Eli_6

We stayed in an aft corner suite under the lido one time and the main thing we heard was the dragging of chairs....and EARLY in the morning! I think it was workers cleaning.

Guess yall heard. Just got the email.

She said she had looked everywhere obsessively like 20 times.

That is a very good suggestion. I actually once did this because my boss thought he had had his clubs stolen. I called every pawn shop in the area. He was convinced they were stolen out of the back seat of his car after he had accidentally left it unlocked. However, after we still didn't locate them, I had my paralegal call his golf club and they were found in the men's locker room...

Don't feel bad. We all make mistakes. We can't be 100 percent vigilant 100 percent of the time. I had a Rolex stolen out of my house. Can only assume it was by someone who did work in my house as we had various renovators in our house for 18+ months. I had removed it and taken it with me when we moved out of the house for major home repairs, but when we moved back in, I unpacked it (even though the repairs were still ongoing to other parts of the house but not my bedroom) thinking no one would be ballsy enough to steal it literally right under my nose when I was home with cameras placed throughout the house. Unfortunately, I am not sure exactly when it went missing so I can't say for sure who even did it. My best guess is some worker came into my bedroom at some point when I was outside with my kids or taking a shower or something similar. (I have cameras in the hallway but not my bedroom.) My husband also had an approximately $300 watch missing, but it was nowhere near as expensive as my Rolex. Only saving grace is that no one took my Birkin bags which are worth even more...which may go to the fact it was probably a man who stole it and had no clue that they were more valuable than the watch. Or, perhaps, a watch is something easy to stick in a pocket and he couldn't just walk out the door with a big purse without me noticing. The deductible on our home owner's insurance is as much as the watch so no point in claiming on it. Point being: I have been there. People make mistakes sometimes and it is a shame that we can't depend on people's honesty.

Ok - so I do a lot of travel hacking and am part of several online communities that give tips for this. One thing a lot of people do is get free or cheap cruises for Carnival and HAL by "status matching" from Caesar's Diamond to the cruise line. (You obtain status with Wyndham by getting the Wyndham business card which then grants you diamond status at Caesar's which in turn has resulted in a number of people getting free cruise offers from Carnival and HAL when they upload their card information to the Carnival player's club.) However, most of these people have not cruised a lot with Carnival. My husband just got diamond status at Caesars and we are waiting on his card. However, I have concerns because we already have significant history with Carnival (we are platinum) that they are going to be like, "Nah. These people don't gamble very much." I was wondering if anyone who has ever cruised with Carnival quite a bit and then tried this has actually managed to start getting "casino deals" after doing this.

I have heard really good things about the Yacht Club. Can't say because I haven't sailed MSC. Wish they would come to Galveston.

Oh, and I sailed in 2022 and in 2023.

We carried on at least 8-10 bottles of liquor, wine and champagne we purchased in Barcelona this year. We stayed in Eixample and were close to a grocery store and the wine was so cheap...like 3-8 Euros. Even for wine that tasted really good. I had bought one of those bags on Amazon that expands for souveniers and it ended up filled with pretty much alcohol. The coca-cola was more expensive than the wine. My husband bought hard liquor in Scotland or Wales or somewhere last year, too, and carried it on. No one said anything. They totally don't care. You can even buy it in the port terminal and carry it on.

I went back and looked at the lay outs and you are correct. The Splendor is more like the Dream, Breeze, Magic, etc. in terms of lay out. But I do recall it having a retractable roof. Maybe that is what I was thinking of. (Also, both have that green water slide that the bottom drops out of.) Or maybe they just seemed similar to me because I have only been on three of the ships with Farkas (sp?) design. (Most of the other ships I have been on are post-Farkas.) However, I did feel like they were similarly uncrowded. Albeit, it may have been because I was cruising on the Splendor just at a time that was less crowded. I also really liked that she had numerous hot tubs. I feel like on Pride there is a lack of hot tubs...really only 1 that the kids can get in. This has only been an issue because both times we were on her it was cold enough that no one really wanted to be in the pool for longer than a few minutes because the water was so cold.

