krehberg
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Posts posted by krehberg
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There is also citi easy deals. If you have a Citibank credit card that gives you acccess to citi easy deals, they always seem to have the carnival cards available for 10% off. You have to use the card periodically so that you “earn” points, but over the years I’ve accrued enough that I don’t need to worry,
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On 3/4/2019 at 10:53 PM, Saint Greg said:
That’s what I do. Save $5/day on cheers buying it ahead of time. Save another $5/day on cheers using 10% off gift cards. Let the OBC cover grats.
This ^ - Pre buy and pay with discounted gift cards and the daily cost becomes $55.17 after gratuity. Or $46.75 pre gratuity. If you have a specialty coffee, 2 glasses of wine, a cocktail at the Alchemy Bar, a couple bottles of water and a sports drink, you'll pretty much be there at break even. Doesn't take much. We always get it (and bring on nice bottles of wine too) just so I know my cost in advance and knowing it doesn't really take much for it to be a good deal.
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On 3/1/2019 at 5:16 PM, rukkian said:
Understand most, but what do you mean by royals drink package being a down payment?
I'm primarily a wine drinker...and granted, while RCCL has a much better of selection of wines by the glass, most of them exceed the limit. On Carnival, I do find myself enjoying the Alchemy bar more (and mixed drinks) due to weak wine offerings and of course do BYOB the allowed amount of wine on board to enjoy at the Steakhouse and for at least 1 elegant night. Also usually buy at least 1 nice bottle per cruise with the 25% discount. That said, I typically racked up some serious charges on RCCL enjoying the nicer wine offerings. Yes, if I merely stuck to mixed drinks and cheaper wines on RCCL, I could probably fit all in the included allowance, but I can't help myself at the wine bar 🙂
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My RCCL experiences are on the Independence of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas and have been on 13 Carnival cruises from Fantasy class to Vista. (though I've never been on a Dream class ship)
Pluses for RCCL:
1) Overall Ship Experience
2) Royal Promenade
3) Better selection of bars, etc - love the Wine Bar and Champagne bar
4) Entertainment
Pluses for Carnival:
1) Specialty restaurants - i.e. The Carnival Steakhouse IMO is far better than anything else RCCL offers
2) Chef's Table - Last year on Vista was sublime and much better than our experience on IOTS
3) Cheers (yea, there is a limit but its pretty much all inclusive where as a drink package on RCCL is merely a down payment)
4) Alchemy Bar - RCCL has a better selection of "themed" bars, but none that I like better than Alchemy
5) Pool Deck food options as I prefer Guy's and Blue Iquana Cantina to any of the buffet options
6) Fun Factor - hard to explain and someone said same above, but RCCL's shops are so grand and big that everybody is just doing different things...and that just changes the vibe a bit.
About the same:
1) MDR food
2) Cabins - (I've yet to sail on a suite so the fact Carnival's suite amenities lag behind industry hasn't affected me)
3) Staff
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I'd personally probably go with Cucina and Steakhouse over Teppanyaki, mainly due to fact as was stated above, the price is pretty consistent with what you'd pay on land for same meal. Granted, you'll get personal service from your chef, etc but you get that at home too, so there doesn't seem to be any real "upgrade".
Cucina, mainly because my wife loves Italian food and more personal service + Italian is worth it for us, even though its possible to get some italian dishes in MDR
The Steakhouse for me is a no-brainer and the best value of them all. Last time I was at Flemings, the steak itself was $50, and if you get either of the 2 ribeyes or the NY strip on the steakhouse menu, the get a similar quality (grade) of steak as you'd get at Flemings, Ruth Chris and other high end steakhouses. When you factor in the appetizers and dessert and service, it becomes well worth the extra $. In addition, it truly is an upgrade in that that quality of meat was never served in the MDR on Carnival without an upcharge.
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That is the old menu. The new one can be seen here.
https://cruisefever.net/carnival-unveils-new-steakhouse-menu/
As was mentioned earlier, the two entree options would seem to be the chicken or Dover sole. Dover sole has delicate, flaky white meat. Somwhat similar to Flounder...as they are both flat fish species.
