ctsharpie05

Hello everyone! I should really know the answer to my question as I have cruised 4 times BUT what shoes are best for wearing on deck while going back and forth between the water slides and other areas on the deck? Just plain old water shoes? The only reason I am asking is due to the warmth of the deck. Flip flops won't work since they will be going down slides. Unless there is somewhere to store them at the water area? My kids are 19 & 15 and have told me they are not worried about the heat but I feel like they should be. So looking for recs on shoes and also, do you feel they are actually needed? I just sit, read, and enjoy the sun so I am flip flops all day!!

6 minutes ago, jxtgreek said:

Even though Carnival announced cruises starting in August who in would put even $1 on a deposit for a cruise.  With all the news and the difficulties with being socially distant nearly impossible on a ship I find it hard to believe that things will ever be the same.  I am platinum on Carnival and we cruise at least 3 times a year.  Already had one cruise canceled.  I have the Radiance booked the end of November but who knows....I rolled my cruise credit from March to this cruise.  I wish I took the refund but I will not risk anymore money until I see how things will work.

Not me! I had my May cruise cancelled. Transferred the FCC to a cruise in July and the remainder paid off my October cruise & gave me $650 OBC. Well, July was cxld yesterday and I opted for the refund this time. Once cruising starts I am thinking about re-booking for next year but I will need my refund first. I was reading the RC board and many people got refunds within 2 weeks. Carnival's slowness is unacceptable. 

I guess I was not clear😃 I never asked for FCC on my July cruise that was just cancelled. It was purchased with FCC.....I already applied for the full refund. I am asking how the refund will be handled since no payments were made on it as it was purchased with FCC....

When my May cruise was cancelled I elected for FCC on a July cruise. Now that the July cruise has been cancelled as well I requested a full refund. How will that work since I did not make any payments on that cruise?  *A portion of the FCC went to pay off my October cruise as the July cruise was cheaper than my May cruise. 

4 minutes ago, shof515 said:

my cruise was canceled last month and it took a few days to get the email

Thank you!

Everyone seems to have received today's cancellation email yet I have not. Anyone else not yet received the email?

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I think they may have quietly retained enough crew to man one or two ships that will be doing short cruises to private islands, to see how their new procedures will work and fine tune them before the rest of the fleet starts sailing.

I have been wondering if this would be a possibility. I would be ok with this for my July cruise as I just need to relax and get away! 

Thanks everyone for your responses and keeping it nice! I myself am cruising in July and October, hopefully!

3 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Nothing will happen.  Plenty of people think this method will speed up their refund.  It won't.  Carnival will inform the CC that the refund is being processed,

So if that is the case & they deny the claim do you think  he will still face any of the ramifications above? 

7 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Worst case scenario, Carnival blocks your friend from cruising.

I've seen those articles but I find it highly unlikely if they were really planning on returning his money. The one case I have seen of this was someone who filed a $3k dispute because she did not like her room (she actually went on her cruise) & they actually did end up letting her sail again (she had to fight with them though). 

**Trying to help a friend so please do not attack me**

My friend had his cruised cancelled (many of us can relate). Because Carnival sent him zero emails in regards to the cancellation/refunds he went ahead & disputed his Cheers/Shore Excursion purchases (he rescheduled the cruise so no dispute for the fair). I warned him that there may be consequences for this decision. What consequences could he face with Carnival (this is money that obviously would have been credited back to him if he had been more patient)? I am thinking he may not be able to use a credit card for his S & S account? Maybe a Carnival Gift Card or Cash only? When I told him that he should not have done this (explaining the 90 day wait) he tried to cancel the dispute but the Credit Card company had already reached out to Carnival (he can still cancel it because Carnival has not yet responded but I am thinking that may mess things up more?). Let me know what you think. 

I'm set to cruise on the Magic on May 31st. I am not cancelling however, I feel confidident that Carnival will cancel it unfortunately.

