StephPS79

We were on Glory, which is the same class as Liberty, to Montego Bay February 2023. I love Conquest class ships, but of the ones you mentioned, I might like Horizon the best. We stuck with an excursion and rode ATVs, decently fun, but not the best ATV excursion we've done. It was at an excursion park though, so lots of people there for lots of different things, horseback riding, beach, etc. The beach there was beautiful. I agree that I wouldn't wonder out too much on my own. My brother actually had to disembark in Montego Bay due to a medical emergency. Carnival helped arrange transport to the airport. Apparently it was quite an experience in the taxi to the airport, with the driver talking about wanting to shoot his boss who lived in the mansion on the hill. He also kept offering to take them shopping, instead of the airport. After that report, I don't think I'd taxi anywhere on my own.

Not trying to come at you, (or derail this thread), you often have good information and are quick to help answer questions, but I really don't understand why you struggle so much with accepting that people actually do enjoy cruising on Carnival. I get that it's not like the good ol' days, but dollar for dollar, I would book Carnival over Royal Caribbean everytime (I am using that here because RCI is currently the only other line I have experience with). My experience on Carnival has always been better than my experience on RCI. The fact that it is competitively priced is an added bonus. RCI wins in ships, hands down, but the ship doesn't make the experience for me. I know this board is flooded with posts complaining about the cruise line which you feel might validate your opinion, but so is RCI, and I'd wager to say it's not much different on NCL boards, or even Princess or Celebrity. You've mentioned Disney, and I really don't consider them a player in this game, but I'd be curious to know what other experience you have on other lines that are direct competitors that would backup such a broad statement.

If you plan to do laundry, I would recommend bringing some detergent pods or such. I actually find it very convenient to do laundry onboard, but the detergent dispensers are horrendous, and often empty.

Just about to post this. Not really an even comparison. If you schedule boarding for Carnival for 2p or later, you can generally go right to you room. VV just eliminates boarding before rooms are ready.

At this time, Carnival isn't using a bid system for upgrades. As others have said, there is a possibility you'll receive an offer to "upgrade" for a cost. Sometimes good value, sometimes not. I don't mind interiors. I'd say if you really want to get on a ship, grab the interior. You might get better offers later.

Do you have any offers? It looks like my "Play N' Chill" offers show as "Play My Way" in the description, but they are the same offer codes that I had before. I don't really keep track of the name, but more the offer code and terms.

Great and thorough review - thank you for the time to share your experience!

We've stayed on deck 2 on the Horizon, it was an OV, pretty sure it was relatively aft. Didn't have any issues with noise that I can recall, and loved the convenience of being able to walk a flight of stairs up or down when getting on and off the ship.

I like to think of it more as adapting to an ever-changing world. Because, the world has and continues to change. Not just post-pandemic, although that is magnifying everything. But as the saying goes, things aren't made like they used to be. Sure, I get frustrated, but at the end of the day, I'd rather adapt and shed negativity than allow the negativity to consume me.

Royal Caribbean drink packages are dynamic pricing. Very few will be $66 dollars, maybe a few 5 day or less sailings on old ships. Which is annoying enough in itself. Who knows how much you'll be charged at any given time?? I don't. Most are AT LEAST $90 (I'd say almost all 7+ day sailings are at least this much). If you catch a "sale" you might get it for $72-$74 dollars per day, before gratuities. Currently, the drink package price on Icon is $115 per day before gratuities. Again, you might catch a "sale" to purchase this at around $90-$100. Most people will purchase their CCL drink package for $59.95 (6 days or more) or $69.95 (5 days or less) day, before gratuities.

Considering Royal Caribbean's drink package price is usually anywhere from $70 (on a good day) to $100 per day (who can say, because they use that super annoying dynamic pricing), I think it's easy to figure out how they do it.

So it is about the law... Most businesses aren't going to say "We're doing this because it's cheaper for us. Sure, we could do it, but it will cost us more money, so we won't." But the bottom line is the decision is based on the law and the impacts of the law. This isn't deception. It's business.

Good tip - thanks!

I have the Hilton card and don't see it, so they must be targeted offers in some way.

A little back on track, I would vote ABC, yes, because they are some of the most beautiful beaches and water, in my opinion. Pretty much every port is going to have the same type of excursions. There will almost always been a selection of catamaran, snorkel, beach day, swim with such and such animal, ATV, zipline, off-road type stuff. With that said, we do really like Grand Turk, but we usually do a particular excursion called Home Sweet Home or something like that, but that's basically a beach day. That beach wasn't too rocky, but the surf can be a bit rough sometimes. I could give or take Amber Cove. A plus is the port is really nice, so you can have a pool day without really having to buy an excursion. Otherwise, they have a mix of the stuff mentioned above. And Nassau is Nassau.

MacArthur is generally pretty safe, it is MacArthur Mall parking, it's generally well lit with security.

I don't think Carnival lies about it, they simply say it's unavailable. That itself is not a lie. Texas and the TABC most certainly have laws regarding alcohol sales and consumption, but I won't claim to fully understand them. I do believe it has something to do with the Texas permit to sell alcohol, which does have some weird regulations. For whatever reason, Carnival feels it is better to just not purchase the permit for Texas.

This hasn’t been the case normally, but the local chatter is that since there were no plans for cruises leaving Norfolk this year, Carnival did not pay whatever tax or permit is needed to the state for 2024.

My brother is a die-hard RCI fan, but when looking at Alaska, went with Princess. RCI doesn't do Alaska very well. Price, ship, and itinerary wise, I don't think RCI does Alaska very well.

We got married in port in February last year, we stayed here for our wedding weekend! We loved it, definitely a bit unique and the location was great! We had a great time.

March 31st out of Norfolk DOES populate on the booking search, but can't process if you try to book. That is all that is showing though.

That area is the worst! I hate the world every time I have to drive that stretch, or really, most of I-95 in general lol.

RCI has been hinting at a new "smaller" ship class in the works. Of course, based on recent ships, there is speculation to what their idea of "smaller" is these days. They haven't given much detail.

They aren't saying that though. They are saying "We will help you get back to Baltimore." See above.

For my experience, we booked Pride to Bermuda out of Baltimore for September 2025. For reference, we live about 15 minutes from Norfolk. A few reasons we picked Baltimore, we definitely wanted to go to Bermuda, the ship didn't matter much, and the it seemed to be the only port with an itinerary with 2 overnights in Bermuda, which was important to us. We figured we'd drive or possibly take the train to Baltimore and avoid airfare. There are cruises out of Norfolk with only 1 overnight, but we really wanted two and it was worth the 4-5 hour driver for us. However, if any of the NYC to Bermuda 2025 cruises were 2 overnights, we probably would have picked that one over Baltimore, but I didn't see any.