Earthworm Jim

I see you were posting much the same idea while I typed the above.

It sounds like your thinking of a cruise like at a hotel or resort where you'd expect the wifi to be included, which isn't an unreasonable comparison on the surface. But to my mind it's more akin to the wifi on flights, which you typically have to pay for. At least on the airlines I fly. Despite the naysayers like me opining we shouldn't all have to pay for included wifi, I think in the long run you're going to be right. As the older generation fades and it's just the younger generation sailing who consider online access as non-negotiable, it will be included. We're just not there yet.

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I just made dining reservations for my June 2024 cruise, and I haven't made final payment yet. I used the link Bizziecruiser provided above. This will be my 4th cruise. If that's the difference, you only 1 cruise away! Edit: The Captain's Circle benefits page says you need to be platinum to get "early access to Dine My Way SM reservations". I'm only Ruby. But it let me do it. Weird. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/cc/captains-circle-loyalty-benefits.pdf

That's odd, because I just checked the prices on the other brand to my March 2024 Carnival cruise and my February 2025 Princess cruise and they were pretty comparable.Maybe there's a much bigger price disparity other times of year, or in different cabin categories. (I looked at cheapest non-obstructed balcony)

I think the difference is much less stark than that comparison. More Buick vs. Chevy. Looking at a comparable 7 night western Carnival cruise to the Princess one I have booked in Feb 2025, I'm seeing: Carnival Venezia balcony starting at $879 Sky Princess balcony starting at $918 Not dramatically different, at least for this single example. And if you get the drink packages, Princess actually saves you money there. Carnival is $70 a day with gratuity, and Princess Plus Package is only $60 a day, and they don't charge a gratuity. But it's really even better than that. The Plus package includes your $16 a day staff gratuities too, so you're really only paying $44 a day for drinks. And wifi is included in the package too.

Personally, my number 1 casino wish is to have a house edge that is a negative number. Obviously, I will never get my wish.

From a strict health standpoint, all but the most disciplined eaters and drinkers of us are probably much better off not taking a cruise at all.

Wait, isn't your Christmas June 25th? 😉

I think it changes my behavior, but only slightly. Mostly for wine at dinner, which I don't get without a package. That doesn't apply to the OP's concern about bars being busy though. But there also might be once a day when I get a drink I wouldn't have otherwise. Even if it's just a soda.

On the flip side, elevators and stairwell lead to more foot traffic, hall conversations, and elevators dinging too. So it's a matter of what you value more.

I don't know that midnight is that critical. I do it in the morning when I get up and typically get a check-in time around 10:30. So as long as that is early enough for you, I don't think it's necessary to stay up if you aren't a night owl.

I highly doubt that any extra info includes your losses/winnings for the cruise though. Carnival doesn't want to tell you that, and most gamblers don't really want to know either.

Are you sure you didn't just leave the video playing as you unpacked?😉

And that's a problem why? I thought that's what we are fighting against: Those cruisers who, knowing gratuities are optional, don't pay them.

Aren't the Lido servers the same wait staff as the dining room? At least at breakfast or lunch I've seen my dining room waitstaff working, unless I'm remembering from another line. I've always assumed they have some sort of rotational schedule to staff during dinner.

Mostly correct but there are a few things with heating elements that have an exemption and are allowed. (hair dryers, flat irons, curling irons)

I think that's the Church of Scientology ship. Google led me to an old CNN article which suggests you really don't want to be aboard that one.

Zero. But do great ships have repeated propulsion problems? I have already acknowledged things may be fine while onboard. That doesn't make it great ship, unless you're looking at it as any cruise ship is a great ship, which is kind of true. I apologize for making this a much bigger issue than it deserved to be and I'll say no more about it. It just seemed odd to say perhaps the least reliable ship in Carnival's fleet is a great one.

Isn't that a bit of a "Besides that Mrs.Lincoln how was the play" situation? She may be a fine ship to be on when all is going well. But if she isn't reliable I don't think you can say she is a great ship.

Oh duh! When you said you were driving from the west coast, I thought "That's a hell of a long drive for a cruise!" But you didn't mean THAT west coast.

If I had paid extra to be on the inaugural May 2nd cruise, I'd cancel and book it for some other time when you're not paying the inaugural premium for a cruise that isn't even inaugural. We're well before final payment date. People say they'd have been OK with it had the inaugural been delayed. Presumably because then you'd at least have gotten your money back and wouldn't be paying for something you aren't getting. Canceling at least accomplishes that.

I would assume, yes, they would look at those things. Wouldn't you if you were booking online?

Is she really a great ship? I thought she's had chronic, intermittent propulsion problems over the years. (November 2023, June 2023, December 2022, and August 2021. She's only been in service since December 2019) I thought she was Carnival's problem child ship.

This is entirely speculation on my part, and I could be totally wrong, but I'd guess only maybe 50% of cruisers get travel insurance. It's probably higher than average among Cruise Critic members, but probably lower for short, inexpensive cruises like the OPs. (Though their's was at holiday time, so perhaps not that inexpensive) Recovering the cost of the cruise isn't what you want travel insurance for anyway. Say the insurance is 7% of the trip cost. That means you'd have to file a 100% of cost claim for one out of every 15 cruises to come out even on the trip cost. Unless you're likely to have to cancel for work or health reasons, it may not be worth it for cruise cost coverage. The reason it is worth it is for the medical coverage.