mz-s

Auto grats for a family of 4 on a 5 day cruise will be $320 after this upcoming increase in a few days. That's a lot of money. I can totally see why people would worry about that and want to make sure it's accounted for.

I agree, I just googled nutpods and it comes in cartons so yes it's fine. Up until now all the non dairy creamer I've seen comes in bottles.

Recommended daily gratuity rates are the same fleetwide.

You should contact special needs before bringing on something like this since bottles are not allowed. But for a dietary restriction it should be fine as long as it's cleared ahead of time.

No, they just charge more because the rooms are bigger I guess.

YMMV as my wife has been told drinks like Shirley Temples are not included in Bubbles.

I cruised with Christian back when he was on the Fun Squad on the Ecstasy, several years ago now. Probably 2018.

The reason cited on JH's Facebook page when bottle sales was discontinued was due to behavioral issues. I don't recall him mentioning availability as a reason. Availability has certainly affected the brands available onboard.

I don't think they really pay attention to the flag on the luggage. It seems to make no difference. The luggage for a section is all delivered at once, indiscriminate of the VIFP level etc.

John Heald posted the following on his FB page the other day: "I do seem to remember this subject came up many years ago and all I can tell you is that the answer now is no. The crew are not ever shown a list of the specific cabins that may have removed gratuities. Now they will know by how much they receive compared to the number of tables they wait on or the number of cabins they clean but which cabins removed them, no, they are not shown a list. We are so proud of our crew. We are so grateful that very few of our guests remove all their gratuities and give nothing at all."

It's easier for them to make sure nobody is overserved if folks don't have liquor in their rooms they can drink indiscriminately. Now they brought back the bottles for longer cruises but a bottle of Jack is I think $130 plus delivery charge, hardly worth it vs. paying for drinks.

I don't know of any juices that are included. Mixer type juices like grapefruit or pineapple maybe? They're not listed here whatever they are... https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6519/~/beverages

Whatever works for you, it's all valid and acceptable. It's a personal decision and I don't think there's any right or wrong way. A lot of people like prepaying because then the rate is locked in and it's one less thing to have to pay for during the vacation - easier to budget.

No they stopped that last year due to the fights. Brought it back recently for longer cruises but the prices aren't worth it anymore.

Plenty of people do. The individual tubs are nice because they don't need refrigeration. Knock yourself out.

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It may depend on the ship to an extent (although menus are substantially the same fleetwide) but I find that Carnival's food has gone way downhill since the restart. On my last cruise, I found absolutely nothing worth eating on the breakfast buffet. It was all disgusting. Raw gummy english muffins served with overcooked poached eggs and dry ham for a benedict. The hollandaise tasted and smelled like it came out of a pouch. Carton eggs that tasted like they had gone off. No bacon except every other day, and when you asked for it you felt like you were asking to borrow Mom's Tupperware. On days bacon was on bacation, the warden was still there asking for collateral to give you a half-moon of pressed ham swimming in some sort of watery broth that defies explanation. The lunch and supper buffets are filled with starches, cheap carbs, and chicken thighs cut into three pieces. The ship is constantly preaching at you to not waste food (don't ask for bread on the jumbotron slideshow) while a few decks down they're printing thousands of photos just to be thrown away in a few days. The MDR food is faring better - I like the lasagna, beef tenderloin, and many of the other dishes. Portions have been cut (you now get I think 3 salad-sized shrimp with your cocktail, and half a dry baked potato with your prime rib). Though the striploin is horrible - although I have had some good ones in my post-restart cruises, Golden Corral serves a consistently better steak and that is not exaggeration.

56 cents is a much bigger percentage of 9 bucks so yes I guess this is a great time to day trade CCL. You stand to make tens of dollars.

Nobody is going to be there to get the luggage from their cabin door to their bed for unpacking, then under the bed for storage during the cruise, etc. Are they independent enough to safely cruise without someone able-bodied with them? Serious question.

The striploin in the MDR can be okay. It's not as good as the steak they serve at Golden Corral at the best of times. It can be far worse if you get a bad cut.

Yes do not try to send or receive photos because the push notification service that Carnival lets through is very slow, it's only good for text. Trying to send or receive photos without having purchased a wifi plan will just cause issues. I will also mention that this has not worked consistently for me. Last year I was on 3 Carnival cruises and I think iMessage only worked on one of them. So I think they are figuring out how to block it, maybe. I need to go on more cruises to try to figure out a pattern. Anyone care to donate to my testing fund?

Relatively new venture from Carnival, I am pretty sure it's only been since the restart that they've seriously been courting the Indian casino players.

No, nothing is standard with Android because every company wants to put their own crap on the phone because they think people want junk like that. But RCS (which Google calls Advanced Chat I believe) should work with a paid wifi plan.

The thing is Carnival's Hub app uses Apple's push notification service, otherwise you wouldn't know when your table is ready etc. So they have to allow Apple's push notifications through their web filters, even for people who haven't bought an internet plan. Guess what also uses Apple's push notification service? Ring doorbells, iMessage, etc. So try it on your next cruise. You may be able to iMessage without needing to buy a plan.

Yes do keep checking back, people cancel cruises (and cabanas they had booked) all the time. Check around final payment time. You never know...