jsglow

Yes, it's available in 3 and 5 bottle quantities, standard and premium.

Two words..... Supply/Demand. Kinda like with any product or service.

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We're in our early 60s. The 'party' image for Carnival is overblown, especially on the longer cruises. Sure you'll find that on the 3 nighter to Nassau. You really won't on a 8+ nighter. (We've done several). Yes there are more families on Carnival. But except during summer and holidays (including Spring break), it's not an issue and I find it kind of fun to hear joyous young people on vacation. Kind of reminds me when I was there in my own life. We like the live music MUCH better on Carnival. Princess does tend to be a bit stuffy that way. I'll sail on both again but do generally prefer Carnival. A good question we ask ourselves is Carnival v. Princess to Hawaii. At the same price point we'd choose Carnival. The one place I'd absolutely choose Princess is Alaska where they dominate the market.

Just because it can hold enough LNG doesn't mean Carnival wants it to burn that much. I had not reflected on the LNG situation being a driving factor here but this raises interesting questions. It will be interesting that if an effort to 'go green' the cruise industry might have to compromise their product offerings. I, for one, am surely not interested in sailing on a mega ship to 2-3 Bahamas ports (including the new Freeport location) at some highly inflated price simply because it has some new food venues aboard.

You missed a step. Some nice person that never sees a guest area folds them reasonably nicely before putting them back in that new paper bag and stapling it shut. Last week we even got a nice hand written TY note on the bag! It's all good but to expect special handling is entirely unrealistic as you suggest.

Everyone is unique but Cheers only works for us on sea day intensive short cruises in the Bahamas/Caribbean. Otherwise I need to keep my alcohol consumption down to maximize my experience. Our most typical 'go to' is a wine package and a couple drinks per day paid by S&S. Sometimes we get a vodka mixer package for the room.

So as other's have said, 'tipping creep' really bothers me. Back in the day 10% was the norm, then 15%. Now these darn computers START at 18%. I too did extra tipping in the early months of the re-start on cruises. But I'll be darned if I'll give some stateside counter server 20%+ for simply doing his job.

So I think I've only had one occasion where we arrived prior to our boarding time. It happened simply because of the timing of our shuttle from Houston to Galveston. Really there was nothing we could do. We politely waited outside for the 25 or so minutes. We know that we would not have been allowed in as we watched others. No problem.

There are different kinds of tables. In my experience, most groups of 4 will be assigned a both to themselves. There's always exceptions.

Correct. We've done numerous. I would say average is about 2-3 weeks out. We've had it as late as a few days before. But I've always been able to print luggage tags at home.

Yep. Post pandemic all the retiring Fantasy Class has gone straight to the breakers if I recall correctly.

Saw this.... https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28528-costa-cancels-majority-of-fortuna-s-cruises-for-2023-and-2024.html

All quite interesting. I really doubt Carnival is ready to toss any build from the 2000s overboard anytime soon. I think we're going to see them refurbish and stretch those hulls as long as possible. There was a sea change between the Fantasy Class and the fully modern Destiny Class with respect to Balcs, etc. Plus Carnival can't do everything with the big Vista/Excel boats. That really doesn't work in their tertiary ports. They already struggle with berths out in LA with Panorama.

Alright, here's what they've got... 2 Exel Class 2 Vista Class (already on the way as Carnival Venezia and Carnival Firenze) 1 Dream Class 1 hybrid Spirit/Vista Class 4 Splendor Class (will never, ever be called their original Concordia Class ever again!) 2 Destiny/Triumph Class (how do you say 'sunshining' in Italian?) There's your potential new additions to the Carnival fleet post Jubiliee people.

It's actually really easy to understand. The plan minimizes conversion costs. Think of it like painting your kitchen instead of doing a full remodel with new cabinets and appliances. No problem; good strategy. Then build a marketing campaign to suit that. All good. I agree. Costa probably ain't long for this earth. She's relegated to being a 'ship supply' subsidiary. BTW, I really like the new Blue/Gold paint scheme. They're kicking themselves right now that they didn't think of it before putting Luminosa into dry-dock. Oh well; that's a minor 'oversight' that can be corrected years down the road. I'm going to spend some time looking at those hulls. I believe but am not certain that Costa has a handful of Spirit Class vessels. That'd be great.

No it's not correct. It simply means that the assets described were placed in the same entity that issued the bonds. Lenders always want the assets where they can 'see' them. That's more a kin to balance sheet strengthening than it is to pledging an asset as collateral. Oh, and BTW, pledging an asset isn't a dirty word. None of you bought a house without doing it.

We've never had a problem with well over 100+ days at sea. By biggest problem was a couple of ladies next door smoking on the Balc. Peeked around and told them this was my one and only polite warning. They grumbled... and stopped.... for the rest of the cruise.

Great perk. We use it routinely for basic clothing. Typically 24 hours turnaround.

I'm glad we all have favorite spots to go! 👍

Assuming your excursion is through Carnival, you'll get detailed instructions with your excursion tickets. In all likelihood you'll simply gather in the theater at a designated time. Your tender slot/seat is 'reserved'. No need to worry.

I can't speak directly to the Mardi Gras but we actually like being in a cabin under the seating areas on the deck just below the Lido Marketplace. On most ship classes, that gets us the extended overhang balcony providing additional shade for us. It also makes you about a minute from a coffee or lemonade. So on a typical Conquest/Sunshine class, we routinely do Deck 8 if we do a Balc.

Just FYI, you'll get good info in the Florida departures tab where this thread will get moved shortly.

Second night of the cruise for sure.

We just sat at MSY for four hours plus even after disembarking as late as possible a week ago. Sometimes it's unavoidable.