CruiseHealing

I was there last year and bought a real nice HMC t-shirt. I used my Sign & Sail card.

Our son was on the very last Carnival Destiny cruise (4 day cruise leaving on Dec. 20, 2012) I asked him to get me a model ship.  They sold out, so on the last he asked the employee at the register if he could buy the ship in the window.  He said yes and he know where the box is.  So I got the last Carnival Destiny.  So I have 2 Destiny Ships (the first ship was bought on the New Years Eve 5 day cruise Dec. 28, 2009) and I have 2 Carnival Sunshine models (Inagural cruise April 19, 2014 and the 2nd ship bought on the April 16, 2016).  The first Sunshine model I bought was on the Inagural Sunshine cruise out of Port Canaveral.

The reason why I have two ships is because we owned two homes at the time.  I have a total of 39 ships (not all carnival).  We sold our second home two years ago, so the ship models are now all together.  We change out the ship we are displaying frequently.  
 

We have been on Carnival Sunshine (including the Sailebration) six times and it needs to comeback to Florida.  

Last May we had a Wrap-Around Balcony on our Alaskan cruise (Carnival Spirit).  What great views!!!  You will not regret booking an Aft-View Balcony on this cruise.  

So you are allowed to leave and you receive a pass re-board.  Will they allow you to bring on two bottle of wine and 12 pack of can soda?  If so, I would just go to my car to resupply.

On 3/29/2024 at 8:03 AM, chocolate melting cake said:

We've been on several, all handled differently. February, 2024 was one of the quickest. We gathered in the comedy club while they took our S&S cards, handed us new ones, sent us into a deserted ship to have a free picture taken and relaxed for a couple of hours.

 

What ship and port was this?

On 1/14/2024 at 2:01 PM, BlerkOne said:

Yes. That was the only market where I saw a potential 208,000 ton ship, until this article which appears to be a supersized Princess design.

The China ship is based on the Carnival Vista Class.   The Adora Magic City ship launched recently, with another Vista Class ship in 2025.

When Carnival changed the Platinum level to days cruised, from 10 cruises got you Platinum status, Carnival experienced a strong spike in bookings as people were trying to secure their next level, which was grandfathered in for future years.  I suspect that this will be done on the launch of a new plan.  So price of bookings will increase for the grace period due to the limited supply of available cabins. 
 

Just a side note: I know a woman that became Platinum on the 10 cruises rule.  Here current total number of days is around 65.  So you see the power of the grace period capturing the next tier.

If you haven’t heard Disney cruise lines just announced a major change to their loyalty program:

Guests who have completed one eligible Disney cruise automatically qualify for Castaway Club membership. To remain in the program, Castaway Club Members must book or sail on at least one eligible cruise within 5 years of their last Disney voyage. 

There are lot Carnival cruisers that have status, but haven’t sail Carnival for many years.  This would be a way to thin heard of Diamonds, Platinums and Golds that switched to other cruise lines or just stop cruising.  

Our first PVP we used was is 2010.  Our personalities really clicked (I was an outside sales rep then, currently being retired). He is now an Elite PVP and he is extremely busy.  He has done some magic for us a few times.  
 

Example: when Carnival appeared to be ready to start sailing during COVID I called him to see if he could get us on the Horizon for the July 4, 2021 sailing (Carnival’s first sailing out of Florida). The website was not letting you book because they had limited the booking to 50% occupancy. I called him and talked about the difficulties trying to book this cruise. He asked me for a list of cabins we were interested in. I gave him the cabin numbers based on my first choice.  After about 20 minutes later he called me to tell us we were booked in our first choice cabin.  We did this less than 10 days before sailing.  What an exciting time. I met Christine Duffy on the cruise and told her about this experience.

If you like your PVP, learn to work with them.  The senior ones know a lot of people behind the scenes to you get things done.

4 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Just a note. The cancellation amount will often show more than the true penalty. For example I put down 400 dollars on an early saver booking and the cancellation penalty shows a 400 dollar penalty for cancelling. The true penalty amount is 50 per person or 100 dollars in my case. The remaining 300 would be carried over as a future cruise credit which would have to be booked within 12 months. Once past final payment date I would lose the whole 400 dollars. 

Same thing for us.  $50 per person with remainder becoming FCC.

I received 9 of them. As I was deleting all of them I thought they must be getting desperate.

14 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Got a question for you Europe cruisers...I usually tip out at the bar on my Sign and Sail card, but when I tip out on top of my prepaid gratuities to my wait staff and room stewarts 😉, I use US money at the end of the cruise.  Will dollars be okay or do I need to get more euros?  TIA!

We are on the same cruise.  I thought about euros or dollars for tipping cruise staff.  Since this is the last cruise before the Carnival Pride heads back to the states, US dollars would be appropriate.  Maybe we will bump in to each other on board.  We are flying our Saturday morning and have plans in Rome for Monday and Tuesday.  We did a 14 day land vacation throughout Italy before Covid.  So we are just visiting site that missed in 2019.  

17 hours ago, JOHN 57 said:welcome back party.

I haven’t heard “Welcome Back Party” for a long time.  The last time we went to that party was 2004 / 05.   The party was open to all return cruisers. The ones we went to was in a night club. They were lots of fun!!!

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

I wonder if the plan for HMC is to expand the amenities so the island can accommodate Excel class vessels. That would mean a major renovation of nearly everything there.

To my understanding the pier project must accommodate the Excel ship and its guests.  But to handle more than one Excel ship would require a larger investment, which would include a major overhaul of its current facilities.

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Two different cruise lines - HMC is Holland America and Celebration Key is Carnival Cruise Line.

True but HAL is owned by Carnival. Here are the cruise lines owned by Carnival corp AIDA, Carnival, Costa, Cunard, HAL, P&O, Princess, Seabourn. All of have access to HMC.

HMC Pier will be done, but for now dollars are earmarked to complete Carnival Grand Port. This will show an immediate return on their investment, whereas HMC Pier will help lower operating cost, as well as increase passenger traffic.

Here is a video of the ground breaking for the Carnival Grand Port.  
 

Here is the Site Plan of what it will look like.  Remember this was drawn up before Covid so it may changed quite a bit since then.  Note the Cabana areas on the right side and at the bottom left of the Site Plan.

Here is where the new port will be located:

Kiel has a very large Dry Dock facility.  If the have to used it and it’s available, the passengers will have to be transported (air or sea) back to Dover.  How long of a dry dock, your guess is good as mine?  Could the starboard azipod be severely damage from heavy vibrations and spinning around?  If so, does any one have a free azipod hanging around. I thought I had one in garage, but my wife was tired of it hanging around so she sold on eBay.

Someone said on our Facebook page that they called “Otto’s Tug and Tow Services”.

We sailed on the first Pride cruise for Alaska this year on May 2nd,  Embarkation was a total nightmare. We are platinum and in a suite.  We, as well as other D&P cruisers, were mixed in with all other cruisers.  It took us over an hour to board.  Priority meant nothing to the port of seattle or carnival.  
 

Overall the cruise was good, but the the steak house was terrible.  The wait staff was more interested to talk with the hotel director who was eating there, than the paying customer.  Both of our steaks were hugely under cooked.  We asked for help but they were not interested.  We have been dining in the steak house every cruise for 10 cruises. It’s gone done hill so much we will not eat their on our Greece cruise later this year or the other 5 cruises we have booked next year.

My 14 ships on a stick are now in a box. DW doesn’t want to display my Trivia trophies. It does go with our decor. 

I am wondering has anyone heard of someone not getting their passport back?  I would think that would become a major issue for that person.