bguppies

On 4/9/2023 at 9:26 AM, mz-s said:

It's really sort of sad that what makes a good Carnival cruise is no fights and only smelling pot once.

LOL first thing I thought...

The bar has been sooooo lowered.

3 hours ago, Kellie in Texas said:

You can get off the ship and buy aviary-only tours from a kiosk. My DH and DS and fiancee did that in January. About $10 each, as I recall. 

Thanks for that info..

Mayan Ruins, cave tubing are usually the go tos.

Plus world class snorkeling excursions.

On 4/10/2023 at 12:03 PM, jcearth said:

I have gotten villas 4 or 5 times in the past.  They were a great investment at $499 split a few ways, and still pretty good at $599. I balked at $649 but still went ahead and rented (had others pitch in, so still thought value was ok). $999 would be a deal breaker for me, however.  

 

Here is my question - how do you define maximizing revenue?  Even if the company still sold all of the Villas and Cabanas and the new rate, how many customers are alienated by the inflated pricing?  What value does Carnival place on repeat business? What value do they place on the customer experience?  

 

I would argue that raising prices on optional items could do way more harm than good, by leading to a reduction in repeat business.  I, for one, would take my vacation dollars elsewhere if I didn't feel that I was getting enough value for my money. Just my opinion.

Well said...

Never gotten a villa, but done a cabana many times.

I always thought it was an extravagant expense at $199 or $299 but it made DW's cruise every time.

I think even she would balk at these new prices.

14 hours ago, Krazcruiser said:

I might visit Nachi Cocom again, the water there is blue unlike Paradise Beach which is kinda green

I love Nachi Cocum too, but it is all the same couple of miles of beach. 

Paradise Beach, Playa Mia, Mr. Sanchos and Nachi Cocum all in a row on the West Side.

Same stretch of sand and coral free water. (just differen Amenities)

So if anything affects one beach, it will affect all of them.

I've been to Nachi 8-9 times now and only once, like a decade ago, had a day with alot of sargassum that affected our day. (wish I could remember what the date was)

It was fine by the pool area, but they had guys shoveling sargassum into wheelbarrows all day long on the beach.

With that huge bloom in the Atlantic this year, I'm pretty sure every Caribbean beach will be affected at some point this year.

You might want to check the port schedule for your day in Cozumel and see how many ships are in port. (or more importantly WHICH ships. One of the RCCL Allure size monstrocities or Mardi Gras size ships from Carnival have 2-3 times the passenegers than the pre-2000's era ships in the fleets.)

Any day with 8 ships or less is a standard to light day. (again the large ships count like two)

You need to book Nachi earlier than a week out on a heavy day, with their per day limits.

If your lucky enough to be in Cozumel on a light day, You'll be fine waiting until a week out to book.

We've been lucky enough to be there on a day with only about 20 people total there all day and been there a few times at capacity. (and its never felt crowded)

Best of luck on your day. (and figuring it out)

Hope you enjoy your time in Cozumel.

Cozumel is the best port stop for all day, all inclusive beach passes.

Help us help you by narrowing down your group  (demographics) and their wants for the day.

Quiet, less crowded day. (Nachi Cocum)

Livlier atmosphere, no crowd limit. (Mr. Sanchos)

Place with lots of inflatable toys for kids, Place with nice kiddie pools and water sloide for kids. (Playa Mia)

Thats just the description of three of the main places discussed in here, all on the same couple of miles of sand on the island.

If you define what you want from your day, there are a few in here who can recommend many more places and options for you.

On 3/14/2023 at 8:31 PM, JenKate said:

We will be at Harvest Caye with many small children (14 to be exact!) and I know they'll want to build sand castles etc. My husband thinks they'll have pails and shovels etc on the beach but I think that's unlikely.

 

Do they have sand toys?  If not, can we purchase some there? I've packed everything else I'd really like to NOT pack sand toys!

Go to Dollar Tree and pick up some cheap sand toys that you can pack to go, but leave behind when your kids are done playing.

Sucks to have to take them, but nice to not have to bring home.

On 2/8/2023 at 8:52 PM, SheSailsFL said:

All the vloggers are saying that their favorite is Paradise Beach.  Looks like their pool is bigger than NC.  Planning to try it on my next visit.  

Bigger pool but no limits on guests per day.

Been to Nachi 6 or 7 times now and never seen the pool or loungers overcrowded like I've heard reported at Mr. Sanchos and Paradise Beach since the restart.

Limiting the crowds to 125 a day with plenty of seating for everyone is wonderful.

If we ever couldn't get in at Nachi, we would probably try Paradise Beach finally. (but hopefully that day never comes)

We always try to win 1 Ship on a stick each cruise we take. (luckily DW is smarter and she cruises way more than I do.)

