ilovetexas

Carnival should have an online IQ test with a minimum score required in order to book a balcony stateroom. At least that would cut out a significant portion of the ship where the idiots could "fall" overboard.

I've been on each line twice. Food is subjective. IMO, Celebrity has better food than Disney, specialty restaurants aside. Service was about equal. The only truly BAD service I've ever gotten on a cruise was our room steward on DCL Wonder but I decided to consider that an anomaly. Guest service desk personnel much better on Celebrity than on Disney.

DH prefers DCL, I prefer Celebrity. Nobody has gotten sick on any cruise line except DCL and it's happened both times we've sailed with them. That's too much of a coincidence for me. Plus, I prefer not to sail with that many kids.

The drink package is completely worth it if you drink alcohol and coffee. However, you should look at current menu prices and see if it would be worth it to you.

Same for us too. I guess we don't fall into the "demographic" that gets sent the emails see below:

 

This promotion is being offered privately to a certain demographic of Red Level guests so they can experience what it will be like to work towards the 75 cruise days they will be required to do in order to reach Platinum Level status permanently. It is a one-time deal to extend Platinum level benefits on one cruise only that cannot be offered as an exception to guests outside of those selected. Guests selected for OW8 and who choose to use it will then revert to their respective level upon completion of their sailing and will be required to complete their 75 cruise-day requirement to reach Platinum Level status under the VIFP Club.

 

Heck, we don't even make the cut for the casino perks and we spend a lot of time there on EVERY cruise...

Looking at the OPs Carnival cruises, you may be on to something. They've been on four CCL cruises in 11 years, with no more apparently booked (going by signature.) You've been on six in eight years with two more booked and I've been on seven in six years with one more booked.

They probably don't feel the need to dangle offers in front of us to get us to cruise with them more often...we already do. Still...an occasional call from the upsell fairy would be nice!

I also noticed that one of the offers in the VIFP section on CCL was a one time platinum status. Is CCL this desperate to fill berths that they have to do this? :confused:Evidently so. Sad to see them spiral down so much.:(

 

PS: As a Platinum cruiser, I'm not upset with CCL giving Platinum away, just that they seem to be that desperate.

That's not in my VIFP section. All of my "special offers" expired on Dec 31. :confused: They should really update their website!

We are in suburban Atlanta and our high school/middle school break is April 7-11. Colleges around here vary: Georgia State is March 17-23, UGA is March 10-14. Even the high schools in GA don't have the same week off.

Your Roll Call is amazingly small, so that's no help. Your son will have plenty of company, I'm sure.

Wow, I didn't know that. Between that and the free drinks I think I'm going to love Celebrity!

The 1-2-3 GO! Package doesn't run all the time. I think this one expires in February. Be sure to book before then.

Did you do the Lawn Grille and if so how was it?

 

Bill

Not exactly. We went there on the last sea day for a beer tasting and they cooked some meats to go with our beers. Personally, I wouldn't spend the upcharge (I think it's $40 each) since I read some less than favorable reviews. However, everyone is going to view that one differently. We went there for the beer tasting because DH wanted to and probably would have liked it for dinner. I, on the other hand, wanted to go to QSine and he didn't, he thought it sounded weird. You may want to check out some of the reviews on the Celebrity board.

Sorry, that's not very helpful!

I wasn't greeted with a glass of champagne when boarding Silhouette last March but I had the drink package so I didn't care. Also, they were passing it out during sail-away. That reminds me, when returning from shore excursions in Alaska, we were welcomed back onboard with hot chocolate.

I love Celebrity!! (Even though I have been so irritated with their online system as of late.)

As far as drinks and open bars....we found the Molecular Bar and spent every evening of our cruise there. We loved our Liquid Chef.

Celebrity:

Food is better. Decor of ships is more sedate and elegant. Only ONE announcement per day, as opposed to all day every day. Dress code adhered to in dining rooms. You do not walk into a Celebrity MDR in shorts and a t-shirt; tuxes are common on formal night, jackets and tie if not a tux. Clientele tends to be older, we are in our 40s and felt right at home in the Caribbean but on the young side in Alaska. Enclosed pool area in case of inclement weather.

They are VERY different experiences and I love Celebrity. I appreciate Carnival's price point but am still bummed we had to cancel our Reflection cruise this March. That 1-2-3-Go Promotion is wonderful. We used it last spring on the Silhouette.

If you are finding it for a similar price, BOOK IT!!!!

Eighth Carnival cruise coming up in less than a month. Never an upsell call. Maybe this time!!

