CruisingWalter

Yep, as many times as you need to. Have an amazing trip!

If you have medications, take a least a week's worth of extra meds just in case things change. Purchase Travel Insurance so you're covered if anything happens to you or the cruise. If you have not seen the news recently, a passenger got pneumonia on a recent cruise, had to be evacuated from her ship and is spending 12-20 days in a hospital to recover in Jamaica. She does not have travel insurance so she's on the hook to pay for everything, including travel back to the U.S. The cruise lines do not cover anything like that and if you purchase travel insurance through the cruise line, it's much more limiting than if you purchase quality third party insurance. You'll need less luggage than you think. You can have laundry done at the halfway point of each cruise, so pack enough clothes for 7, maybe 10 days and just have them go through the laundry. Specialty dining can get expensive for that long of travel, so pace yourself with the spending. If you think there's a chance you might get seasick, investigate sea bands (the brand Sea Bands), the behind the ear patch and other meds. Crew members also swear by green apples for sea sickness. If you feel it coming on, get to the lower decks and midship. Such as Deck 5 midship. That will be the smoothest ride on the ship if the seas get rough. The higher you are on the ship the more you'll feel the side to side movement. That's all I can think of at the moment, if you have any other questions, feel free to ping them here. I also have a TikTok channel with hundreds of first time cruiser tips that might be helpful. Link in the signature. Most of all HAVE FUN! 🙂

The product hasn't been changed. The ship is still the ship. The restaurants are all still there. The entertainment is still there. Changing a menu is by no way shape or form a bait a switch. Changing a pizza venue from 24 hours to a different set of hours is by no means a bait and switch. The operations of cruise ships change constantly. Unless you book your cruise today and sail tomorrow, you're not going to get everything that was promised at the time of your booking. We've had Celebrity Cruises completely change a restaurant from the time we booked to the time we sailed. And..... it was no big deal. What are you going to do if you're onboard and you miss or change a port? What if your itinerary completely changes like we had happen on Celebrity Equinox. When we booked the cruise Celebrity did not make us aware that Hurricane Irma would be impacting the Caribbean in six months when the cruise started, but when we boarded the ship, we were given a brand new itinerary to avoid the storm. Talk about a 'bait and switch!' A change in restaurant menu, theme or operating hours is a minor change in the overall scheme of cruise travel.

If you all didn't see the D23 Expo presentation on Sunday regarding upcoming changes for the theme parks and cruise ships, this sneak peek at Officer Clawhauser coming to Zootopia in Shanghai Disney was stunning. They also revealed a live action Mando and Grogu and a full sized Hulk who will interact with guests in California in the coming weeks. All three characters can talk and have conversations with guest in their original character voices, much like the Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren in Galaxy's Edge. With the Disney Treasure 2 years out, it makes me wonder what kind of elevated character meet and greets could be coming to that ship, and then the entire fleet as this tech evolves. Will bring the character interactions to a whole new level, or 'whole new world.' Exciting times to be a Disney fan. 🙂

Menus and pretty much ANYTHING on a cruise ship is subject to change at any time. Not sure why you would think it's 'not fair' for a cruise line to change something as simple as a menu after you booked your cruise. Everything changes continually on all cruise lines so changes after booking a cruise will happen to a lot of people, all the time.

It is interesting to see Jasmine and Aladdin in the Lobby. Obviously the icon on the stern will be from Peter Pan but it was interesting they didn't show us the actual stern yet. I'm kind of hoping it will be Captain Hook standing on Tick-Tock's open mouth like in Peter Pan's Flight ride with Peter Pan flying above. A friend noted that the lobby looks particularly dark in the color scheme of the renderings vs. the bright and airiness of the current lobbies.

There won't be any rumors. When Disney Cruise Line is ready to make an announcement it will be covered in all the press. As of right now, it's status quo. Everyone 12 and up must be vaccinated to sail on Disney.

To say there are too many 'adult exclusive' areas on any Disney Cruise ship is honestly not the case at all. The entire ship was designed for family with approx. 15% of the entire ship dedicated just to adults. On the Fantasy that entire aft section called Europa is Adults Only and it is enforced. Those are adult bars and nightclubs therefore children are not, and should not, be allowed in those venues. All of the adult-exclusive venues are clearly laid out on the Disney cruise website. https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/list/fantasy-ship,adult-exclusive/ For families at night we saw a huge venue called D Lounge. This is the family 'nightclub' on the ship that was running up through 11pm on the cruise we sailed. Mostly empty because all the adults were in the back, but it is that's your option to spend time in a 'nightclub' with your child. https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/d-lounge-family-club/

Just the free champagne every night 5:30 - 7:00. Mega Rockstars get some free drinks at all the bars.

