GotMINI

It was few cruises ago now, so don’t recall exactly. I’m pretty sure we just took cab from port and went to the main area, wherever that was. That is why we often do.

Cruising to Cartegena? I just went there Feb 2024 on Celebrity Edge for the first time. Before going, I was told that this port city was not necessarily known for it's beaches (which is what we typically do when get off ship at a port), but to go and see the Old City and New City. We booked a private tour with Wilson E. at Tours by Locals (look up the website online). I gave him a 5 star rating! Great 4-1/2 hr tour. Nice transportation. Very knowledgeable. Personable. Spoke English very well. Felt safe with him. Etc. Also, I had read a lot of negative reviews about the vendors and especially the rappers in Cargtegenga tourist areas who would come up into your face and practically demand money. Wilson told us that at the beginning of the year, there was a newly elected government who was cracking down on the crimes/vendors. We did not see any of those rappers, and while there were still quite a bit of vendors, they were just trying to make money and a simple "no thank you" would send them on their way. One nice thing, too, being with Wilson, he helped us negotiate if/when we did want to buy something. So - passing on this recommendation! You will not be disappointed.

Personally saw it, but never ended up venturing out there... sorry. We were pretty satisfied vegging on the beach.

I guess Infinity wasn’t too bad since you are doing again…. I didn’t know about possible refurbishment and was slightly dreading being on old ship - but have heard people love this ship and our itinerary is port intensive, which we wanted, so will be off ship a lot. i sailed on Silhouette not long after their updo and it was really nice! Like that class of ship. I’m getting ready to sail Beyond in about a month. Will be 1st time on Edge class. Looking fwd to that.

We sail Infinity in Sep/Oct. hopefully all kinks worked out by then!

Listed in no particular order are some observations I made while on recent Carnival cruise; some being related to Carnival itself and some comparing to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity: Terminal #6 @ 9241 Charles Rowland Dr. Just follow signs. $17/day. Drop off luggage with porter first and then proceed to garage. Have a credit card ready as they will take payment as enter garage. Plenty for spots. Take a picture of something in area of where you parked so can easily find car upon return. Don’t show up early before your booked arrival time. Will just have to wait outside in corral. Then wait again inside for boarding group. Difficult to hear announcements in terminal so pay attention. Print boarding pass even though it's on the Hub app. You will need to show it multiple times as you board ship. Easy just to flash the paper vs having to open app. Don’t even know if they’d even accept the app - didn't see anyone trying to use it during checkin. Also, the boarding pass can be used for any beverage purchase if you have a plan already. Taxes added to bill for beverages when in starting US port Need to check out/in blue pool towels from staffed towel hut. Can exchange for fresh/clean towels throughout the cruise, but make sure you return at end or they will charge you for them ($25/ea?) Beach towels (yellow) will be in cabin. Cruise Director: Lawrence Cabin steward only comes 1x/day to clean room Cannot get into cabins until 1:30. Sometimes opens early, and hallway door will be opened when available, so just check if you want to drop your carryon bags. Room keys in door pocket in embarkation Room key cards come with hole punched on corner so can easily directly to a lanyard without having to put in clear pouch Checkin prior to arriving for MyTime Dining Will get confirmation of wait time, then will provide table info when available. No menus. Read on Hub App or QR code on the table. There are regular, vegan & gluten free menus. Smoking allowed in casino. Was supposed to be only on 1 side, but noticed it on both. And no ventilation, so it's smokey even if not a lot of smokers. Could even smell during embarkation. Vista going into dry dock early Jan 2024. Needs it! Ship is definitely showing wear. Bring reusable water bottles. Awful food lines. At least people are polite Portion sizes in dining room and smaller/reasonable than in past. In thermal spa are, the mineral whirlpool in same room as thermal beds; so if people in there they tend to be chatty and the beds aren’t as relaxing. $5 chat feature great in Hub App to communicate with people All ship activities listed in Hub App Ship felt compartmentalized. Floors seem disjointed. Not easy to walk from one side of ship to other on certain floors. Kept having to walk through casino. Bring nightlight for bathroom outlet Best bfast @ Blue Iguana w/ bfast burritos, huevos rancheros & arepas Ship photographers all over. They’ll take your pic, ask for cabin # and then it’ll show up on the Hub App. Can purchase if want but don’t have too. When getting off ship at ports, need room key and a government photo ID for anyone 16yo+ Dominican Republic was 1 hr ahead. Make sure stay on ship time. Amber Cove port was fenced with security. Can leave area through bus section. Only Carnival ships here. Greeted by pool deck full of towel creatures morning of last port day Rained everyday during this cruise (not fun!)! Cruise director called it “liquid sunshine” which didn't make it much better. Spa offers massage samples, which is nice few minutes, but be forewarned that the person tries to sell you to book massage 2 Elegant Nights on 6nt cruise. 1st one was 2nd or 3rd night, and 2nd one 5th nt w/ lobster and prime rib offered Dance parties on pool deck: 80s Rock n Glow, & a Silent White Hot Night Dance Party, When at port in Grand Turq, watched the Sea princess ship attempt to dock twice. Must have been too windy and/or rough current has it finally gave up and left. Spa balcony includes: spa robe and slippers, unlimited access to the thermal suite, 2 yoga or Pilates fitness classes, 2 InBody health tests, 1 DIY self scrub kit to use in thermal suite, complimentary skin consultation w/ medi spa dr, complimentary footprint analysis with Good Feet experts. And I also got a $40 spa credit to use, but unfortunate it doesn’t apply with any other discounts you get so difficult to use. “Showtime” during dinner service = servers dancing to 2 pop songs, some guests join in fun One server told us he’ll stay on when ship goes into dry dock to take care of contractors working in ship. Said pay bad, only $10-15/day. Can only imagine what regular pay is... The Italian restaurant complimentary lunch (upstairs from Lido) very good. But very slow. The Asian place not so good jnkesss you like their combos. They are premade. Disembarkation was not well managed. Gridlock people trying to get through 1 stairwell/elevator area. Heard ship was late arriving and they needed to handle a few arrests of passengers involved in brawl overnight. Use passport if you have one. Facial recognition gets you through without having to even show it. And the line was shorter than for those not using a passport. Vista ship rolled side to side and tilted front to back rocked entire week - due to bad weather and what I assume was stabilizers not working well. Too many lines for food! If have MyTime Dining, make sure you checkin on the Hub Abb to secure a table. It'll tell you how long the wait is and when table is available, it'll tell you deck 3 or 4 and the table #. Just show screen to person at front of dining room and they will seat you. Expect a lot of people waiting around by the doors to get in (especially at beginning of cruise when people don't know to use the App) Going into dry dock Jan 7 to mid-Feb. needs it!! Hopefully when it returns it will be a better experience for future cruisers.

