cruisinqt

We did a suite many years ago and just like you, I can’t remember what the luggage tags said either. I’m hoping I can hold it in but I’m pretty excited too. This is our first overseas cruise and our first time in London. We are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and the upgraded cabin is his gift. He’s always wanted one of the fancier suites and there is only one suite bigger than this one so he should be pleasantly surprised (if I can keep it a secret.?

So I’ve never done this before but I’m surprising my husband with a Vista Suite on our Carnival Pride cruise. He thinks we are in a normal balcony cabin as usual. I’ve already devised a way to keep him from seeing the bill or payments so that’s not a problem. And he never goes online and looks up the cruise details either so I'm not worried about that. But will I be able to keep this a surprise right up until we walk into our cabin? Or will there be “suite” or “vista suite” on any of the luggage tags? What about the boarding papers, anything on them? Is it possible to keep him out of the loop right up until we see the room? Anyone else who has done this please let me know. And if there’s something that will give it away does anyone have any ideas on how to break the news to him ahead of time in a fun way?

They call it individually. D1 then D2 then D3 etc. But by the time you all get in and situated they may have already called it. I’d confirm with an employee what they’ve already called out. They are standing around everywhere.

Yeah I would go in and get some seats altogether for your group as soon as you can. It gets crowded very quickly.

You’re all in the same area waiting as they call out the different zones to board. There’s no separate waiting area for anyone except the Diamond Platinum lounge. So unless you’re Diamond or Platinum then you can all sit and wait and board together for zone D if you want to. Now getting into the building where you wait is a different story. It’s all based on the check in time slot you chose. You can’t go in and wait for your zone to be called until your check in time. If your check in time is 11 and you try to enter at 10 they will turn you away.

I did that and it said “cruise not found.” I logged out & logged back in, switched devices, everything and nothing worked. Thankfully it was back in the system this morning.

The scary thing is I did all that and it still didn’t help. I put in the confirmation code and it said “cruise not found.” I refreshed the page, added confirmation codes, logged out & logged back in, and even switched devices but nothing worked. That’s when I started to panic. Thankfully it was there this morning. Carnival really needs to fix this.

That’s what was so scary I did everything and it was still gone. I re-inputted one of the 2 cruises that was missing and everything showed up except one. I even re-inputted the confirmation number for the one remaining cruise that was still missing and it still didn’t show up. I logged out & logged back in and even changed devices and it was still gone. I’ve never had that happen before. Fortunately it showed up this morning. Carnival needs to fix their system, that’s a really scary glitch to continue to have for many years.

Thanks my friend, fortunately it showed up this morning. I had refreshed the page, logged out & logged back in, and tried a different device and it was still not showing up. That’s what scared me. It’s weird because it’s never happened to me and I’ve been cruising for over 20 years. Whew I’m glad that’s over that was scary.

I’m so glad to hear that. I’ve never had it happen to me so I panicked. Hopefully it will back up there tomorrow. Thanks for the input

I went to my cruise planner on Carnival to check on something for an upcoming cruise in February and my cruise has disappeared from it. And yes it’s a fully paid cruise. I have 4 cruises booked with Carnival next year and at first only 2 cruises showed up which really freaked me out. I entered the confirmation number for the Barcelona cruise which was missing and it finally showed up. But I entered the confirmation number for the Celebration cruise in February and it’s still not showing up. I’m really worried now because I’ve already paid for the airfare, hotel, and rental car. I’ve also pre-purchased a lot of stuff like WiFi, excursions, restaurant reservations, etc. I’ve been cruising for over 20 years and have never had this happen. Has anyone else had a cruise disappear from their planner like this? It really has me worried because I checked and there’s only a few inside cabins left and we booked a balcony cabin. Could they have had a glitch in the system and lost our reservation and sold our cabin to someone else?

