jsglow

10 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am not holding my breath as we are about to cancel our Princess WC segment because it was re-routed in such a terrible way that we completely skipped Asia and the middle east and it was literally the Asia/ME segment of the cruise!  31 sea days on a 41 day cruise.  I know Carnival Corp isn't responsible for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea but d**n, how can you just completely skip an entire continent and call it a w.c.???  We are now doing a Sydney to Singapore cruise instead. 

You're making the right call @Eli_6. The only folks who should be in those west Asian waters are sailors with big guns. Enjoy your Sydney/Singapore run. Is that Splendor going for dry dock?

Easy and correct choice going with Firenze. And that's coming from a guy who likes Radiance and the 4 night Catalina?Ensenada run.

3 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Another silly question, how visible is this from the general waiting area?  We are trying to not be seen.

In Terminal F I don't even know where the General Waiting area is. The Priority lounge is completely separate and very nice. The other thing that I liked was they made the Dia/Plat/Suites announcement seemingly ONLY in that area. One goes up a separate escalator and boards the ship without even seeing anyone else. Quite nice actually.

3 hours ago, Neil_c said:

I am confused

 

This is from The UK government website

"You can visit Vietnam without a visa for up to 45 days for tourism or business. If you want to stay longer than 45 days, you can: book with a travel agent in Vietnam and ask them to apply for a visa pre-approval letter – your agent will tell you when to collect your visa from the embassy."

 

 

So why the need for a visa? I can assume US are treated Differently

United State v. UK. Different rules for all countries.

Probably 80% of our excursions are arranged privately. Websites already mentioned are great resources. In our experience, it's a better option and is often less expensive. What we don't do is show up at the port and randomly pick out one from some hawker holding a sign. Ports of Call sections on this board provide great suggestions.

I've read through the FB comments and most of them seem to be pretty spot on. Seems to me that with this JH inquiry and the previous 'world cruise' tease that Carnival has something in mind as they eventually expand on their existing fleet. I think they're thinking about how to best deploy some of their older vessels when every port already has a Conquest, Dream and even Vista Class boat running their 3/4 or 4/5/5 'vacation' routes. Heck, we've speculated that Mardi Gras becomes a perfect Celebration Key weekender boat from Miami once the next Excel comes online.

I, for one, would love it if a Sunshine/Spirit did a full winter of Journeys. 

Do something like this beginning on a Wednesday in late January (heck, we're all retired):

-14 night Eastern/Southern from MIA

-14 night Western/Central Am./S. Am. from MIA

-14 night repo to Galveston

-14 night Eastern from Galveston

-14 night Panama Canal from Galveston to Long Beach

-14 night Hawaii

-     Alaska?

Honestly, it's kinda how they do Europe each summer. You can always tweak the actual days but the point still stands. Perhaps in '27 when the new Excel arrives? We'd be IN for some of it. I think others would be too. 

So I'm going to bump this up as e-visas for the Carnival Panorama in October are now entering the timeframe window. No info from Carnival as of yet. Still plenty of time. 

2 minutes ago, toad455 said:

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

There are 5 Spirits in total and now with 27 total ships back in the fleet Carnival has all it's bases covered. The Tampa Spirit class is typically a 6 month boat with her relocating to Europe for the summer, so that's #1. Baltimore accounts for #2. Luminosa typically does the Alaskan 6th month run coupled with Australia: #3. A second Spirit (#4) has recently split between Alaska and Mobile, but Firenze is perfectly suited for the Alaskan portion providing many additional berths and a protected Lido freeing up the Mobile boat to 'fill in' during Long Beach summers, if necessary. Plus, that 5th Spirit has been doing Long Beach full time running the 5/5/4 schedule (plus some Hawaii) that now belongs to Firenze during high season so she's available to 'roam' as all the low bridges are accounted for.

Now Carnival can do a few things with #5, maybe a bit different every year.

- Winter 'world traveler'

- Winter multiple Journeys from Mia/Galveston

- Winter San Juan

- Summer Tampa (if demand justifies)

- Summer Long Beach OR Alaska (now two available boats covering what one did historically)

- Summer 2nd Europe (again, if demand justifies)

Other thoughts on assignments?

1 minute ago, RoperDK said:

Spending $100 in the casino will not get you a free cruise or a reduced cabin price. I know people think it does, but it's just not true.  You have to put a fair amount of time in the casino to get comps.  It's all about the points you accumulate.  The more points, the better the comp.  Also, many of those free cabins are last minute offers to fill up ships that aren't sailing full.       

Yep. And gamblers are notorious liars. Those people actually pay premiums, even if some convince themselves they don't. Carnival doesn't do that to lose money. Promise.

Remember @wardwhitty, that's per person. So if both you and your traveling companion are Plat you can both take advantage so it really amounts to 10 bags in that case. Plenty. We find that we do laundry every 3rd day or so and are never stuffing the bag to make it happen. Usually back the next morning but be forewarned that it might certainly be 2 days on a Journeys cruise as so many will qualify.