I really hope they don't cancel my 05/31 cruise. For the first time I was able to book to cruises this year. Obviously, people's health is more important than our vacations but it still stinks. Viking & Princess are more European, correct? That is the only hope I am holding on to.

On 2/28/2020 at 10:05 AM, LongHill44 said:

I was tempted to book a few months back but held off as we are trying to giving my daughter, and our family, a nice graduation gift.  We are looking at islands as well, but my daughter really loved the cruise we went on last year.

 

But with everyone panicking about what is going Any idea if the prices will drop?  Will people cancel and open up rooms that will be cheaper?  

 

Thoughts?

Mine dropped and I ended up with $327 onboard credit!

On 1/20/2020 at 10:43 AM, MaiTaiMary said:

What is your favorite Carnival port of call you've visited and why? 😎

Half Moon Cay. The water was the clearest I have ever seen. Plenty of chairs. Free lunch. Very relaxing. 

Having said that I have only been to HMC, Amber Cove (Not a fan of the DR), and Turks (Nice but not as nice as HMC) with Carnival. I have been to Key West & Grand Cayman but that was on Royal. I did not enjoy Grand Cayman however, I really liked Key West,

On 1/5/2020 at 6:03 PM, jungle1 said:

I’m a long time reader, infrequent poster, and first time reviewer (please be gentle!).  I devoured everything I could find here before our cruise and wanted to give a little bit back.

We just got back from a 6 night NYE cruise on Carnival Magic.  We went to Half Moon Cay, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk.  About us – we are early to mid-forties with a 15 yo son and 13 yo daughter.  This was cruise number 8 for the family (my wife and I have done a few more without the kids).   This was our first time on Carnival as a family after 4 on Disney and 3 on Royal Caribbean (all Oasis class.) 

I wanted to give a quick rundown of things that our family cares about (and doesn’t care about) on a cruise so you have some context for the comments.  Since we all travel so differently things that might matter to you (like an amazing spa or chair hogs) make no difference to me.

 

Things we care about:

• Entertainment options
• Trivia
• Production shows
• Breakfast & lunch quality/options
• Main dining room quality/variety
• Walking/jogging track
• Balcony size
• Crowds

 

Things we don’t really use:

• Spa
• Pool loungers (we prefer to hang on our balcony or in adult area)
• Specialty dining
• Nightclubs
• Bingo
• Casino
• Anything after midnight (other than sleep!)
• Formal dress

 

Overall, we had a very enjoyable trip and Carnival compared very well to our experiences on RCCL.  We would cruise Carnival again on the right itinerary/price.  We felt that there was much more in common than different between the two lines.  This won’t be a full play by play but happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel

We stayed at Embassy Suites Ft. Lauderdale and we wouldn’t stay there again.  The staff and location were great but the rooms really show their age (who doesn’t have HDTV in the rooms now?) and it was just way too crowded.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation

We had a port arrival time of 12:00-12:30 at Port Everglades and a boarding group of A02.  We had to check out of our hotel at 11:00 so we just headed over to the port to try our luck.  We arrived at the port around 11:30 or so and they just waved us through.  No lines, quick check in, and we were on the ship by 11:45.  Couldn’t have been smoother.

Debarkation was a bit less smooth.  They had to stop the process a couple of times and were running about an hour behind the expected time.  Once we got off there was a long customs line but it kept moving.  No major issues getting an Uber – took maybe 15 minutes from clearing customs until we were on the road.

 

The Rooms

• We had a balcony cabin and inside cabin on deck 8 toward the front of the ship on the starboard side.  I was concerned about noise coming from the promenade deck/hot tubs but it generally was a non issue.  We also couldn’t see the promenade when seated which was nice.  I would be careful about getting a cabin above the smoking section (think it was port side aft) and wouldn’t want to be on deck 6 with the noise/privacy.  I’d also recommend avoiding rooms near the atrium as there was quite a bit of noise in that area.
• Cabins were plenty spacious, beds were comfortable, showers were tiny but sink/bathroom storage was good. 
• Cabin steward was good and we got twice daily service (he asked us to fill the form). 
• TVs are pretty small but that isn’t a big deal for us. 
• Balcony is pretty small as well – miss having the footstools from RCCL – but adequate.

