BillOh

We will probably spend a lot of time during the sea days at the beach pool. I know the solarium was pretty hot on the first two Oasis ships, don't remember spending a lot of time there on Symphony.

Was that just for you, or how many? In recent years, if you went to the taxi station outside the port they reduced the price if they could pack 6-10 people in a vehicle.

Hey Nancy! Is this your first visit to St Martin? I had to look back at our cruise on Symphony and I think that one went to St Kitts. We did Bernarnd's tour in 2011 and thought it was a nice tour for a first time visit there, a couple of the places seemed a little contrived like the photo from below, but it was affordable, well run and enjoyable. I sure hope they are still in business. We just go on our own in St Martin most of the time. Looking forward to going back in late May again. I think I remember you aren't on Facebook? They used to have an active page there.

Not a half mile to the taxi stand, but about a 1/2 mile of walk to the port area and beach, I've always done that instead of that water taxi that takes about as long. The walk from the furthest point on the pier to the taxi area is no more than 400 yards.

I hear you about the benefits, we are just back from trying Carnival for the first time, missed those benefits. With our retirement cruise coming up, we too are D+ and will never make Pinnacle. Being a history teacher in Richmond, Va must be fun, lots of historical things right in your area.

You have my interest, I'll be watching. I see you have been on Jewel before. I will look forward to see how she is holding up. As you can see below, its been awhile

That was something I liked about the Freedom class was that counter seating! On the other ships, sometimes the only tables I could find were tables for 10 and if I did sit there (usually just my wife and I) I would always sit on one end and if people were looking around I would ask them to use the rest of the table.

I've heard that several times now! It must be true. OB feel free to elaborate or anyone as well. I will definitely visit, but with the Oasis class offering so many choices, I may avoid it on boarding day. We should be early boarders (so maybe I'll go back ,but on the Oasis class Park Cafe or the Dog House has been frequent choices.

My wife's favorite is still Allure, the last I knew it wasn't amp'd up yet with the slides and other changes, last on her in 2013. Cam t wait to see Wonder for many reasons.

Well, I'll just ask you hurry up and get off the ship so I can get on!

Thanks to everyone so far!

This is the 2nd time I have heard that. Thanks.

Thanks! I've got plenty of time, so I have gone through the Spain videos. I love old world architecture and the quality of your video and images is stunning, very enjoyable. Now to watch the Wonder stuff.

My next cruise is on Wonder next May! We had to cancel our 2022 Spring Wonder cruise so I am looking forward to this one. I am off to start my obsessive planning that I usually do during the cold weather months. Obviously I know how to research cruises! I will of course be searching youtube, but if you did a video you are proud of, feel free to link it. If you have a review here on CC, feel free to point me to it directly. (I'll go looking) Any commentary of Wonder is welcome. We have been on Allure twice, Oasis once, and Symphony once. All comments welcome.

