CruizinSusan70

I would never book a cruise through an agency that charges a fee. We sometimes book certain cruise lines directly and then transfer it to a TA so we get a discount or OBC. With Carnival I book it directly with a TA I've used for years that has great pricing so I get a good discount and of course I pay for everything with gift cards obtained at a 10% discount so that just adds to the bottom line savings.

Certainly can't be more than the 45.00 per day in NYC.

You beat me to it, lol.

Was your sous chef from Ratatouille?

It's so nice not dealing with unruly kids.

Cruise on one of the Celebrity Edge class ships, Edge, Apex, Beyond, Ascent. A step above compared to the rest of their fleet. Similar to the Excel Class ships raising the bar compared to the rest of the Carnival fleet. I'm sure that Kwokpot will agree.

The only thing close to a mega ship in Carnival's fleet are the two Excel Class ships. If we drive to a port, we do 7 days. If we fly, it's usually a B2B.

But you paid 3 times as much for your Disney cruise. Hopefully you got your monies worth.

It's not. It seems like it's great for those driving, but difficult to fly to. You have two airports to fly into in Houston, Hobby or Bush. Travel time from Bush could be 90 minutes with heavy traffic. And transfers are not as plentiful as Miami, FLL or PC so they are substantially higher price wise.

We didn't like cruising out of Galveston, that's why we won't do the Jubilee until she possibly changed embarkation ports. We did an 11 day repositioning cruise out of Galveston on the NCL Prima that ended in Miami. The cruise was great, but flying into Houston, combined with an expensive transfer put a bad taste into our mouths. I will assume that the overwhelming majority of people that cruise out of Galveston drive there.

No, there was nothing at all that we disliked about the Celebration. As a matter of fact we currently have five future cruises booked on Carnival, 10 days on the Venezia and 29 days on the Celebration. We thought the Celebration even raised the bar a bit compared to the Mardi Gras.

Since you don't like the Carnival product, sail on another line it's that simple. I have sailed on every class of ship that Carnival has had since well before the Fantasy Class going back over 35 years. The Excel Class is far and away the best class of ship with what is offered compared to the other classes in the line. Have spent 28 days on the Mardi Gras and 5 on the Celebration with another 29 booked on the Celebration. With all of the expanded food options, bar options, comedy show options compared to the other classes, it's not even close. And the Celebration has raised the bar even higher than the Mardi Gras. I have also sailed on RCI, NCL, MSC, Princess and Celebrity, so I am very aware of what they offer versus what Carnival offers. Once again, if you don't like the Carnival product, which I will assume you don't since the cabin size shrunk, move on.

Smart move. Enjoy the Jubilee, we won't sail on her unless she changes embarkation ports down the road. Did Galveston once and that was enough, too much of a hassle to fly to. Have four sailings currently booked on the Celebration, B2B's in September and January totalling 29 days.

You have not been on an Excel Class ship, so unless you have your opinion is based on second hand information. The best thing that Carnival does versus all of their competitors is lunch time food options as well as comedy. On the Excel Class there could be an adult show and a family show going on simultaneously in two separate venues. Carnival has stepped up their entertainment on the Excel Class ships but since you have not cruised on them, once again, it's second hand opinions. All of the stuff that you say you don't want can be a money maker for the cruise lines as they attempt to eliminate the huge amount of debt they accumulated during the stoppage. The last time I was mesmerized on a cruise ship was back in the day when we cruised on the Carnival Destiny for the first time when it was the first cruise ship to break the 100 K mark.

How was the postage stamp sized pool?

There's no right or wrong answer. Since we have cruised the Caribbean over 40 times, we cruise for the ship these days. Celebration, Mardi Gras, Prima, Discovery Princess, Apex are all ships we've cruised on over the past year.

The main problems occur on the shorter cruises of 3-5 days in length. The worst are the 3 day weekend booze cruises where an even higher percentage of people partake in the Cheers package. If you predominantly cruise on 7 day cruises, there can be problems once in a while, but nowhere near as often as the shorter cruises. This is another reason we prefer the Excel Class since they are mainly 7 day cruises with the occasional 6 or 8 day.

The obvious answer is to cruise on a B2B and hope that the questions are the same the second week. Or use Google.

We are going to be on the Beyond for an 18 day B2B cruise in November which will determine if X is put into our rearview mirror or not. The Sphere Class of Princess and Excel Class of Carnival are going to be our wheelhouse in the future for multiple cruises.

On June 1 the initial European season starting in August of 2025 for the Star opens up for bookings. Between that ship and the Sun, hopefully you'll be able to find the exact itinerary you're looking for.

It seems like there is a contingent of cruisers that like the Conquest and smaller ships because that's what they're familiar with and it's their comfort zone. Others will branch out and try the newer classes. The Vista Class is hated by some because of the main showroom and congestion at times, while others love these 3 ships because of the Havana area. Personally I think that the Excel Class has raised the bar and it finally brings Carnival up to the level of their competition. I think it's a shame if dedicated Carnival cruisers don't take the blinders off and try the newer ships. We have had great vacations on the five times we've sailed the Excel Class. If others are happy with just sailing on the older ships in the fleet, that is entirely their choice.

You have nobody to blame but yourself. Why would you assume that everything would be the same today as it was in 2019? You came onto Cruise Critic to complain, you should have come here to do your research pre-cruise and then you would have been educated about the changes.

I will infer that it's the two husbands booked in cabin one, while the two wives are in cabin two. The husbands will be getting Cheers and you can fill in the rest...

I would recommend the Vista Class for the Havana area. It's the one thing that is better on the 3 Vista Class ships compared to the Havana area on the Excel Class.

You're completely right. The Excel Class ships have raised the bar for Carnival and brought them closer to the newer builds by their competition. Some Carnival cruisers like the same old, same old and they're happy with the Fantasy, Spirit or Conquest Classes. They've never sailed on the Dream or Vista Class, let alone the Excel Class.