Great parking option, our 3rd time using them.) We made the sign of the cross and walked inthe door. At 12:45 we were sitting on the lido deck drinking a fun ship special eating chocolate cake balls wondering what the heck just happened. Now mind you we still had our luggage but OMG what did they do to this process? From the time we walked in the door until the time we sat down on the lido we never stopped moving. At 1:30 they made the announcement that rooms were ready, S&S cards in the door, party on.

So I thought we’d pay for that getting off the ship. We had zone 9 tags. The flyer said approx. time for our zone would be 10a. We waited in the theatreon deck 4. They called our zone at 8:45, we got a porter for our luggage (because we are lazy after a week on the ship) and he walked us through customs and we loaded the car up at 9:15 and drove off. Easy as could be.

Entertainment

There is such a wide variety of entertainment on the ship. We had Schwartz the Cruise director. I’m not normally swayed by our cruise directors. They are usually just some voice out there. Schwartz on the other hand just had a way about him. Hedidn’t sound all that special over the intercom but anything that he hosted and was there personally for he just really shined. He has a great way with people, he doesn’t come across like he’s ADHD off his meds and he just really personable to even talk to one on one. His Q&A he hosted the last day was so interesting, funny and informative. But his best, absolute best moment was in Cozumel. They had one big excursion coming in late and some stragglers. So Schwartz gets a big portable speaker and goes down to the dock and starts playing all these songs about running andhurrying up etc. But when the last drunken passengers come around the corner hestarts up Chariots of Fire and begins to run towards the passengers and then run with them in this exaggerated slow-mo movie style. At this point hundreds of people on the Breeze and Dream are leaning over every balcony and rail cheering them on. It was a highlight moment of the cruise.

Otherwise we did a little bit of everything. We did some shows (nothing much new since2016), played some trivia, learned how to place LCR (super fun), hung out, went to the comedy club, etc. We just did whatever we wanted and we enjoyed ourselves. Ourdaughter did the Circle C club and had a blast. Our shy introverted minecraft playing daughter stayed out until 1a everynight, got herself named prom queen and apparently did the teen lip sync contest. I hope we haven’t created amonster.

Ports and Excursions

Our first time in Jamaica (Montego Bay) and Grand Cayman. (And still waiting our firsttime for Grand Cayman). Cozumel we havebeen to several times. I usually don’t book excursions through Carnival but after reading a lot about Montego Bay and the area I decided to play it safe and book through Carnival and honestly try avoid having unsupervised contact with the locals. This turned out to be a really good decisionas the State department issued a travel advisory for Jamaica the very day wewere there. We did the All Inclusive Family Excursion to the Riu resort. The excursion was well organized and handled, no problems, enjoyed it much. It’s about a 25 minute bus ride to resort and lot of places we drove through were not pleasant looking. I had read the reviews ahead of time and it was about what I expected. It was quite crowded when we got there and had to walk almost to the end of the beach to find some lounge chairs. The jerk chicken that they grilled there in the beach shack was quite delicious. I wish there had been chair service but I knew in advance there wasn’t so it’s a bit of a walk to the pool and bar area, so get two drinks.

Now I liked how they had their bar setup. They had lots of drink bases already made upand then they just added whatever alcohol you wanted so the drinks were most definitelynot watered down. So if you like Pina Colada and Vodka in the rain then you can have it. And it allowed the kids to come up and order a frozen drink on their own. Pro-Tip: Be ready, this bar is B-U-S-Y and when it’s your turn to order know what you want or they will skip you and come back again. After lunch alot of the resort residents wandered off and the pool chair areas opened up and we moved to the pool. The water was cold was our only complaint. In the hot summer it would have been great, but it was barely 80 degrees and mostly sunny. At the appointed time I was proud to see everyone had managed to stagger back to the front desk and get on thebus without incident. Back to the ship and onboard with plenty of time to shop at the 10 stalls they had outside.

Grand Cayman. So what do you do when you pull up to Grand Cayman and the wind is blowing 30 knots and the seas are swelling six feet? You turnaround and head the other way. We missed the port due to the weather and to our all 4,254 passengers on our ship’scredit and I did not hear a one complain about the reasoning for it. Everyone was disappointed for sure, but everyone agreed that getting into a tender boat under those conditions wouldhave been crazy and even had we made ashore I think we would have been miserable. All other cruise ships scheduled to stop in Grand Cayman that day skipped it as well.

