steveknj

I did that the other day and they didn't. Going to try again Edit: Found them now! Thanks!!

Can't find the cards on AARP right now, but I know they come and go. I'll keep looking. I have a cruise in July so have until April to pay it off, If I can buy cards at a discount that's more that I can save 🙂

Just want to clarify something about the Carnival Gift Card. If I recall from when I last sailed them, you can use them to actually PAY for your cruise (which I think is different than others which they can only be used for OBC). Is that still correct? I get points at work for various things and I can buy these cards with those points so I want to make sure this is still the case.

I've seen comedians on various cruises, and all were OK, but none memorable to actually remember their names. Best comedy I saw though was on NCL where they used to have Second City touring troupe. I love improv and I thought it was great. They also had a workshop where us in the audience could participate

We are booked on this ship for late July to the Eastern Caribbean. We have mostly been on NCL, but have done 2 Carnival ships (the Horizon a few years back when it was new and sailed out of NYC) and 2 RCCL ships and each line has their thing. We loved the Horizon and was glad this one will be an Italian style version of that ship. I'm glad to see Guy's Burgers being included (and the two new Italian style burgers sound yummy), though I will miss the BBQ place (though it REALLY doesn't fit the Italian motif, so that makes sense). The couple of YT videos I've seen look really good. We were looking for something different after our last two NCL cruises were on sister ships where there was very little difference between them. So this should be fun. Looking forward to the first sailings and people's reactions (and the YT videos!). As for the chicken parm debate, yeah, it's like the Chinese food we get in the states is much different than what they have in China. A lot of food is created for the tastes of the place they are serving it. Pizza Hut and Dominos helped popularize pizza in America, but is it "authentic"? No, but it fits the average American's taste. That's fine. I used to be a big pizza snob (only NY pizza please) and over the years, I've found pizza everywhere I like, and many regions put their own spin on it.

Just booked late July Eastern Caribbean cruise. Took a balcony on 7th floor. A lot of stuff sold out. First Carnival cruise in 5 years, last on the Horizon. Excited that this ship is similar in design as we liked the Horizon.

Not knowing ANYTHING about this ship, I wasn't expecting ANYTHING and I didn't really know the history of this ship. I assumed it was new, but apparently not, but I guess it's just a redesigned Costa ship? I'm not familiar with Costa either (other than the major accident the ship had some years back). That's why I came here, hoping for some more info about it. I was surprised that the CC Review had little to nothing about it, but I guess that's because it's being redone and whatever would have been there might be irrelevant. I'll do some more research online before I book anything.

I saw this ship was sailing out of NYC so it intrigued me, and the prices are pretty cheap. We are in NJ so we are close. We've sailed NCL out of NYC our last two cruises and in the past sailed on the Horizon out of NYC which we loved (one of our favorite cruises!). There is precious little about this ship here on CC and the review section shows pretty much nothing about the ship. The cruiser reviews don't paint a pretty picture, but they are somewhat old and sail out of Asia. I'll have to look for some YouTube videos to see what the ship is all about. There's a couple of 9 day cruises that might work for us. Getting two full weeks off is not a big deal for me, but my wife is at a newish job so might not be able to get 2 full weeks off.

I can't stand mayo so this looks perfect!!

Can you describe what type of chaos you encountered? One person's "chaos" is another person's smooth sailing. We sailed out of there in March, and ours were mostly smooth sailing, but at the time, they requiring the Covid tests at the pier and my son's test was inconclusive, which they didn't do a good job of notifying us until we checked with someone who told us he had to take the test again. So it was nerve wracking for us because we didn't know if we were going to be allowed on the ship or not. But the rest of the experience was fine. Checked in after only a few minute wait on line, got our tests within a few minutes and our result in about 20 minutes or so (except for my son). Once we all cleared, we just walked on the ship. I don't think it was really very chaotic for "normal" procedure, only due to the covid testing on the pier. We've sailed out of NY a couple of other times in the past, once on NCL and once on Carnival, and both times we had no issue.

Would a lightweight "windbreaker" be enough, or something like a midweight jacket or hoodie be better?

Doing the Maine/Halifax/Saint John itinerary next week. What's the weather like? Should I bring a light or mid-weight jacket or will a windbreaker (jacket with no lining) be sufficient?

While I appreciate the sentiment of the OP, none of us have the expertise that the OP has, in both writing, objectively critiquing our cruise or even knowing the types of things that other cruisers are looking for. Some of us easily overlook every little issue we might have on board, and generally look at our overall cruise as opposed to critiquing ever aspect. And if you frequent many of these types of boards, you also know that quite often what's here are not critiques per se, but observations, opinions and information as much as critiques. I don't think any of us SHOULD have any type of "GOAL" here. I don't expect a professional critique, nor should we (one of the problems/best parts with social media IS that you don't have professionals who do this job, but every day people who share their love of a certain topic, in this case cruising and are also looking for more than just "I liked this", or, "I had trouble with so and so room steward". We all come here for different reasons. To expect any kind of nuanced review from most of us here does not make a whole lot of sense, in an open forum. That's what professionals do. I just want general impressions from people who have been on this or that cruise, not any type of nuanced review. Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't, and whatever rating you give it, for whatever reason, that's fine with me (and also realize, that quite often you have "planted" reviews...i.e. reviews put online by the companies that they are reviewing to try and skew ratings in a certain direction....not saying that's happening here, but it's a problem with reviews in general all over the internet.)

