CorvetteLady

We are on this cruise, just an FYI for the confused, sometimes a guarantee is all that is left!  We didn't book until July and all that was left in the balcony category were guarantees.  At least the OP has a cabin assignment, we are still waiting.  I have no idea how this guarantee category works, balconies were sold out in July but over the last two days some have popped up, tried to get one but it had sold.  I don't really care if it's aft, forward or in the middle, I just want it to be between two cabin decks.  

Just because people know the rules doesn't mean they can't be disappointed!  

1 hour ago, bakersdozen12 said:

 

I’m confused. A deck 2 suite on the Horizon would be a Family Harbor suite; these rooms have balconies. Actually, all suites on any ship have balconies. 

Not true, we sailed in a family suite on the NCL Dawn that had floor to ceiling windows, the NCL Star has these suites too. 

At the top of the page, right side is your screen name, click on the arrow and a menu will drop down, click on account settings and on that page you will see signature.  You can edit it from there.

I like to be between two cabin decks, 7, 8, and 9 on most ships.  I also like Lido if I book during free category  upgrades.  My favorite cabin was an aft wrap on the Triumph, deck 8, got an upsale for $75!  Like to get an offer like that again.

Our first cruise we went from an OV to a balcony, that was 2003.  Decided we'd try an Inside and got a cabin with a window that was over the bed, so had to kneel on the bed to look out.  It was across the bow so there was a deck that we could walk onto from doors at the end of the hall, we were sailing back up the Atlantic and it was a bumpy sea and I almost bounced right off the bed!  That was the last time we booked a guarantee until last January on the NCL Epic, booked late, only guarantees left, got a cabin in 2 days.  Same thing this year, booked late on the Breeze, Nov. 2, still waiting for a cabin, don't think we'll book anymore guarantees, just too stressful waiting for a cabin.

;

We sail on the Breeze on Nov. 2nd, booked late and all that was left was balcony guarantees, still waiting for a cabin assignment.  We did get some upgrade offers to a suite, the cost to upgrade was more than we paid for the cruise!  I really like to pick my own cabin, concerned that we'll be above a night club or below the pool.  Hope we get a cabin before we get to the port.

6 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

Have you signed up for the cruise critic roll call or the 2 different facebooks for this cruise? Lots of fun stuff being planned. There is going to be an 80s' day complete with a dance we are encouraged to dress up 80s' style. Are you going to dress up for it?[ I don't want to be the only one!]

 

 

Signed up for the CC roll call and on one of the facebook pages. I would dress for the 80's day if only I could think of an outfit!  Can't remember what I wore in the 80's. 🙂

2 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

Are you talking about the Breeze journey cruise in November? We will be on that one, and because it is a journey cruise, there will be all sorts of special things going on.

Yes, we are going on this cruise.  Booked late and only had GTY balconies left, hoping to get a cabin assignment soon.  I have read about some of the things that they do on journey cruises, really getting excited about it.

I would not sail any of the Fantasy class ships, I like a balcony and they are way too expensive on those smaller ships.  So far the only ship we would never go on again is the NCL Epic, cabin was very small and the shower and the toilet are in main area of the cabin, the sink is at the bottom of the bed.  We still had a great cruise, not going to let bad cabin design ruin our cruise, we would just not do it again.

31 minutes ago, Chief93 said:

Thanks everybody.  That was usefull information.  My parents are relatively healthy but not able to walk long distances.  Im looking at Princess and loved the Yacht Club suggestion.  Gotta find the right itinerary, something with multiple sea days where they can sit outside on their balcony, and a few nice beach ports.

Last January we cruised on the RCCL Oasis of the Seas and NCL Epic, both large ships with over 4000 passengers on Epic and 6000 on Oasis, I would not recommend these for your parents, it was a real hike just getting to our cabin!  I would not recommend the Epic at all but I do like NCL, they do offer great suite perks.  I think they are both similar to Carnival in many ways.  NCL does offer many specialty restaurants, we enjoyed most of them.  I also like the theater seating on those ships and would agree that NCL has great shows, every night.

