LaRue1975

That’s fantastic, I think you will really enjoy it! I have been looking at the Firenze too, Long Beach is our home port. What itinerary are you doing? The Long Beach port is very nice too and well run. The terminal is spacious and comfortable, it is the in the dome they built to house the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughs plane. Also, the Queen Mary is adjacent, is newly renovated and the hotel is re-opening this month. I highly recommend staying there before or after your cruise. I don’t think I can squeeze Firenze in until 2025 but I definitely look forward to sailing on her. Enjoy your cruise and time in California! 😎

I don’t remember using quarters for the TV, that’s funny!

No, the aft cabins on deck two are not coves, they are regular balconies with aft views. I love aft cabins, just not sure about that extra lip thing below. There is definitely vibration in the aft at times and it would be enhanced on deck two. I don’t mind, reminds of the old magic fingers feature on the beds in cheap motels but you don’t need quarters, lol!

Yes, you will have full access to the Havana area, the insides are a great bargain! From personal experience the Havana area was never crowded and that has been the feedback I have read from most that have enjoyed the Havana cabins.

Go to the Vista class ships and look at the Family Harbor aft balcony cabins. You can find videos on YouTube. These would be the same as the ones on the Italian ships with out the family theme. Vista, Horizon and Panorama are the ships to look at. In those aft balconies there is a big “lip” on the back, looks kind of like a swim step to me, lol! So you cannot look straight down into the water but those cabins do look nice.

Totally agree and I am so happy I booked the Mahogany Bay Cabana next week the minute it was released. It will be one and done for us unless we are cruising with friends. Funny thing is after selling out quickly a month or so ago 3 opened up and they are still available. I also booked the Amber Cove Cabana for next year and I agree that will be going up too.

Gatorade is included and they have it a most bars, the ones on the lido deck for sure. You can order one when you get a drink, same with a bottle of water.

Thanks for heads up on the uncomfortable beds, I just ordered a set of inflatable mattress pads. We board the Breeze on the 29th and have a lot of cruises booked over the next couple of years so we will be prepared for the new and not improved Carnival beds.

Thanks for the wonderful review, I loved all the details! We have the Celebration booked for a back to back but not until May 2024. Your review gave me a real feel for what it will be like, can’t wait!

Presuming it is exactly like the Vista class ships the overhang completely covers the balcony so it is in the shade all the time. I plan to book one on the Horizon for that reason, all the other decks have no shade or privacy. Sounds like that’s not what you are looking for so you probably want to avoid deck 9. Edited to add you also have the advantage of being close to the lido for easy access to food and drinks and if you are on a Caribbean cruise the shade could be welcome and the privacy is great! Sorry, I missed that you are already booked.

Thank you for the clarification and I agree, members are frequently wrong but I can usually sort through it. There was a lot of disagreement over when you could start using DOU everywhere. Some insisted you had to wait for the casino to open, others said you couldn’t use it the first day at all in Texas and New York and others shared first hand knowledge that they had been served a free drink right after boarding. DOU everywhere is an even better deal in Texas and New York, especially if you enjoy drinking cocktails like me!

Good idea except the Vista doesn’t have a casino bar. We have a Havana Cabana so I’ll probably try the Havana Bar first after we drop our carry ons in the room. I’m super excited to sail with my first drinks on us everywhere offer and have 10 more booked over the next two years. I still can’t believe Carnival lets you book so many casino offers but as long as they do I’ll keep using the them. It’s a great time to be retired, lol!

We don’t sail until next month but it is my understanding that my husband can purchase the package without waiting until the casino opens. The bartender should be able to see in the system that I have free drinks everywhere from the casino. We are sailing out of Galveston so regular Cheers doesn’t start until day 2 anyway but the free drinks everywhere casino offer does. There is a debate as to whether it starts when you board or not until after the casino is open. I get most of my casino info from the Carnival Casino Players Facebook page.

Yes, you can buy the Cheers package but you have to wait until you are on board. You can’t pre order it without purchasing it for your wife also, the system doesn’t allow it. You will have to pay a bit more on board but you are still way ahead. You can purchase from any bar once you are the ship. Enjoy your cruise, Cheers!

