Clarasgrandma

We really liked the Crawfish Strudel appetizer. The Szechwan Shrimp dish was really good! Our waiter recommended it 🙂.  The Dutch Double Chocolate Pave dessert is my new favorite! 

1 minute ago, Clarasgrandma said:

We were on Carnival Conquest. DJ will email you directions. The meeting place was easy to find. There will be a security person near the main road that will direct you towards the staircase you need to go up to get to the sidewalk as they don’t allow walking on that part of the road. Then you walk on a sidewalk to a guard gate. Once you pass the guard gate, there is no sidewalk and we had to walk on the side of the road. Once we got to the top of the hill and started walking downhill, we could see all the private tour guides waiting on the opposite side of the road. I would say it was about a 15 min walk from the ship.  Some people took taxis.  On the return to the ship, DJ will drop you off right at the port so no extra walking involved.

Probably 15 min once you leave the port area. Sorry. I think it probably takes 5-10 min just to get through the port area and to the main road depending on how fast you walk.

7 hours ago, TheLargeFamily said:

Hello! Thanks for your information. How long was the walk to meet your ride? Was it easy to find? We will be coming from carnival. Thank you 

We were on Carnival Conquest. DJ will email you directions. The meeting place was easy to find. There will be a security person near the main road that will direct you towards the staircase you need to go up to get to the sidewalk as they don’t allow walking on that part of the road. Then you walk on a sidewalk to a guard gate. Once you pass the guard gate, there is no sidewalk and we had to walk on the side of the road. Once we got to the top of the hill and started walking downhill, we could see all the private tour guides waiting on the opposite side of the road. I would say it was about a 15 min walk from the ship.  Some people took taxis.  On the return to the ship, DJ will drop you off right at the port so no extra walking involved.

We just got back from a cruise a week ago and booked a tour with DJ. We were very comfortable with our taxi-island tour guide. She was a very cautious driver. The Hangout was a fun experience. We really liked our guide, Mike. The monkeys were fun. The sloths were so cute! It was a highlight of our trip!  We had originally booked the iguana farm also but the other couple that was paired up with us had not booked it. Our guide offered to still take us there but she told us the iguanas usually stay up in the trees on overcast days so because it was overcast, we elected not to go there and our money for that portion was refunded to us. We would definitely use this company again.

On 12/1/2023 at 6:52 PM, jam19872016 said:

Wow, incredible speed. 

 

Braised beef and barrumundi 751.

 

 

Am I the only one that sees a fish head and an eyeball in this picture?! lol 

The cruises that port in Colon have cheaper port fees and taxes. The carnival ship does not go into the canal.  You have to book an excursion on a smaller boat that will take you into the canal. 
 

The cruises that specify partial and full transit actually have the carnival ship go into the canal and through the locks. The port fees and taxes will be higher for these options.

In the past when I priced out the different options, the price was a wash. Whatever you save in fees and taxes by going to Colon, you end up spending on an excursion. It’s a matter of whether you want a view from the ship or the view from a smaller vessel.

When I look at January 2024 Panama cruises, I see two listed with partial transits, and one listed as Colon (no transit).

We are considering a 2026 cruise on the spirit which will be our first time out of mobile, Alabama and first time on the spirit. I’d like to add on an 8 day as well and make it a B2B. The current prices seem really high though….I’m still battling with myself over this.

We are doing a s2s2s in 2025 with Sunrise, Magic and Horizon. Wasn’t planned this way but our second leg on Magic got chartered. Should be an adventure! This will be our first experience also with switching ships in the same home port.

I am considering this type of room as well and curious about everyone’s opinions. I’m wondering if the beds are in the same position as the rectangular rooms. We had a room once where the beds were set up differently and we rolled head to toe with the waves which was not pleasant.

St Martin also has a beach within walking distance in the downtown area. Leave the ship area and turn left. Follow sidewalk down to boardwalk. 
 