OP here, I checked back after my post, got an answer and hadn't been back on CC until today.  Imagine my surprise to see it was now 4 pages!  For those who have said it's beating a dead horse, well I did a search, phrased it several different ways and nothing came up, I asked more out of curiosity because I was surprised when I heard tablecloths were no longer a thing.  

Would I stop going on Carnival because they no longer use tablecloths everyday? No. I do enjoy the MDR experience and I think the tablecloths were a nice touch, they made it different than the restaurants at home that we eat in all the time.  Some have argued that it's all so casual now, well so are NCL, RCCL and most cruise lines but they still use tablecloths.  Also Carnival is not cheaper then NCL or RCCL, the only other lines that I have sailed.  Like most cruisers how we pick our cruises depends on a lot of things.  We picked the 14 day cruise on the Breeze because of the ports, 7 different ones for us.  Booked before I even looked at CC, even with all the changes on Carnival we would still have booked it.  It will be interesting to see all the changes in the last 7 years, hope more good than bad.

Do they no longer use tablecloths in the MDR every night?  Someone posted that they liked the 80's night because they used tablecloths, fancy glasses and silverware in the MDR like they use too.  Now we haven't been on Carnival since 2012 but we've been on Royal and NCL and they still use that stuff every night in the MDR, so just curious if Carnival has stopped doing it.

On 8/17/2019 at 9:01 PM, JQTravels said:

We did a review if you would like to watch.

https://youtu.be/QPfH1CyHiDI

Thanks for the link, your review was very helpful.

Pixels photo package.................good idea?  Thinking about getting this, can you really pick any photo?  I always get the welcome aboard photo, would that be included or do they put any restrictions on what you can choose?

On our first cruise in 2003 we didn't get our luggage until after dinner!  Luggage arrives much faster now on all cruise lines. Even on the 6000 passenger Oasis of the Seas we had our luggage before muster and we are at the basic level on RCCL.

Doesn't sound like he is going to be the cruise director on these sailings, he is just going to be on them.  We were on his third bloggers cruise on the Dream.  Does he still do the blog?  Haven't been on Carnival for a few years so haven't paid much attention, I do check out the Facebook page now and then. 

21 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

if all the cabins are sold out, how are some available?

I don't know why they only have guarantees left but that seems to happen as the cruise gets closer.  I really don't know how it works, how many they set aside as guarantees, why they wouldn't just open them up so you could choose.  The guarantee is usually the lowest priced in each category and maybe easier to sell.  There is always that chance for a great upgrade!  I can only go by my experiences, we booked the NCL Epic about two months out, there were still some cabins we could have chosen but they were more expensive, by booking the guarantee we didn't get any of the free stuff that NCL offers but we didn't want it and our TA said we would probably get a good location and we did.  I much prefer choosing a cabin but sometimes you just have to take a chance.

5 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

never came across this, unless you are clicking, let Carnival pick a cabin. You can always pick your own cabin.

Not if all the other cabins are sold.  We just booked the Breeze and the only balconies left were guarantees.  We did a guarantee on NCL last year and got a cabin assignment in about 3 days, I don't think that will happen with Carnival.  On our first cruise, many years ago, we didn't get a cabin until check-in but we got an upgrade from an ocean view to a balcony, I just hope we don't get over/under a bar! 🙂

We had a wrap on the Triumph and it was not private at all. We were on deck 8 so only had the Lido above us but could easily look down into all the balconies below us, and could hear all the noises. So if you never talk to the cruisers below you than they won't recognize you at breakfast in the morning! ;)

I forgot about the drink package. We had it as a perk on our March 2015 cruise. We are not big drinkers but we did try to drink more since it was free. I kept track to see how much we actually drank, our bill would have been $250. Now the value of the package is over $700, so we didn't even come close. Something to consider if you are trying to decide if paying more for a cabin is worth it because of the perks.

Thanks!! Its looking like most spring breaks will be in March next year, so we should be good with our April sailing. We do like comedians, game shows and if there is a good broadway type show, we would be interested in it. We also like to hang out at a piano bar or pub too. Live music is a plus.