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Having been on the Oasis, there is no doubt its a nice ship. It doesn't feel crowded and there is a lot to do and plenty of options bar wise...but it has its cons as well. The BIG one is since I was with a group of 10 for that cruise and we wanted to stick together for much of the nightly entertainment, we had to plan our and reserve our spots for shows etc for our entire week in advance. It felt like we were following a checklist each day so that we didn't miss something. Granted, that's limited to their Oasis and Quantum class I'd guess, but I have found I prefer to schedule my days on the fly (outside of port activities) when I'm on vacation.
I loved the Wine Bar and Champagne Bar on the Oasis as well, but my wife doesn't really like wine, so their limited ability to make cocktails there were a downer...since only one of us was happy. Carnival's Alchemy bar fits us both (since I also love a good cocktail), Carnival's Steakhouse is IMO better than Chops and Carnival's Piano Bar is tons of more fun than what we experienced on RCCL. Those 3 things appeal to us. Since we've not been on a Carnival Ship with the add on Italian restaurant, we loved RCCL's version and look forward to trying it on the Vista.
I want to celebrate the differences between the two biggest cruise lines....because it gives us options...since so much of the experience is more similar than different. I like having the choices we have. I wouldn't hesitate to board a RCCL ship again, its just that Carnival has fit our needs slightly better in recent years
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There is also Citi Easy Deals which you might be able to use if you have a credit card from Citibank
I was able to get $2,500 worth of gift cards over the past few months to 1) make final payment on my April Vista cruise and 2) Pre-order Cheers. $250 savings :) :)
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Cruise or not, I certainly drink more when I'm on vacation than when I'm not. I don't normally drink during the week, but certainly do on a cruise (or a non-cruise) vacation.
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I know they definitely have Hendrick's at the Alchemy bar, and I'm its elsewhere as well. Can't help you on the Bourbon.
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Excuse me StolidCruiser but there is no bashing in my post, I was merely bringing up valid concerns based on factual observations made by myself and other cruisers that have sailed Carnival. If raising valid concerns and questions is what you consider bashing then so be it. We have sailed other lines many times and NO we have not seen any of these types of problems happening to this frequency like it is with Carnival. I am glad you have had better experiences with Carnival, that is the point of my post as I wanted to see if others were witnessing the same problems that we have. Best of luck to you as well on future Carnival sailings.
I think its fair to say, when your OP could not say one positive thing about your Carnival experience that it is indeed a bashing post. As someone that has cruised both Carnival and Royal Caribbean in recent years, I can say there are things I like about both lines and things I don't. That said, the only line I got Norovirus on was Royal Caribbean..spending 36 hrs quarantined to my cabin along with my wife during our honeymoon. I've also noticed it seems RCCL seems to have more problems with "sick" ships than Carnival. So, if Carnival is cutting back on cleanliness...then RCCL must be cutting back more.
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First, hurricane season ends on November 30th, so whole Thanksgiving is technically in season, it’s rare to have a storm that late.
The water will be nice either time, but the big difference should be price. Fares are typically less in November (even for thanksgiving cruises) than you’ll find for the Spring Break time period.
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The poster literally said "it's not an apples to apples comparison"..... :rolleyes:
So, i missed the last sentence...so how's this....its also not illustrative. Its not even worth posting. Some of the cheapest fares of the year occur in October and November.
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Thanks for the review. I have cruised on the Oasis, Allure, and the Harmony of the Seas (all Oasis class) and agree with most everything the OP said. I do not gamble so I cannot venture any opinions about the Casinos. As one who cruises quite a bit on both lines, I can say that the perks for Diamond Plus on Royal (175 nights/points) are, in my opinion, much superior to the perks at Diamond (200 nights) on Carnival. And as a previous poster observed, Royal is not always more expensive. I cruised on the Carnival Magic in a cove balcony on 2/3/18 at a fare of $1940.00. I am booked on the Allure of the Seas in a standard ocean view balcony on 10/28/18 at a fare of $1403.00. This is not truly an apples to apples comparison but it is illustrative.
