bguppies

You got lucky. Wish it would be running every day a ship is in port.

No problem hope you have fun and best of luck getting back to full health.

I haven't seen any posts about what they are trying to accomplish in this drydock. (but having just been on her a couple of weeks ago, she needs alot of work) If there is alot scheduled during the drydock, you probably will have some prep work being done. (ripping up carpets, grinding out rusty spots [which she has a ton] and other prep work to speed things along once she gets to thew drydock.) Definitely better to be on a pre drydock cruise than a post drydock cruise. (much better chance to have them trying to finish up work on the first cruise back.)

Who needs to drink while gambling. Next thing you know, no smoking.

I doubt Carnival is smart enough to think of using crappy TV offerings to get people out of their cabins. Its just them getting cheaper and cheaper with what they offer customers for their money.

Used to be the same for me also, but on our last two cruises this past September and December, the rotating movie channels were 99.9% garbage movies, like 5-10 years old. Used to be mostly movies that were recently just released on DVD or just hitting HBO or Showtime. I think the only newer and also worth watching movie on both cruises, was Ryan Reynolds- Free Guy which is only like 2-3 years old. (and Ford vs. Ferrai which was only 3-4 years old.) Here's a few from our December cruise. Minari, Radioactive, Summerland, Death on the Nile, the Eyes of Tammy Faye, Ford vs. Ferrari, Jo Jo Rabbit, Love, Weddings and other Disasters, the Kid who Would Be King, Avatar, 500 Days of Summer, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Artic Dogs, the Greatest Showman, Judy, Hero Mode, Maze Runner: Death Cure, Maze Runner: Scorth Trials, The New Mutants, Alita Battle Angel, First Cow, Five Feet Apart, Free Guy, Ron's Gone Wrong, Spies in Disguise, Summer of Soul, X:men Dark Phoenix. They played the two Maze Runner movies many times, but every time in the wrong order. (which was really weird watching a character die, then appear again in the next movie) Back to the OP'sd question. I'm pretty sure the Pride out of Tampa in December, did have the TCM channel. So it might have just been a Europe thing.

Pretty sure you just have to ask them to not open it so you can carry it somewhere. Was sitting playing trivia by the Cafe and watched a family having the kids run over to the cafe every 20-30 minutes, while Mom played trivia at the table next to us. Each kid would run back over and drop a soda into Mom's big beach bag, for well over an hour until they finally left. She must have had at least a 12 pack by the time they left.

I only had the Bottomless Bubbles on 1 cruise and it was such a pain getting a soda, it was the last cruise I ever got it. After once or twice to the bar, the bartenders start ignoring you when they see you coming. Saw kids ignored at the bar by the pool all cruise long. Now the few ships that have the self serve machines it might be a worthwhile deal.

We booked Blue Lagoon on our own a few years ago and it was great. (not sure what they are charging today, but they have a pretty nice website) We just had to get a cab to the ferry terminal on Paradise island to catch the ferry but it was much cheaper than what you are going to pay through the cruiseline. (their markups are insane. On our Sept. Bimini cruise there was an excusion to a beach club, that also had a version with lunch included for an extra $25 per person. When we got to the club, that same lunch, just buying off the mernu there was $10. Every excursion the cruiselines are jacking up what the vendor gets by double or triple)

We stayed on the Pride on our day there in early December. As an avid snorkler, I have to say if your medical issues have reduced your strength much, you might want to skip it this trip and work back into some decent shape before trying to snorkel again. I had a stroke a few years ago and tried to snorkle on the cruise before I had tried to get back in shape and got caught in the tide and started getting pulled out and BARELY was able to make my way back to shore. Scared the heck out of me. Costa Maya isn't the greatest snorkeling port anyway. Roatan, Belize and even Cozumel, usually on the same western caribbean cruise are MUCH better snokeling spots. And if you go to Grand Cayman on your Western Itinerary, do the Stingray City where you stand in water waist to chest high and interact with wild stingrays without much effort. (just getting in and out of the boat) Also in Costa Maya, make sure you realize just how long that pier is and the trolley cart they have apparently hasn't been running much, if at all, since the restart of cruising. (It wasn't on our day in December) Hope your health improves so you can get back to the activities you enjoy.

Depends on what you are looking for in a cruise. The longer the cruise, the less drunk, partying crowd. (if that is what you ARE looking for, Book a weekend cruise to anywhere) To lose the kids, take a longer than 7 day cruise. (we were stunned on our first week of December, 6 day cruise, how many kids were on there. Apparently nobody cares about taking kids out of school and missing work anymore) I would NEVER cruise over Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving (for crowds and I'd rather be home with Family, eating good home cooked Turkey and Ham and sides, versus bad cruiseline food for these holidays) My favorite time to cruise is from 2nd week of January-February for much less crowded ships. (some good deals in early December too) Going to the Caribbean in those months, so weather isn't much of a factor. As long as you are not married to a particular itinerary, cheap cruises in September-October (height of Hurricane season) are nice for a cheap getaway. I'd have to get a FANTASTIC deal to cruise in June, July or August with maximum kids and crowds.

Except on our last two cruises there was no customs upon our return. Very weird. Just got our luggage and went straight through the customs area. (nobody staffing the counters) I just assumed the government figured they are leaving the southern borders wide open, why pay for customs in the ports anymore.

You can, but you still have to wait for them to unload the group 1 or 2 luggage into the terminal. Anybody can stand in lines with the hoards hauling their own luggage. But while those people are going through customs, the dockworkers are unloading large bins of luggage by forklift and porters in the terminal are unloading the bins and laying the luggage into rows by number. Usually Carnival just has all the Platinums wait in the theater and the platinums with their own luggae get off first and those waiting on their luggage stay until they call for them. You can get off with the first group and hopefully wait in the terminal until they lay the luggage out. (not sure if they'll make you exit immediately with the self carry people, as I have always just waited until called and don't know where you could hang out inside waiting for your luggage without being in the way..)