If we win early on the cruise we just play for fun and let 2nd place get a Ship on a stick. 

Sadly our last few cruises, and even though the Ship on a stick has gotten MUCH cheaper, they seem to rarely give them out anymore, preferiing to give out the medals instead.

Our last cruise on the Pride it was up to the very last event in the main atrium, the final night, a name that song/artist/year contest, that most people thought I had a chance but DW pulled it out. (there was a girl and her Dad that had been killing the music trivia the entire cruise that everybody assumed would win. They were REALLY knowledgeable)

Thankfully DW kept her collection of one from every cruise intact.

On 3/30/2023 at 1:16 PM, south-carolinagirl said:

Recent change?  Haven't ever experienced this before.  The crew member, I believe her name was Barbara kept saying over and over no talking within your group, everyone had to have their own paper and would publicly scold and call you out if you were talking to your group.  Anyone else ever experience this before?  We really enjoy trivia and usually have a great time, but this time it was really awful.  We are going on Sunshine again in May with son (who really enjoys sea days and trivia) and two of his friends, if this crew member is still there, we are just going to tell her we don't want to win and play the way we always have. 

When we were on the Sunshine in September, a family sitting next to us kept checking their cell phones and feeding the answers to their kid, who astonishingly won. (even though the hoist saw the Father cheating and admonished him to stop, yet let the kid win anyway.)

Maybe enough people got tired of the cheaters and complained enough or just quit attending.

Saw something similar on the Pride in December too.

16 hours ago, shannonkish said:

Cons: We literally could not relax as someone was trying to sell us something (cigars, NFL merch, blankets, etc) every few minutes. It was annoying on so many levels. The same salespeople would visit us continuously with different products and we repeatedly had to say no. We eventually went back to the ship early. 

That sounds like every place along the Malecon in Mahahual....

Probably need to get out of town to Maya Chan or Almaplena, etc. to avoid the people selling their goods.

19 minutes ago, cjsegninir said:

 

Thanks!

Yes, I'm basically down to that option. Going to one of the cayes for a beach day.

I thought of staying on the ship, but it only has three port days (Roatan, Belize and Cozumel) and three sea days. I'd rather do something ashore.

Regards

Yeah, then definitely try an excursion with direct tender from the ship, to save yourself alot of extra travels with the kiddos.

Hopefully somebody who has done one of the direct trransport beach breaks will chiume in for you...

Good luck.

Let us know how the Sargassum is.....

I hope you luck out.

Everything in Belize is a trek, because you start with that long tender ride to the port area. (which isn't in the greatest area to just wander from the port area like some other ports.)

You may want to look into an excursion that leaves straight from the shipo, to an island beach break or something similar, to save you entertaining two small kids through too many trandportation steps to get to one.

Honestly, if Belize was smack in the middle of my cruise, I might just stay onboard and let the kids enjoy a less crowded day in the pools and on the slides, etc.(just make sure to lotion up. I stayed onboard once and didn't lotion enough and got the worst burn ever, just walking around the ship. Not even swimming or laying out. Belizean sun is brutal)

4 ships in Cozumel is a super light day... Enjoy the lighter than normal crowds.

(pretty sure 6-7 is a more average day and 8+ would be heavy. Although with the size of every fleet's new ships, which ships are in port matter more than how many now a days. 1 RCCL monstrocities or 1 Mardi Gras/Celebrations equal 2 or more older ships from the fleets)

I miss the days when Nachi limited to 100 people a day.

But its been 125-130 the last few times we have been there and barely noticed the difference.

Reports from Paradise Beach and Sanchos since the restart, frequently sound overcrowded.

18 hours ago, dianeh said:

We and another couple sailed a couple of years ago from lax to Mexico. We had balcony cabins. We usually cruise with Hal and have also sailed with Norweigan. We found our 7 day adventure horrible. Almost every meal in the dining room was cold, over or undercooked. We were told they would make it right. Never did. Our last night we ate at the buffet. The ship ran out of clamato juice, worstershire and avocados. There's more to add but you get the gist of it. We are flying to Sydney next December 2024 to see family. I have found a cruise for New Zealand on the Splendor. This is the only cruise in the time we wish to visit. I swore I'd never set foot on another Carnival ship but maybe I should give them another try? 

We were Carnival fans but the product has gone downhill since the restart.

So if you didn't enjoy your cruise before the pandemic, I'd seriously doubt you'll find the state of the fleet any better these days. (Probably find it worse) 

If you are just looking for "transportation" between Australia and New Zealand and aren't looking for the service and product of an older cruise, then a cruise on an older Carnival ship might work for you.