While I completely agree that Carnival is not always cheaper, your comparison is not fair. Comparing a February fare to a late October fare will never be an apples to apples comparison.
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One think I should mention is even if your category is sold out, it never hurts to look from time to time to see if a cabin in your category opens up. Happened to me about 6 weeks ago after my category had seemingly been sold out for months.
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IMO worth it and better than Chops. As long as you don’t get the filet, Carnival’s steaks are prime, Chops doesn’t serve prime or if they do they charge you extra on top of the up charge to eat there.
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One more question :)
The pictures show the bar and then a semi circle of seats away from the bar seats. If you are not sitting at the bar and get one of the other seats is there a server or do you walk up to the bar and get your own drink?
Thanks.
Just off the Conquest yesterday and before both early and late dinner, the bar got really packed. They had 2 dedicated bartenders and 1 server that also was able to mix the drinks as well. If you sat on the outer section, the server would take your order, make the drinks and bring them to you. Obviously as things got hectic...and certainly..after befriending a number of people that become regulars, others would allow you to slip between their seats and order a drink as well. It all worked very well.
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I guess most posters here were never kids.
That has nothing to do with it. In times when some of us are not cruising with our kids, we'd like to have some place where adults can just find solace without kids causing a commotion. As I'm about to board a ship (Conquest) that doesn't have a Serenity area, but has 3 pools....its not asking much to limit one of them to being adults only. Anyways, the forward pool on Deck 10 is pretty much a de facto kids pool since its connected to the water slide...so I don't think its asking much for adults to have their own.
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No! :eek: :loudcry:They should have waited at least until after my cruise is done. We get on 6 days after you get off. I agree they should have waited until after dry dock for the Conquest since it does not have a Serenity area.
Indeed, this is bad news. I get on Conquest this Saturday and can't believe they changed the pool rules prior to getting Serenity.
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That is a bit dated, but certainly the Steakhouse has by the glass selections that aren't available elsewhere on the ship. There is no doubt, the wine list has suffered ever since Dickinson (hope I got name right) left as CEO as he was a true wine lover.
There are some by the bottle options that are worthy and with cheers, you get them at 25% off, so while I believe Caymus is now around $92/bottle, the discount brings it down closer to its retail price on land. Needless to say, if you are a serious wine drinker, its hard for Cheers to be all inclusive. Then again, on a line like RCCL, most the the really good by the glass options are above their $12 limit, so you find yourself always paying the differential. With Carnival, you need to buy whole bottles to get anything better.
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Yes, the only way you can possibly get any price adjustments is if one of the cabins in your category opens up. It's worth checking from time to time, I'm sailing on Conquest in a cat 8F cabin that had been sold out for awhile and all of the sudden, some cabins showed available and I got $50 OBC when I noticed a decline.
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Again, that's just your opinion. To me, my steak at Berns was overcooked and a bit dry and the Steakhouse on Carnival was fantastic. But that being said, we're not talking about the Steakhouse, we're talking about the MDR. And your supposed fact that Carnival's MDR is NOT fine dining (I can point out where you said that if you like). So based on your supposed fact, please show some type of proof as to what the minimum requirements are for fine dining.....other than your opinion......to support your supposed fact. If the MDR isn't fancy enough for you, that's fine, feel free to state that. But don't try and tell others what fine dining is supposed to mean to them.
I know its off the MDR topic, but probably not fair to compare the Carnival Steakhouse to Bern's. Ruth's Criss would be better comparison since the Ruth's, like Carnival used "wet" aged steaks, while Bern's "dry" ages theirs. While both aging techniques produce a nice tender steak, the flavor and "juiciness" will be different.
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Powder as suggested and while it's not Gatorade, if you have Cheers, you can get I believe Powerade at the coffee shop on board.
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So basically, they are both ribeyes just with different seasonings?
Yes, and the cowboy is bone in as well, while the spice rubbed one is more a Delmonico cut.
STEAKHOUSE QUESTIONS
in Carnival Cruise Lines
Posted
Maybe because Chops is more akin to Longhorn/Outback and the Carnival Steakhouse is more like Flemings/Ruth's Criss.