Earthworm Jim

Assuming you weren't planning on removing your $16 (or more) gratuities, you didn't really pay an additional $1440. You paid an additional $1056, because the $384 in gratuities you were going to pay anyway.

It didn't cause me a problem a year ago when I wrote that and we used PreCheck. As others have said, apparently that's just the way the airlines do it and it is completely normal.

Aren't antiviral meds prescription? If so, you'd have to find a doctor to prescribe them as a preventative without even having had an exposure.It doesn't sound like you knew you had an exposure to Covid until you came down with it. I guess it would be easy to just lie to your doctor and tell them you had a known Covid exposure before the cruise even started to get a prescription from them.

No need in that yes, you'll almost certainly get away with filling your bottle directly. But they do ask you to use a clean cup.

I don't see chicken noodle soup being many people's late night go-to food, but what do I know?

It may not even really be a port construction issue. Our June 2023 cruise was supposed to stop in Sibenek, Croatia the day before Venice (Chioggia actually). We had received a notice a month or two before saying that the stop in Sibenek was canceled due to port construction. However, on the ship the Cruise director said that wasn't the reason at all. The real reason was to get into the Chioggia port, the ship had to arrive at high tide. The timing of the tides was such that they couldn't make it to Chioggia in time had they stopped in Sibenek. Your Split cancellation question sounds suspiciously similar.

Unless the rate is going to change before you sail, as seems to be the case here, there's no advantage to prepaying gratuities anyway. If you have the money to pay them in advance, just save that money to pay for them after the cruise when the credit card bill comes. Or pay them with cash or your debit card onboard, if you prefer.

Yeah, I don't think you'll find it that different.

Being platinum has nothing to do with it. Carnival has enough data on you and your friends to decide whether offering either one of you a Cheers promotion is likely to be profitable for them. Maybe your friends never spend $200 on drinks so getting them to drop $200 on Cheers is a win for Carnival. And maybe they know you do spend over $200 on drinks, so no go. Or, more likely, they know that you always pay for Cheers at full price, so why should they offer you a discount and take less money?

While ours was a guarantee, the couple were were traveling with picked their cabin and they got the offer too. I guess as long as the ship is oversold anyone might get a move over offer. We got our offer 8 days before the start of the cruise on June 16th. We also have a 2 day pre-cruise extension in Rome, but I suspect that didn't factor into the timing of the offer at all. Our itinerary is Italian Sojourn BTW.

Yes, except their offer didn't include the $3000 to make up for cancelled flights. They had booked Viking Air, so I'm assuming that airfare will be refunded with the cruise cost, therefore there was no need to throw in additional money to compensate for potential loss of their flight.

To expand on what Zalusky said it's: "We would like to offer you the opportunity to sail on a River or Ocean itinerary of 10 nights or less, departing in 2023, 2024 or 2025, instead (see terms for exclusions)." Current cruise is only 7 days. The exclusion language is "Offer is to move to any 7 - 10 night River or Ocean itinerary departing in 2023, 2024 or 2025, excluding Mekong, Egypt, Mississippi & Australia itineraries. Stateroom upgrade will be to best available cabin category, up to a Penthouse Jr Suite (PS1) for Oceans, or up to an Explorer Suite (ES) for Rivers." Maybe we'll get Zalusky's cabin, since ours was unassigned. But since we had a D1 and he had a PV, I don't think that's going to happen! As Zalusky said, it was hard to say no. But we're traveling with another couple and didn't want to bail on them at the last minute. Had it just been my wife and I going, we would have taken the offer. I sort of wish I never got the offer. I was perfectly content with what we had, but now I feel like I'm missing out on a sweet deal.