 

The Food

• I don’t like the layout of the Lido Marketplace – seemed to encourage long lines.  I much prefer the different stations on RCCL.  We avoided the Lido after the first day there for breakfast other than to grab some desserts (the cakes were pretty good – much better than RCCL or Disney.)
• We went to the dining room for breakfast most days and the service was good – good variety, made to order, reasonably fast.  That was really the first cruise we’ve done that and we will probably do that more going forward.
• Loved the variety of free options at lunch – had lunch twice at the pasta bar, had more Guy’s burgers than we can count (we thought they were great – esp. the fries), had a few tacos/burritos from Blue Iguana (also really good) and even got some BBQ from Guy’s (it was OK – nothing to write home about but I still ate it.)
• My pizza loving son hated the pizza – had one piece and never went back for more.  RCCL win’s big here in his eyes.
• My ice cream loving daughter loved the 24/7 ice cream options – can’t get that on RCCL.
• Main dining room was OK.  The service was good and fast (which we like).  The quality was hit or miss but we didn’t go hungry. 

 

The Bars

• We are moderate drinkers and were paying by the glass.  We brought on our two bottles of wine (and ordered two more at dinner).  We also ordered a liter of whiskey for the room. 
• Drink prices seemed reasonable compared to other cruise lines.  
• Bar service could be quite slow at times.
• The candy straws are pretty terrible – get very floppy before I could even finish a drink.  Not a fan.

 

The Entertainment

• We enjoyed the production shows – thought the cast in general was pretty good and we liked the music.  We saw 88 Keys (although technical difficulties meant they basically just did the singing), Flick, and America Rocks.
• Simon London was the cruise director – I’m not sure that guy ever sleeps but he seemed to do a good job engaging the crowd.  CD doesn’t really play a major role in my enjoyment of the cruise but we liked him well enough.
• Loved the piano bar – Scott Lyles was amazingly talented.  Ended up there a few nights.
• We didn’t make it to the 18+ comedy (tried once but couldn’t get seats) but saw both comedians do the PG shows and they were entertaining.

 

The Ship

• The ship is showing it’s age a bit.  I know it spends it’s life in salt water but I was surprised at the amount of surface rust all over the hull, rails, etc.  I remember constantly seeing people on Disney touching up the paint during the week and didn’t see any of that on Carnival.  It didn’t really detract from the vacation but it is very noticeable.
• Interior finishes are also a bit worn but it was much less noticeable.  Again, didn’t really impact the trip for us.
• The pools were always very crowded but I think that is just part of cruising.
• Really liked the promenade on Deck 5 and you could always get a lounger on that deck (at least on the shady side of the boat).
• We didn’t love how small the jogging track was so we just used Deck 5 for our sea day walks and it worked fine.
• Seemed to have plenty of elevators for the crowd although being in the middle of stuff on Deck 8 (and eating lots of cheeseburgers) meant we usually took the stairs to everything.
• Never felt overly crowded except for the buffet and the pool deck.
• Casino was pretty smoky – we generally tried to avoid the whole area.
• We liked Red Frog Pub – played a few board games, shuffleboard, foosball
• Trivia could be hard to get seats on occasion but generally the space was large enough
• Sports deck was fun – water slides were OK, kids loved the ropes course, played some mini-golf.
• Serenity deck was nice – went up there for a couple of hours on a port day when our balcony faced another ship on the dock.

 

Again, overall it was a fun trip.  Had just as much fun as the RCCL trips (and therefore a bit higher fun/$ ratio).  Our next cruise is on NCL (Baltics 2020) but I am sure we will be back to Carnival again.

 

Thanks to those who made it this far and if I missed any topics or you have questions let me know.

Great review! We sailed her in July & are sailing her 2 times this year! 

I do have a question though: This time we are taking the kids. Wondering how ya'll spent your time on the balcony? Did they bring you extra chairs? Were the kids fine sitting on the floor? I love putting my feet up and reading on the balcony but I also want to be with my kids. Thank you! 

