Eli_6

Breeze Deck 2 Mid-ship - Purple Breeze Deck 10 Forward - Army Green Pride Deck 6 Mid-ship - Green Vista Deck 6 Aft - Orange Splendor Deck 6 Aft - Orange Splendor Deck 9 Forward - Army Green

I feel your pain. We had a similar experience this summer on the Pride with a terrible room steward. Our sheets were obviously not changed between us and the last guest...as in they were visibly dirty and REAKED of smoke and body odor. There was mascara and blood stains on them. For THREE days he didn't change them despite multiple phone calls. When I politely asked him on the third day to just give me the sheets and I would change them myself (because I could NOT sleep on dirty sheets someone else had slept on for a 4th night because I was so grossed out that it was affecting my ability to relax and sleep), he screamed at me that he was busy. We ended up going to guest services and the head of house keeping came and personally change the sheets. Fortunately, this was the only time I have ever had an experience like that. I think the problem is that they have some new crew who aren't as trained/good and they have more rooms to clean.

Yes. It is a Costa ship that was converted to Carnival ship. Costa is a brand owned by Carnival. However, this particular lay out was in the same class on Costa as the "Vista" class is on Carnival if that makes sense. (Same ship layout/time period.) The only difference is that the Venezia doesn't have a pool in the area, but it does have two hot tubs. I also think the Venezia is a little bit nicer ship than the Vista class Carnival ships and I think they are doing some sort of specialty brunch and a sail away party. Costa also sold Carnival the Firenze (same layout as the Venezia) so that ship will be out of Long Beach.

I am jealous. This itinerary looks amazing!

As an aside, if you like a little bit nicer experience, I highly recommend the Havana area on the Vista Class Carnival ships. It is (IMO) one of the best experiences for the $ on a ship. If you want to go a little more expensive, get an aft corner excel balcony (with your own hot tub on your own huge deck) on the Excel class ships and get free access to Loft 19.

I have been lurking on the Celebrity board lately, too, as I am considering booking a cruise on a sailing itinerary that Carnival doesn't offer. I agree that however much unhappiness is here due to cutbacks, it seems to be ten-fold over there. I have been surprised at how all of the "extras" on Celebrity are almost double (or more) on Celebrity vs what they cost on Carnival. There are no self-service laundry rooms. Laundry on Carnival is $15 a bag vs $35-50 on Celebrity. $9.95 delivery fee for room service per order on top of the price of the food and a 20 percent gratuity. Carnival has a small charge for room service(other than breakfast which is free), but it isn't much by comparison. It appears that drink packages are $90-120 per day per person versus $59.95 on Carnival. Wifi is $35 per day on Celebrity vs $16-18 on Carnival. It makes me reconsider my views on Carnival in a good way. Especially since the price of an inside room is a balcony on Carnival...and a balcony on Celebrity is the price of a suite on Carnival...and the price of The Retreat on Celebrity (at least what is on the website) is really high.

Weather in New Orleans can vary dramatically in January/February anywhere from below freezing to in the 80s. Roatan and Cozumel will be plenty of warm to swim. It will actually be nice weather (70s to low 80s) there instead of intolerably hot.

Cool! I think they were still operating under reduced hours the last time I cruised

Are these the current drink prices: https://profcruise.com/carnival-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2022/ With everything else going up, I just wanted to double-check since we are leaving in a couple of weeks for another cruise. On my last two, we didn't do much drinking so I wasn't paying attention...but this is an adult's only cruise so I plan to hit up the bar. Still, probably not enough to justify Cheers.

Do you always have future cruises booked? I seem to only get offers when I either have zero or only 1 cruise booked.

Yeah, the 2023-24 school calendar isn't out yet. I was hoping the principal could give me a better idea. Glad to hear this deal *hopefully* won't expire soon.

I grew up part of my childhood in Laredo. Our youth director at my church (Jim Smiley) was killed by youths supposedly with possible cartel links...but one of them was also living in his house or had lived in his house at one point. My family later moved away, but my friends and I would still go to South Padre as teenagers and go over to Matamoros many times with no incidences. This was the late 90s and about a decade after the Adolfo Costanzo killings of the 80s so there was a history there. Despite all of these terrifying incidents, I have traveled to Mexico many times and never felt any concern. My understanding is that *most* of the cartel retaliation is usually targeted at people or their families who are believed to have helped authorities...or are authorities themselves. I.e. In Laredo, either one of the DA's or the police chief was killed once, I believe. I would have no fear of going there so long as you went with a large tour group and stayed in the tourist zones. I doubt they are going to kidnap tourists in a large tour group in the middle of the day.

I am interested in this, too, as I am considering booking a cruise on Celebrity to go to Egypt.

I will second that the pier workers want to help you. My Mother once went on a cruise out of Galveston with my brother and his family. His in-laws are all from Colombia and Spain and do not speak English. They also packed all of their boarding documents in their luggage that they then checked to go on board including their passports. On top of that, my Mom went off and left proof of her vaccination at home. (I was not on this cruise and it would not have happened if I had been because I stay on top of these things.) The Galveston workers were super helpful. They retrieved the luggage, contacted the place where my Mom had gotten vaccinated, and they were all able to board. (This was back when vaccines were required. They are no longer required.)