Ok, in reading my own thread, I am not sure why I picked the picture above, I think I meant to pick another. When I selected it from the thumbnail menu I might have thought this was Pirate pizza at the back of deck 9, but it is actually the smoking area on Deck 10 aft. This might be a good time for me to divert the topic and add another comparison and a controversial topic. I mentioned retiring, I can't wait to get out of my dreary job with the faceless corporate Giant, but I am keeping my part time job in the Medical Marijuana industry. Its a fun job and it will help pay for my future cruises after our income drops 60% next year. Being in the industry I am confident I know more about the cannabis industry that most of you. Please save yourself the time, I know what Federal laws, cruise rules, and maybe I know more about the cannabis laws in your area. Speaking about me, besides having spinal issues with chronic pain, I am epileptic and have seizures. I have had zero seizures since getting my medical card and I am currently on no prescribed seizure medications that come from a pharmacy. I am probably ok for 5 days, but it might be a risk. I chose a way to medicate enough to keep me alive and out of danger. I was discrete and nobody was the wiser. This is the way it should be, but I know as well or better than most of you, that isn't the case. Now as far as cannabis and cruising, my observational experience is several times I have smelled people "smoking weed".on Royal Balconies. On my last Mariner cruise in 2022, everyone got a real strong smell of it coming from the over the water cabanas at Coco Cay, they didn't hide it. On this Carnival cruise I saw or smelled several people light quick bowls, or "one hitters" in indoor public places on this Carnival cruise. Even I am appalled on this one. The most notable time was in the very crowded QUEST show in a small night club. That drew the wrath of the CD who at that time and venue could use his best profanity. Another time while we were hanging around the deck 10 smoking area someone lit up a blunt, or at least cannabis infused mini cigar . (My nose knows) At least in a couple of instances, people were less discrete. I mentioned earlier upon boarding we had to stop before going up the gangway to let a dog smell our carry-ons. I make the assumption these dogs are trained to detect cannabis in plant material. Some agencies are not teaching cannabis detection any more, but I assume TSA and the dogs in federal control still do. (assumption) Anyway, I didn't bring any plant material on board in carry on or checked luggage. I am assuming the people mentioned above did check theirs. There was nothing illegal in my carryon, but I was still worried because I work in the industry and my stuff is exposed to the smell quite a bit. While I would have been tempted to ask for a hit from the guy next to me, I don't smoke uncontrolled street cannabis that I don't know the origin of. Finally, on Royal, I have seen it written that the cruise line prohibits the use of cannabis by passengers who are ashore where it is legal. That goes a bit too far to me and its one rule I may consider breaking in a discrete way. (I'm highly interested in partaking at Orient beach in the future) Stopping now and getting my popcorn ready!

CLIENTELE - I know I wouldn't compare a 3 day spring break cruise on Royal with a 7 day Christmas cruise on one of Carnival's best/new ships and vice versa. Our Carnival cruise was a 5 day cruise after school has started. I'm hoping my comparison to my Mariner/Enchantment/Majesty fall cruises from Florida holds some merit. I've been on other cruises where Geography and time of year effect the demographics somewhat. Trying to be objective most 5 day cruises from Florida this time of year tend to be Americans. There are obviously others, but that seems to characterize these cruises, Mostly English speaking Americans. If I had to guess, the Carnival population seemed a little younger with a higher than average young 20's crowd. There is no fact to base this on, just observation Keeping in mind I use the BLUE COLLAR Moniker and I am more comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans than a tux, the Carnival crowd did seem a little more blue collar. I saw more men in sleeveless white t-shirts walking through the ship than all of my other cruises combined. I also think, and expect to take some heat for this, I saw more butt implants on this cruise than I have seen in my life. I may be wrong, but that isn't natural! If you were on the dance floor you always had a place to put your drink, you could put it on the back porch of the woman next to you! Overall the casual dress was more casual on Carnival. One of the responders in this review said, "Its different, but fun" I think that summarizes my experience. We have another Royal cruise scheduled and my loyalty will remain there. We have achieved Diamond + on Royal and for now that still means something. Now if we had a group of friends outside of cruising, or family, that wanted to cruise and the majority wanted Carnival we would do it! We will never make Pinnacle so the motivation to move up is gone. I just learned of a new banned word on Cruise critic you can't say gofindme page (You know what I mean) I understand that logic and I am not making any moderation comments here! I just found this out when I JOKINGLY asked for donations to continue my Carnival research! I'll keeps my notification for this thread going and come back to respond/read responses. I'll also come back and post pics of C-Freedom in her dry dock if I can get them and then pics of her return to Florida with her funnel! Otherwise, stay tuned for BLUE COLLAR D+ RETURNS TO WONDER FOR THE FIRST TIME coming next June. (We had to cancel Wonder for April 23)

