Eli_6

My point exactly.

You have to admit--there is A LOT going on in this picture:

Some of the Joe Farcus stuff is fun in a kitsch sort of way. But the circles were too much. They gave me a head ache. With that said, I actually loved the lay out of the splendor and the retractable roof pool and how many hot tubs it had. But oh those circles! And in pepto bismol pink, too! What was he thinking?

Here are pics of Beyond for comparison:

They may have been "upscale" 20 years ago, but the design and decor that I saw pictures of was EXTREMELY dated. It is not what you see if you open the pages of Architectural Digest. And it certainly doesn't look like the design of the Apex or any of the newer Celebrity ships. No interior designer would design the interior of a new home, hotel, or ship to look like the interior photos below. The color schemes in the cabins scream "2005." No one has used that awful marooney-red color in the last 15 years. And, yes, I know I now sound like I am looking down my nose at the design. I am not going to lie--I expected more. I don't really care, though, because I am going for the destinations and not for the decor of the ship. The older ships on Carnival aren't any better, but I don't think anyone here is trying to act like they are. I don't see anyone saying, "Man! I just love the Splendor! All those circles really made me feel relaxed and at ease. And that artwork of the man sitting on the toilet in the elevator-best work of art I have ever encountered! It should be next to the David!" She needs updating. SNS. That's probably why they are sending her to cruise a place where people are going not for the ship but for the ports of call.

Then they should all be known as floating Walmarts. My impression when people refer to the "Walmart of the seas", they are referring to the crowd who cruises on Carnival and not the employees. In other words, the argument is that the "people of Carnival" are like the people you see in the "people of Walmart" pics. I guess not wanting to be considered a person of Walmart is a form of elitism as well. However, my point was just that presumptively one has to have at least a little bit of disposable income to be able to book a cruise so most people on a cruise are middle class. Also, what is wrong with shopping at Walmart? Do yall have something against low, low prices? 🤣

I am in the process of pricing out an Egyptian cruise right now on Celebrity because the sailing dates work with my kids' spring break dates and I am not finding the prices to be any different than the prices on Carnival in Europe. 2 adjoining balconies will run us about 6k-7k for an 11 day cruise. Recently went on a 12 day cruise with carnival and guess what? 2 adjoining balconies were about the same price. Maybe they were $500 less but when you are talking about a trip to Europe for a family of 4, $500 won't even buy you a day of excursions. Looking at an aft balcony across from an inside room as well and, again, the price is about the same. Only thing that appears to be higher on Celebrity is the suites...although, if you look at the price of the aft corner Excel suites on the new Carnival ships, that isn't even true. Celebrity's largest suite (which is about 2700 sq ft and I don't really think CCL has an equivalent) is the only one that is probably priced above anything Carnival offers and is about 22k for the 11 days...but only 4 people are staying in those suites so that isn't who is primarily populating Celebrity cruises. Also, my husband and I were looking at the pics of the "Celebrity Infinity" and both of us were commenting on how much it looked like the Pride and Splendor in terms of lay out, design, color, etc. Now the Pride has some of the nakey renaissance people art going on and the Splendor has the circles, but other than that I wasn't seeing a difference. It all looks pretty dated. I was disapointed, too, because all the tv's looked super small. I guess you have to go on a new boat to get a decent sized t.v. (Which, as an aside--tv's are so cheap! Why can't they put decent sized tv's in these ships?) I am hoping the food might be a little better, but I doubt it is going to be Rudy and Paco's or Truluck's or Taste of Texas. And they don't have slides either...although, they do have an arcade and a kid's club which I was happy about. (My kid's entire evaluation of cruise ships is solely based on the water slides.) Frankly, the idea that anyone going on a cruise ship would look down on anyone else is a little silly. You aren't chartering a private yacht.

On some level...is any cruise line really like Walmart? Because you have to have some sort of disposable income to even cruise at all. Obviously if someone else is paying for the cruise this doesn't apply which is how/why I think some people act the fool and don't care if their cruise is ruined or they are banned for life...because they didn't pay for the cruise to begin with and know they probably won't ever go on another one!

@Joanne G. I can promise you that unless they end up giving you some sort of comparable cruise with multiple port stops, you will be getting money back. They aren't going to call sitting in the harbor a "cruise" = to the one you were supposed to go on and not refund any of your money. They probably are just dealing with people who have flights to catch in the next 1-2 days first.