I notice the menu still says Pepsi/Diet Pepsi

Did you have some issues that took you 6 hours? I've never had to wait that long unless we had an issue, like with my son's covid test. Otherwise we would have been done in less than an hour even WITH required testing.

To me it felt like a small airport terminal without the places to buy food. It can get a bit crowded feeling, but not obnoxious. We were on the Getaway in March and because of the required testing it was kind of spread out with people testing and people checking in and I suppose people waiting (by the time we finished our tests...due to some issues with my son's test, it was after 12 and we went right on board). As far as parking, we used to take the but and taxi from Port Authority, but due to covid issues we drove in last time and parked at the terminal. It's pricey as people have said, but it's super easy and convenient. I don't think we'll ever bother with the bus/taxi combo again. I'm on vacation!! The less hassle the better!

I have not worn a suit on a cruise since our first one in 2000. Heck, we used to change and wife would put on a dress and I'd put on a pair of khakis and a button down shirt before dinner. I don't even do that anymore. Usually it's either shorts if it's warm out our jeans and polo shirt or "tropical" shirt. On the "formal' nights MAYBE I'll wear the khakis, but still just a polo shirt or very casual button down shirt. As for sneakers, I have my everyday pair and my "going out" pair. Those are a pair of biege Sketchers that just look a little nicer than my normal ones. But that's a personal choice. If I forgot to bring those, my regular sneakers would be fine too.

When I lived in NYC we had the absolute tap water. It won taste tests against all kinds of bottled water brands for years. Here in NJ the water just tastes weird, so we have a water cooler and a tap in the fridge with a filter. That said, we usually drink bottled water when we go out and I can usually drink any brand. My son on the other hand can't stand the bottle purified water, only natural spring water like Poland Spring. I generally won't drink the tap water on the cruise, but I have in the past and it's fine. Same with the water at the table or buffet.

The original thread was from 4 years ago and things may have (probably have) changed by now. On our cruise in March, I sort of remember, outside of the normal NCL only channels that we got the following: MSNBC Fox News A movie related channel I think 2 TV sitcom/drama channels (with an occasional kids program An international sports channel which showed everything from NBA games to rugby I think that was about it. Often times the "TV" related channel would show the same shows a few times during the cruise.

The best "perk" is the larger bathroom. The rest is nice to have stuff, but nothing that you can't take a trip to the buffet and get something similar. I guess if you aren't into packing too much (like we always wind up doing!) the laundry service is good, but they give you a smallish bag, so for the 3 of us on the last cruise, we managed to get a bag of "unmentionables" washed mid cruise.

We loved Moderno on our last cruise, was very underwhelmed with Ocean Blue. We are doing Teppenyaki for the first time, as my daughter hasn't seen "the show" yet. Cagneys is good as is La Cuchina. Not a big fan of French food so haven't done Le Bistro. But honestly, if we didn't get the free specialty promotion, we'd just eat in the MDR. I'm perfectly fine with that. I'd say though, that Moderno is probably our favorite.

These kinds of issues are very common right now and the reason why I refuse to fly anywhere right now if I can help it. So I'm taking cruises that I can drive to the pier. It's a tough one though. If it were me, I would not take the chance and plan to come in a day early. I'll cough up the cost of a hotel room and a meal or two to make sure I could get to my ship. But right now, I won't even bother with that. But I get where many don't live within driving distance of a cruise terminal.

On the Getaway in March the doors were non-magnetic (at least as far as I can tell) and we tried a dry erase board which did not stick. We just bought the $5 per person messaging for our phone and we were able to keep track of each other that way. If you just want to do it for the decoration, I'm afraid, you are out of luck.

When we were the Getaway in March there was never anyone there. The problem to me is that there's nothing to draw you in. Margaritaville had the whole Carribean Jimmy Buffet vibe, but this is just, well a diner. They are a dime a dozen here in NJ and the food is food you can not only get on land, but you can get on board as well. So why would I bother and have to PAY to do it. I agree about what Carnival does and how well that works. Not only Guy's, but the Mexican place (Blue Iguana?) and the pizza place (with absolutely horrible pizza, RCCL pizza joint, also free, is much better) are available if you want to change it up from the buffet for a quick lunch. Now if they did something like RCCL's Johnny Rockets (at least that's a name people remember, and they make good shakes), or some other land based establishment that can draw fans in, that might work. Even with the crazy location, people might try and seek it out.