Do they have Kid's Club that first night? I thought there was only Night Owls that first night...which is something you have to pay for. I think the older groups have a meeting the first night, but not sure about the group that 9 year olds will be in. My boys (now ages 8 and 10) really enjoy the Kid's Club. The very first time they ever went was when they were pretty young and a child with behavioral issues was in the club and started throwing chairs and my younger child was so traumatized that he didn't want to go back. (Also, Covid hit right after their first cruise so for two years his main memory of the cruise was this incident with the kid.) However, they HAD to go during our Europe cruise because a couple of the days I booked adults only excursions I knew they wouldn't want to go to. (The excursion was to places they would not care about, almost completely historical-based, and required a very long bus ride). This time, they LOVED the Kid's Club and wanted to go every day!!! It also helps that they are older now. My youngest was only about 4 the first time he went and this time they were 7 and 9. They also went during an Alaskan cruise, but there were not hardly any other kids on that cruise so they didn't enjoy it as much. However, I think that was an exception (i.e. not hardly any other kids) because we actually went on the Alaskan cruise shortly before MOST schools got out so I think most kids were still in school. My kids go to a private school and their schedule is slightly different. The only tip I would give is that it can get a little busy right at first drop off times so if you are going to drop them off right when it first opens, plan accordingly if you have to be somewhere. My kids always really like the video game and free play times and are annoyed by the art times. So, on sea days, we sort of "pick and choose" the hours they go. They have the schedule on the Hub App so you can look and see what is going on when. Also, I think 9 year olds can sign themselves out so if you don't want them to be able to do this, be sure to pick that option. I did not want my 9 year old being able to sign himself out. He wouldn't cause any trouble or fall of the ship, but I also know he would never find his way back to the room and would just be wandering around the ship, probably crying.

I am not using my TA. I have a TA, but going through her has, in the past, only caused me more trouble than using her was worth. I would prefer to just book on my own and have direct access to my booking rather than have a middle man. I have just been monitoring my email promotions from Celebrity. I have not cruised with them before, but I did book one that was canceled due to Covid. I am looking at a sailing itinerary (Athens to Egypt, etc.) not offered by the cruise line I normally sail with, so I am not a "Celebrity" expert. (Celebrity does not sail out of my home port of Galveston.) However, I am an experienced cruiser and I know CC can be a valuable resource. That is why I am asking the question. Further, in one prior instance when I considered booking Celebrity, I got a Kids Sail Free in the same cabin offer (or maybe a 3rd and 4th guest sail free in the same cabin) and *did* expire so that was why I was concerned in this instance. I ended up not booking the cruise because the price jumped up significantly. Because this one has been going on awhile and I have this past experience, I was genuinely concerned about it expiring before I could find out information from the school. It appears that my email (rather than the website) was correct as I still have time on the booking as of this morning.

The main advantage on any of the Vista class ships is the Havana area. From now on, if I am sailing on a Vista class ship, I am sailing in the Havana area.

I got an offer for 75 percent off a second guest plus $400 OBC in a semi-annual sale. This seems like a good deal. (Is it?) My email says it ends in 2 days, 5 hours but when I click on the link, it says it is over in only 5 hours...basically tonight. I am waiting to hear back form my kids' principal on the spring break dates for 2024 before I book to make sure I book the correct week. (Basically, I am booking an 11 day cruise to Egypt and Israel that will have them miss a couple of days of school and also encompass the week of spring break, but I want to make sure I definitely get their week of spring break in there or otherwise they will miss two weeks of school. They go to a private, Christian school so I don't think they will have an issue with them missing to go to Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem, etc.) Does anyone know when this deal ends? Or will another one simply take its place?

The entire nudity thing must be a girl/boy difference (or a teen thing) because I have a problem keeping my kids in clothes...

Yeah, with it being open to the public in the evenings and no pool, that makes the price seem high.

Oh wow! Yeah, I doubt we would be taking a 49-day cruise. I once looked at the Princess "around the world" cruises (or at least considered a segment of it) that goes in the summer when my kids are out of school, but my husband says he can't be away from his business that long. There is no way I am taking a super long cruise with two active boys without my husband. We were in the UK (between land and cruise) for about 3-3.5 weeks last summer and I was really ready to get home by the end of it.

I saw that. They were giving me a hard time about posting in the wrong forum and I was like, "I didn't post in this forum...my post got moved here." My guess is the mod meant to move my post to the Costa board and accidentally moved it to Crystal instead.

Oh wow! That sounds like a cool cruise.

That's what I was hoping for. I doubt they will do a Panama Canal transit cruise. On my other post that was moved, someone pointed out that they took the Panorama to Long Beach without a TA so they may do the same for this ship...especially since she can't go through the Panama Canal because of hanging life boats and it seems unlikely they would take a ship around the horn of South America with passengers. I suppose they may be doing last minute renovations while sailing her and training the staff. Hard to know.

You can buy through AARP or Allstate. For Allstate, you have to have points, but it isn't difficult to get them. You download the drivewise app and can earn points. You don't have to have points with AARP, but make sure your address and everything on your membership matches exactly what is on the card you pay with or you will get a hold on your credit card and never actually get the gift card. And it will take at least a week for the hold to fall off. Very annoying. Like literally I think the difference was my members ship said "RD" (with no period) and my credit card says "Rd." and that was enough to cause my card to be rejected for a $540 payment. Then I had a $540 hold on my credit card that took over a week to fall off.