Not too picky on the dining times as long as there isn't a huge waitlist when reservations aren't required. I'm a vegetarian though and hadn't thought about the options I would have yet. Any idea if there would be more options on food on either ship?

Are there daily activities on both ships? Something going on by the pool?

The Dawn had two production shows, singers & dancers with a theme. The had entertainment in the main theater every night. When we were on the Dream they had a great show with acrobats, not sure if they still do that.

The Dawn does not have a dedicated piano bar. There's was a piano in the lobby area between the French & Italian restaurant. Not sure if it's still there since the dry dock. The Dream does have a piano bar that is open every night.

Both ships will have activities. The Dream is a bigger ship, more areas to have activities in. You'll probably be able to find the daily activity sheets from each ship, many people post them. I wish I could remember what they are called on each ship, I've seen them referred to as the dailies on NCL.

I've been on both the Dawn and the Dream. I would always go with a balcony over an interior, plus the cabins on the Dream will be bigger.

Disagree with the poster that said entertainment is difficult because of set dinner times on Carnival. The Dawn has two show times, we eat early so always had to wait for the second show, many nights we just went back to our cabin. There are not that many choices for night time entertainment on the Dawn, Carnival has comedians and much more. Guess it depends on what kind of entertainment you like. I do like that the Dawn's main show room has individual seats as opposed to the bench seats on the Dream.

Carnival does offer the anytime dining too. They also have Guys Burgers, really good! More extra charge restaurants on the Dawn, many are now ala carte so not a set charge. We got the free dining option, that was good for the most part. It's been a few years since we've been on Carnival but I'd say the food in the main dining rooms on both ships was about the same.

The Dream is a bigger ship so I think it has more to do but the Dawn is a nice ship too. Best advice is to read the reviews on both ships, you can find out a lot that way.

As far as children go well just make sure it's not a big spring break week. We sailed once in June on the Carnival Fantasy, it's about the same size as the Dawn, there were a lot of kids, I was amazed when they said how many because we really didn't notice them that much.

I think you will enjoy either ship, just depends what is most important to you. Good luck!

I understand the ban on bringing cases of water and six packs of soda, they want to sell it to you and make money. I don't understand not being able to bring an opened bottle of water or soda back on a port day. That is just wasteful, it's also ridiculous.

My next cruise will be my third on NCL and most likely my last. Not just because of the water issue, mostly because of the price increases. The price of my cabin has increased by $1700 since March 2015, so all that free stuff really isn't free.

We sailed in our first suite last March. We must be cheap because we gave the concierge $25, we asked her to get us one dinner reservation, that was it. Remember she is the only concierge on the ship, so I'm sure she gets different amounts depending on how much she does for each person.

I never thought about so much per day/per person but that is a good idea. We tipped the butler $50, she brought us snacks. I did ask for a different pillow but that was it. Had we asked for food service in our suite we would have given her more. I do think we might switch to so much per day since that is how the daily service charge works. On that basis I think maybe our tip was low.

We also gave the room steward an additional tip.

I know I read a lot of threads about suite tipping. I think one person said they tipped $1000, I didn't really believe that. Our suite sleeps 6, if you have 6 people of course you will tip more than if it's only 2 people.

It's possible the concierge may do nothing for you but the butler will bring you snacks everyday.

That's why I asked if it was too hot for EVERYONE else on the ship. If that particular hot tub had a malfunction causing it to be too hot for everyone, that is very different than it being fine for everyone except the OP.

 

Later in the review, the OP mentions a "couple without children in the hot tub". Was that hot tub the same temperature as the other?

 

If yes, the problem isn't the temperature of the water.

If no, the problem is the temperature of a particular hot tub which could be a valid criticism. If the "extra warm" hot tub was used by other guests during the cruise without injury or death, the temperature of the hot tub is a non-issue.

How would she know if the temperature was the same in each hot tub? Was she suppose to waste her time trying to find someone who would know? It's a valid criticism if it was too hot for her to use.