jam19872016

It's varies based on how many diamonds are omboard. If there are a lot it is a lunch with a special menu and open bar. The officers make the rounds but may not hit every table. The menu is usually very nice and it's a nice break from the normal options. For smaller groups, I think 50 or less diamonds onboard, a cocktail party with open bar and trays of small bites are served. The food is nice but more snacky than a full meal but the tradeoff is more personal interaction with the officers. The lounge will depend on the size of the group. Smallest I have seen was held in the piano bar with about as many diamonds as officers which allowed them to sit and chat for a while with each of us. I have heard very small groups, like less than 10, get unique experiences including bridge tours but I have not experienced that personally. The type of event is at the discretion of the Hotel Director but follows a general guideline based on number of diamonds onboard.

Freedom does mostly five day cruises with every third cruise a four day. Liberty does 3 and 4 day cruises to the Bahamas. I'm assuming you aren't comparing the 5 day to the 4 day and wondering why it would cost more. The four day trips on Freedom are over the weekend while Liberty does her four day trips during the week. The weekend trip is going to be more sought after therefore command a higher fare. That would be my best guess.

Freedom is doing round trip transatlantic cruises this fall with about a three week gap while she gets her new whale tail installed. There are lots of us onboard doing both legs and spending time in Europe for the time in-between. I'll be doing five days in Barcelona followed by 14 days on Cunard for the bargain price of $899 pp. The return TA is currently sold out but final payment is coming up soon and I bet some rooms open up then as they did on the outbound TA. If that is too soon, Glory has a spring TA next year which you could combine with another ship heading to Europe around that time.

I was onboard in April, after her dry dock. I can confirm they were not removed and in fact looked renovated compared to recent trips on Indy and Mariner. It was a very nice area and I was happy to see them survive the dry dock.

I had a lunch menu in the mdr on my 7 day Alaska cruise last year on Spirit. There was also an upcharge brunch offered in the steakhouse. If I remember correctly both of these were during our day cruising through Tracy Arm.

When I did a 16 day cruise with only four port days, every other sea day had the standard brunch menu. The other days had the normal breakfast menu and a lunch menu that changed each day. The dinner menus never repeated so we had 16 unique dinner menus with only a few items that repeated.

I sailed for 33 days on Spirit B2B2B2B last year starting in Alaska continuing on through the Panama Canal and first two Caribbean sailings. Wifi was fine in Alaska. Not amazing, but certainly no outages like I was expecting based on the reports of poor coverage in Alaska. Starting the journey south was where the problems began. Wifi was down completely for several days of the 16 day voyage to Miami and when it did return speed tests revealed speeds literally slower than dial up. Despite it being a ship wide issue that even caused the hub app to briefly stop working, guest services played dumb when people complained. Eventually a partial refund was given to those who were persistent. The problem of dial up speed wifi continued several days into the Caribbean sailings before going out completely again. This time guest services refused any partial refunds even though wifi was completely down. I asked why after two turnaround days in Miami the problem was not fixed, they claimed this was unrelated to the issue during the crossing 🙄. After about a day and a half it came back and speeds were back to the so so speeds from Alaska. A partial refund for no service was still refused. The way this was handled is probably my only true disappointment at carnivals customer service. They knowingly continued to sell a product they knew was broken and refused to acknowledge the problem or make it right. If you have trouble in Alaska this year on Spirit, they will blame it on Alaska but be assured it's faulty wifi onboard. Hopefully the fix they applied is still holding up. Sorry for the rant this went on a while but the question caused me to remember the run around carnival gave me last year 😆.

Add me to the camp who believe the posts are fake. One just needs to look at the "complaints" from cc he posts that simply don't exist or are taken completely out of context. It amazes me that anyone doesn't see the writing pattern similarities and constant typos in the complaints. Who else do we know that can't write a simple sentence without basic words misspelled? I read his page and enjoy his humor (spelled correctly) but take it in with a grain of salt and understand it's for entertainment and not to be taken too seriously.

Not sure the exact rules about linking to that site from here or I would post a link for you. His name on there is Benny Ben. He is the first result for me but that could be the algorithm knowing I've viewed him before. If you cannot find him easily, do a search from the public group over there called royal Caribbean dining, he is a frequent contributor there. I was not aware he lied about his occupation, he was truthful to me when I made a comment on one of his lives that I found him on Fb. I was not asking him, just commenting how thin and fit he was for someone who ate so much and he offered the details about his profession. I believe it was from a royal review but he did so many I honestly have no idea now which one it was lol. That is unfortunate that he was not truthful to everyone. It's funny you mention you don't believe he ate that much, I was looking at his photos last night on fb (where he is not camera shy like on here) and in every photo you don't actually see him eating, but holding the food up to his mouth with a smile and I began to wonder the same thing. Seemed staged. Also from the angle of the photos, he is clearly not traveling alone unless he is setting up a tripod everywhere he goes. His posts on there have dropped off since March so perhaps his traveling days have slowed down, but he was definitely still traveling for a couple months after he disappeared from cc. If you do find him, his posts are not near as entertaining as his live reviews. These feel like advertising pieces. Still very lovely photos and lots and lots of food porn though. Wish him well wherever he is and whatever he is doing these days.