As is my ritual I tend to drag these reviews out as I struggle to get caught up at work and then I get tired and finish off with quick facts off the top of my memory and what ever pics I have left, so here goes! (This is the last cruise I will ever review and struggle to get caught up after work. Next cruise is May of next year and when I return I will have one month of work left and work won't be a priority! I'll start with one more of me, not that I think you are interested, but this is a new thing to me Mrs BCD+ almost never takes any cruise pictures, but retirement is suiting her well. I don't know what I am doing here other than walking around on deck 10. Yes, we did get towel animals in our room. Mrs BCD+ is enjoying retirement. This pic just says I'm on an island somewhere! Ok, I left off on the last Sea Day and I mentioned Bingo and DEAL OR NO deal games. We skipped dinner in the MDR again, only went the first 2 nights out of 5. Is this a reflection of the quality of food in a Carnival dining room? Probably not, I think part of it is us eating less and food becoming less important. Below is us on our first cruse in 2006. So after our walking around getting some last snacks and seeing new friends we went back to our room. I had already learned that Carnival does offer the carry off your own bags as an option. We prefer to do that on road trips home. I did get a note in our room that QUICKER TO THE FUN has one final "perk" of being able to sit in the theater until you are called off the ship with the suites and higher cruiser status. We were directed to deck 3 at the theater and a crew member jumped out to say, "This is for suite guests!" I guess I really look blue collar inside cabin-ish. I was about to show my sign and sail card. (Nobody calls it that, its just your room key) showing I had the right to be there when security came up and took down the rope and left people leave, so for the first time in 22 cruises we were the first off the ship! We were now Carnival Cruise Vets and our 2023 cruise was over. Getting off the ship first is even easier! A pretty easy walk out with one of the terminal workers helping, unsolicited, for a bit on the ramp and then breezing through customs. I've mentioned the Radisson shuttle we took when we stayed/parked there. It worked as well as always, I find it makes the trip easier. When we were dropped off, Dianne of CocoBeach Shuttle told us when we returned we would be the only ship in port and she would be on duty so we told us where to meet her and sure enough she was there waiting. A very nice end to a very nice cruise and 1000 mile drive waiting for us. We were gassed and underway be 8am, arriving in our Columbus, Ohio home at 2am. We had big plans for the day we got back (Thanks Ohio State for beating Notre Dame for the 11th time out of the last 12!) CARNIVAL/ROYAL COMPARISONS All cruise people get asking me what I thought of the two lines. I really kept an open mind and enjoyed examining things in the process. I do realize I am comparing one Carnival cruise with 21 Royal cruises. I decided to stick to generalities, this cruise would have compared favorably with some and not others. PRE CRUISE - I found Carnival's website for picking the cruise and their website for pre cruise planning better. I think that goes for the app as well, but I will accept arguments on that 🙂 Boarding - Boarding was very easy with the QUICKER TO THE FUN, the equiv of THE KEY. One of my weaknesses is getting on the ship at the first possible minute. Some features of QTTF weren't available, but I think it was worth the $40 bucks I think I paid. Royal's app is not showing my cruise countdown today, so it is having minor issues that I have 235 days to figure out. Ship - I've only been on this 2008 released ship (I think that is right) It was in good shape, clean, the layout just a bit odd, but we got used to it. It felt like a Voyager class crowd and size. The pools and hot tubs were about a draw, at least if I compared to anything other than on Oasis or newer class ship. (Not been on the Quantum class) Excursions, we mainly do private or just explore on our own any more, but I found the excursions easier to find and read through on Carnival. Other than that they were similar. We picked an excursion in Nassua that was offered on both lines and we have done both. In Princes Cay we jus walked off the ship the way we might in Labadee or Coco Cay. Grand Turk we took one of their beach excursions and found it nice. Speaking of private islands, as mentioned a few posts ago, Princess Cay reminds me of Coco Cay of 16 years ago. We stuck to our little corner of it, food and drink were adequate, but Royal does a better job here I think and Carnival doesn't extend their drink package to the island. Smoking. - I think, at least on this ship, Carnival had more limited smoking area, but they made a nice one where lots of sunsets were seen and it had bar service. Even though neither of us have had nicotine, we did spend a little bit of time there. Its side location near the top kept the air clean. Food- Buffet and dining room - Royal wins - Maybe if I was on their newest biggest ship I might feel different. For food that is no extra charge and above the standard buffet Carnival wins, but that comparison would fare differnet to Enchantment vs as on Oasis class. Either way, i will not go hungry. We never went to guest services or spoke with out cabin attendant, so I will need further research. I'll set up a ***** page so you guys can fund my next review, I'll let you pick the ship and itinerary. THE FUN SHIP. - I think there may not be that much difference, but some of the things we did on this cruise reminded me of the early days of cruising for us when there was more sail away and pool parties. That was fun, I can live with out it. I'll let Carnival keep their Fun ship slogan.