Does anyone know if the Sea Monkeys (a band) are still playing for Carnival? If so any idea what ship they might be on next May/June?

4 hours ago, outatouch0 said:

Party of 2 seniors, 2 adults, and 2 children (ages 5 & 7).

I signed us up for Any Time Dining because I don't want to be on a schedule while on vacation but now I am having second thoughts. Since most of the ship has food on deman somewhere I am thinking it might be a good idea to have an option that will not involve a first come, first severd affair. 

Cany anyone tell me what kind of wait we should expect with the any time option for a party of 6?

How long does dinner usually last from start to finish with the two options?

Other thoughts, suggestions, snide remarks ?

We sailed on the Magic in July. We had a 5 minute wait 1 or 2 nights and no waits the other nights. Dinner could be quick (30 minutes) or as long as you would like. You can also request the same servers. We are the same as you...hate schedules on vacation and it worked great for us. (so many trips to Disney with so many reservation times ruined it for us).

Update: They were completely surprised! My youngest (10) spent alllll day watching youtube videos.

We are surprising our kids with their first Carnival cruise tomorrow! 6 day, Magic, and a Cove Balcony. Ports: Amber Cove,Turks, & HMC. We did the same cruise without them last year and loved it so much we booked again! I made them "boarding passes" and I am going to put them in an envelope and hang them from helium Balloons. We cruise end of May! 

Edit: A few years ago we took them on RC's The Empress...it was our first cruise. Ship was NOT  a good choice for us so they are hesitant to try cruising again. The Magic was FAR better than the Empress so I know they will love it!

On 3/5/2019 at 10:18 AM, l8cruiser said:

I am curious if anyone thought they made a mistake purchasing the Cheers program. I was thinking on port days , if we would be away too long to get our moneys worth. It would be nice to have mimosas in the morning along with special coffees. I would kick myself though if we didn’t drink enough to make it worthwhile. 

Nope! We don't drink much at all (like 2 drinks a year at home) but we like to drink cocktails on vacation. You break even at 5 cocktails (plus all the other drinks - especially bottles water). So a mimosa for breakfast, 2 throughout the day, and 2 at dinner and you are even. We bought it again for our trip next year.

8 hours ago, qwerty11 said:

I recently returned from a week long cruise on the MSC Seaside. During this cruise we were docked alongside several Carnival ships along with other cruise lines. The Carnival ships were all very rusty while the ships from other cruise lines showed very little rust coming through the hull. Many years ago I went on numerous Carnival Cruises. I don't remember this being the case. Has something happened?

Salt is a corrosive substance so this is completely normal. I sailed the Magic this year and my balcony had a little rust (it was a cove so very close to the water line). It didn't effect my cruise at all.

16 hours ago, Scottygirl1 said:

There are now reports of bodies being brought back (heard on a radio interview).

 

Oh no. My heart is breaking. 

17 hours ago, brianosaur said:

Is there a bare minimum internet plan that I would use only to check into my flight on the last day of my cruise?

Will be on the Breeze this Saturday, and the last day is a Sea Day.

I never really use internet onboard, as I usually try to *unplug* while away ...but that's just me.

Occasionally I have used port wifi or my included data/text plan with Tmobile while at port.

 

I know you can pre-pay for the Value Internet Plan for $6.80/day (+15% onboard) but Carnival wants you to sign up for the whole cruise if you do it before you sail.

Can you pay for only 24 hours on the ship?  Or like 15 minutes?

 

I really only need like 5 minutes to check in 24 hrs before my flight leaves. 

 

Tnx

 

 

This summer, for the first time ever, I bought the Early Bird check in for our flights home. It was totally worth it. Just had to show up at the airport and get our boarding passes.

19 hours ago, samrothstein said:

I think it’s great!

I will be bringing my own straws. We currently use plastic and I bought the kids metal with silicone tips for Xmas. We will see which ones we prefer.