edrussell

4 offers currently listed for my wife, a mix of sailings up to 7 days. Not many out of Baltimore and Bayonne which we are primary looking for now. Definitely way less than last year this time, but then again we don't have enough vacation time to take any offer right now. We are sitting just shy of 1900 TC from one sailing in this gambling year with Wonder booked for Feb of 2024. A range of ships in our offers. We are tying our first Carnival sailing next month on Venezia and will give them some play to see what comes out of that.

When does delivery occur if you are sailing out of NY? I had read that delivery doesn't happen until day 2 if you are sailing out of Galveston. Just wondering out NY. Thanks all.

Thanks so much for you review!! We are going on our first ever Carnival cruise and it is on Venezia on Sept 8. We had contemplated canceling it so many times because of everything we've read and watched. Your review gives me so much hope that we will enjoy it. You didn't mention the pool(s), what was your experience.

I wonder how many on this thread also vacation via other means? For instance all inclusive. I can say firsthand that cruise companies are by far not the only ones cutting back on services and moving to more revenue generating aspects. An all inclusive that we used to frequent has made CRAZY cutbacks. Cutting off all drink service to loungers, charging for nightly shows, housekeeping is optional unless you specifically ask for it. The list goes on. Compared what is happening in other venues I still feel as though cruising is a great value. Is it what it once was? No, but that is not exclusive to cruising. Heck we just came back from a few days in Vegas. You want to see cutbacks and crazy prices?? Try that on for size. For us (this is for us only, to each their own) moving to once a day housekeeping did not make one single bit of a difference to us. We didn't even notice it. Our steward asked us on day 1 and we asked for morning service. Every morning it was like clock work. Then again we spend incredibly little time in our room. For others that won't be the case. Like everything else in life you get to vote with your wallet. If this is a bridge too far, then take your business elsewhere. Truth is corporations will always cut where they can until they notice an impact on profits. So in a way if you do go elsewhere you are helping those of that continue cruising (and free up a lounge chair!). Cheers.

Yes, but were you on the president's cruise? You must always state that to ensure you get the proper attention.

I was drawn to CC in my search to learn as much as I could about cruising in general. We took our very first cruise back in Jan of 2022 and have been on 5 since. When I read a number of posts to my wife she was really taken aback with some of them. She said 'if people are really like this on cruises it doesn't sound like much fun'. Of course this was somewhat tongue in cheek but did have a little bit of a ring of truth to it. I've since learned (and thank heavens for it) that the true whiners are in the minority. It is also easy to identify them and avoid them while onboard. I can only imagine how many times staff have to bite their tongue at guest services. A real unique bunch. Thankfully if you cut through the $%^$%^% and don't get dragged into listening to them there is still a wealth of knowledge here on CC. Although the minority seems to be gaining....

I actually got dragged in as I thought the OP was joking. I really did. I participate in many forums regarding a variety of things, from vacation destinations, camping, even woodworking. I swear that members of CC have the ability to escalate ANYTHING and blow it out of proportion. Someone mistakenly labeled a container of half and half or milk and it is a corporate conspiracy? Holy heck. I realize the irony is dripping off this post as I am now posting on it. Either way let's keep it going, as some of the posts are VERY funny. To the OP, oh my. Gobsmacked. At least you are on the presidents cruise I suppose.

Mostly 4 or 5 night offers for us. Some 8 night (out of Baltimore). Definitely far less than previous years. Sadly we are out of vacation days anyway so offers are not useful for us right now.

We sailed with an interior on Grandeur back in May. It was our first interior and my wife was concerned about the room, we enjoyed it just fine. That said we spend very little time in the room so perhaps that is why.

Our bed was super comfortable on Quantum on our Feb sailing. Then again we tend to pass out by the time we get back to the room. I also did see more than one the cabin steward carrying toppers around.

We booked a sailing through Next Cruise on our first cruise in Jan of 2022 on Oasis. It was not via a casino offer just a regular booking. It was for Sept of 2022. We became prime on that cruise. Later my wife wanted to shift the cruise out by a few weeks. She decided to call Casino Royale to see what they could do. They converted it to our annual certificate and applied the deposit we had paid via Next cruise to go towards taxes and port fees. Give them another call. Please do report back.

