CruizinSusan70

The sail away rates are usually only available as soon as bookings open up or through various agencies that gobble them up. If not sold, those cabins on temporary hold are put back into inventory to be sold to the general public. But, if you like to imbibe and go to a specialty restaurant, the perks included rate is the better value since you get the drinks package for 20 bucks a day.

Fully agree that Carnival is the price leader more often than not but of course there will always be exceptions. Since Carnival is the price leader there will always be the accompanying problems that are attached such as the recent fights on the magic out of NYC and the Elation out of Jacksonville. This is not something new since it's been happening periodically for years. Carnival is not the only line this occurs on, but it does seem like it's the line that it happens the most on and being the price value leader would be the primary reason for it happening. Since you mention big ships with lots of amenities, Carnival is lagging behind as usual since the Excel Class are the first ships over 134 K tons in the fleet. Royal Caribbean currently has 18 ships in their fleet that are larger than the Vista Class ships, let alone the Spirit, Fantasy and other classes in the Carnival line.

But a steady diet of one ship, the Legend gets pretty monotonous after awhile, even with great rates and and long drive.

You're comparing an apple to an orange with your Prima vs Mardi Gras. Use a bare bones rate that NCL has as a comparison since that is perks free. And the 24 hour pub they have on board will blow the doors off of anything on the 6.00 room service from Carnival. I've also cruised on NCL 4 times and Carnival over 20.

It's a game changer for them. We're booked on them for an 11 day repo cruise from Galveston to Miami at Halloween going to Cozumel, Great Stirrup Cay and the ABC's. Booked it again for a B2B in February and March out of Port Canaveral before she finally home ports in Galveston.

Since the 2024 summer schedule has not been released yet for many of the lines, you can use 2023 as a guideline. Most of the lines have only 1 sea day at the most for a 7 day sailing in the Med. I would look at the Seashore or World Europa from MSC as possibilities. With RCI, the Symphony of the Seas would be a good choice. If you want two sea days and a slightly longer cruise, the brand new Celebrity Beyond has 10 and 11 day itineraries with two sea days. But, once again this is all 2023 choices. Many of the 2024 NCL choices as you know have zero sea days on their 7 day voyages.

The NCL Prima should be your top of the list choice between NCL and RCI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThISJOnoBcI

You can't. You can buy a liter bottle for about 100 bucks plus gratuity through Carnival. If traveling in Europe, YMMV, but there have been reports of bottles being able to get in from some ports of call.

California Coastal and Mexican Riviera for 7 day cruises, Ensenada/Cabo for 4 day cruises and the occasional 15 day to Hawaii are about the only options. With limited choices comes limited demand and profits.

There are always exceptions, which I've read about on the NCL boards in the Haven and I witnessed first hand in the Yacht Club on MSC.

Which Carnival ship? Unless it's the Mardi Gras, it's a huge drop off from your previous cruises. Enjoy your Princess Alaska cruise, we'll be there for 14 days on the Majestic next May and June. Highly recommend the Edge Class on Celebrity.

Dynamic pricing is RCI's way of printing money. Cheers on Carnival costs 59.95 no matter when you sail or the length of your trip. On RCI, their drink package will fluctuate depending upon the sailing. Newer ships, ships sailing over the summer and 3 day booze cruises will all demand a higher rate and that rate is never locked in, it's fluid all of the time. Many are around 72.99 or higher (+tip). The same is true for their excursions and options at Coco Cay, the prices are never the same and post Covid have gone through the roof. They have "sales" that are misleading and it's one reason why they are at the bottom of my preference with the various lines.

You have not mentioned any future sailings on any of the three Excel Class ships, they are a game changer for Carnival if you're too apprehensive to change lines. If you want an upgraded experience, try one of the Edge Class ships on Celebrity (Edge, Apex, Beyond) or one of the newer builds on Princess (Discovery, Enchanted). Reading the opinion of someone else can only give you an overview of what to possibly expect. You need to pull the trigger and book one of the upgrades in order to form your own opinion as to whether it was worth it compared to the ships that are the same old, same old in the Carnival fleet that you're used to.

Thanks, that's what I assumed. If our flight out of Vancouver is too high, we'll have 4 options out of Seattle between 600 and 1030.