Well said. I've seen some of the loons hoarding unopened sodas to take back to their cabin, which I have never understood since Carnival lets you bring a 12 pack aboard with you AND at every single port of call. OP needs to blame the idiots who abused the system for years and ruined for everyone else.

Remember that October is still prime hurricane season for those of us in Charleston and Miami each year. (usually mid September to mid October is weekly threats of hurricanes) Glad you aren't married to the ports of call, because they are just lucky if you get to go to them in September or October, either from departure port getting hit by a hurricane or any of your ports of call getting hit either before or during your cruise. (twice we've had our ports of call changed as 1 or 2 got hit a week before our cruise., but we go into booking cheap cruises in those two months, knowing that is the chance you take for cheaper rates) As for the two itineraries, I love HMC and have always had a good time in Nassau, unlike alot of others. But Grand Cayman is my favorite port and Cozumel is a close second. (and is by far the best port for diversity in beach days and beach clubs) Ocho Rios is DW's and my least favorite port ever, and the only one we ever felt unsafe in. (Ocho Rios made Roatan, Honduras feel like a day at a nursery school by comparison.) I would definitely take the longer, cheaper cruise if I had to fly. The port in Miami will definitely be better than your port experience here in Charleston. (we don't have modern facilities at all) Not sure about hotel costs but I'm sure you should be able to find something decent at either. (definitely more choice in southern Florida, but we have a ton here in Charleston too) Hope you have good luck weatherwise and enjoy whichever cruise you choose.

Priority debark is for the end of the cruise but I have used priority tenders in HMC and Grand Cayman before. Does nothing for you in ports that you walk off the gangplank. (most of them) We put our luggage out in the hall to debark and have always been the first group off the ship after the people carrying their own luggage. (luggage tags 1 or 2 in our three cruises this year.) And you will get a letter the day before, telling you exactly where to go and meet so a member of the entertainment staff can lead you down before they start calling deck numbers. (I'm pretty sure it is usually the main theater on every ship) Once we got to platinum, we have never, not gotten our requested YTD right after booking. Hopefully you get your requested time once on board. Carnival logo gifts have careened downhill in quality in the past few years. As long as your gonna be happy with the koozies, you should be happy for the next decade or so. We used to get a different gift about every 6 months or so, so unless you cruised more than twice a year, you'd get something new each cruise. (headphones, tervis tumblers, nightlights, photo albums, beach twels, hats, etc.) DW did 3 cruises this year and got koozies on all 3. I'm pretty sure that is all Carnival has given out all of 2022. (and for as cheap as it is compared to previous gifts, that will propbably be it for the forseable future.)

Allure was the last of four ships to dock on our day, so hopefully for your sake, it'll get in a bit earlier so you can enjoy an hour or so, before the other ships dock. On our day the Allure (6,314)and the Sky princess (4,610) ship were pretty big, us (Carnival Pride 2,549) and Radiance of the Sea ( 2,546)were smaller. According to the site I am looking at, it only shows the Allure and MSC Meraviglia (5,386) on your day, Which 11,700 passengers between those two ships is alot but not as bad as our day was. (14, 019) But crazy for just two ships. If it is indeed 3 MSC ships that size, good luck to you.

Yeah its not the pier's ability to dock the ships, its the town's and port area's ability to handle the passenger load from that many ships.

I doubt many of us from SC will drive north to cruise south for crappier itineraries. Just drove 7 hours to Tampa a couple of weeks ago. 6 hours to Port Canaveral and 4 hours to Jacksonville. (for the same itineraries as Norfolk will have) It's at least 6 1/2 hours north to get to Norfolk. Mid- upper FLA. is plenty close for GA and SC .

I don't think we've ever rocked so much while being docked at any pier. The Pride was oceanside on the pier between us and the Allure. The Pride blocked the waves quite nicely for Allure.😜

No we already had doubts about the number of ships and worries about navigating the pier, but when the weather forecast was for off and on rain all day, we just stayed onboard. (some crazy hard rain while we were down playing trivia in the late morning. The waves were bashing us around the pier pretty harshly all day.) Friends went into the pool area right there and others went into town trying to go to the Krazy Lobster, but both at dinner told us, the pool and in town were both overcrowded. (and apparently not much fun with the poor weather.)

The Pride stopped there last Thursday and it was a $h!t show. 4 ships in port at Costa Maya is waaaayyy too many for the area too handle. (was the Pride, Allure of the Seas, a large Princess ship and 1 more) The cruiseline port area was packed beyond capacity. Talked to a few people who just went in to the pool area and came back to the ship pretty quick, it was so crowded. (We stayed on the ship since we knew going in it was going to be four ships and when we saw the forecast for off and on rain all day, that sealed the day) The beach bars in town apparently were overpacked too. (had friends looking forward to going to the Krazy Lobster, but they were disappointed how crowded it was and tried to hit a couple of other spots, but they told us they were all packed.) The cruiselines may be able to dock more than 4 ships in Costa Maya, but clearly it seems they do not have the infrastructure in the cruisline port area or in town to handle a large passenger load.

What do these six dates listed tell me about the Pride's drydock schedule? (I just see six random sets of dates with no ship names.)

Apparently Carnival is trying to hide their premium cabins from the VIFP's now. Want to save the good stuff for the newbs.

We were there last Thursday with 4 ships docked (including the Aluure of the Seas right across from us) and no trams or pedicabs to be found. I figured if they were going to be running the trams it would be on a super busy day like that.