Eli_6

TA got off the phone with Carnival and they are swearing the cruise is still going forward. They are saying the ship is at "number of people" capacity so they can offer room upgrades even if all the rooms are not filled. That explains that, but that still doesn't explain why the cruise isn't showing up on any of the ports of call schedules. And it isn't like it is just ONE port it isn't appearing on...

Ugh. This sucks. They have a couple of adjoining or side-by-side inside rooms, too...but then not only would we not get the Terraza area, but we would be stuck in an inside room for NINE sea days. I swore after taking a 6 day cruise in an OV with my stinky boys I would never again book a room without a way of opening the door to air it out. It looks like all of the suites are booked up and I am not seeing much else in the way of adjoining rooms other than inside rooms. I even contemplated booking my kids in a room with my Mom under her booking number and having her no show. Not sure what Carnival would do about that... Once, they moved my children (who were in their own room) completely across the ship (like from forward to aft and port to starboard) from our room when we had a ship change. We had to call and get them to change it. So, I am not sure how much they truly care about the "directly across the hall" rule beyond booking. This past summer, they also asked us when we checked our kids into Camp Ocean on our Europe cruise if we wanted to allow the kids to be able to check themselves out...even though we were going to be off the boat for the day. "Umm, no. I do not want my elementary aged kids wandering around the ship on unsupervised while I am on land." I then went and looked at the rule and apparently kids over 8 can check themselves out of Camp Ocean if the parent allows it. What??? That's a terrible rule! No wonder they have to now have an employee constantly monitoring the ice cream machine...

Do you mean BS reasons or were people literally invoking it because Carnival didn't have bacon at breakfast. Because if it is the second, that is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time! "Yes, I am canceling my cruise because the Bacon is taking a Ba-cation from the Buffet."

I am seriously contemplating going ahead and depositing the Venezia because I want a terrace Carnivale corner balcony directly across from an inside room and there is only ONE set of those left. Bummer part is I think the deposit is $800 for all of us. And I have like $1600 FCC plus deposits plus some amount in deposits (either $400 or $800) plus like $1200 in FCC on the Pride May 28th sailing. So, if the Pride goes forward, I would lose that $800 deposit on the Venezia. I have to have the inside room directly across from the balcony because Carnival has a rule that kids can only be booked in an INSIDE room directly next to or directly across the hall from parents. And I can't book them in my balcony room because it is the Terrazzo Carnviale whatever rooms are 12 and up and neither of them are 12. In actuality, the 9 year old will sleep with us in our room and the 11 year old will stay by himself in the inside room...that is exactly what happened on our Alaskan cruise and on our European cruise. My other option is to just wait and see what happens but then the rooms will probably book up.

For example, the Pride...what would be a normal amount of time needed for her to be in dry dock for the updates she needs? Anyone have any inside information on how long this sort of thing usually takes?

Been texting with my TA. My TA is calling Carnival to TRY to get a straight answer from them on if the May 28th Pride cruise is going forward. Apparently they are still being evasive in giving a definite answer, but she seems to think that the writing is on the wall the 28th is not going forward. She seems to think it has to do with the dry dock scheduling. I wish I knew more about how long a ship was typically in dry dock. 3 or 4 weeks doesn't seem like it would be long enough for the Pride to get the overhaul she needs...but, then again, I don't know a thing about dry docking.

Well, I completely admit that I am gun shy as well because I have literally had Carnival do this to me before back in 2021. The ONLY good thing about that situation is because it was still at the height of Covid and many (like kids) weren't even elligible for vaccines yet, hotels and British Airways was allowing people to book tickets with free cancellation so I got my $$$ easily on the airfare. But it is a different situation now.

The trip insurance doesn't help my situation. Even if I got an insurance policy that covered airfare, it will not cover the fact that my husband has to find and pay another physician to cover his practice and 5,000 patients for the 2.5 weeks we will be gone. Due to his specialty, he usually has to arrange this a year in advance. Being gone for 4 days is one thing. Being halfway around the world for 2.5 to 3 weeks where cell service is questionable is another.