7 nights in the MDR on Grandeur and never left hungry once. That portion size that I had posted is more than large enough. Via any guide you follow the amount of protein on that plate is more than enough for single serving. If anything the amount of rice is far too much. I really struggle with those asking for massive portions in 1 serving. If your first serving isn't enough then order another. For most that would just end up with huge amounts of wasted food.

It was excellent as most of the 7 nights were in the MDR on Grandeur. Portion sizes were more than large enough for us. We don't like to consume massive quantities of food so that we save space to continue to exploit the drink package (tongue in cheek of course).

Carne Asada was fantastic on Grandeur.

We were in Ocho Rios 2 weeks ago and we docked at the secondary pier, which is quite the walk to the public beach (which is where we went) so we walked along the roadway and into the downtown area. It was a little sketchy but I've felt a thousand times more on edge in quite a few US cities. I wouldn't advise venturing out too far on your own, or if you are the jumpy type. Apart from that it is fine.

Having flown out of most major airports in Canada and the US as well as visiting most of the largest cities in the same I can honestly say my wife and I feel Toronto (and of course Pearson) score at the top of places we can and will avoid at pretty much all costs. We live only a 30 minute drive without traffic (and a 2 hour drive in 'normal' traffic) and I think the last time we willingly visited Toronto was over 7 years ago. Personally I won't go there on a bet. Absolutely awful traffic, rude people, etc etc and the list goes on. I 100% know that our opinion influences our desire to fly out of Buffalo.

Deck 9 on our sailing in Sept on a packed ship, we didn't find it noisy at all.

I 100% agree with this and you are absolutely right. Building ships like this is a thing of the past sadly. With that said it appears from what I have seen that they have learned a little from the Oasis class and on Icon they are trying to get more sea views. Truth be told I am not averse to the attractions on the Oasis class, far from it. If we don't want to use them then we won't. What I didn't care for is the complete lack of ocean views. Second the interaction with crew was nowhere near what it is on a Vision class. We are booked on Wonder for Feb 2024 and I am keen to see what we think of that ship.

Interesting opinions on this topic as I figured there might be. For me this boils down to the strong aversion I have to Pearson. When I was traveling for work I had much higher status with airlines and this allowed me access to lounges and other perks. This made dealing with Pearson manageable for me. The biggest issue for me is how people act at Pearson, rude, pushy, difficult. Maybe it is just me and my own personal bias. I find myself dreading going to Pearson and then after leaving being irritated. This was a chance to try something different. It made such a huge difference. With that said I 100% get how most won't go this route.

Yes we do, that said comparing both as we used each destination is tough. We went right to the pool and bar at CoCo Cay and partied our hearts out both times. Heck one of the visits we barely remember coming back to the ship. At Labadee we just took it so easy, floated in the crystal clear water and had only enough drinks to stay hydrated (that is my story and I am sticking to it). Ladabee is SO much more relaxed. Also the scenery is just outstanding. We don't have much to compare Tampa to in the past, but our experience was great. I know others we met said the same. All the best!

My last post will be about the port, the trip to and from and our overall thoughts. I am sure most are getting bored of reading this by now anyway... This is our third port to cruise from, our first being Baltimore, then Bayonne (3 cruises from there) and our first to be dropped off via Uber. All others we've driven and parked at the port. We live near Toronto and I am very much used to driving in extremely heavy traffic and in general being irritated while driving. Baltimore was a dream as far as that aspect goes since the port itself is so small. Bayonne is definitely hectic but reasonably well ran and I find it just fine to cruise from. Tampa was an absolute dream! The Uber drop off was smooth, porters approached right away and we were whisked into the terminal. People were smiling, helpful and the entire boarding process was so easy. Less than 45 minutes from drop off to our first drink. Not driving was definitely different but it allowed me to be completely relaxed. We'd not hesitate the cruise from Tampa again for a second. The port area was clean and felt very safe. For the first time we flew to a cruise and we initially were booked on Westjet flying out of Pearson. Westjet played some games were our flights and we eventually canceled them re-booked on America Airlines out of Buffalo. Good thing we did because of the almost strike that happened our original flight was canceled! Neither my wife or I can stand flying out of Pearson and the chance to fly out of Buffalo for the first time intrigued us. We really enjoyed the experience out of Buffalo. It was relaxing and a stark comparison to flying from Pearson. We had a short layover in Charlotte and that is where things got interesting. We made the connection without issue, but then were stuck sitting on the plane at the gate for over 3 hours! A missing washer on a landing gear door almost derailed us. Luckily after what seemed like forever we finally made it Tampa at 3:30am! Yikes. Our next bit of fun was the absolute DUMP of a hotel we stayed in. We booked it despite the bad reviews and that is on us. We try and read reviews with a grain but we should have listened. Needless to say Days Inn near Ybor city is a HARD PASS! I have pictures of this dump if anyone is interested. When all was said and done spending less than 4 hours there was a blessing. We slept (if you could call it that) on top of the covers and fully dressed. Closing this out is my final thoughts on this cruise. I can sum it up simply, relaxing. Next up is our first cruise on Carnival onboard Venetia in Sept. Thanks to those that hung in there and read all the way through.