When we sailed Mardi Gras, those guests we talked to who have stayed in the Havana cabins on the Vista class said they would never book Xcel class Havana cabins. Both those who were staying in them on the Mardi Gras and others we spoke to. The Havana section is much larger with a full pool on the Vista Class. On Xcel they are essentially an 'island' on the side of the ship with a small infinity plunge pool. To separate it from the rest of the ship, they left off the exterior walkway around Grand Central that would have connected the starboard bar area to the Havana area. You can see the walkway on the outside of the P&O IONA, that is the same ship design. Honestly if we were to book Mardi Gras again I would go back to the Extended Balcony cabins we had. In our case we were on Deck 12, but they were absolutely lovely and less than the extra Havana costs. I could easily go down to the Havana Bar to get my Cuban coffee every morning. 🙂

The big thing I would caution is that inaugural cruises were delayed and canceled even before the pandemic and supply chain issues. I'm not sure if any of the ships launched since the restart have actually had their maiden voyages on time. I hope the TA and the Miami cruise happen on time, but be aware they could be delayed or cancelled. As for what to expect, you'll probably get some sort of swag in your cabin and there could be some items available for you onboard that's only for the inaugural sailing. You may or may not be a part of the naming ceremony for the ship. That might happen in Europe before she transits to the US or it could happen somewhere in the US. Sometimes it happens as part of the inaugural sailings but it can also happen a few weeks into the ship's service. For sure everything will be brand new and you can expect things to not go as smoothly as they should because everybody onboard the ship will be new, and the ship will most likely be short staffed based on our experiences on the Mardi Gras. So you'll have to bring a LOT of patience to this cruise. This is why we usually don't book a cruise until a ship has been in service at least 4 months to allow them to work out all the kinks. But I'm sure you will have an amazing time. The Mardi Gras was a fun ship and I really like what Celebration has done with the Terminal area. I like that design and use of the space much more than the French Quarter on Mardi Gras.

The latest information on Costa By Carnival still includes the Costa names with no changes. No mention of changing the names or the livery to Carnival anywhere on the Carnival site or Carnival press that I can find. If you have a link to Carnival's website showing all this has changed, share it with us so we can read it. Thanks https://carnival-news.com/2022/06/22/carnival-cruise-line-to-bring-costa-venezia-to-the-u-s-in-2023-costa-firenze-in-2024-to-sail-as-part-of-the-carnival-fleet/

I know NCL has them, including the new PRIMA. I'm not sure who else has them anymore.

I pinged one of the larger Facebook groups when we were sitting there for an hour. They said 'ignore the muster station and GO!" So we did and we'll do that from now on. I posted about that here in CC and was chastised greatly for mentioning it. But we're going to ignore the muster station rule when we sail Carnival again and do self-assist.

They've been saying "Choose Fun, Italian Style" since they announced "Costa By Carnival." That's the tagline for the two ships. It was literally in the Press Release announcing Costa By Carnival. They are going to remain Costa ships. Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We’re going to invite our guests to Choose Fun with Carnival, Italian Style!” https://ca.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/carnival-to-launch-costa-by-carnival-marrying-italian-ships-with-carnival-fun.html

No catch. I a 6 episode playlist on YouTube that should help with your research including a full food tour, cabin tour (Cheeky Corner Suite) and overall review. I hope this is helpful. VV was MUCH better than we expected it to be. We're also doing an live AMA (Ask Me Anything) tonight at 6pm EST if you want to join us and ask questions there too. 🙂

Honestly we can't remember if we watched it on the app or on the TV in the cabin. There is nothing to scan that you watched it that I recall. The only scan is when you go to the Muster Station where they will scan your card to validate that you went through the muster drill.