Oh geez. Didn't even think of that!!! I have more faith in that one going forward, though, because at least she is on the Port schedules. When a cruise is not on the website AND is not on any of the schedules for her ports of call, that is suspicious. Highly suspicious.

Well, we booked the pride and the air fare before we knew anything about the Venezia sailing. If I change to the Venezia, I then have to try to get back my return air fare. Plus, there are substantially more ports on the Pride sailing.

I just talked to my TA. She has contacts in Carnival. She told me to reschedule to Venezia and implied without directly saying it that the 28th was going to be canceled. However, she DID say the rest of the summer sailings were going forward.

EXACTLY! That's why they need to be honest about the state of affairs of this cruise. Already, the Venezia cost has gone up about 1k from the Black Friday sails so if I do change over, I lost a good rate because of Carnival not letting us know.

If it is canceled, you could do an MSC cruise for a week out of Barcelona to the med then take a cheap flight up to London and catch the Carnival Norwegian Fjords cruise. MSC has some really affordable rates and it has 2 or 3 ships going out of Barcelona.

Yup. I just looked and I currently have an upgrade offer on BOTH of my balcony cabins for this cruise. How is that possible when the cruise is sold out? And I recall looking a few months back shortly before it disappeared from the website to see if the Deck 4 Vista suite with adjoining balcony (we like adjoining rooms) was available and while those particular rooms were not, there was a plethora of other rooms available in every category. Then, almost overnight, it disappears and is "sold out." Nope. Not buying it.

As an aside, I am not trying to be an alarmist because it may go forward. At this point, I would give it a 50/50 chance. All I am suggesting is that I would consider alternatives if it gets canceled and you have already booked airfare and made other arrangements. We are either going to switch to the Venezia which departs a day later or take an MSC cruise out of Barcelona.

To put off having to provide the refunds. Or to postpone it until after final payment. They did the same thing with Europe 2021. Royal, NCL, etc. had all canceled their sailings and John Heald was saying it was a definite go. But the writing was on the wall. I don't think John is purposefully lying. I think he just repeats what the "beards" tell him. And who knows? Maybe it will go forward. But why is Venezia on the port schedule and Pride isn't? Why is Pride on the port schedule in Dover for the rest of the summer but not on ours? And why is ours the ONLY Europe cruise that has been removed from the website for 2+ months? My opinion is that I don't think they could get the dry dock for when they wanted or they suspect it will run behind schedule so they have pulled it from the ports and the website. Also, the fact that they are offering room upgrades means the sailing is NOT sold out!!! They keep saying it isn't on the website because it is sold out but clearly that isn't the case. And I feel your pain. 4 business class roundtrip airfare tickets booked from Houston to London. And 4 more tickets booked from London to Barcelona. Even using miles for upgrades, we still have about 9k-10k (or maybe more) invested. And we have my husband's alternative coverage for his medical practice arranged.

Carnival Pride is NOT on the schedule for Barcelona, but the Carnival Venezia is for the next day: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/barcelona-port-82?tab=schedule&month=2023-05#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the Port schedule for Lisbon (but the Venezia is😞 https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/lisbon-port-65?tab=schedule&month=2023-05#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the port schedule for Porto, Portugal: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/porto-leixoes-port-3739?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the port schedule for Vigo, Spain: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/vigo-port-745?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the port schedule for La Coruna, Spain: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/la-coruna-port-564?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the port schedule for Bilbao Spain: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/bilbao-port-697?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule The Carnival Pride is NOT on the port schedule for Le Havre/Paris (in June): https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/paris-city-port-378?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule And, of course, the Pride is NOT on the port schedule for Brussels: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/zeebrugge-port-50?tab=schedule&month=2023-06#schedule The Carnival Pride IS on the schedule for the rest of the summer in Dover starting June 9th: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/barcelona-port-82?tab=schedule&month=2023-05#schedule The fact that the Carnival Pride IS on the schedule for later in the summer AND the fact that the Carnival Venezia is on the schedule in the same ports for a day or two later that the Pride is supposed to be visiting (but the Pride is noticeably absent) would lead one to believe that the Pride is going to be canceled. @TxTeach79

I just looked and the Carnival Pride is NOT on the schedule for Barcelona on May 28th. The Carnival Venezia IS on the schedule for May 29th. I find that HIGHLY suspicious! Highly.