Oh I’d be with you on that one. I wish Carnival sent their bigger newer ships to Alaska or overseas to Europe instead of keeping them in the Caribbean. That’s why I chose the Quantam because if I did Carnival to Alaska it would be on the Spirit. And I’m spoiled by these big ships with so many choices for entertainment and food.

The biggest change right now is not being able to check in till 2 weeks before the cruise. And once you check in you choose a time slot to arrive. Then they board in a specific order.

Really? That’s good to hear. Some cruisers were complaining about it in their reviews but that was a while back. I’m glad they were able to fix it.

It had a bad fire a few months back. The tail is ruined and I hear there’s a smoky smell they can’t get out of the carpets. Usually when a ship does a 2 week dry dock it’s just a fresh coat of paint, new linens & bedding, and light cosmetic work. They don’t usually put in all new flooring or do major remodels in a 2 week dry dock. I was a little worried they may decide to do a 4 week dry dock instead which they sometimes switch to a few months ahead of schedule. But everyone seems to think that’s not likely to happen so maybe my worries were unfounded.

One of the reasons we are doing Quantam of the Seas to Alaska is because we wanted to switch things up because we were getting a little tired of the same old stuff on Carnival. So I completely understand your feelings here. After many years of cruising your tastes change or you just want something different. But I have to say that Carnivals Excel class is very different from their other cruise ships if you’re thinking about doing Carnival anytime soon. The layout is completely different and very similar to Royal’s with sky bridges and a promenade area. They had a fantastic violin trio playing in one area that were amazing. And they had other evening entertainment other than just the Playlist productions. There’s a 2 story open air theater area called Grand Central that had shows playing every evening in addition to the shows in the main theater. A couple of nights they had some really good magicians perform. I also enjoyed watching the Family Feud game there. All of the entertainment there was very different from what we normally see on Carnival and we liked it better. There’s also soda fountains and several really good specialty restaurants. My favorite was Emeril’s Bistro (Emeril’s Lagasse) and my husbands was Rudi’s Seafood Grill (Rudi Sodamin). We both enjoyed the new Street Eats area which is a tribute to food trucks around the world. Overall this new class of ship seems to be trying to change things up a bit and we both agreed that it was a huge improvement.

It was free a couple months ago when we sailed her. The last I heard was that John Heald said it would be free until further notice.

With Carnival we have gotten several good deals recently. We are sailing one of the newest ships, the Celebration in an ocean suite cabin for free in July, we just pay taxes and port fees which are $502. It includes $1000 in on board credit. It’s an Elite cruise so it includes pick up and return transfers to and from the cruise (in a luxury car or free parking for the week), choice of alcoholic beverages waiting for us in our cabin (which are replenished during the week), 1 free excursion for each of us, free Platinum status, free alcohol everywhere for us both, free Elite gifts (nice ones), money giveaways at the Elite party, and priority spa and restaurant reservations. We also got a 12 day London cruise for free (just taxes which are $636 total.) It’s not an Elite cruise so we don’t have the Elite cruise perks mentioned above but we are getting $1000 on board credit and free alcohol everywhere for us both. We also booked a free 13 day transatlantic repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Orlando for free. The taxes and port fees were $508. It also includes $1000 in on board credits and free alcohol everywhere for us both. We’ve been sailing with Carnival (and several other cruise lines) for over 20 years and we’ve never seen deals like this before. We do spend a little more in the casinos now than we used to when we were young and things were a little more tight financially. But we still don’t really spend that much in my opinion. Sometimes we are down a few thousand, sometimes we are up a few thousand, or we come out even. This last cruise on the Panorama I had 3 hand pays and my husband had 1 so we came out way ahead. But we aren’t big spenders. I’ve heard Carnival recently revamped their players club perks so maybe it’s a little more generous now.

On our last Carnival cruise I got hand pays 3 times. One for $1500, one for $2084, and one for $3,338. Anything over $1200 is a hand pay with a tax form with Carnival. I don’t know what they would do if it’s a huge amount like $10k but for a few thousand it was a hand pay for us.