I’ve had my peloton fixed at home; but I had contacted peloton early on and it still took months to get the replacement part. I’m sure it’s going to take awhile for cruise ships and other businesses to be updated. Probably could still use with old part, but I’m sure these business don’t want that liability if something were to happen.

How does Peloton usage on ship work? Do you need to log into your home acct or does the ship run an account? I’d bring my own spin shoes. Do they run it as a group class or can you do on own?

I'm on a Celebrity Infinity cruise which will arrive back into Piraeus at 5am on a Monday. What time does Celebrity start regular disembarkation and/or what time can we walk off the ship if we don't want to wait? What's the earliest I can plan a flight home from Athens? Thanks in advance for guidance. I've only ever cruised out of Florida, so this will be a 1st for me.

I figured. Was going to purchase beverage package anyway prior to boarding. I filter that into cost of the vacation. Just figured I'd take a chance and wait to see if any sales. Why not. Thought post in case I missed something, somewhere. Have traveled on other cruise lines and they've offered such sales before on all add-ons like beverages, dining, wifi, excursions, etc. I know cruise lines are still trying to catch up on revenue - I get it. And yes, I have brought on own soda or water before. Even my allowed bottles of wine. Carnival used to have pretty decent pricing on their water in the past (need to check that out for upcoming cruise) and while it's more than what I'd spend at store, it's worth not having to lug it onto the ship.

I've been checking everyday this weekend, thru Travel Tuesday, and still not seeing special sales on Carnival. Sheesh! Was hoping to get a few bucks off beverage plan... Anyone know of a discount or promo code???

Loving your review and especially the pictures! Just booked 9nt-Greece on Infinity for Sep 2024. I will definitely be taking notes from your review. We are hoping to go early and spend sometime in Athens and also Santorini. I realize our ship goes there, but we want more than 1 day there. Excited to start planning!

Pack and bring an insulated water bottle on ship with you. Fill with ice and water from bottle to take off the ship at ports.

We are booked on Vista 2 weeks prior, and different itinerary being only a 6-day cruise. Not happy about going so close to it being dry docked, but did know it is an older ship and was due for at least a refurbishing so I’m not too surprised to hear about issues. Hopefully it’s all safe!! For us, this cruise is geared towards relaxation and we booked a spa room. Plan to spend a lot of time there and casual beach days where ever we get dock. Trying to stay positive about it all and pray weather is nice. Really no good alternative for us for this week, believe me I looked. Fingers crossed all will be fine.