So the captain tells us we are just going to head to Cozumel where we will arrive two hours early at 8a and we head off at about 16 knotswith the other ships. A short time later I notice that the ship is rocking and rolling now and we have left the otherships behind and we are now going 22 knots. Then the captain gets on the intercom and tells us that we have amedical emergency on board and we are headed full speed to Cozumel where we will arrive at 1a but cannot leave the ship until 8a still. Lots of green people who can’t walk straight that day. I compensated by drinking, others took meds and went to bed early. Your cruise your choice I guess. Word around the ship was that a lady had fallen and broken her leg so glad it wasn’t life threatening condition anyways.

So to Cozumel. The weather looks much better, it started off mostly cloudy but slowly cleared through the day. It was the kinda day inthe low 70s where if the sun is out its nice and warm, but if the sun is behind the clouds it’s chilly. A co-worker hadrecommended an excursion done by cozumelboattrip.com. It is a sailboat called the Adelaide. Forgive me if I don’t know the specs but theycan have up to 15 guests on board. We chartered the whole thing for just the three of us. Its $75/pp with a $300 minimum for a 4 hoursail, includes lunch and drinks. It was fantastic. After being on a ship with 4,200 needy people it was so nice to have some peace and quiet. Dario was the captain, his first mate was his adult son and Dari was the hostess, an American ex-pat living in Cozumel. Great day, great people. They will do whatever you want to do, snorkel,swim, sail around, you tell them they make it happen. We did some snorkeling. The water cold but they had wet suits and allthe guy. Dario’s son actually got in thewater and acted like your personal guide pointing out the different sea life aswe lead us along the reef. I just cannot say enough good things about Dario and Dari. All arrangements done through email, no deposit, pay cash at the end ofthe trip. Then Dario walked us out tothe front of the marina and hijacked us a cab in the middle of the street and back we went. ($8 each way) If it had been 10 degrees warmer it would have been a perfect day.

Our final day at sea at last gave us some nice weather and we finished the cruise strong with a great day at sea.

Random thoughts and observations

We had the value internet service, it worked ok, about 3G speed, glad we had it. Casino: Worst smelling casino I’ve ever encountered, probably because all the smokers were trapped inside because of the weather. That smell is never, trust me, never coming out. We avoided it like it had the norovirus. Guests: Such a wide range of guests from all walks of life. From seasoned diamond cruises topeople who were so clueless and lost. That being said there seemed to be a fairly low level of complaining. People were generally happy and the crew was eager to please. We were seated with awonderful couple and their daughter from North Dakota. I don’t see why everyone wants their ownprivate table in the MDR. Our last threecruises we’ve had nothing but success with MDR table mates. Carnival does a good job, somehow, ofmatching you up. TV: Ok Carnival, you’ve cut back too muchhere. While I enjoy the 10 Carnivalchannels the five remaining TV channels, 3 of which are CNN, aren’t quite sufficient. And this is a sailing out of Texas, home of George W and HW, they like their Fox news here. If there is one complaint I did hear, it wasthey wanted Fox news. Serenity: We went up there once and it was so windy as to be miserable. This is a common problemI’ve seen on 3 ships now, I think Carnival really needs to think about how toshelter the area. Waterworks: Too windy, too cold, looked fun but we didn’t. Lido deck pools: Wasn’t all that crowded because of the weather, but I can see it being crazy full on nicer weather. Was also too loud and party’ish for us. We only passed through. Rear tides pool: much nicer area, fairly protected from thewind. Loved the aft wake views. Our place to hang out, weather permitting.