Hope you enjoy your time whatever decision you make.

On 1/25/2023 at 2:22 PM, crewsweeper said:

The Carnival Celebration was in Costa Maya today and the pier trolley was running!

Unfortunately it seems to only be running on days with only one ship ,docked . (if you're lucky)

When we return again in December its only 3 ships. (down from 4 lasy December)☹️

6 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I thought Stingray City, also, but I remember it being much more than waist deep (but it was in 2015, so I may be misremembering).

 

I think we did a stingray excursion at Grand Turk that was in waist deep water, though.

We did an independant excursion and where we were I had to keep kneeling down to get my chest in the water.

Might have been deeper where the ship excursion was as they were in a much bigger boat so they may have needed a little bit deeper water.

Not sure about things to do for two 18 year olds at Nachi, but as to the other stuff.

Same beach as Mr. Sanchos (right next door to the north) Occasionally if the tide is going out, it can build a bit of a shelf to step down a bit.

Good seating options with palapas strewn about the beach with 4 loungers per underneath each. 

Also covered beds by the pool and chairs and loungers surrounding the whole pool. (just google the millions of pictures of Nachi on the web to see the spacing.Vs. goggle Paradise Beach or Sanchos or Playa Mia and see the rows of chairs lined up beachside there)

Space between the seating unlike what I've seen at the other beach clubs where they line the chairs up in tight rows like going to a show.

I've had shrimp tacos many times for my lunch choice.

Not a huge drinker so I can't speak to the quality of the alcohol,(I know some people want a certain brand of scotch or rum or vodka) but the drinks I've always gotten at the swim up bar in the pool have been very good.

Hope that helps answer some of your questions.

We prefer it for its non-crowded 125 person limit and non-18 vibe.

9 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Carnival ships are not like hotels whereas you can switch rooms more to your liking. The comments (we sail full) is exaggerated now and especially during the covid years.

There are rooms, but there not available for switching to once the ship has boarded with people. Let a room become soaked (by accidental) with water from an overhead fire prevention sprinkler system and a room will be found.

I can vouch for this.

On our last Pride cruise, it was full, and when we boarded, there was a wet spot with a large fan blowing on it in the entrance hallway to the room. (Seemed more like after a deep cleaning of somebody yacking or something in the hallway or something else. If it had been the bed, would have been a different story. )

DW had chosen that particular cabin for its proximity to everything we like to do on a cruise.

Just before dinner I get a call from Guest Services saying I had requested a cabin change. (which is hilarious, as I have zero say in which cabin, or even which cruise we are on)

I guess our cabin steward had told his supervisors that we had requested it, due to the fan in the hall of the cabin. (we hadn't even met him yet)

I appreciate the thought he had , not wanting to inconvience us, but the cabin the wanted to move us to, would have been much more logistically difficult for DW to get around with her walker.

We wound up staying in our chosen cabin and dealing with the fan for another day and took a couple of free meals in lieu of changing cabins. (thanks to our steward I guess)

Looks like my experience in Costa Maya in April 2014 in Mahahual.

Even had it happen in Cozumel once, just not nearly as bad.

With the size of this year's bloom, that might be a light day.

15 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

You sure that was Belize and not Grand Cayman? 

Thta was my first thought. Stingray City in Grand Cayman.

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On 3/23/2023 at 8:36 AM, ninjacat123 said:

The Krazy Lobster in Mahahual beach area is clear of saragassum according to the manager.  Maybe the currents don't affect that area as much as others.🤷‍♀️

I feel for the beaches in Mahahual because they get clobbered year after year once the Sargassum belt starts up each year. 

This year just looks insane.

I wish I kept a link to the video from Krazy Lobster a couple of years ago (before it got as bad as the past few years) where a 2 foot long, 10-15 pound Iguana was easily walking on the Sargassum floating on the water, it was so thick in June/July.

On 3/24/2023 at 4:17 PM, mamiamjo said:

This is the map I'm looking for. Where can I find it online??

Right click on the picture and hit copy link address in a search bar and it'll take you to the original article it came from.

A simple google search will take you to many articles with different satelitte maps of the sargassum "blob". (The one i posted just showed the clearest)

If no one has any new suggestions for you, may I suggest doing what our groups do when we have a large, diverse of intrests group in Cozumel. 

We've had some go do Dolphin or other excursions and then meet us at a beach club later.

Maybe have the part of your group with kids, go to Playa Mia and the happily childless couples go to their beach club of choice. (Nachi, Sanchos, whatever) Then meet up for a late luch or drink before heading back to the ship.

Best of luck in your quest for a beach day.