Yeah I normally avoid them too. But the price was so cheap we just couldn’t resist it. Plus we get to go to Barcelona and all over Spain and the Canary Islands too. We just couldn’t pass this one up. We are going more for the ports than anything.

There have been a few that extended their dry docks from 2 weeks to 4 weeks because they needed more work than estimated. It was all done and decided a few months ahead of time by the higher ups. And it probably wouldn’t impact anyone very much on a normal cruise. But since this is a transatlantic cruise not only is the airfare far more expensive, but it will have lots more restrictions and will be much harder and more expensive to change. That’s what I’m worried about with the Freedom. Since they had that fire on board I’m worried that it will need more dry dock time and they’ll decide to do a longer dry dock. Maybe I’m just worrying about nothing. But when I saw we were the first sailing after dry dock it concerned me. The Freedom needs a lot of work.

I just found out that the cruise we booked will be the first one after dry dock. I’m reading all of these posts about dry docks taking longer than they’re scheduled and cruises getting canceled. It’s making me nervous. It’s on the Freedom on 10/23/23. It’s a 14 day repositioning cruise starting in Barcelona and ending in Orlando. I don’t want to book expensive transatlantic flights and overseas hotels only to have to cancel it all. The cancellation fees could be quite expensive. Should I be worried? Do I need to switch sailings?

Look at TripAdvisor for similar excursions in those ports. That’s what I do and I almost always find similar excursions with lots of reviews. I often just book with a local tour that’s cheaper and has good recommendations there. I’ll be going in the Pride to London in August so I’m in the same situation as you. And I’m definitely looking up those ports on TripAdvisor to get a better idea of what’s good and what’s not so good.

We’ve done Elite, Ultra, and Premiere cruises. We prefer the Elite cruises. Not only does the Elite give awesome perks like luxury car service to and from your cruise or hotel (or free parking for the length of the cruise), free alcohol in your cabin, free gifts (nice ones), free drinks everywhere on the ship, free excursions, an Elite party with cash prizes, free Platinum status, etc. But it’s not a gamblers cruise packed with gamblers so the casino isn’t overly crowded with them. The Ultra and Premiere cruises are more like gamblers cruises with lots of tournaments and gambling related events so the casino is packed. Elite doesn’t have that, it’s more of an upscale experience rather than a gambling cruise. I think some people that say their Elite cruise had a packed casino is either just a coincidence, bad luck, or maybe they were on a smaller ship with a smaller casino because the Elite cruises aren’t gambling cruises. That’s one of the reasons we like them so much.

Emeril’s Bistro: Boudin Balls $6 (huge & tasty) Beignets $5 (cooked perfectly) Red Beans & Rice $3 (huge!) Chicken Shrimp & Sausage Jumbalaya $10 Fried Shrimp & Oyster Po Boy $8 lemon ice box pie $4 (very rich!) (Don’t be fooled, every dish is huge. The red beans & rice was a meal in itself & one person could never finish the beignets) All of these dishes were top notch and some of the best food I’ve ever had on a cruise. And there were never long lines either. Bonsai Teppanyaki: Absolutely amazing food with excellent seasoning. I would highly recommend the lobster and steak. I also liked the salmon, shrimp, and chicken (on previous cruises.) But the steak and lobster I ordered this time were juicy and cooked perfectly and definitely my favorite. You can choose 2 meats and those are the best in my opinion. The chef cooks it right in front of you with flames flying in the air, there’s singing, dancing, clapping, and it was a whole lot of fun. Cucina Del Capitano: The Cavatelli in the bolognese sauce with veal & pork butt with a wine reduction is by far their best dish. I’ve gone many times trying different dishes and this one was excellent. Chibang! Mandarin Honey Crunch Salad (so good!) Singapore Chili Shrimp (perfect balance of sweet and spicy) Can you tell I’m a foody? Lol 😂