It was a complete cluster getting off Mardi Gras in March. We were told even with self assist we could not disembark until they called our Muster Station. On every other cruise line, self assist meant we were the first ones off the ship, usually starting at 7:15 or 7:30. It makes sense because we have no luggage to claim because it's all with us. On Mardi Gras it was coming up on 8:45am and they had not called our Muster Station yet, so we just left and had no issues exiting the ship. If we sail Mardi Gras again and they do that same deal, we're going to ignore the Muster Station and leave as soon as they call the first group to exit the ship. So you can be off the ship before 8:00am most likely with self assist if you simply leave when they call the first group. One other tip for Disembarkation day, go UP to Deck 16 (or whichever deck is the buffet and Blue Iguana) to wait. Much easier to get an elevator from the top decks and go down, vs. getting an elevator at the lower decks because so many will be full. We hung out at Blue Iguana and then went to the forward elevators to go down and had absolutely no issue. Literally nobody waiting for the elevators when we left.

Really? Carnival doesn't have a two device plan like Royal? We purchased a Voom+Stream plan for our upcoming Symphony OTS with the option for two devices so my wife will just use the same login as me. No need for two internet packages as it was cheaper to do it this way. Honestly didn't know Carnival didn't offer a two device plan. Thanks for the heads up!

MDR is ok on the Mardi Gras, not great but it's ok. Do the Your Time Dining because La Cucina del Capitano, Guy's Pig and Anchor, and ChiBang! are all included. If you do YTD you have first opportunities to grab a time starting at 5:30pm. If you do fixed time dining, you have to wait until 7 or 7:30 to try to get a table and you could be waiting hours. I did a full review of most of the food on the Mardi Gras that might help. Having La Cucina as an option was especially awesome. Oh and Shaq's Big Chicken is AWESOME. Addictive but AWESOME! I hope this review is helpful for your planning, you'll have an awesome time on the ship!

I'll also add that based on reports from guests onboard the Celebrity and RCI ships where Starlink is being deployed to guests, there has been no increase in internet pricing. The speeds are faster, but the pricing is exactly the same. Not really sure why Carnival is raising their pricing to be honest since it's the same system they've had for a while.

One thing we often do is ask for appetizer sized portions of multiple entrees so we can try them without being stuffed. 🙂

Rolling the drink package in is already being done by Celebrity but with the caveat that you can also order a "cruise only" fare. In other words the drink package is 'included' but not really because you're paying more for the the drink along with WiFi and gratuities. Even the premium cruise lines don't include alcohol in their 'all inclusive fares.' A selection of wine and some drinks may be included, but I've not seen any line simply open up the bar and say it's all included. Cruise lines make WAY too much money on alcohol to give it away. If you're ok with your cruise fare going up $100 or more per day, then you might see it 'included' but you're still paying for it, like the Celebrity pricing. Including the soft drinks, now that should be included across all cruise lines. The cost per drink is pennies and can easily be buried in the cruise fares with as little as $10 or $25 more per passenger.. Having both soft drinks and all of the food included on the Scarlet Lady was quite refreshing and made paying for the alcohol no big deal. So I don't think we'll see the mainstream cruise lines ever throw in the alcohol in the standard fares, but we might see at least one other, besides Disney and Virgin, throw out the first salvo in the 'included soft drink' wars sooner than later. Now back to the original topic, basic WiFi SHOULD be rolled into the cost of the cruise. The free WiFi was outstanding on Scarlet Lady and I'm sure they simply added about $10 to each cruise fare to cover the operational costs. My wife was able to stream TikTok no problem and use all of her social sites. I paid the extra $10/day and did two one-hour livestreams from the ship no problem, one of them being a sea day. No reason cruise lines can't roll in those costs, especially with Starlink now being an option. Hoping to have that service available on our RCCL cruise in December.

As others have noted, going out to fetch specific liquor most likely won't happen on Carnival. Celebrity is a bit of a different animal when it come to cocktails, I've had similar experiences as you when asking for a specific whiskey for an Old Fashioned. The bartender would call and a few minutes later a bottle was delivered. I will say as a mezcal fan, the New Moon really surprised me at Fortune Teller. I thought that was going to be a gimmick place after seeing all the vlogs with the Crystal Ball, but they have some really great bartenders and drinks there. Though they are heavy on cognac drinks both there and Brass Magnolia. Truth be told, Alchemy was my least favorite bar on that particular ship. She's a really fun ship though, all the included food certainly makes for a fun cruise.

Costa By Carnival means leaving the ships basically as is, in the Costa livery and all internal Italian designs intact. NO addition of Carnival 'fun ship' elements. The only change is slated to be the change of the crew and operation from Costa to Carnival. Basically a more 'refined' ship for Carnival guests.