A few small sections in this post, service and casino. Normally I'd not bother to include such topics by themselves but I wanted to do because both deserve it. Service, what else can I say that I haven't already? The service in the MDR and WJ were just outstanding. Our wait staff treated us like part of the family each night we looked forward to our time in the MDR. Bar staff were just plain top notch. Any other crew members we encountered were gracious and took the time to smile and interact. Not that we had an awful time on other sailings but when we compare this aspect of the cruise to our experience on Oasis it is like night and day. It isn't that staff weren't nice or friendly, we just felt with the size of the ship staff just can't keep up and you lose that personal touch. As I had mentioned we are slot players and this cruise was no different. I am also an ex-smoker (definitely NOT the type to condemn current smokers), just wanted to mention it. We really enjoyed the casino on Grandeur. It definitely isn't the largest casino by any means but it is intimate and provided more than enough of a selection of slots for us to play. Great bar staff, limited smoke smell and it was a great place for us. We also rarely had trouble finding an open machine. Now we do tend to only play later in the night (usually head into the casino around midnight). Like any time spent in any casino we had our ups and downs but overall we did OK. We almost made prime on this cruise and will easily make that mark within a nigh or 2 on our next cruise. I had one night hit of 1,000.00 on WOF. Picture attached.

One of the pitfalls of not being retired is that after a vacation you are often swamped and catching up for being off. That is the case for me. Thus the delay in finishing this review/overview On to the rest of the aspects of the trip. Next up is food. First off I get that food is so subjective and what is yummy for one is vile for another. So YMMV on my opinions. We don't go to specialty restaurants, as we enjoy the MDR and for the most part unless we've had too much of a day dine there each evening. This cruise was no different and for the first time we made to the MDR each and every night. We have 7:15 my time reservations which we had made long before the cruise. 6 of out 7 nights we were seated at the same table and have the same wait staff (Swapnil and Ruc). Most nights we both chose one starter, one main and one dessert. Some nights we chose 2 starters, with me often choosing the shrimp cocktail along with another starter when that was an option. I am extremely happy to say that this was our best experience with the MDR on any sailing thus far. We had high hopes going in as our experience on Enchantment was fantastic. Adventure was not good (food was awful) and Oasis was OK but the experience of getting in each night was a nightmare. Some of the stand outs for us were the prime rib, salmon and risotto. Many of the desserts were far above average as well. The only disappointments was the sole one night. Pretty much all starters arrived hot and the cadence of service was about perfect for us. We could have easily been out in an hour to an hour and 15 minutes each night, but on some evenings we hung out after dessert and enjoyed a drink. Windjammer was also quite good, in fact much better than we are used to. I am not a huge buffet person but I have to admit the selection varied just enough and service was great. We were served drinks many times in the WJ and that all by itself was a pleasant surprise. We also enjoyed Park Cafe from time to time. I had more than my fair share of Kummelwick (if you know, you know) and fresh pizza. Lady G may not have all the bells and whistles, lots of specialty restaurants etc but in my opinion she makes up for it in quality and service. You most certainly will not go hungry. Some select pictures are attached.

