maryann2

On 12/6/2022 at 1:23 PM, BlerkOne said:

 

Carnival Elation was in Nassau when we were there, and honestly I was somewhat wishing I was on that rust bucket, even without a balcony or the better food. One thing missing is the Carnival vibe which I really can't explain. Not really any complaints about Celebrity, the staff are nice and helpful, but Celebrity doesn't cruise from ports within an easy drive for us. If I have to fly to a cruise, I prefer it to be something special like the Med or Alaska or Antarctica or...

You nailed it. 

Although l sail on other lines l feel at home on Carnival.

I am booked on the Millennium Vancouver to Japan Sept 2023. One of the fossils LOL

Great photos.

13 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Hi Mary. Did you change your profile name? I'm thinking we were at the same table for dinner.

No, still the same name.  We had a great table.

5 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Shrimp Creole Omelette

 

 

 

 

I have figured out who you are by your photos.

We met one evening in the elevator. 

Discussed how much we missed Ken.

On 11/28/2022 at 9:58 PM, Eli_6 said:

Someone posted on here a year or two ago that they had a jumper on a cruise ship they were on once. Multiple people saw him jump. Ship stopped, put in a lifeboat, and they pulled him out of the water...and he was ok.  For some reason, I thought that it was a cruise to Hawaii, but I could be wrong.

 

On 11/29/2022 at 6:30 PM, cruises42 said:

We were on that cruise. It was a 15 day from San Diego to Hawaii in 2012. He jumped around 1 PM from the Lido, so many people saw him. They took him to the hospital at our first HI port. I don't know how injured he was.

Yes, I was on that ship too. They had just announced that we had passed the point of no return on the sailing. He jumped and was thrown the life ring buoy.

It took a while for the ship to stop and turn back but he was easily found with the tracker on the life buoy.

2 hours ago, Froufie said:

Also hi to Nancy, Mary and Julie and I remember you too Karen!!! 

 

Super excited for another transatlantic from Barcelona to some of my favorite ports on a 'new' ship! 🙂

 

6 minutes ago, nwcruiselover said:

Hi to you too, Froufie.  Another TA to look forward to!  Nancy

Here we go again!

On 11/28/2022 at 1:55 PM, TravelerK said:

 

Have we been on a cruise together before?  I remember cruising with someone named Mary Ann from Canada.

 

Karen

Yes, remember you from other TAs Karen.

4 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I don't think that is the rationale; it should be 5 years from the expiry of your Nexus card; you have had all the benefits since expiry so they count that time.

You are right.

Mine expired in 2021.

On 11/18/2022 at 11:28 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Just got an email that my Nexus has been renewed until  2027 , did not have to do a interview 😁

5 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

New card came today in mail 

Same thing for me. Received card yesterday.

Renewed without interview although had been pending "waiting for interview" for many months.

Mine renewed until 2026 which is when my passport expires.

I sent mine in on Friday for a cruise in May.  Posted already. (Monday)

On 11/19/2022 at 9:49 PM, TravelerK said:

I booked this cruise the first day bookings were accepted.  It will be my 77th cruise on Carnival.  I was going to spend 3 nites pre-cruise in Barcelona, but I discovered that airfare was a lot less expensive if I fly in a day later and just spend 2 days in Barcelona.  

 

Barcelona is a great city, but beware of pickpockets.  I was a victim when I was there several years ago.

 

The ship looks so beautiful in the videos.  Can't wait to get aboard.

 

Karen

On 11/22/2022 at 2:18 PM, repogirl49 said:

Hi all,

Booked this while I was on the Celebration TA. This will be my 9th TA - glad to visit Barcelona again, been to most of the ports but not Lisbon or Halifax so that exciting.

 

Julie G

Hello again Karen and Julie.

I am also booked.

Just spending 1 night in Barcelona this time as visiting family in Helsinki prior to this cruise.

11 hours ago, kdr69 said:

And you never even said hello?? JK... I enjoyed our cove balcony 5322 and the entire cruise.  Great Fun and lots of beautiful views.

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Why didn't you? We were in 5234. Numero Uno cove. Hell, we could have passed in the hall.

My daughter and I were on the odd side of deck 5.

1 hour ago, EngIceDave said:

Are there any secret passages to any outdoor decks up forward? 

I know a few ships have them

My daughter tried to find them at night to see the stars at the front of the ship.

Couldn't get through.

15 hours ago, dolfan1980 said:

https://www.torontopearson.com/en/connections/guide?arrivingairline=aca&arrivingdestination=bos&departingairline=aca&departingdestination=yeg

 

At terminal 1 from US to Canada connections you do not claim baggage.

Thank you for the link.

I was able to change it from Miami to Vancouver.

That's great that we don't need to collect luggage anymore, with AC anyway.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do another review.

Hope the seas calm down for you.

Glad you enjoyed the Chef's Table with a fun group.