San Juan is easy to walk around and explore. 2 forts, a hop on-hop off free trolley will take you to both if you don’t want to walk. We like walking along the shoreline on a paved path that takes you to one of the forts.

I have this offer also and we plan to make a payment on a cruise soon to take full advantage of the cash back. 

They usually release booking dates 18-24 months ahead of cruising schedule. So somewhere between Oct 2023 and January 2024 would be my guess,

Try calling the 800# and requesting an new PvP.

We’ve had different experiences. When we turned gold from red status, we received the gold card on the first part of our B2B.  When we turned platinum from gold status, we did not receive the updated status one either of our b2b2b legs. We finally went to guest services on the third leg and after much back and forth, they finally agreed to give us the change. In the situation, we hit 75 days on the very last full sea day. I don’t think their computer system had caught up which was causing the issue. Our VIFP account reflected 75 days a week or so after we returned home.

Sundae bar toppings at the ice cream station would be a nice addition. 
 

I like that the new MDR menu on the Venezia has the Vegetarian Indian dishes listed with descriptions now. So much more helpful than just ordering blindly. 
 

Guestcare@carnival.com - send a detailed email.

We’ve only cruised from Florida ports.

Glory 3x

Magic 2x

Ecstasy 1x

Freedom 5x 

Pride 3x

We prefer the smaller ships.

We usually pick OUR spot at the beginning of a cruise and that becomes our regular hangout for the duration. Ex: serenity deck on Pride and Ecstasy,  sitting area across from alchemy bar on Pride, deck 3 outside deck on Freedom, Lido on Magic.

We really enjoy the comedy club.

We usually eat breakfast/brunch/supper in the MDR.

We only do B2B cruises now to make the most of our airfare. Our longest B2B was 22 days.

We’ve never paid for a specialty restaurant.

The Tandoori Restaurant area on the Magic was one of our favorites and we are sad that it is long gone!

If you link up your booking with them, which you can do through the carnival website, and then get on the early dining waitlist, you may have a better chance of getting switched. We had that happen to a couple who wanted to join us but booked late and they were moved to our meal time and table without us having to ask which we found out once we boarded.

On 5/29/2023 at 10:53 PM, DPTexas said:

Favs are:  the mussels, crab cake, short ribs (definitely), chocolate penna cotta (delicious beyond words so I search for it on the Hub menus), the root vegetable pie/tart (I search this entree, too), and the cold soups (appetizer or dessert).  I try to eat 1-2 vegetarian dinners each week, so I really enjoy the root vegetable pie/tart.  I tried the Indian vegetarian dish in January when we sailed on the Panorama, but it was too spicy for me.  We enjoy eating in the MDR and find a great variety of delicious choices.  

I love the root vegetable pie on the Freedom which serves it as a pie crust filled with a puréed veggie concoction. On the Pride, it is not puréed but original veggie form and not as much to my liking.

Also, sometimes they will let you shift your money to a different cruise for a small fee. I would ask about this if you want to take a cruise at a later date vs just cancelling outright.

We didn’t have any issues with it on our last cruise but each person has to have the app open to make communication efficient otherwise they won’t see the messages until they open the app which will delay responses. We think it’s worth the 5 bucks.

We loved the Pride! The serenity deck is on the back of the ship and so relaxing! Never felt crowded at anytime on this ship. Not as many food choices as bigger ships yet we always found something to eat. If you are cruising with kids, the bigger ships do have more activities for them…

We really enjoyed the serenity deck which is on the back of the ship! The ship never felt crowded and we always found places to sit. A lot of new staff start out on this ship as a training venue. We met some really neat people! Would love to cruise on the Pride again!  If you have younger people/kids cruising with you, this may not be the best ship option as there isn’t as many activities available as the larger ships. 

Yes, you can go and just order dessert.  You could also get on the waiting list for any time dining or the early dining and see what happens.

Call the 800# and have the two bookings linked OR go online, into your booking details and see where it says something about adding cruise companions by entering their emails. Then they will get an email and ok it to link the two bookings. I hope that makes sense.