Just off Grandeur and we ate in the MDR all 7 nights. Typically we had 3 courses per night, with some nights having doubles for starters, so between my wife and I a min of 42 course dishes served to us. Less than 5 were not good. Most were good, many were excellent. This was our second sailing with the new menus and we love them. My only nitpick is that the 'theming' of dishes is inconsistent and unusual.

Next up the itinerary, this again contained a number of firsts for us. We had never visited any of these ports of call and Georgetown was a tender port. Something new for us. The first port was Labadee. We were very excited for this. We have been to Coco Cay a few times and really had fun there but Labadee looked so much different than Coco Cay in our research. We also booked our only 'excursion' here, the apline coaster. We just love RCCL private destinations so that we can extend us of our DBP (hey why not) and having access to food when we want it is also great. Labadee did not disappoint us one single bit. We knew from our research that Nellie's beach would suit us well so we came off the ship, grabbed a ride over there and posted up near the waters edge. Wow, what an incredible spot. Amazing views, amazing beach and since we were on Grandeur no crowds! Extra bonus points right there. We swam and relaxed and had some drinks and just made the morning out of it. We then rode the alpine coaster and it was so much fun! The views were outstanding. This is something we will definitely do again. I explored other areas of the port and really enjoyed myself. We ate some of the pretty tasty lunch while getting entertained by performers. Overall a wonderful low stress day. Precisely what we needed to kick off this cruise. Next up was Ocho Rios. We aren't much for organized excursions so we decided to just walk off the ship and planned to head to Ocho Rios Bay Beach. From our research we knew it was close to the pier. What we were surprised by was that we were docking at the secondary pier of Reynold's Pier. This is on us as I am sure I could have checked the schedule myself. This pier is far from inviting and the walk from it to Ocho Rios Bay Beach is also far from pretty. Being bugged every 10 seconds by aggressive vendors/taxi drivers and being offered all sorts of 'party favors' was a bit much. We've traveled enough to deal with this but combine this with the excessive heat and it wore on us. We continued along into areas of downtown that were less that welcoming but eventually made it to the beach. Paid our admission and then enjoyed several hours on the beach. Very pleased to say the water was fantastic and we had a great time. Not much in terms of food or drink options but we did know that. We walked back past the main pier area and shopped a little. We wished we had walked through this area on the way down. Of course on the main drag back to the secondary pier we passed through another gauntlet of locals selling all sorts of party favors again. Overall neither my wife nor I have much interest in coming back here, or if we do we will just go with an excursion. The downtown area and walk to it reminded us of Nassau and we just care for Nassau at all. Last up was Georgetown Grand Cayman and we had our hopes really high for this port of call. Despite this being a tender port. Turns out it was much ado, the line to grab a ticket took all of 5 minutes. We then went to a bar and sat with our ship friends and looked out onto Grand Cayman (this is what we LOVE about this class of ship, views outside everywhere) and waited to be called. It took maybe 20 minutes, we walked onto the tender and we were ashore. We walked the downtown core, shopped a little and then grabbed a city bus ($3 each!) and met an amazing bus driver. So super friendly and informative about the island. They dropped us off along 7 mile beach and we spent a few hours on the world famous beach. We opted to just toss out some towels and float in the warm beautiful water. The sad part was that the seaweed was very plentiful and it really took away from the views at the beach and the beach experience. We have experienced this many times in Mexico and of course knew about it, but didn't expect it along 7 mile beach. We still had an amazing time and grabbed some refreshments from the locals setup where we were. Fantastic. We negotiated with a private transfer the same price to get back and got dropped off right back at the port. Did a little shopping inside the port and tendered back. We just loved this island would come back in a heartbeat! The locals were just amazing. Such a stark difference from Ocho. I guess I can include our sea days here as they are part of the itinerary, but I don't have much to say beyond continuing to gush over Grandeur. We had such fun between the pool deck and solarium. Many naps were had and drinks were drank. One negative was that the pool had to get closed and drained twice on this cruise! Once because a kid barfed, once because a kid did something else equally bad. Luckily we had the solarium and the pool in there was nice and cold and it eased our sunburns. More to come, I hope those that are reading are enjoying this. Some random pictures of each port of call.