bnbeyer

The escargot and lobster are excellent.  But if I want to name something exceptional, it is the mushroom soup.  I wish they had it more nights.

I've had three cruises cancelled so far - one in April, one in August, and one in December.  I have one booked in March and one in July.  Are we ever going to get to cruise again?  It's getting to the point that I'm just ready to give up.

I won't even get into discussing mask requirements or shore excursions.  But seriously, is cruising over with?

Thank you.

I've had two cruises canceled that I had paid a certain amount of deposits and payments that I believe are supposed to be future cruise credit.  (I'm not including the on-board credit that they'd offered for rebooking.)  I'd like to book one of the offers I've gotten using that future cruise credit, but I can't figure out how.  The website wants me to pay another deposit.  Anybody know how?

I'm only on page 2, but the fact of the matter is, they will not know if they will be cruising until they know if the no-sail order from the CDC will be extended past July 24(?) or not.  I suspect they stopped taking further bookings as a risk mitigation for that possibility.

I'm hopeful and optimistic, but we'll see what happens.  

On 12/5/2019 at 5:47 PM, moseylou said:

hi there - thinking about going on the new Panorama solo, but wondering how you met people to talk to?  You sound like you're probably an extrovert, so maybe it's easier for you - but any tips you have would be appreciated.  I love traveling solo, but I do like to actually talk to people at some point!  

Yes, to some degree I'm an extrovert.  Mostly I would just start chatting with the people sitting next to me at the casino bar, and the length of the conversation varied depending on if we had mutual interests.  When you hit it off with people, then discussing meeting up for lunch or dinner or to go to shore moves you away from the bar.  🙂 

Update on the suitcase...  The original cost around $85.  I bought a smaller softside replacement for $115.  Carnival sent me a check for $100!  That was really above and beyond expectations.  The service on Carnival is so good, in my opinion.  

I'm enjoying coming along for the ride.  Thank you for posting your live review!

19 minutes ago, cruizergal70 said:

How do you pay Uber with cash since the app already has payment info? If you wanted to pay with cash, why didn't you get a regular taxi?

I agreed to the Uber driver from Friday evening picking me up at 11am Saturday. He drove me to a liquor store to pick up my champaign and then to the cruise port. Since there were thousands of motorcycles there for an event, he asked for more money.  

On 11/11/2019 at 7:24 PM, DryCreek said:

What brand was that?  It looks like it took quite the pounding!

We just bought a new Delsey set to replace a hodgepodge of various older pieces.  I hope that they are durable enough to withstand the rigors of baggage handling.  We've never owned any of the newer style "hardside" luggage. 

I looked it up on Target since I had to send in information to Carnival to get reimbursed.  It was this one.

https://www.target.com/p/skyline-28-hardside-spinner-check-in-suitcase-purple/-/A-52840961

I'm buying a carry-on size soft side to replace it.  More money, but I'll make good use of it.

19 hours ago, E@syPe@zy said:

Was it an Uber that you took to the port for embarkation?  Also did you stay the night before close to the airport or close to the port?  I was wondering what the cost of an uber would be from the airport to the port.

Thanks so much for your review!  It looks like you had a blast!  I do love how you can strike up conversations with people on a cruise and it seems so easy to make new friends.

I know exactly what you mean about having a tragedy in your life and realizing a how new appreciation for everything that you do have, mostly life itself!  Good for you for turning a bad experience into a positive one!!

I took an Uber from the airport to a town about halfway to the cruise port where I stayed in a bad Days Inn. That was $30.  Then I took an Uber to the cruise port the next morning, which he charged me more than he should have because I paid cash.  If I were doing it again, I would just stay at a hotel at the cruise port, even those those hotels were more expensive.

Thanks for your kind words!

19 hours ago, EBONI325 said:

Love the nails, what is the name of the glitter top coat?

It's Sally Hansen.  I've liked all of their products.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KE4ELUM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Hopefully you packed duct tape.

Nope!  I relied on the kindness of strangers. ☺

In the morning it was time to leave.  I was instructed to be at the Reflections dining room at 8:45 for debarkation with my airport transfer.  It was a challenge getting over there though since they had a lot of the stairways closed, and I wanted to avoid the elevator madness.  I made it just in time though.  Debarkation was pretty orderly as far as I could tell, but when I found my bag and placed my carry on bag on top of it, it kept tipping over.  It turned out that the wheels on two sides were damaged!  It looked like it was thrown at some point and landed on one of the corners badly.  I reported it, and a Carnival lady filled out a form. I'm supposed to call Monday to discuss it - they will replace the bag.  In the meantime I was challenged to make sure it got home without holes causing my stuff to fall out!  I think I'll get a soft-side suitcase next time.

When I got to the airport, I was going to be flying American, but they didn't have any duct or packing tape.  The Delta guys did, though, and he taped up my bag pretty well.  It made it home without anything getting lost.  The flights were uneventful, and I was glad to get home to see my dogs and family.

