jsglow

That was my best guess. Can't assist further. Good luck and enjoy the TA.

Here's what might be your problem. Your flight might not actually be ticketed yet. So all your hard work might be premature. F2F is NOT like buying a confirmed ticket from the airline. I'm certainly no expert but it's only perhaps in the 30 days before the flight does it actually become a 'firm' ticket. So I sincerely doubt you can do any upgrades while you simply hold that 'un-ticketed reservation'.

Magic. Every day and twice on Sunday. Perhaps Carnival's very best design. Plus one more day and a great beach port added. Run, don't walk.

Doing this a tad out of memory. My recollection is that access to the front of the ship is above the bridge on about #9 or #10. I don't recall traditional secret doors to deck areas forward below the bridge. That certainly still exists on Sunshine class and Conquest class vessels.

Big Spirit class fan. While we only have the bowling alley this time, We've got 31 days total aboard in the next year.

Oh Canada! Our home and native land!....... 😉 Enjoy your cruise wherever you may go.

Excellent point. We have a close friend who is the lead choreographer for a touring summer show called Kids from Wisconsin. Representing the best youth artists from across the state ages about 16-21, they produce a 2 hour plus show each summer that tours and then culminates at State Fair. It's run for over 50 years. We've met musicians on Carnival that are Kids alums. Anyway, much of the show planning is driven by the cost of licensing rights relative to other necessary expenditures like costumes, lodging, etc. It's all a balancing act and they've gone up dramatically as you say.

Hey @Saint Greg, you are clearly the man in the know about NOLA. We're staying at the Lafayette Hotel pre-cruise and, weather dependent, likely expect to walk to Valor. I know to head down Julia St. as we head to the port but struggled once we got to the railroad tracks last time we did it. I think we eventually figured it out but if you could help me out with that last 300 yards.

See you in Cozumel! 😉 (Seriously, enjoy wherever you end up going!)

Shaky, we've got a beloved 'bowling alley' on Pride in the Med next month. On sea days, I might never leave! 😁

Think of it this way. Lady Gaga at one end and Wayne Newton at the other end do their same show on the Vegas strip every night. (Yes, I know Gaga has two different shows.) Only the customers change. Carnival is simply NOT going to have unique shows on each ship. Ridiculously expensive and impractical simply to placate the relative handful of super frequent cruisers..

Yes. That said, it's getting more difficult to navigate cruising w/o a smart phone. Last month on Princess using Medallion it would have been a nightmare. Everything from check-in to reservations for everything.

Another way to look at it Shaky is that different cruise lines provide differing levels of service. There are lines and cabins where one has an actual butler.

Typically the wait is less than 10 minutes. Within the app you have the option of being seated alone or with others. The real advantage is that 30 people aren't needing to stand at the entrance to the MDR after checking in with the hostess. Actually, think of it that way. It's nothing more than 'remote' hostess check-in.

I wouldn't call it a reservation. You simply go on the Carnival Hub app and tell it you're ready for dinner. the app will place you in a virtual line and notify you when your table is ready asking you to immediately proceed to the dining room. The table assigned to you will be visible and the hostess will ask you for it.

You're point is a good one for all to remember. Our son works for FEMA. He spent almost a year on the ground in San Juan following Maria. We cruised out of there in January '18 in part to support the local economy. Our cabbie from the airport practically broke down in tears when his wife called during our drive saying their power had finally been restored at their home; perhaps 90 days after the island was devastated.

It's funny. I think through history we've probably been Port 2/3 of the time. No particular reason. Our next 3 are all Port. Interesting.

The nice thing about the Caribbean is that they can sail west if there's trouble in the east and vice versa. That's a challenge in the Mex Riv. Looking at the track, I'd certainly expect some adjustments for this weekend's and early next week's sailings. As others have said, sometimes all they have to do is rearrange the port order. At TS levels, this is an 'inconvenience' rather than reflecting any material damage to any destination.

I get an annual flu shot too. I'm kinda thinking it'll be a combo in a year or two.

That really sucks. So sorry for you. I'll be the first to admit that getting that Covid test out of the way and getting the heck out of Canada ASAP played heavily on our planning.

Actually, natural immunity likely counts for a lot in terms of severity. The human body's immune system is spectacular. The more it sees this stuff the easier it'll deal with it. There's still 1919 flu around but we don't agonize about it because our bodies simply deal with it.

Double post

I don't think anyone thinks they are immune from Covid spreading. What I do think folks think is that they'll take their chances with an increasingly less virulent form and object to government interference. Everyone in my family has had Covid, myself included. And we're all vaxxed/boosted. It's simply part of life going forward. One can either accept that or not.

Note that we DO have to test one more time. We're heading to Rome in a month sailing to Greece where testing is still required. Our strategy.... Home test (at home bf fly). Test at AirBnB in Rome at earliest opportunity 48 hours later. And yes, we have trip insurance.

The shortest we've done is 4 days. As Kerm said, you're necessarily going to pack a lot in. We found ourselves staying up considerably later than we would on a longer cruise. And as cruisingguy said, I'd likely do the Cheers package. I can get my $ worth for 3-4 days easier than 7 at my age.