I'll board Sunday and I'm sure it will be a great ship and cruise......Don't be alarmed about the 58% of those on CC....because there are less than 5% of Carnival cruisers that even post on CC....so with the 5% of the cruisers liking it 58%......that's pretty good. :D

^^ This. Plus, people are more inclined to vent if they have a bad time than cheer if they had a good time. I'll be on Sunshine one month from today and I fully intend to have a good time!

http://www.cruiselineformal.com/cf_pages/?c=car

 

Yes! Found it. And feel free to wear whatever you want next table over - I ain't wearing it for you anyways and I'd rather everyone be comfy for dinner! :D

I have a suggestion...buy a tux. You can pick one up at JC Penny for approximately what you're going to pay to rent one. No, it's not Armani but neither is the one on the ship! It's a nice, wool tux. DH has one I bought him for our anniversary a few years back; I bought it for the sole purpose of cruising. He's worn it four times total (two nights each on Celebrity and Disney) and if we hadn't had to cancel our Celebrity cruise March 2014, he'd be wearing it then, too. We've definitely gotten our money's worth and nobody is looking at the label.

He looks very nice in it and I get to wear a beautiful gown, too. It never ceases to amaze me how shoddily some men dress when their wives/girlfriends are dressed to the nines. Good for you for wanting to dress up!

Your wife will love it!

I was looking at some random cruises and they were all 200% with some bar credit.

I noticed the same thing.

If you want to find the rates just go to the advanced search, enter one passenger then fill in the rest of the info that is essential to you (timeframe, itinerary, etc.). The solo rates will come up and you either like them or you don't. I didn't go through the hassle of plugging in two travelers, notating all the rates, then going back and doing the same with one traveler in order to determine whether or not the supplement was actually zero. I just did one and if it was a rate I liked, I booked it.

Pretty simple!

Super deal. And hey, interior or itinerary aside - it's a cruise. What's not to like? :D

My thoughts, exactly!

I had read somewhere (don't recall where, but I don't think on CC) that you could just walk through the lobby of the Sheraton (now Melia) to access the beach even if you don't plan on buying a day pass. Is this true? Maybe Scubagirrl knows??? This would work for us as we only plan on being there for an hour or two, and don't need any of their facilities and don't want to needlessly spend the $30pp. I'm guessing that this may be the case at any hotel, not just the Sheraton. If anyone knows any details, please reply. Thanks

I didn't pay much attention to everyone else out there but each time I've been everyone in our party was given wrist bands. If they're looking for those out there, it would be pretty obvious that you didn't have one.

I haven't been here in some time and I appreciate that y'all kept the DCL/CCL fight going in my absence. :D

I've gotten a bit tired of Carnival but after my dog's recent $4,000 surgery, a failing septic field (there's another $5,000) and a husband who is now frequently traveling to the UK for work, I had to cancel my upcoming Celebrity cruise. We were going to put off traveling until 2015 (I guess I can't complain since I was out of the country five weeks in 2013) but I found a great fare on Carnival Sunshine and get to take my first solo cruise. Plus, I figured Tonka's Skipper would approve of the Sunshine. ;)

I'll be in a Cloud 9 stateroom and from the videos I've seen online (since it appears we don't actually have to have firsthand experience to have an opinion :rolleyes:), Cloud 9 blows the doors off The Rainforest Room.

For less than 1/4 of what I would pay on the DCL Fantasy that week, I get:

1. A seven day cruise in a spa room. Steps down the hall is the three story adults only Serenity area. It even has a waterfall. The aforementioned Cloud 9 spa is just one floor away and I will be there quite a lot as well. My room also entitles me to discounts on spa services and includes two yoga/pilates classes. Sounds relaxing and wonderful with no hairy chest contests necessary.

2. While I happen to find the MDR food on Carnival equal to/better than DCL, with the price difference I could afford to dine in specialty restaurants each night. The steakhouses on CCL are excellent at $35. The Chef's table is supposed to be stellar at only $75 a head. I'm looking forward to comparing it to Remy. The new JiJi on Sunshine gets excellent reviews, at $12 a head. Several others to choose from.

3. A $40 bar credit which I will use for bloody marys at the VERY good sea day brunch. Also useful at the Alchemy bar (DCL has nothing close) for a cocktail before dinner.

I could go on but why bother? Different strokes. I can and do find something to enjoy on every cruise. I feel sorry for people who can't do that. And, FWIW, I've found that low class people are low class people, I don't care where they shop, what kind of clothes they wear or how much money they make. I've got a pretty good feeling there are some that cruise Paul Gauguin, too.

For the record, of the four cruise lines I've cruised on, DCL ranks third in my opinion.