Fantastic choice. She's one of my very favorite ships.  Most of the 'bells and whistles' of the big boats following her conversion a few years ago without the gargantuan size. We're excited to be sailing her twin sister Radiance to Hawaii next winter.

For a 5 nighter, I'm a big Sunrise fan out of Miami. Better get to it pronto. Few cabins remain.

I think what actually happened @kwokpotis that the gamblers ran out of $$!  🫣

12 hours ago, tidecat said:

If Carnival were going to reposition a ship to Australia, you could have a World Cruise that starts in Long Beach and a largely-overlapping World Cruise that starts in Brisbane. The first leg could be sold as a combination of the World Cruise from Long Beach and a shorter Transpacific sailing. The last leg would be a combination of the Brisbane World Cruise and another Transpacific.

 

If Carnival plays its cards right, it could line up so that a Spirit class ship winds up in Brisbane for the Australian summer (North American winter) and Luminosa repositions to the US for Alaska and Caribbean service, preferably fresh out of drydock with a more through update to be on brand than she had initially.

No doubt they are already successfully marketing 'ultra long' cruises, typically associated with dry docks or repos. I'm thinking of the trans Pacs to shuttle Luminosa between Alaska and Australia, the Panorama Singapore dry dock, and several Cadiz trans Atl drydocks. Personally what I'd really like to see is a South American circumnavigation but Carnival never goes that way for a 'work related' reason. I do think ongoing Middle East conflict may weigh heavily in any decisions. Those rerouting logistics had to be a nightmare this winter for the '24 world cruises.

Look, on a going forward basis, 7 day Carnival cruises are likely not getting any farther than Grand Turk or Amber Cove. Throw in a Celebration Key stop and HMC after the pier gets built and they control 100% of your spend. Plus they save gas. There's huge demand for that kind of product, especially on these extra fancy new builds. Doesn't interest me in the slightest but that's where the mass markets are going.

Well it's certainly a different type of cruising @bg2310 and not for everyone but we have found our multi-week European experiences to be fantastic. Personally, our cruise preference is to see new and different places. Judging from the success Carnival has had over there these past 3 seasons I'm guessing they think there is a market for this. Certainly RCCL does.

Here's a linked article.  We likely wouldn't consider the whole thing but I bet we'd consider a particularly interesting segment or two. I suspect this wouldn't be before '25 or '26 as folks can't do that on a whim. But at least they're seemingly floating a test balloon.

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-hints-at-possible-world-cruise/129053

What say you?

7 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Quickie comments:

 

• When Carnival sailed out of sunny San Juan, some of their departures from that port weren't until 10 PM, since the first port was nearby St. Thomas.

Back in the day, I believe all their San Juan departures were 10p. As you said, they could practically drift over to St. Thomas by morning. Plus it afforded folks to fly in that day quite reasonably if they chose. AND it meant passing by the fort when it was all light up at night.

Man I miss sailing from San Juan.

Yeah, while I'd personally be a fan, I don't think a Spirit sized ship is ever going to be in the works for Carnival. HAL? Different story.

14 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Exactly. I've never been told to fill out that form when I had a PVP or TA. They have always taken care of it for me on the spot.

Yep. In fact my PVP once 'yelled' at me (we're actual friends) saying 'that's what I'm here for'.

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

No, it was an artfully chosen phrase just like "Due to state laws, we cannot sell CHEERS! until the second day of the cruise".

It's untrue, they know it's untrue - but it makes good PR.

Whatever. I have more important issues in my life. Have a nice day.

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

 

A direct quote from John Heald:

 

“This is because gambling outside of the casino is strictly forbidden aboard any of our ships.”

 

So yes, it IS what he said... and yes, it was a lie.

No, it was an inartfully chosen phrase; not a 'lie'. 🙄 

So here's what I'm remembering. Boarding began as normal about 11a if memory serves. But unlike in Miami (or any other American port for that matter), there isn't a crush of people at the outset. Rather, they trickle in throughout the day. We took the train down in the morning, had coffee and pastries at the local shop in town, then walked to the port bus loading area and went to the ship. We were surprised NOT to find a big crowd as one normally would here in the US. There were people, sure, but not the masses early in the boarding process. I'm thinking that our train might have left Rome at 8:30a and arrived in Civitavecchia around 9:30a.

Further details are sketchy for me as this was in '22. Also understand that because most folks board mid afternoon or later, Carnival MAY have simply pushed the start into the afternoon so I can't comment on the most recent procedure from the '23 season. 

Yes, it is free. As to open every day, certainly sea days.... no clue on port days but guessing perhaps not.

4 minutes ago, BallFour4 said:

Allow me some liberty with your post.
Here in Galveston they do this and discover those aboard with warrants. They then contact the agency that holds them, inquire about extradition and notify Galveston PD. These folks get priority debarkation from deck zero with new silver bracelets and a ride to jail.
 Search on Galveston.com and click on webcams. Within 20 min of the ship being secured to the dock this parade takes place.

 There is no algorithm, but the shorter cruises in warmer weather tend to have more in the ceremony. A group exists that watch this along with a webcam operator making real time comments...

 

.

Awesome. I think I need to tune in. So much more fun than dock runners in Cozumel.