amysb

I don't see this mentioned in the comments, so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.  I love the cove balcony for the closeness to the sea.  But I am someone who loves to sit out on my balcony after dark.  Although I expected I wouldn't be able to see the sky very well (even though I did major research and booked a cabin between lifeboats!), I was not prepared for the constant light raining down on you from Deck 5, or whatever deck applies (I was on Carnival Breeze specifically, but this should apply to any Cove balcony).  I could not relax out on the balcony at night as I felt I was always in a spotlight. I personally would not book one again, but certainly lots of people love them.

On 7/7/2021 at 12:25 PM, firefly333 said:

Lol I had a picture of him but everyone was so not interested I didnt bother. Seems like everyone is going to the comedy club. ..forget the piano bar, enjoy.

FYI, Marty was fantastic!  Thanks again for that tip.

On 6/18/2021 at 1:42 PM, firefly333 said:

Vista has a pasta bar or pasta station, or so I'm told. I dont like pasta but carnival says it's there. 

 

We have a lot of good lunch choices. Luckily I can skip the pasta and not go hungry.

 

I also have the picture of the piano bar singer, I posted above, but I guess no one is interested in entertainment. 

I for one was very interested to hear about the Piano Bar player, Fire, so thanks for that info!  DH and I are on the Vista on the 24th of July & I'm sure will be spending time in there.

On 5/13/2020 at 8:18 AM, vacruizer said:

Sail date of 4/27. Carnival cancelled the cruise 3/30 and I requested refund on 3/31. Carnival called my TA on 4/7 to notify that I’d requested a refund. 
 

I’ve gotten nothing back. Not even the prepaid shore excursion. I’m really trying to be patient.  But am also getting frustrated that Carnival won’t give any communication at all on this. Even a simple mass email to folks with refunds pending saying they are working on it. Instead my TA has been told when calling Carnival they aren’t even allowed to answer questions on a refund status. 

My sail date was 4/11.  I requested a refund when the cruise was cancelled (I already had 3 other cruises booked & paid for in 2021, and wasn't ready to book a fourth, LOL).  I cancelled shore excursions, steakhouse, internet and a water order a couple of weeks before that (March 20-25, or thereabout).  I just received the refund for the excursions, etc today.  Hopefully the cruise refund won't be too far behind.

It doesn't surprise me.  I cruised on Princess in November and had to prepay for specialty dining.  I think Carnival is just following suit.  It probably reduces the number of no-shows.

We didn’t care for ours, but it seems like we’re in the minority here.

I, too, am in the minority. The cove balcony was great during the day, but the amount of light pouring down from the promenade deck above you kept the balcony almost bright as day all night. I much prefer higher up, and a dark balcony at night to see the stars a bit better.

I personally have never seen Carnival make that distinction, though I have sailed on only three different Carnival ships.

 

Have you done a Chef's Table on other lines? I would love to hear a comparison.

DH and I have done the Chef's Table on Carnival and Holland America. Holland America does a wine pairing with each course, and the sommelier and chef would both speak before each course - Carnival has the chef explaining, but your only wine choice was "red" or "white" and it was the same throughout the meal - not bad wine, but nothing like HAL. Both experiences were amazing; Holland America was a bit more elegant. I'm looking forward to trying the new menu on the Vista in November!

Much to my surprise, the America's Cup excursion disappeared from my booking. I originally booked it in October, 2017 for my November, 2018 cruise, as we had done it before and enjoyed it immensely. While checking my booking this morning (still trying to decide what to do in Jamaica), I noticed my Cozumel day showed no excursions! I find where I was credited back the cost the end of June. No notifications at all from Carnival, which seems odd. Wouldn't you think there should be some notification? Dang it. :(

Thank you, Julie, for such an excellent review! It's been quite a lot of fun getting the perspective from someone "across the pond". I hope Mark enjoys his time on board and I hope to meet him on a cruise sometime. You are all a lovely family and I'm so glad you had a great newbie cruise!

Platinum gets priority boarding, so you may show up as you like, regardless of your check-in time. Make sure your boarding pass and luggage tags have "Priority" printed on them.

Thanks for sharing this! I just checked my next booking, and it had switched back to twin (I made a payment last week). I'll have to keep an eye on it, for sure.

Is this an actual story or just sarcasm?! I can't tell. Nobody would seriously snap pictures of the maitre d' to complain to Carnival because someone showed up in shorts, right?! No freakin' way!!!!!

No, it really happened. And I take photos of everyone's name on a cruise that may show up in my surveys, as the likelihood of me remembering names a week after a cruise is usually remote. And the majority of my surveys are glowing compliments of people who have gone above and beyond, as was this survey other than this one issue.

As I thought I made clear, this issue wasn't the shorts. The issue was being brushed off by the maître d' and my post was in response to someone asking why we don't speak to the maître d'. We did and nothing happened.

I'm beginning to think that I'm in the minority when it comes to NOT worrying about what others are wearing at dinner time. Hardly a week goes by without someone commenting on how others are dressed, and how that "ruined" their dining. Maybe the time is long over due to do away with Elegant Night and go with either "Business Casual" or "Cruise Casual". And, instead of coming on here and whining about how certain other passengers are dressed at dinner time, why not voice your complaint directly to the Maitre D?