You'll find the Conquest very different from the Legend. The Legend was by far my favorite Carnival ship. That class of ships has quite a bit of room per passenger. There's nothing specifically wrong with the Conquest, it's just different.

Half Moon Cay is my favorite private island so far; it's beautiful. In San Juan, we toured the fort and ate at the Parrot Club. In St. Thomas we took a catamaran cruise over to St. John to go snorkeling. I've never been to Grand Turk.

I've never cruised out of Miami, so I can't help you there. As far as the ship, I suggest going to Carnival's website and looking at the deck plans. Find a stateroom that has staterooms above and below it and you should be insulated from any noise. Also, try to find a good PVP (personal vacation planner) at Carnival and they can help you choose a good room.

Enjoy your cruise.

I booked the Carnival Sunshine 2/2/2014 Cloud 9 interior for $615.

The itinerary isn't what I had hoped for but timing, price and THE SPA were all right!

I tell you what carnival 2 thumbs up for these single rate cruises. You cant beat these deals for solo cruising!!!!!!!

Yesterday I snagged a great solo rate! I got a Cloud 9 interior on Sunshine for $612. Considering that comes with access to the spa all week, you can't beat that price. Regardless of what some people think, I'm going to assume I'll have a wonderful time on Sunshine. I usually travel with my family so this is going to be a real treat.

You're right, there were several good solo rates, not just on Sunshine. I saw one on the Dream in late January that came out to $500ish.

Are you always this pleasant?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I've discovered if you look at someone's other posts, you can usually determine the answer to that question. Then I get to add them to my "ignore" list. ;)

Thanks for the update! Can you share a little more info on the pools? My 13 year old son is coming with us and we were thinking about the Sheraton/Melia. What did you think of the pools?

I've taken all three of my teens to the property and with the exception of one day of bad/cold weather, it was enjoyed by all. There pools are really fabulous (waterfalls, caves, swim up bar) and the beach is right there if you prefer that. My kids usually go back and forth.

I cannot access with IE8 - that is all I have and I am not paying for a new operating system to upgrade to 11. Also I have Google chrome with no luck accessing my reservation.

 

I finally wrote Michael Bayley - president or something of celebrity. He had his secretary write me back who told me to go back to customer service.

 

I politely explained I had been there enough times and that is why we had written them. Dropped the ball. Will probably be our last cruise with these guys.

We shouldn't have to change computers to access a website, for goodness sake. However, I did, just this morning. After not being able to see ANY of the specials on the website all weekend, I avoided it on Cyber Monday. When I saw the email about addtl guests sail free, I gave it a try. Nothing but the OOPS message. I hoped it was my mac so I switched to my PC. Nothing except the OOPS message. Three different browsers, different operating systems, etc.

Ridiculous. I talked DH into canceling our March Reflection in favor of another cruise line. I hate that because I love the ships/food/staff/etc. but it should be a seamless experience from booking to debarkation. Yes, I realize I could call them (which I did), and I also have a TA. None of that matters. FIX THE WEBSITE!!!

Now I just have to locate my replacement cruise, which should be easy since their website works fine.

After my experience with Celebrity's website all weekend, I chose to stay OFF of it on Cyber Monday. After seeing the extension email, I tried again.

Oops

Your search returned no results. Let's start over and try again, shall we?

It's a cute little message, I guess. Much better than the truth which is "we can't really get our website to work so it sucks to be you."

That's okay, last night I convinced DH to cancel our Reflection cruise next March and try a different cruise line. Celebrity: don't dangle sales/specials/incentives in front of me then have a malfunctioning website. I don't have the time nor the inclination to sit on hold with you nor do I want to bug my TA until I'm reasonably sure which cruise I want to take.

Any of the specialty restaurants lose appeal when we visit too often.

Obviously, we should try the AQ class cabins on Celebrity for the Blu restaurant. Maybe there is a surprise there.

 

jls

Yes and No.

 

Yes- AQ Class for Blu, IMHO is a joke unless it's a real deal.

 

jls

How would you know? You've never sailed in AQ or tried Blu.

Your posts get an asterisk now...

Look in post #2043 in this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=911018&page=103

There is a link to a spreadsheet showing feedback for all S class staterooms. It looks like the reviews for your room are good!

If you were trying to book Aqua class...it's only 2 to a room...

I was trying to book a different cruise for the kids (in an OV) and possibly another one in Aqua for me and DH. It wouldn't take my three to an OV room on several different cruises I was looking at for the kids.

Maybe it's a sign! I'll try again later since they're working on the site.