Ok, I checked and the Pride Transatlantic over there is April 13-26. So, basically, it appears that Pride will be in dry dock for just under a month. How much are they going to be able to do in a month? I honestly don't know the answer to that because I don't know how quickly they can make these changes. It certainly makes me think that they won't be remodeling all of the cabins...

Actually, I thought about it some more and I *think* they canceled after final payment was due...which means it was within 90 days. I remember this specifically because I felt like it was so clearly aimed at getting those final payments. I had this happen more than once during the shut downs. It didn't bother me as much with the domestic cruises, but it really irked me for the Europe cruises because the amount of time and money (beyond the cruise fee) invested in planning those vacations is on another level. The problem is that for international airfare, you really have to buy it well in advance or you are going to be paying a premium or not able to get the flights you want. And if you (like me) fly on miles upgrades and/or business and are booking for 4 people, you pretty much have to book is soon as the airline posts the tickets to get everyone on the same flight and sitting together. My husband will not do two 10+ hour flight with our kids in coach. He will tell me to cancel the entire trip before agreeing to that. The thing that annoys me about this is that if Carnival is going to cancel, they need to tell us as soon as they know. I feel like they play this game of waiting to get more money/keep our money longer and it just isn't fair to us. I had them cancel a Vista sailing out of my local port of Galveston last minute one time and I didn't really care because I was out no money. But a TON more time and money goes into planning a Europe cruise as compared to one here in the states and their pittance of a 25% FCC doesn't come close to covering that. (Nor does buying insurance help in my situation.) The cruises are longer and require more time off and away from home. (For me, arranging my husband's time away from his business is the biggest deal.) The flights are several times the cost of domestic. Making other travel arrangements (like cabs and hotels) is much more difficult and time consuming because of things like language barriers, the fact that some places don't have Uber/Lyft, time differences, etc. Getting travel documents together, etc. I had to get passports for my children for the first time, and it took me 2-3 months to even get a passport appointment. (The process of getting minor passports is more involved than getting adult passports.) Some places were booked out 6 months and not even taking appointments. I am going to get on some of the port websites and check them again to see if the ship is showing up. The TA over there to drop off the Pride was showing up and it seemed to me like it didn't allow much time for the Pride to be in dry dock.

The "upsells" are in your booking manager on the carnival website. I got one recently for an inside room to balcony for like $30-40. I obviously took it. I also got an offer for one for about $50 on my Europe 12 day cruise to go from a regular balcony to an extended balcony on a higher floor, but I did not take it because we have two adjoining cabins and upgrading would have meant our cabins were no longer adjoining. My kids will are 8 and 10 (almost 11) so adjoining is preferable...although, actually, what really happens is the younger one sleeps in the room with us and the older one shuts the door, ignores the rest of us, and plays video games.

Pre-Covid, FTTF could arrive whenever they wanted to. They just brought FTTF back so no one knows exactly how it will work.

No, it was canceled due to Covid restrictions in Europe. Other cruise lines (Royal, NCL, etc) were canceling their 2021 Europe seasons and Carnival was still saying they were going ahead. I needed to book airfare and so asked John Heald and he swore they were definitely cruising that upcoming summer in Europe. So, I booked 4 business class roundtrip tickets based on his promise. Aaaaannnd two weeks later, the entire Europe season was canceled. I *think* it was about February if I recall correctly for May/June sailings. After that, I take what John Heald says with a chunk of salt. It isn't that I think he is being dishonest. I just think he doesn't always know and only says what the "beards" tell him to say.

Also, John Heald said on his page there will be mini bars in the rooms in a reply to the post.

At 21:00 on the video on John Heald's page it says there is a mini bar in the staterooms.