Some appear very early and some trickle in later. Our cruise is September 10th and the last excursion I was waiting for showed up a few days ago. It is the Glacier Cruise in the Tracy Arm and it showed up in Day One departure day so look for it there. The zipline at Icy Straight showed up last month and there are still no excursions for Prince Rupert but that port was added to our cruise a couple of months ago.

I rarely get an e-mail lately for cancelled shore excursions or fun shop purchases. If I paid with OBC it goes back into my cruise account immediately and if I purchase with a CC it takes a few days to a week for the credit to show up. Not all offers include OBC or maybe you used the OBC for your husband’s cabin on something else. I have a heck of a time keeping track with all my changes and different offers so I just wait to see what happens after I cancel something. Yesterday I cancelled a shore excursion and booked a different one then cancelled and rebooked the Chef’s Table to move it to a different day.

Another thing I would try is calling the 800# number again, the experience and expertise of the agents varies wildly. I have had good experiences too, one actually straightened out a cancellation my previous PVP had screwed up and it was complicated. That’s when I decided to request a new PVP through the link on the website. I just booked three more cruises with my PVP today for the second half of 2024 using the new casino offers that were released on Tuesday. Took about 10 to 15 minutes, easy peasy! Good luck on getting a better cabin and have a great cruise either way!

It probably wasn’t a coach but a supervisor, most of the agents that answer the 800# have no power to do anything other than the basics. I had this experience a lot as I was trying to navigate through the Covid mess on my own. The agent would say I have to bump this up the chain, put me on hold and make the call then come back to me and we would both wait until the supervisor came on the line. This could take 30 minutes to an hour and I am thinking no wonder it takes so long to speak to someone, while this agent is waiting for the supervisor she could have helped several people. Just ridiculous, I hope Carnival has fixed that problem!

Yes, that is the correct link, thank you for posting it. I think it only took a couple of days, I didn’t answer because I didn’t recognize the number so he left me a message. I waited until I wanted to book a cruise to call him back and was surprised to find out he had been with Carnival 8 years and was super knowledgeable. His big thing is he always calls back within 24 hours, he is religious about it and keeps a record of his calls, lol!

I would do that and you can also click on the link to request a PVP on the home page of the website. I did that and was assigned my current PVP who is awesome. I just checked the website for the link but couldn’t find it, I know it used to be there because I used it. Good luck!

You need a good PVP. I am the Queen of changing my mind and switching cabins. I change cabins quite often and the booking is never cancelled and I‘ve never paid a change fee.

I talked to my PVP today and got some things clarified. The new policy is that your PVP will get credit as long he is the one who initiates the booking. They will not get credit if you want to book a new cruise and put your cabin on hold before you contact them. Once the booking is made you can make any changes yourself if you want to and if you find a cabin you would like to move to you can put it on hold and call your PVP to complete the transaction. I feel a lot better as this is usually the reason I would need to put a cabin on hold as better cabins pop up and I want to grab it before someone else gets it. I usually put the cabin on hold for new bookings too because it makes it easier but I will no longer do that. I mostly book way in advance when there is a lot of good cabins available so it shouldn’t be a problem.

When I first started booking cruises again in 2019 I had no problem doing it myself. Then Covid struck right before our first cruise in early April 2020. Someone on the Facebook group for the cruise recommended their PVP so I contacted him and he was great. He got me through the first cancellation but he left Carnival and they assigned me to one that was worse than worthless. He totally screwed up the cancellation and then ghosted me and wouldn’t help fix it so I had to spend hours on the phone and do it myself. I used the link on the website to ask for a PVP and surprisingly I got a really good one that has been with Carnival 9 years so don’t hesitate to try that. It’s probably a crap shoot but I got lucky. Facebook is also a good place to ask, especially on the Carnival Casino Players group, most have PVPs and they are happy to recommend them. This new policy has me worried my PVP might leave too and I definitely don’t want to start over. I also want him to get the fair compensation he deserves so I am hoping Carnival changes their mind on this issue.

We don’t stay in our first Havana Cabana until April but I have done a ton of research and almost all say the Havana area is never crowded. I can confirm that the Havana area is never open to guests not staying in a Havana cabin. They ended the after 7 PM access for everyone a long time ago, pre Covid I think. I am super excited for our first Havana experience on the Vista!

Our Ocean Suite was ready when we boarded the Radiance last month and we were one of the first to board. The luggage was confused, must have forgotten I booked a suite or got lost getting to the cabin, lol!