I look back at my list of things I wanted to try, and I got to a lot of them, but not nearly as many as I hoped.  However, there really isn't anything I would change.  This was every bit as much fun for me as my cruise in June, and I will remember it as one of my favorite vacations.  I take it back - there are two things I would change. I wouldn't have gambled away my winnings!  And I would have gone to the Thriller dance class.  I wanted to do that, but it conflicted with my tournament time.  If I had noticed sooner, they might have been able to reschedule me, but by the time I saw the conflict, they couldn't. 

As for packing, I don't think I'll bother with the chair again. The beach blanket was fine.  I used almost all my clothes and other stuff I packed, so I don't think I would change much there either.  

My next cruise is a casino ultra cruise with my sister in April on the Breeze, and then I have a casino premier cruise with my husband in September for our 20 year anniversary. That one is on the Fantasy and goes to the Panama Canal.  I have another bounce back offer, but I can only take so much vacation time!  

I hope you enjoyed following along.  If you have any questions, let me know.  I probably don't know the answers, but I'll try!

After dinner we met up at the casino for a little while, and then I wanted to be sure to get to the Alchemy bar before I left.  I'm ashamed to admit that I still hadn't made my way over there yet!  I had one more drink left on my drink package, so I asked the bartender to make me something with raspberries but not too sweet.  It was very delicious and just a little tart!  

So my last day was a sea day.  I had my spa appointment at 8am for my manicure and at 9am for my haircut.  They did a fantastic job! I'm much happier with my nails than I was after the manicure on my cruise in June.  And the hair stylist was more thorough and careful in cutting away damaged hair than I've seen in many, many years.  Maybe I need to go on a cruise every time I need a haircut!  

After that I headed down to try a spiked shake.  I had the raspberry chocolate truffle shake with whipped cream.  It had a chocolate liquor in it.  It was very tasty!

I spent most of the afternoon wandering around the ship saying goodbye. I also played in the casino and proceeded to lose all of the money I had won.  I was an idiot!  I packed my suitcase in the afternoon, though I noticed that we didn't have to have our bags out in the hallway as early on this cruise as on the Fascination in June.  It said to put them out no later than 11pm.  I also wrote a thank-you note for my steward and put in a tip and some fun-size candy bars. I told him I left him something on my shelf in my room when I left on debarkation day.  

I met the guys for dinner at the MDR, and it was escargot appetizer night. We were all looking forward to that. I guess our waiters knew that too, because they brought us 2 servings each!  The others also ordered flat bread and mussels, while I ordered the onion soup.  The escargot was good - not chewy at all, though I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese on it.  But the onion soup was fantastic!  It rivaled the mushroom soup from my first night for my favorite.  I ordered the prime rib for dinner and strawberry ice cream.  The prime rib was also very, very good.  I'm very impressed with the MDR food on Carnival.  That was one of the things I really was disappointed in on my Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska in 2016 - the MDR food was never very good.

They took down my post again even though I removed the bad words!  I'll try a third time to modify it to acceptable.  This post goes with the pictures a few posts ago.  (CC mod - I'm trying!)

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On 11/7/2019 at 9:05 PM, #55worktoplay said:

Has the casino been packed?  I have similar offers and wondered if these event cruises are good or not. 
 

It sounds like you are having a great time

I wanted to add to my other reply to your question.  The casino was crowded, but that made the crowds at the pools and other events smaller.  There were 625 people in the tournament, which was very large. It seemed like everyone on the ship was either in the tournament or with a person in the tournament. The other offers for Premier or Ultra casino cruises probably aren't as big as that.  

I'm home now and needing some sleep, but I have lots more to share with you tomorrow about the last sea day and my debarkation.  Stay tuned!

Pics for the previous post...

On 11/8/2019 at 5:17 PM, picomullet said:

Which dining room is the your time dining? Back or forward?  Thanks for your review!  I'd like to know how to get casino offers too..

Yes, the aft one. It is available on the 3rd and 4th floors.

45 minutes ago, dianecruising said:

how much do you need to spend in the casino to be able to get into a slot tournament?  I usually only spend about 400-500 dollars so I guess I'm not considered a big spender!!

It’s hard to say. If you enter one of the preliminary rounds, you can get in without being a big money loser. 😎

1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Where is this beach club located in Cozumel? Walking distance or is a taxi needed?

We took a taxi for $18 for the four of us. It was about a 5 or 10 minute drive. Taxi back was cheaper, $11, but we tipped to $20 both ways.

10 hours ago, #55worktoplay said:

Has the casino been packed?  I have similar offers and wondered if these event cruises are good or not. 
 

It sounds like you are having a great time

Yes, very crowded!!!

10 hours ago, #55worktoplay said:

Has the casino been packed?  I have similar offers and wondered if these event cruises are good or not. 
 

It sounds like you are having a great time

Yes, very crowded!!!