I liked the Splendor's lay out (similar to Pride, Legend, etc.) and thought it was in good shape for its age. (Albeit, it is a little younger than those other ships.) We never felt crowded and had an awesome cruise on her. The only thing I didn't like was the pepto-pink circle decor. I think Pride, Legend and all in that similar class present a very similar product. The newer Carnival ships, however, IMO feel busier and like there are more people on them. And there are because they are bigger.

There are some that don't allow kids under 12 or 13. For example, Emerald, Scenic, etc. It is more than just Viking and Virgin. I think even Silversea has an age cut off of like 6...or maybe it was just for some sailings it is 6. Regardless, when I have looked into some of the smaller boats (which are usually more luxury or high end), there isn't much available for kids. I know there is a reason that I end up looking at basically the same 3-5 cruise lines over and over again even beyond price. Edit: I found this and there are actually quite a few of the smaller lines/boats that have age cut offs or prohibit kids from going on certain vogages: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/luxury-cruise-line-age-policies

I wasn't trying to say that it was, but more that many of the premium or luxury brands don't allow children below a certain age or, even if they do, they don't have much available for them.

Vista will just be coming out of dry dock. I personally would opt for Vista if and only if you are in the Havana area. Havana area in the vista class ships is my favorite experience on any Carnival ships. Such a nice retreat...especially on a busy Christmas cruise.

I second that! Jubilee (at least for a suite) is pricey. The aft corner balcony is 10k or more per sailing when I have priced it.

So which cruise line is first class? Asking for a friend. I have a feeling the response is going to be Viking, Silversea, Seabourn or one of the other lines that doesn't allow kids. (Which may be part of what gives it the first class feel.)

I will warn you that opening the divider is not as great as it seems. We did this on one and it just kept slamming in the wind when the ship was moving and making noise. We ended up having to have them close it and lock it.

So sad.

When Chef Table happens is dependent on the ship. On some ships, you can select when you go. I have been on the first formal night before and on the last night of the cruise at least twice. None of these were to Alaska, though. On my next cruise, I am scheduled on first sea day but I got to choose. Alaska was one of my favorite cruises! Have fun!

Celebrity does have a kids' club, an arcade and sports area so they aren't totally devoid of activities for kids. Still, most online bloggers/youtubers seem to think Carnival, Royal, and Disney have the most for kids. I personally feel like Royal is a bit better for pre-teens/teens and Carnival a bit better for younger kids. I haven't been on Disney to critique it The period of time when my kids would have been really into a "Disney" was pretty much during the 2 years when they couldn't cruise. (Because they could not cruise even longer than lines were shut down because they couldn't be vaccinated until the vax was out for children...which was 6 months even after cruising resumed.) Before that, they were a little young to cruise at all (or at least a little young for me wanting to take them on a cruise) and had only been on one cruise. After that, they were past the point of Mickey Mouse being cool.

Imo, yes. For adults. But we don't do it on cruises we take our kids on because I think it would be lost on them.

I just got off of her in June and actually felt like the dry dock did her some good--although, the regular balcony rooms still needed some updating.

We have been on her twice in the last 6 months and three times in the past year-and-a-half. It was a good time both times. MDR was not great for dinner, but everything else was pretty good. I really liked the non-smoking casino. No complaints here.

Actually, she wasn't working. Nor was she paying. I took my entire extended family on the cruise and my nanny because she had become like a member of the family. It was not one of our better cruises and I won't do it again. Now when we took my husband's office staff on a cruise--that was actually fun. They were grateful and a fun group. It may have also had something to do with personalities as well as his office staff are a "fun" group who like to have a good time. The 20-somethings really had a good time!

Our Alaskan cruise was probably my favorite cruise. It was a more low key atmosphere. Less of a party crowd. Water slides were freezing. My kids went on them anyway. We were on a different ship, but they did have the cover closed.