We are booked on Vista 2 weeks prior, and different itinerary being only a 6-day cruise. Not happy about going so close to it being dry docked, but did know it is an older ship and was due for at least a refurbishing so I’m not too surprised to hear about issues. Hopefully it’s all safe!! For us, this cruise is geared towards relaxation and we booked a spa room. Plan to spend a lot of time there and casual beach days where ever we get dock. Trying to stay positive about it all and pray weather is nice. Really no good alternative for us for this week, believe me I looked. Fingers crossed all will be fine.

We are booked on Vista 2 weeks prior, and different itinerary being only a 6-day cruise. Not happy about going so close to it being dry docked, but did know it is an older ship and was due for at least a refurbishing so I’m not too surprised to hear about issues. Hopefully it’s all safe!! For us, this cruise is geared towards relaxation and we booked a spa room. Plan to spend a lot of time there and casual beach days where ever we get dock. Trying to stay positive about it all and pray weather is nice. Really no good alternative for us for this week, believe me I looked. Fingers crossed all will be fine.

Definitely speak with Captain's Club Host or Concierge. They seem to be the ones to arrange which group(s) get to attend sailaway on helipad. I've been invited twice and not sure why (LOL)! I think it would be a nice thing to do as a family. Good luck!

We have booked future cruises on current cruise. Have found that there's a lower deposit required and you tend to get slightly more on-board credit. Think it depends on what you are booking. We have then gotten off ship and transferred the booking to our own travel agent - and then she watches it for any price adjustments if any come up. It's nice booking on board as you can ask questions to the travel person there, more easily pick cabin, can request different pricing scenarios, can more easily compare various cruises and/or dates, etc. We typically walk by the travel room on day 1 or 2 to pick up brochures which lists all the dates and cruises available, then we look it through to see what's of interest, go back to the travel room to get pricing, and then book that day or come back to book when make final decision. Just note: that if you do not book right then, the price can change from when you walk out the door to when you come back to book it (as we have found) - it's not much but it happens. Oh and another benefit (?) is that since Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are same owners, you can actually book on any of their ships. Travel person has to look up all the RC stuff (no brochures avail). They'll also help with any royalty/club points you'd have and how that works.

Have been on Celebrity ships and the spa smoothies are NOT included in the zero proof or the classic packages. Not sure if you have premium if they'd be included. You can alway pay for the smoothies. The cost is listed on the board at the spa cafe.

That's what I was thinking/hoping. Thanks!!

I'll be arriving back on the Beyond Feb 2024 @ 7am in Ft Lauderdale. How early can I catch a flight back home? Is a 9:30am flight doable? I do not mind walking off the ship with my luggage first thing. Can take X transfer, taxi or Uber to airport. Would rather catch early flight home vs sitting around at airport waiting for my flight. There would not be time to do anything else in Ft Lauderdale and would need to get home sometime that day.

I'll be on Celebrity Beyond Feb 19, 2024 and have an overnight stay in Aruba. My party of 3 would really like to do a sunset cruise. I know I can book through a 3rd party and have done excursions that way before, but will probably for ease just book this excursion through the ship. Plus there's a sale going on and don't think I'd really save that much money booking outside of the ship, and this way I can use up some of our on-board credit. That being said, I'm having trouble deciding which of the 2 excursions being offered to book. In particular, they both have the same exact name of "Destination Highlight: Aruba Sunset Cocktail Cruise" with very similar descriptions, but one states that it goes across the south and west coast of Aruba, while the other sails towards the northwest point of Aruba and we will see a lighthouse. Both leave from the Oranjested port, are 2hrs long, and are priced essentially the same ($1-2USD apart). I'm assuming it's same/similar types of catamarans used too. Can anyone tell me which direction might be better views of the island, better sunset, etc? I have tried to contact Celebrity but have been unsuccessful in getting any answer(s).

Thank you!

Good idea. I can try posting on the Aruba forum. Just thought this was more Celebrity/Royal Caribbean and on the forum I’ll get many other cruise lines chiming in with their excursions. Maybe Celebrity left the descriptions vague enough so can really use whichever operator is avail at that time. But I have a feeling there might be slightly different destination for each one. But thx.

Currently booked on the Beyond Feb 2024 and have an overnight stay in Aruba. We'd like to book a sunset cruise and out of simplicity will probably just book through Celebrity vs looking for an independent operator. Right now they are on sale too, so would like to take advantage and book something early. However, there are two 2hr catamaran excursions available, both with the exact same name of "Destination Highlight: Aruba Sunset Cocktail Cruise", they literally cost about the same ($1-2 difference) they have slightly different descriptions. I cannot tell what the actual difference in the excursions are to know which one to book. I've tried calling Celebrity and after being on hold for quite some time, have been hung up on by 2 of their operators. Was wondering if anyone has done one of these 2hr sunset excursions and what your thoughts were. Any idea the difference between the 2 being offered? Thanks!