mz-s

If you are sailing on a Casino cruise (Getaways, Premier, etc) as a casino guest there is typically no fee charged, and the limits of how much money you can bill to your room is increased as well.

They are allowed on the ships and you can use them as long as you are not damaging anything. You however cannot leave them on your balcony unattended.

I love deck 1/2 staterooms, although they can be noisy and have a lot of vibration depending on location. But there's very little traffic in the hallways and it's easy to get to the gangway on port days. You are dependent on elevators but that's not a huge deal. That said I personally wouldn't pay more to stay down there.

Oceanview rooms are often a little bigger, with a sofa. So that does make up some of the price difference as well.

ALL VIFP perks are listed here. If it's not listed here, it's not a VIFP perk. https://www.carnival.com/vifp/benefits

I don't believe that Carnival has an office in the UK so if you need to call you'd need to call the US number. If you work with a PVP or Travel Agent that might help avoid the long distance call. But if you've already booked the cruise and need to pay off the balance it's probably too late for that.

Carnival says the excursion has to be exactly the same. Many of Carnival's excursions serve ham sandwiches as part of the price, but the independent tour doesn't. So a 50 cent ham sandwich lets them get out of the price match. That's why Carnival says very few tours qualify for the price match. They have all these exclusions and gotchas. If the independent tour won't pick you up at the pier, then it is not comparable because all of Carnival's tours do. Don't shoot the messenger - we're just trying to save you time.

Somebody dreamed up the IMAX was going, and then other people parroted it as fact. Just as I knew. Looking at the deck plans it is easy to see that a smoke-free casino annex would not fit in where the IMAX theater is right now.

I am confused. What does that have to do with the topic at hand?

I haven't noticed it on recent cruises including an 8 day Eastern Caribbean, it's probably one of those things thats up to the cruise director. If anyone has seen it on a recent cruise, what was the itinerary?

One thing I've learned from this site is everyone is a huge tipper on the internet.

Is there a shareholder staying in each cabin? Please read the shareholder OBC form, it answers your question.

I think it's fair for a customer to decide they don't want to tip everyone. I don't tip the greeter at Chili's or the microwave attendant at Denny's. If they are part of the pool and get tipped out when the money is all sorted, then so be it.

Any changes to the automatic gratuities requires you to appear in person at the guest services desk - you can't do this over the phone since it requires your signature.

That contradicts information earlier in this thread. Only one person can be correct. In my experience, you have to wait until the automatic gratuities have posted to your account before you can make changes to them. That means you'll have to wait in the line on the last night of the cruise to adjust or remove the automatic gratuities.

You can bring them yes. For your reference Carnival has an extensive list of prohibited items on their website. Mattress pads are not listed.

Good to hear the ship has improved recently.

I understand that but my guess is nothing Carnival can do on Grand Bahama will hold a candle to ABC. It will be a nice "resort day" stop though that's for sure.

Celebration also does ABC itineraries from time to time I believe, so you could have the best of both worlds if you picked a Celebration ABC cruise.

I tried it once and haven't felt the need to go back. You should try it though.

Premium

I stopped worrying about COVID years ago personally.

I think as long as you pick your itinerary judiciously, you should be okay cruising during this season. I don't consider 4-night long weekend cruises on Carnival in general, but especially not during spring break for example.

The drydock maintenance crew moves onboard and lives on the ship during the drydock, so the crew have to take care of them. At least the hotel and presumably food service crew - the entertainment crew for example don't stay on for drydocks generally. Or at least they usually don't have to.

They all say that now, getting your room ready early has not been guaranteed since before the COVID restart. The watering down of the VIFP program is well underway.