The Crew

John Heald talks about the fantastic brilliant crews they have at Carnival, and he is not lying. The crew works so hard to make people happy. I saw a crew member who was cleaning a railing overhear a passenger asking aloud where she could find a fork. (one ofthe clueless ones) He stops what he is doing, goes and gets the lady a fork then goes back to cleaning. If you need or want something the crew will go out of their way to make it happen. I saw F&B officers busing tables, red scarf chefs making sandwiches, bartenders remember how you like your drink. I miss the ship, I miss the ocean but most of all I’ll miss the crew andhow they took great care of me and my family during our cruise. Always lots of talk on CC about the cut backson Carnival and how it’s all going to hades and everyone should just gosomewhere else. I didn’t sense that atall, overall and very positive experience.

Final Pro-Tip: Do your research, have reasonable expectations of what Carnival is, how they work and what your getting for your money. You want some light jazz music playing on the lido deck while a guy in a tux serves you 5 star french cuisine without any children present? Your not gonna like Carnival. The only thing that can ruin your cruise is you!

Well this went longer than I thought, but I’d be happy toanswer any questions you have about our trip and or observations.

We got the ship, medal, champagne and strawberries when we contacted him for a cruise in 2016. We contacted him again this week and he promised to "send us something fun". Can't wait.

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We are at 22 days and leave this weekend on a 7 day breeze cruise. I noticed about 2 weeks ago they changed us to gold. Just be patient

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They were out yesterday when I checked but tonight I just got 4 $100 gift cards.

Very excellent spread sheet Alaskan Joe!

We have done Cheers our last cruise and it made for a very nice cruise. I really enjoyed not having to "budget" and calculate our drinks tab the whole trip. One of my co-workers and his wife were on the Valor last weekend, he texted me before he even left port and said they were 8 drinks in and I told him to buy the package. A few days later he gets off the boat and texts me that he didn't but he should have for A) they would have saved some money B) enjoyed it more C) drank more!

On our 2016 Freedom cruise with Cheers we had to sign for each drink but I don't recall seeing each line item on my S&S account unless I added an additional tip, which I usually tip in cash if at all on Cheers. (a whole other thread). In fact our favorite bar tender had memorized our folio numbers and if they were busy would just make our drinks and then bring the receipts by later for us to sign. Our S&S account would have been like 10 pages long if each drink was a line item. I think I would have remembered that.

https://carnival-news.com/2018/01/09/carnival-cruise-line-returns-to-st-thomas-with-a-visit-by-carnival-glory-earlier-today/

Looks like Carnival has started docking there again. All future cruises scheduled to St. Thomas should be good to go.

I agree. Pick one bar to be your go-to place and try to get the same bartender. On your first visit to the bar, introduce the Bartender to President Jackson. You will get what you ask for for the rest of the cruise.

Your so right, President Jackson makes the best friends. You will get good service with the prepaid tips, but a few Honest Abe's and the occasional Alexander can also make headways in the service areas.

Tip your bartender well and they will take good care of you within their abilities. I cannot see why they would not make you a virgin margarita and put the tequila on the side.

That is not the only one not passing and i bet John Heald will not share that info on his FB page.

Well duh, he's not paid to share bad news about his employer. I love John's page but he's not an independent source. He's there to project a positive brand image for Carnival.

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We consider gratuities to be part of the cruise fare and try to prepay everything we can prior to the cruise. This minimizes the sticker shock and worries about money while on the cruise. We've been on 4 carnival cruises and have never experienced an issue that would make us consider reducing them.

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I have heard that you can only drink Texas bought liquor only while in port but then it opens up to all liquor once in international waters. so maybe Carnival does not buy the liquor from Texas or they dont want to provide a package and limit the types of alcohol until they hit international waters.

 

I might be wrong but this is what I have read

It is a tax issue and a combination of how state alcohol rules work. Maybe RCCL is employing some type of work around. That being said on Texas based ships you will notice on embarkation day that the liquor bottles set out are fewer in number and they all have a Texas tax stamp on them (usually a little blue square). The bars even have cabinets labeled "texas alcohol" etc. Any drinks you order here you will pay Texas taxes on. As soon as the ship enters international waters all those bottles get locked up in the Texas cabinet and new bottles (and a lot more of them) come out that do not have the tax stamp and the same drink you bought earlier is now cheaper because you don't pay the taxes.