So, I am looking at booking a 2025 cruise to Egypt and Jerusalem from Athens on the Celebrity Infinity because the dates work with my kids' spring break and they would only have to miss 1 day of school--i.e. the day we fly home. (I was hoping HAL or Royal would come out with their summer 2025 Europe cruises to see if they offered anything, but since the dates work so well my kids won't have to miss much school, I am thinking that I will likely book the Celebrity cruise rather than going to Egypt in the summer anyway.) My kids are 9 and 10 and would be 10 (almost 11) and 12 at the time of this cruise. (This would be their 4th Europe/Med cruise and their 10th overall cruise...so they are well-traveled and know how to behave.) When we cruise, I prefer to cruise with two rooms so that we have two tvs and two bathrooms. Sometimes we book adjoining rooms and sometimes across the hall. Both have worked out well. Only time I ever had an issue was on our very first cruise when my then 4-year-old didn't want to sleep in his room with the nanny and Mom and Dad were in an adults only part of the ship down the hall...so now we don't book in "adults only" section. (Also, I don't even think Celebrity has an adults only section.) The sailing I like has a sunset balcony directly across the hallway from an interior room on decks 7, 8, and 9. They also have a concierge class balcony near the suites on deck 6 that looks huge, but then our "inside" room would have to be on a different level or we would have to book two concierge balcony rooms (and they would not be adjoining) because there are no available inside rooms on deck 6. From the best I can tell, the only way to get two adjoining rooms would be to do two inside rooms and I really don't want to do that...or to do a much more expensive (like 4 times the price) suite adjoining to a balcony and I don't really want to do that either on a cruise we are taking mainly for the ports. Which would you recommend for my situation: A. Two non-adjoining concierge balconies down the hall from one another? (for about $2500 more than option B or C) -or- B. A sunset (aft view) balcony directly across the hall from an inside room? -or- C. A concierge balcony on level 6 with an inside room on level 7? Is concierge class worth the hassle of the rooms not being next to one another? I am thinking probably not... Also, if we go with option B (sunset across from inside room), does anyone have a particular deck on the Infinity between decks 7, 8 and 9 that they prefer?

Well. That changes everything. If I can require someone to call me Queen Elizabeth for a week, that may well be worth the extra couple hundred dollars in cruise fare and making my kids forego water slides. (I kid. I kid.)

People are ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with Carnival. We can well afford to do more expensive cruises but we usually pick Carnival because we have kids and are now familiar with the product. (And we also like good deals.) If you have kids, your main choices are pretty much Carnival, Royal, MSC, or Disney. Anything else is a big drop off in terms of programs and facilities for kids. I am looking at a Celebrity cruise for spring break 2025, though, because CCL doesn't go to where I am wanting to go (Holy Land and Egypt). I would like to consider HAL, MSC and Royal as they do sail to those places, but they haven't posted 2025 schedules yet.

I have had Carnival canceled cruises even apart from Covid and have always found that any time corporate gets involved, things are handled well and compensation is fair. (We got a 100 percent FCC and full refund when Vista sailing was canceled a week before our cruise due to needing some sort of repair on the ship and we got a 25% FCC plus money back for canceled Mardi Gras sailing because ship not ready.) The only times things are a mess seems to be when someone on an individual ship is incompetent and doesn't handle it well. But carnival corporate seems to be awesome.

So, what would happen if this had happened when the Pride was on her TA in the middle of the Atlantic?

Well, I did let my kids loose in there for a bit...

Just read on Facebook from a lady I know on the Pride that her next sailing is canceled, but looks like the news has already hit here.

I just read that Pride's next sailing for July 21 has been canceled.

It just came out of dry dock.

Thank you for this advice. I just booked "Rome in Limo" for two of the ports--Rome and Naples--after reading the recs on the CC Italy board. It was 550-600 Euros for 5 people for a PRIVATE tour in a minivan for 8-9 hours! It is actually less than most of the bookings through Carnival (by the time you pay for 5 tix!) and we get to do exactly what we want to do and not have to wait on other people. I have been hesitant to do this in the past because always afraid of what you might end up with but there were so many glowing reviews of Rome in Limo on CC that I don't feel concerned in the least.

Welp, we didn't end up going to either because the port was canceled due to a port strike. We went to Amsterdam instead. It was fun, though. Walked around Amsterdam, went to a village in Holland and to a cheese making and wooden shoe making place.

Looks like Rome in Limo is overwhelmingly the recommended company on here.

Following. Also looking for the same thing but for next June.

I am looking for recs for a private tour r/t from the port for next June for my family of 5. 2 kids and 3 adults. Husband and I have been to Rome but our kids and my mother have not. We are wanting to see the Colliseum because it was closed when we were there for our honeymoon 15 or so years ago, but spend most of our time at the Vatican as that was what we found the most impressive when we were there. Maybe a stop at the Pantheon. Anyone have any tour companies they recommend? I have been looking at Viator but thought I would ask here if there is any particular company that people have had good experiences with.

I like the one with the frogs.

Good suggestion. However, I already have about 1k in gift cards to use for spending on board. And I don't have thousands in unpaid cruise fares left. My Sept cruise is paid in full--with gift cards. For next year in Europe, I still have over 5k in FCC I am applying that has to be spent by Aug 2024. And after my problems getting shore excursions refunded last year, I am hesitant to use gift cards to pay for shore excursions. And obviously I can't use gift cards to pay for hotels. This probably doesn't matter now anyway because I just found out my child may needs some dental work so that will probably push me over minimum spend. Sigh.