On our last cruise in November on the Conquest, we did just that. We asked our headwaiter to speak with the maître d' when a women came in on the first Elegant night in cutoffs and a t-shirt. Instead of coming to speak with us, the waiter just returned to say the woman had lost her luggage. I was upset, not so much about the attire, but because the maître d' couldn't be bothered to come speak with us. As for losing luggage, we had already had an evening with the shops open and a full day in Nassau, so to me it sounded like a canned, phony reply that they use for everyone.

Upon leaving the dining room, we stopped at the hostess desk and asked once again to speak with the maître d', and he came to meet us - actually he was an assistant maître d' and I made a point of snapping a photo of his picture with name so I could be sure to include him in my survey. He gave us the same runaround the waiter had, and my logical argument about shops open & Nassau apparently meant nothing to him, at which point I told him that since the rules don't appear to matter, I was going to go smoke on my balcony.:evilsmile: And no, I did not do that :halo:.

My survey pointed out this issue in a very calm and rational manner. Did it ruin my cruise? Of course not. I normally don't even notice what people are wearing - DH was the one who noticed and pointed it out to me & chose to ask for the maître d'. I only got involved and ticked off by the brush-off.

So, since the maître d' chose to ignore our comments, I choose to come here and whine on CC. ;)

We were in the Renoir in November for Anytime Dining.

I'm very much in the minority, in that I did not like my Cove balcony that much. During the day it was fine, and being so close to the water was really cool, but I've always liked to sit on the balcony at night and enjoy the dark, maybe see some stars, etc. It hadn't occurred to me that you're below the promenade deck, which is lit up all night long. It was much too bright out there for me at night. Now I'm back up to my Lido deck balconies, and am much happier.:D

I'm wondering the same thing. He'll be on our cruise in May. I haven't heard of him, so I hope someone can share.

I was a little disappointed to see that Chris the flying Scotsman will be on his break during the time we sail. I was looking forward to having him as our CD.

I'm also interested in hearing what anyone knows about Lee Mason - oddly enough we're sailing on Breeze next month and Vista in November, and he'll be the CD on both ships, LOL. Not that I have ever been overly impacted by a CD - some are less irritating than others, but as I'm not typically getting involved in a lot of the shipboard activities the CD is not much of a concern to me.

Generally, Carnival ships sail full. I've never heard of upgrades at the port or the first sea day. I'm sure there will be exceptions posted, but I haven't even gotten an upsell offer prior to the cruise in quite a few years. But then, I generally book the cabin I want to begin with. :)

My group did this last year. The walk is a bit long for inactive desk-jockeys like myself, but my DH (60+) and I (late 50's) managed OK. You do have to go outside the port. There are some stairs, and a hill to walk up on pavement before cresting the hill and walking down to all the non-cruiseline tour guides. I believe you can also get a taxi for $2.00 per person to drive you over the hill, but we did not do that and were fine. On the way back, however, they can go into the port and drop you off much closer. The tour itself was amazing! We loved the monkeys (they will climb all over you in the enclosure - got some great pictures and videos) and getting to hold a sloth was definitely a once in a life time experience. Daniel's group is very professional, they obviously love the animals they care for and I highly recommend this tour.

Firemanbobswife, I DO remember you replying back to some of my questions in the past, and I appreciate you, as well as the others still putting info here into my question.:)

 

If anyone has seen my question here, and have cruised since the hurricane (I may have overlooked in your posting :() I would like to know what itinerary you took, or are getting ready to take, if you are doing it before the year is up?

I was on the Conquest 11/2010 as my second Carnival cruise, and am sailing on her again in 9 days (just a bit excited!). We're stopping at Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Amber Cove; we were supposed to stop at Grand Turk as well, but that stop has been cancelled due to limitations caused by the hurricanes. I'll be sure and post when I return.

I can say that even 7 years ago without the 2.0 upgrades and the new Serenity Deck, she was our favorite Carnival ship - we found the Impressionist themes throughout quite lovely.

This time around is a super-big year for us (DH's 65th birthday and also our 15th anniversary, so I did a ridiculous splurge on the Captain's Suite. I'll report back about that experience, as well.

Did I mention 9 more days?? :D

I can't seem to find it now, but I thought there was also a separate menu item available each day, Korean BBQ etc.

Yes, if you go to John's FB page and scroll through the photos, there is a "daily special" every day. Looks yummy! 19 days until I can try it for my self.:D

We always use Park N Cruise across the street from the cruise terminal. We prefer indoor parking. Sometimes we'll park and roll our bags over ourselves and sometimes DH will drop me and the bags, park and walk back himself. I don't know of any discount codes, sorry. We always pre-book online, too, to make sure we have a spot.

Yes, you will.

I was on the Breeze last November, and we used the HUB App quite a bit. I don't recall seeing anything like casino games, however. Maybe they discontinued that part?

I got an upsell call last week offering a move from my Lido balcony to an OS for $698.00 on my April 1 cruise (7 day). They left a voice mail message and emailed. I declined - I have a Captain's Suite booked for my anniversary in November and really didn't want to leave Lido Deck anyway. But congrats to you! We did an OS on the Triumph 3 years ago & I loved the extra room - I'm sure you'll have a great cruise!

I also use a KYSS (Keep Your Stuff Safe) bag. I haven't had any trouble yet with seams splitting, etc. But it's only been on three cruises so far.