Not necessarily. We just got a move over offer for our cruise next week: Should you decide to accept this offer, you will receive the following:* 100% refund of your paid cruisefare Complimentary cruisefare for your new sailing USD$3,000.00 refund to assist with canceling your independent travel arrangements Complimentary Viking Economy Air for your new sailing Complimentary Silver Spirits Beverage Package on your new sailing Stateroom Category Upgrade (Up to a Penthouse Jr. Suite on Ocean sailings; up to an Explorer Suite on River sailings) Not sure how to interpret that $3000 "refund" offer. ("Guests will receive a USD$3,000.00 refund to help cover costs of independent travel arrangements.") Is it only a refund in the amount of a loss on your flight cancellation? Or are they just giving you $3000, in which case I wouldn't have termed it a refund? Either way, it would have been enough to cover our airfare if it was non-refundable. Interestingly, our travel companions used Viking Air, so their move over offer didn't include the $3000 part. I assume because their Viking Air airfare would be part of the Viking refund. I think everything else was the same. (We didn't take the offer)

They had a pretty good book selection in the library on Magic a couple of months ago. I guess it depends on the ship.

Is loading the fun play on your sign n sail card any different than getting a $25 onboard credit? That is, could you use it for something other than the casino if you wished? (I'm thinking of the Platinum $25 fun play you get in lieu of the tournament entry)

I'm not sure if this is true during peak summer season, but Carnival has been giving a lot of free cruises to casino players. Which reduces the availability for those who don't get casino offers. But I guess that still would be good news for shareholders. If it wasn't more profitable to let casino players cruise free, they wouldn't be doing it.

Obviously, follow your medical professional's advice and don't listen to some random idiot on the internet (me), but with the potential for rebound after taking Paxlovid I'd be worried that might happen around your 13 day mark when you leave. While if let to run it's normal course it would likely be over by then. But better safe than sorry if you're a person who is at greater risk from Covid. (Which is a lot of us cruisers for age reasons alone) And if you really want to go, without a test to board there is nothing to stop you to be honest. But your fellow cruisers sure hope you don't go that route if still positive.

If the viral infection in question is Covid-19, which is what people are most worried about, you can wash your hands all you want and it is unlikely to have any impact on your chances of catching it. For norovirus though, it's certainly good advice.

It seems to me the posters in this thread aren't being sufficiently cynical about human and corporate nature. Of course Viking doesn't want to admit how many Covid cases. It's bad for bookings and customer satisfaction Of course passengers don't want to take a voluntary Covid test and risk being quarantined during their cruise Of course Viking doesn't want to make those tests mandatory. Again, bad for business. It just as long as you pretend you don't have Covid, they'll pretend with you. Masking and contact tracing would disturb the predominant mutually agreed upon mass delusion the Covid is behind us. That would also be bad for business. While I don't disagree that those measures would indeed reduce the spread of Covid onboard, it's hardly surprising that they aren't happening.

Well, you could have only eaten half of your full portion, and still had room for an appetizer/dessert. Since all the plates are prepared in advance, they probably think it isn't worth the trouble and time to prepare a special half portion. They'd rather serve you a full portion and just throw half of it out when you're done.

Maybe you're right, but I assume the Carnival brass knows what the numbers say and are acting accordingly. I do wonder if all these casino players, having come to expect they'll cruise for free, will be willing to pay for cruises again in the future. It may be a difficult perk to wean people off of.

We had early cabin availability (cabin done, cards in mail slot, we could have stayed if we wanted) on our cruise a couple of weeks ago in a suite. So there are still occasions, at least for suite guests, where your cabin is ready when you board.

Hey, if we are going to trust that management knows what they are doing, we have to trust that includes that it's a financial plus to give cruises to casino players, no?

Well, yes and no. The U.S. officially entered the war when Germany declared war on them. Not any doing of Churchill's. But you could argue that the U.S. had been fighting a limited undeclared war prior to that point, and Churchill had influence there. And perhaps that undeclared war played a part in Germany's willingness to make it a declared one.

Here's a Steakhouse menu from the Carnival site: https://www.carnival.com/-/media/images/explore/dining/menus/steakhouse-menu.pdf