Ken, we have communicated many times in our common years on CC. I have to ask, so where is your usual beach?

Thanks, if I lived in the area, I probably would spend a lot of time there. Looks like you were in Jetty Park a little?

That will be a first for me too, looking forward to catching it on the port cam.

I have seen Mariner and a couple of other Royal Ships at T6, I boarded Mariner there last year, but I have never seen an Oasis class there. As part of my time killing till my next cruise, I will try to look ahead and see when that happens.

I assume you are speaking of the schedule of the actual port? I was referencing the cruisemapper, marinetraffic and a couple of other sites. This can also be confirmed by looking at both ships on Royal's site. That said, things can and frequently do change, so this is tenative, but gives me something to do for the next 200 days or so.

That final sea day was a bit rainy and cool I thought I was back in Ohio when I went for my morning walk. We usually don't do bingo on a ship because we don't want to be inside an auditorium for very long when the weather is nice. Since it wasn't nice, we decided to go ahead and try Carnival Bingo. I'm glad we did. We had fun. I did come close on the last game. In this game it was a COVER ALL and I was down to 1 last number needed. O-71 I think. It was 5 turns before anyone else got to 1 left. My number never came up! Before Bingo an interesting thing happened. On the Carnival App, I saw mention of a DEAL OR NO DEAL GAME show in the theater. They may have done it two times, but for whatever reason, we didn't go. That is a regret now. From my questionable memory I think they had this show right before Bingo with a 20 minute ASK THE CD question and answer period. We got there early and saw the last round of the Deal or No Deal. It was a fun time I would like to see come to Royal! It looked to me like a licensed product made for such environments. Players could win up to $1000 and the audience could win up to a 5 day cruise, which I believe someone did before we came in. While I normally avoid the internet on a cruise, being Diamond we were getting 1 day of free internet and we have gotten use to that. So I did get the internet and catch up on the world while relaxing. A good friend and also occasional cruise mate IM'd me and asked me to put $20 on black 22 for him. He wired me the $20, so off to the casino we headed. My friend, a more frequent gambler, knows I hate casinos. Well at least I use to, maybe us old people like them more? I went into the casino and bought $20 in chips and set them all on black 22. They spun the wheel and the ball dropped right into back 22! And then in jumped next door to red 5. Pretty much sums up my lifetime of Casino experiences! My wife is a responsible gambler and will take a specific amount, and quit when its gone. While in the casino we checked out the roll call slot pull. Gina has done that before, but this ne got really big, something like 75 people and we didn't want to give up several hours of our last sea day, so we/she passed. The group did have one person hit for $1500, but the group ended breaking even.

Just followed this thread, I'll try to remember to come back with photos.

As part of my excessive cruise planning I usually look at what ships will be in port with me at any stop. I just found out when I return to Port Canaveral on June 2nd after our Wonder Cruise, Symphony will be arriving that afternoon on a port stop that will arrive at 1pm. I see she is sailing out of Port Liberty NJ next year. I've only seen two Oasis class ship in Nassau before. At PC, I assume Wonder will be at terminal 1. The only other dock that I THINK can hold Oasis would be the one to the east that Carnival Mardi Gras uses.