mz-s

I did post a full review of the cruise, not sure if I talked about the deli sandwiches though. I liked the tomahawk pork chop I got at the Cucina del Capitano on that cruise.

I don't know the link but the program is called MCO Reserve by Clear. Google that and you'll find it. You put in your flight information and they email you a QR code that you show at the Reserve by Clear line. They put you to the front of the security line.

As we see with Excel class, Carnival cut too deep with the Playlist productions and regrets it because RCCL in particular is eating their lunch with their live entertainment these days.

If they do pre-made frozen omelettes like the "brilliant" new deli menu they can keep it. The new deli sandwiches taste like dog food and the last time I ordered one it was still frozen.

It's pretty much the same process on Carnival.

I didn't mean to imply that Carnival was unique in how they arrive at retail prices. It's not really a secret or anything nefarious.

They do that so they can reopen the casino.

The cost of materials has nothing to do with the retail price of a good or service. Carnival will charge what people will pay.

AT&T's cruise plan does not include wifi at all. Are you sure you understand what you're buying?

If you mostly plan to need to make calls with only very occasional internet use (like just for emails, checking in to flights, etc) I guess it's a good option. But $100 for 1GB of data is a pretty bad deal. Carnival's wifi is a much better value.

https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=2633

I've always had good luck with the last minute free casino rooms - been assigned rooms I could have chosen on my own TBH.

Some rooms have slightly different layouts - namely for accessibility, the L shaped bed rooms are probably the ambulatory accessible rooms if I had to guess.

Human trafficking is a tremendous issue, and I am sure there are many children trafficked by people pretending to be grandparents or girl scout troop leaders taking the kids on vacation.

Nearly 50 cents per megabyte isn't a deal in 2023. The cruise industry and cellular carriers have to figure this out. Data is cheaper than ever with technology like Starlink etc - it's time to release the kraken.

My hope and prayer is that Carnival doesn't just hire someone, put them through basic training, and put them in charge of children. I would hope that they have to work their way up to being trusted with children, with lots of vetting and training along the way. Because as everyone here has said, background checks are not going to be much help.

If you like Pepsi and you like paying almost $2 a can, sure.

Do not expect anything above a normal interior. 99.9% of the time that's what you'll get.

Your phone will consume 50MB of data in about an hour of just doing background tasks if you have it set to fetch email, someone sends you a few iMessage photos, etc. There's very little you can do with 50MB unless you are able to carefully manage your usage to basically only text consumption. Sending and receiving business emails and the like. The average cruiser will buy that plan thinking they are good to go for the cruise when in reality they'll blow through 50MB before they even enter international waters.

The shows are now basically karaoke in front of a big screen playing a screensaver. There are very few props or set pieces that would be difficult to change out if they wanted to change out shows outside of a drydock. Yes and they're still doing the "premiere" schtick before the show in the atrium too 😆

They've opened my sealed 12-pack boxes on several occasions in Charleston. But they had a tape gun there to tape them back up. Sadly I remember on one occasion a family on one of my cruises last year, they were eating on Lido while we were waiting for our rooms to be ready. Somehow the tape failed and their sodas went spilling out all over the floor of Lido. A few cans busted. Huge mess. So probably would recommend carrying the sodas (even if boxed) in a bag of some kind. It is both - 12 pack of soda per person, 1 bottle of wine per adult.

I am bummed because I missed the new menus by a few weeks on my most recent cruise. I really want to try the new menus they are getting pretty good reviews. The old American Table was pretty well worn out for me, although I do like some of the dishes.

The comedians/cruise director/piano player/guitarist etc will change. The Playlist production shows in the main lounge may be the same. In the past they only changed the Playlist shows out during drydocks, but now that they're basically just screensavers they can be changed out more often. Given the choice I'd always go on a longer cruise vs a shorter one 🙂 sure the playlist shows may or may not be the same but there's plenty more to do onboard during the showtimes, assuming you don't want to see them again. Often for longer cruises like 8 day, Carnival will bring on a variety show as well - a one man band, ventriloquist, etc, for one or more nights of entertainment since there are only so many different Playlist Production shows the dancers onboard can perform.

If the cruise begins on Friday, night 1 is Friday night. Night 2 is Saturday night.

Nothing like topless sunbathing with a fresh mushroom and ham omelette and a side order of bacon.