For those wondering about Benny, he is an influencer on other social media sites and a paid travel consultant paid to do what he did for free on cc. He has continued posting on Facebook since disappearing from the boards so he is ok. I'm not sure if he was a plant, but at the very least he didn't feel it nessasary to say goodbye so his fans on here would not worry about him. He is still traveling often (for a living) but for whatever reason does not supply us with his wonderful reviews anymore.

I don't remember what the item was but it was Tampa that was being over zealous. An item was confiscated from a YouTuber that should not have been. Fans wrote in on their behalf and John confirmed it was allowed. When the youtuber explained this to the head of security upon returning, they were told "I don't care what they said when you come through my port we will be taking it." Upon being told this, John mentioned they would be having a meeting with Port of Tampa the following day. Looks like carnival was successful even if it's been another week or so since the issue happened.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe you can use your certificate on a cruise that has passed final payment date and therefore you would not be able to use it for a June sailing. I have heard others being able to book a trip and then apply the certificate later once earned, but again not sure that works on a cruise already passed final payment.

I have seen beer at the pizza place late night. I've never ordered it so am not sure if they open the can or not. We all know how long the pizza line is, how bad do you want your 3am beer?

Yes and not only that but it earns tier points at the same rate as video poker which has the best odds in the casino (which is why it earns points slower) so I can't say I understand why anyone worried about tier status would ever play this but to each their own I guess.

Yes and it is good but does not include that delicious white sauce it comes in at the MDR and that seems to really take it to another level. One of my absolute favorites that I never really see anyone talk about, glad to see it finally get its own thread. Anyone who has never tried it, try it it's delicious 😋.

If you are not getting upgrade offers from your TA booking it is because your TA is not forwarding the offer. Booking through a TA is a way to almost guarantee an upSELL offer. Whether or not the offer is forwarded depends on how motivated they are to increase their commission 😜

Even though it is only one more terminal down from D and E it seems a good distance further down the road. It's already a good amount of walking from A to D. I'd say it took 15-20 minutes and I am a fast walker and also pack light. So probably half hour minimum and I am also unsure if there is a walking path but then again until I did it I was not sure of a walking path from D to A. That's why if you do it I hope you let us know if you would recommend it for others. Enjoy your cruises!

I am 99% certain Celebration docks at terminal F further down than the traditional terminals Carnival uses. I have personally walked from A to D and it is easily doable and would say E would also be easy as it is right next door. Navigating through NCL's arriving passengers at B is a little tricky but other than that there is a walking path and only one spot you need to cross the road. Traffic at that spot has a stop sign so easy enough to cross safely. Terminal F I am not sure about though it seems like it may be a good additional amount of walking and unless someone has done it I would probably not consider it. If you do decide to I hope you will report back as I'd love to know if it is something to consider.

On Celebration in December they offered to bring me Wasabi for the mashed potatoes. In January on Freedom I asked for it and was told no. The cheesecake had a new recipe also. It had the same flavor as before but the mousse like consistency of the buffet desserts. It was basically all frosting and crust no actual cheesecake. It was a disappointing meal especially since the included food on Freedom was actually much better than recent trips.

Book them now, right now your considered a potential new heavy hitter and the casino offers will roll your way to entice you. Once you get a bit more established your offers will be infrequent and at that level probably cut off except maybe $20 off regular rate and some light obc. Once you quit booking marketing will occasionally throw one your way again to entice you again. Good luck, spend what your comfortable with and remember the house always wins although comped cruises lower the house edge - especially if your a solo cruiser 😁.

So funny enough I'm sitting in Lido right now enjoying a leisurely breakfast as I'm doing b2b. I'm sitting right next to the crew entrance to the area behind Lido. I see a group of officers having a chat and look over and realize they are talking to an inspector. Then they go in the kitchen and next thing I know a crew member who appears to be normally assigned to bussing the tables is stationed just outside the door and turning the rest of the crew who try to enter away. Thankfully it's turn around day so no new plates need to be restocked and if the dishes pile up outside it won't have the audience celebration had. Very interesting to me to witness this after reading this topic and I suspect this is the normal SOP for an inspection that just didn't translate well to an inspection occurring on a port day during meal service.

I don't have experience with this type of inspection but similar ones. In my experience, the best scores were at locations that did dumb stuff like this in order to pass. The managers that learned what was being looked at and made sure they were perfect at all costs always did the best even if it meant literally closing the kitchen during meal service. Sad but true.

The correct answer is yes. But I never do and the one time I did, the employee coming around to check us in actually commented that I was already checked in because very few b2b actually do. It saved him some time taking my picture again and you will need to put a card on file again, but honestly there is no need to check in again if you would prefer not to. The time I spent adding a card on file was less than the time answering all the questions carnival obviously doesn't need in order for me to sail with them. Even my passport information is carried over behind the scenes as they never ask for it again.

As a young male solo cruiser I get stopped a lot. It used to make me nervous and lead to a lot of follow up questions and an occasional visit to a secondary screening room. Now I'm used to it and after I answer a couple questions they are satisfied and send me along. It is most definitely not random as the questions are always the same and triggered by me being solo. The automated facial recognition most ports use now also helps because the computer doesn't recognize I'm solo.

Elevators are a big hassle on Celebration. I would pick 14 if you think you will spend most of your time on the upper decks that way you are close but not right below Lido. Or deck 10 if you will do more inside the ship. Again close but not directly above the action.