notscb

We sailed on the Dream in December of 23 and had a great time! There was always plenty going on yet plenty of space to find quiet nooks around the ship to relax. We did the steakhouse and really enjoyed it and our cove balcony was a really neat experience.

Not sure why it's getting bad reviews- the Dream was easily my best Carnival experience so far.

I'll echo what others have said-

The real value of FTTF comes when you have tender ports. Without a tender port, the value is greatly diminished.

That, and the Elation is a smaller ship. It's possible that folks don't feel the need to purchase given the  smaller crowds (compared to other sailings on larger ships).

There are plenty of Coves forward of the Galley that you might consider choosing if you're concerned about noise. We had a Cove on the Dream just barely under the Galley and heard zero noise throughout our trip, so it really depends on where your cabin is as to what you'll experience.

The more I think about it though, the more I remember the sound of the ship moving and waves outside over anything else (which was a huge plus IMHO).

On 11/16/2023 at 8:55 AM, Ride-The-Waves said:

Mistake to leave HAL even at the bequest of friends.

Sounds like you boarded a Royal ship expecting a HAL experience. You were bound to be let down.

Thank you again for taking us along, and for the many details throughout. I plan trips a lot like you- every detail known and planned for with some flexibility built in so we have a good time.

I will echo that your experience with debarkation at Long Beach is the norm, not the exception, which is really a shame for such a neat port to sail out of. Uber drivers don't want to go there, traffic regularly backs up and the parking garage setup isn't really ideal for picking up and dropping off at the same time if the ship gets delayed for whatever reason. I had the same experience with Uber and Lyft and ended up jumping on a bus through Carnival to the airport.

6 hours ago, KarlK said:

exactly! I remove then pay cash to whom I see fit though out the cruise. Some receiving only after the week.

To be clear- I didn't give this answer as a ringing endorsement of the practice and I find people who do this to just kind of not get the overall process or point.

I was just answering OP's original question simply as they asked.

I"M SO EXCITED to be following along. Thank you for posting your journey 😄

On 7/29/2023 at 2:17 PM, mnocket said:

Not Carnival - but maybe Royal Caribbean.

When it's all part of the same group, it's more likely to be similar than different.

On 1/28/2024 at 3:02 PM, dviper144 said:

Believe they escorted an individual off the ship for fight and then fighting  the crew.  They had 8 police escort him off.  

I was just thinking that I saw a tiktok of the guy getting escorted off. I'll have to try to find it and link it.

22 minutes ago, Kelownabccan said:

no one answered the question.....can you do anything during the cruise or have to wait to last day???

Yes. You can go to guest service sat anytime and change/modify/add/remove to your hearts desire, as with on any other line.

I'll join the chant

WILLDRA

WILLDRA

WILLDRA

WILLDRA

@willdra!

I can't believe this thread got posted. I was just thinking the same thing!

On 1/21/2024 at 12:13 AM, BigPapi21 said:

The letter with names was sent in December to RC, there has been no reply

I haven't read through the thread yet- but based on the length of your letter I'm not surprised you didn't get a response.

Try re-sending a brief letter with bullet points and a potential resolution you'd have in mind. If you already had a meeting with them to discuss your concerns, they might just file the letter away anyway. Best of luck.

25 minutes ago, pblack said:

But I don't think we've ever really had "bad" weather anytime we've done the Mexican Riviera.

It can, however, be very cold on sea days 🙂

On 12/9/2023 at 9:09 AM, mz-s said:

As we see with Excel class, Carnival cut too deep with the Playlist productions

Can you expand on this? From what I've read around these boards, people seem to enjoy the shows

on the excel ships- especially given that they involve aerial stunts. My impression was that people didn't like the venue (Grand Central).

RCL is definitely doing better with their productions- they still have live accompaniment.

The itinerary you posted is the preferred route as you get a full day in Cabo versus the other way around where you'd only get half of a day in Cabo. Overall, the Panorama gets pretty favorable reviews around these boards and others have posted their reviews for you to see. @deladane has a review on the main page that you might want to check out as well!

We just went to PV for a week (after our Panorama cruise got cancelled) and loved every minute of it. We will definitely be back and there's plenty to see and do.

On 1/16/2024 at 4:38 PM, Nathan Graveson said:

because they know how to perfect a product. Carnival just can't.

Disagree. It's just a different product.

I appreciate you sharing your speculations, but 75% of Royal's brand is marketing, 25% is onboard experience as evidenced by all of those "loyal to royal" folks who would never check out the Celebration, Jubilee or Mardi Gras which are all getting rave reviews.

Marketing might be Royal's strong suit, but discounting Carnival's product when their new ships are getting the reviews that they are is missing something.

Sounds like you were the victim of a scam here, sadly.

I doubt Carnival is going to change their mind until you pay whatever they feel is due. You could try a brief email to their customer service explaining the issue and asking for help, but every company handles folks who are involved in chargebacks this way (as others have commented).

I'd suggest following this guide and see where it gets you.

[Translated Article 1]

[Translated Article 2]

In case anyone was looking for it.

On 1/8/2024 at 8:51 AM, leaveitallbehind said:

$199.00 pp

Excuse me, but what? $200/p.p. is absolutely wild. I get it's an Oasis class ship so it's bigger- the tour takes longer, etc. But that's just wild pricing.

I enjoyed the Key (solo cruiser at the time I used it) but wouldn't pay more than $5/day than the wifi price would be. When I got it, it was under $5/more/day than the premium wifi was and I found it to be well worth it.

Loving your review- thanks for sharing your experience with us! Our cruise on the Panorama got cancelled for 12/9, so it's been nice to live vicariously through your photos and storytelling.

I hope night 1 was the only dinner drama you had to witness. Although entertaining, I'd rather eat in peace.

6 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

is it so close to San Diego that we would just casually creepy crawl, Sunday stroll?

It is. It's only about a two hour drive by car, so there's no rush for the ship to get up and go for that short of a journey overnight. When I did Los Angeles to Ensenada on Carnival, we did like 6-8 knots the whole way.

Weird that a thread from so long ago got bumped up, but if OP is still around and is still looking for help, Elliott Advocacy has a great resource to help consumers self-advocate. (if others see this post, hopefully it can help someone!).

Honestly, you need to pair that letter down into action steps the cruise line can do to make it right. It likely wasn't read by anyone at the cruise line at that length and level of detail.

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

but I hope that you take it seriously.

I don't. But thanks!

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

RCL divided the entire cruise into 17 segments and sold those individually.

IMO- they should have done this in the first place while also offering a full cruise option for those who wanted it.