On 10/9/2022 at 4:51 AM, gerryuk said:

Just come off a 15-day round trip from Barcelona via Istanbul on Costa Diadema. I booked an inside guarantee, travelling solo. When they sent me the room documents i was not very happy to find the cabin i was given was a small single bed affair. I did not know Costa had single bed cabins. I rang them up a couple of days before the cruise and asked them to change the cabin so i could have a double bed. They told me they had None available. When on the ship i was surprised that you could not walk down some of the corridors as they had blocked them off, as they could not sell the cabins. I was on level 2 port side and the starboard side was closed off, same on some of the other floors.

The bars seemed busy at night, but you could tell by the numbers in the theatre that they are struggling to sell cabins. Another problem was excursion's, i had a couple cancelled as there were not enough English speakers on the cruise booking the tours. One of the tours was to Istanbul, but that turned out to be a blessing. All i did was get off the ship and walk for about 20 minutes to the Main Mosque and grand bazar, well worth it on foot. As this was a round trip, customers embarked and disembarked at every stop including the island of Crete. There was only a handful, of English-speaking guests on board, a few French and Germans but the vast majority were Italians, don't think there were any Russians on board. 

For Costa, this seems to be the perfect storm. First Covid then the war in Ukraine and now the cost-of-living crisis. It would not surprise me if Costa were merged with Aida to save money. 

Thank you for posting your experience, Gerry.

I had a cabin with a single bed on Fortuna so yes Costa does have single cabins!!!

Will you be booking the Toscana from Dubai next March. I remember you were doing that itinerary in March 2020, and we know what happened then.

My last cruise on Costa , pre-covid , I had their basic plan which lasted for 24 days.

It was fine for using WhatsApp and could be added to before it ran out.

Purchased on board.

On 10/10/2022 at 3:59 AM, Aeroplex said:

 

😅 Same question for Gibraltar. Do they use GBP? 

Yes they use GBP in Gibraltar.

Make sure you get GBP back as change and not the Gibraltar pounds.

2 hours ago, 1kaper said:

John Heald posted today that "Thanks so much “I “ and I hope you are having a brilliant time. We have not stopped the trophies. I am afraid there was a supply chain issue from the factory in Cleveland, Ohio where they are made but that has been resolved and we should get them back to the ships no later than the end of this month. But, they will be back and will return to being prizes again."

Thank you for posting. This is great news.

Agree  with others Cleveland is his stock place to use. When posting numbers of passengers etc on board he always says the number from Cleveland.

Taco Tuesday Sale for Carnival Celebration Transatlantic from Southampton Nov 6th 2022.  14 days. Brand new ship.

Only for 2 days. No solo supplement.  Insides only.

Inside $1401 including taxes.

Also some people are getting a resident rate $200 less.

I am so sorry to hear about the devastation in Fort Myers. You must have a heavy heart.

Thank you for continuing to post and try to enjoy the cruise and beautiful places you will visit.

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

Interesting discussion, thanks for all the tips. We've sailed out of Galveston only once so far, but owing to the distance from airport to hotel and the fact that it was our first time out of Galveston, chose to use the cruise line (Princess) transfers to greatly simplify the process. We flew in the day before, stayed at an airport hotel, then the morning of the trip, walked to the baggage claim area and boarded a bus for the long drive. Added benefit that our bags went directly to our rooms so we didn't need to manhandle them at the pier. It was of course a bit more expensive than a DIY solution, but worth it to us at the time.

This is what I did pre-covid.

Worked out so much cheaper to stay in an airport hotel and then take the (Carnival) shuttle to the port the next morning.

I have stayed in Galveston once and used the Galveston/limo/shuttle service but think it stopped at 4pm so was no good for later flights.

19 minutes ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

We're back from Costa Toscana! Here's our rundown of hits and misses from the trip, and what North American passengers should know to make the most of their time on this great ship.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7113/

Thank you.

Looking forward to sailing on Toscana from Dubai to Rome in March 2023. 21 Days.

1 hour ago, backbiter said:

 

Even at afternoon tea, the individual tea pots are filled in advance and have all cooled by the time they are brought to your table and you are given your tea bags to make your tea (Yes. Tea-making is still DIY).

 

As for afternoon tea, it was terrific in every other respect. The salmon and cucumber sandwiches were superb, as were the cakes. And the service was genuinely wonderful. We always enjoy going, even if the tea is consistently substandard.

 

I agree with the water in the individual pots not being hot enough, but I have always requested and been given, fresh hot water.

I bring my own teabags, already in my travel bag for my November cruise, Yorkshire tea. 

4 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

For this cruise I'm following some highly rated walking tours in Mykonos,  Santorini. Just meandering around town in Ephesus (will visit the grand bazaar). I have excursions in Athens (Acropolis,  etc), Olympia (ruins and museum), Sicily (Mt. Etna and Taormina) and Napoli (Pompeii guided tour and Positano). This will be my third time to Pompeii it's just amazing to see a well-preserved Roman city as it was in 79AD, when it was buried by soft ash instead of lava from Vesuvius' eruption. 

Perhaps re-think your decision and take a tour to Ephesus. It will blow you away.