Most places will gladly accept use dollars but the exchange rate can be kinda harsh. The current rate is 20 pesos to $1 USD. Its not uncommon to see that at 15 or even 10 to 1 at touristy places. Some places have a menu in both USD and pesos, compare the prices. Alcohol also impairs ones ability to exchange money correctly. Ironically most places will accept credit cards and you will get the best exchange rates with your CC, some credit cards may charge a foreign transaction fee. If you do plan on using a credit card, do tell your bank/cc company in advance where you will be a when. We've never had a problem, but we do mostly use cash.

Never have cruised on Carnival but on other cruise lines the drink packages are often on sale or heavily discounted when combined with the internet packages. Does Carnival offer special deals on Cheers and wifi? If we order now to save on the 2018 price increase and a deal is offered can we cancel the purchased package in order to reorder it at the the discount? RCCL allows that.

I have not heard or seen of any Carnival discounts on Cheers in quite some time. However I don't see why you could not cancel it and order it again if the price changed. However with the recent price increase I think it would be highly unlikely that Carnival would increase the price then have a sale or deal anytime in the near future over it. That would upset people. The discount/sale is that pre-purchasing it is cheaper than buying it on board.

Carnival does offer a discount for pre-purchasing internet access as well but again I've never seen them do any type of combo deals.

Dream class ships and the Vista are $95. The others are $75. No idea why there is a difference, the menus are the same. Perhaps someone with knowledge of the matter will chime in.

The menu is the same for all ships in the fleet. It changed in the last year so every ship should be on it now. It will be some variation of this:

I highly recommend the experience. Worth it.

I wounder if the Victory or the Triumphed will get Sunshined?

Yes, according to information from GoCCL there Triumph is currently scheduled for a two month dry dock period in early 2019. That would be in line with major modifications like they did with the Destiny/Sunshine.

Carnival Triumph

Previous Dry-Dock: 2016 Year of Next Scheduled Dry-Dock: 2019

Notes: The Carnival Triumph will be returning to dry-dock in 3/2/19 - 5/1/19, according to GoCCL. This dry-dock seems long and could give time for extensive work and changes, but we do not yet officially know what Carnival is doing with the ship. We may not know until closer to the dry-dock.

I'm a traditionalist. I like the early dining option. Same dining team, same time, table is waiting. We eat in the MDR every night unless we are doing chef's table or steakhouse. When you have a really good dining team this makes for a great cruise as they quickly learn your names, your preferences, even have your drinks ready. I've found the early dining doesn't interfere with the entertainment schedule and if there is something specific you need to get to we'd tell the wait staff and they would ensure we'd be out by then. With YTD dining its just a crap shoot on the wait time, unless you are purposely going early or going late your going to encounter the wait list and if your going to go early or late on purpose you might as well do the set dining.

<soapbox>Don't select YTD dining then come to CC and complain about having to wait for a table. If you want a table ready, pick the set dining times.</soapbox>

Kudos to Carnival and RCCL for their enhanced screening. Here is a recent article by a maritime law attorney on what exactly they are doing now.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2017/11/articles/crime/do-cruise-lines-permit-registered-sexual-offenders-to-cruise/

I enjoy the all inclusive feel it gives to the cruise. Drink what you want, when you want it. Try new drinks, don't feel bad if you don't like it. Drink top shelf all the way. And best of all no constantly checking the S&S account to see what the budget is. I will admit paying that much all at once is painful. But I do that before the cruise, use gift cards from Allstate bought with a debit card that gives cash back.

Still bored? I have about a dozen reviews in my signature.

Jamman54 you should put all those together in a book. I love reading them, but I hate having to constantly click next page. Love your reviews and pics! When is your next cruise?

Both Texas and NY have state laws that, to make a complex matter simple, prohibit the selling of alcohol in this manner. So they technically wait until the next day then "sell" it to you, even if you've pre-purchased it. Basically they are waiting until you are in international waters. On our last cruise out of Galveston I noticed that each bar had cabinets labeled "Texas Alcohol" as Texas requires each bottle to have a tax stamp. Once they were in international waters all those bottles went into the cabinet and new bottles (and a lot more of them I might add) came out.

We have not received any upsell offers since we started using a TA. I think all contacts have to go through the TA. Carnival will not even accept payments on the cruise fare directly when I tried once.

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