Do you happen to know what times the shuttle leaves the ship? We have options at 600 and 630 out of Seattle that we'll easily make but we may have two options at 130. I have to assume if the shuttle leaves at 900 and it takes 5 hours getting to SeaTac at 200 then it would be a moot point.

I live outside of Philly. Currently have 20 cruises booked over the next 21 months. Two of them are 7 day cruises out of Bayonne (Anthem OTS) and Brooklyn (Meraviglia). The rest are 8 B2B's of 14 days in total and an 18 day B2B on the Celebrity Beyond next November going to the Southern Caribbean twice. I would cruise out of NYC, Bayonne or Baltimore more often but for the most part the ships don't excite me and the odd ball itinerary like the Baltimore to Greenland that Carnival has is outrageously overpriced IMHO. There are posters like MsTabbycats out of NYC and Firefly33 out of Galveston that choose to only cruise out of their respective embarkation ports so thus their options are limited. We, on the other hand prefer to cruise on the newest ships that are coming out or try one that we can drive to like the Anthem. Spent 12 days on the Oasis, which was nice but is a one and done for us. We prefer to socialize at bars and with the Dynamic Pricing policy of RCI and their much too expensive drinks package, caused us to shift how we normally cruise. Don't have to worry about that again until our next RCI cruise since all of the others we have booked have it built in (NCL, Celebrity, Princess, MSC) or it's already paid for like Cheers is on our 7 future Excel Class bookings.

Out of curiosity, how many cruises have you taken and on which lines?

Why are you wasting your time posting on the Carnival boards if your cruise last month was the worst one you ever took? But, since you opened the can of worms, which ship was it and what exactly happened to make it the worst you ever took?

Celebrity now offers the non all inclusive bare bones rates on their ships. They also have single staterooms on the Edge and Apex (16), the future builds Beyond & Ascent (32) and the older Silhouette (4). I have to infer that your Princess sailing was many years ago out of Galveston on an older ship. Sailed on the Discovery Princess recently and it was fabulous. And for only 40 bucks a day, which is now 50, you get their drinks package, tips and wifi included. It of course is optional for those that like to pay bare bones rates.

Since you only cruise out of NYC, you're missing out on some better options. The buffet on the Edge Class ships of Celebrity blow the doors off of NCL. I've sailed on the Escape three times, and the Bliss and have future bookings on the Encore as well as 3 bookings on the Prima. The Prima will be doing two sailings out of NYC in October, a 5 day to Bermuda on the 10th and a 12 day repo cruise to Galveston on the 15th going to Cozumel, Great Stirrup Cay and the ABC's, in case you might be interested. The entertainment on the Excel Class on Carnival raises the bar as well, but since they will be embarking from Port Canaveral, Miami and Galveston you'll never get the chance to cruise on them unless you hop on a plane.

We were on the Seaside when she was new and it was in January of 2018, possibly when you saw her. We stayed in an inside cabin the the Yacht Club, which was still relatively unknown and we got a great rate. Now, the price has exploded and I would not pay it. MSC is a European based line and the food was OK in the Yacht Club, but was a mixed bag elsewhere. We're going to give them a try again next summer in July when the Meraviglia starts embarking out of Brooklyn. Got a inside Fantastica cabin including their drink package and taxes for about 800 pp. MSC is truly a cruise line with a tiered caste system. First Class is the Yacht Club, second class is Aurea, third class is Fantastica and fourth class is Bella.

The Breakaway plus ships are nice. Have been on the Escape three times as well as the Bliss. The Escape has Howl at the Moon, which is dueling pianos that beats out any of the piano bars in the Carnival fleet. 3 different piano players swap out every 15 minutes so it doesn't get stale. The only bad thing is that they only have it 4/7 nights, with the other 3 being used for comedy. But, getting their drink package for only 20 a day to cover tips is nice. Their new ship, the Prima will be a game changer for them similar to what the Mardi Gras has done for Carnival.

Because unless you sail in the Yacht Club, it can be a mixed bag. The entertainment is also geared towards the European market.

Havana area on the three Carnival Vista ships will get it done at an economical rate and with nobody under 12. The Haven on NCL and the Yacht Club on MSC are viable alternatives at a much higher price point, but children are still present in each area and platinum spoon rug rats are the worst.

Not everyone has the dexterity to drive a power chair with a joystick versus a scooter with a two handed handlebar.