ARcruisin2

For those stating they have moved on from starting out on Carnival, to Princess or HAL.... remember they all belong to Carnival Corp. This is part of their business plan.

Carnival cruises appeal to the budget conscious, the laid-back fun loving let's celebrate vacation people, young families, etc.

Then they offer higher priced alternatives for those who when they mature into wanting a more subtle, less celebratory atmosphere. They offer far flung itineraries for retirees who now have the time & money, can see all those bucket list places around the world.

Their mistake in my opinion is not carrying over loyalty points between brands...even if a Carnival sea day only counted for 1/2 a HAL point, to retain loyalties when people want to try something different. 

Personal take: All of our cruises, besides 2 on Princess, have been on Carnival.

The first Princess Cruise was wonderful! Best Food, Entertainment, Service ever.

The second was boring, blandsville... The food had less flavor than what was being served at my mom's assisted living facility - not an exaggeration. The entertainment in the main theater, the one time we went was a guy with a folding card table doing card tricks. 

On deck atmosphere was a crackling fire on the jumbotron and the fellow passengers on deck were wrapped up in either towels or blankets napping. 

We've never tried HAL. The music options they are advertising now sound interesting...but I'm worried about the onboard atmosphere. Since they are supposed to be yet another a 'step up' ...to me that might mean more of a step back from fun. 

We'll stick with Carnival.... I talked DH into a 'do over cruise' a few months after the last Princess cruise.

I looked at DH, threw up my hands and yelled My People!, while  everyone in the atrium was dancing, singing and clapping for the Dr Seuss Parade.

As several have alluded - basically you do you. Pick what appeals to you.    I choose FUN and don't care if I ever 'mature' to the next level 😉

18 hours ago, MJSailors said:

There seems to be missing links to reviewers that had been mentioned here.

Bimmer09, Singingalot and Mistsugirly are a few of the posters that I seem to recall being mentioned on this thread.

I cannot find their names here. What happened ?

one I know.. screen name is actually mitsugirly 

great reviewer!

Well this isn't a review...sorry off topic....sort of...

But a gem of a thread, with over 1500 replies!

ENJOY!!!

OH - What about the one by the guy that missed the ship in the Bahamas, because his kid went back to the ship with the writer's friend or brother... and he stayed too long in Atlantis looking for them?

Can't remember the screen name... but what an adventure!

On 6/30/2020 at 8:33 PM, Aldeya said:

As for many who love cruising it became quite depressing not to have a cruise to look forward to.  For years I enjoyed many and had so much fun reading detailed and fascinating reviews by fellow cruisers. I learned about new ships and even booked some of the cruises after reading reviews on these boards.

One day we WILL be cruising again .

 

In a meantime....How about we share links to the most memorable reviews we found on Cruise Critic? 

I'm trying to find reviews from a Canadian couple who were doing B2B2B2B on carnival ships. I remember they were members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, had 2 teenage kids. Their reviews were phenomenal, with a lot of pictures and great details. I believe the husband's name was Mike. LOVE his reviews and would love to find the links to enjoy them again. Maybe someone remembers them 🙂

I remember those...they were really good. I don't remember the screen name tho.. sorry

On 7/28/2020 at 12:12 PM, jetsfan58 said:

The only real issue I see with the having to visit the actual Muster Station would be with first time cruisers. However there are some quite savvy individuals these days that can literally and quickly figure things out. With all of this video, chip, online technology that we have today most of us would always be aware of where that Muster Place is located.

I think finding the actual Muster Station should be the point...and First Time cruisers need this the most.

Sooo... maybe they could have in-person drill instruction for first time Carnival cruisers.

Then repeat cruisers would be able to just read or view some instructions and go check in at their Muster Station. 

On 7/26/2020 at 9:00 AM, Jbella101 said:

Filed to cancel our cruise for January in March, as I am high risk for Covid19. We were super patient as we knew how crazy busy they were and that it could take up to 90 days. After 2 months without even a confirmation email, I tried calling Carnival, but could not get through. Eventually, in June, I reached out to the man who booked my cruise, asking him to give me or my partner a call. (At this point the cruise we were booked on had actually been canceled by Carnival, yet we still had not heard back from them.) He said he would, but never did. I reached out again the other day. He replied very nastily back to me saying that he in fact DID talk to me and even transferred me to the refund department. I said, “oh I’m sorry, but that must have been another client. I have never received a call and neither did my boyfriend. I can send you my phone log from that date.” He said “I call everyone back. But call me on Monday.” I insisted I never spoke with him and wished him a good weekend.... “ok”.... What a nice response, right? How is it that I can be human enough to understand that he has probably been so busy that he got me confused with another client... yet he is too pompous to think that that wasn’t even a possibility? So yesterday I sent an email to the guest care team. I know the office is closed, but I’m running out of options. I’m only 23 and worked really hard to save up and book my first adult vacation. Carnival was sweet as pie when I was booking and now they are ghosting me. This is genuinely not okay customer service. I’m so upset by this. I really just want my refund. And we used a debit card for monthly payments, so it is difficult to dispute. My dad suggested that I make a claim with the Better Business Bureau. My mom suggested I reach out to others in my situation and make a post on social media go viral. I’m not quite sure what the answer is, but I just know that this is not right. 

Jbella101, sorry you are missing out on your first real adult vacation 😞

Did you call a Carnival PVP directly? or is this a travel agent? 

If it is a Carnival person, i would call back and talk to someone else..and let them know also how you were treated.

Did you go ahead and fill out the online form for your refund?

16 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Those people (aka my relatives) haul their stuff up to the buffet without a problem.

wow...that sounds fun...lol

well then - I guess we can look at it the same.... you choose to schlep it all around at the buffet... same as to the muster station, that's their choice. 

again... i think it's a good idea

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

A bigger problem than finding willing crew members will be finding HEALTHY  willing crew members. Ten potential crew members flown in from Manila for the AIDA cruise in Germany tested POSITIVE.

yes, but that is 10 out of 750 which is like 1.3%, with 9 of them showing no symptoms. 

They are quarantining them and going to retest. I assume once they are cleared, they will still get to start work and sail. 

This process is just going to have to be factored into the restart timeline. 

I think Royal is on the right track...Especially since you have to report to your muster station.

I like the idea of being able to go get it done and then go enjoy myself, without crowding together with a group.

NavyCruiser, that's a great idea, the only problem I see would be for those folks that carry on their own luggage and supplies. 

I am seeing that alert at the top of the Carnival home page, without even logging in, so it's not likely specific to your cruise.

I assume that it not appearing above 1 screen is a glitch and was meant to show on all screens. 

Also note, that if you expand with the 'more' drop down, you will see this: 

              Our actual offerings may vary from what is displayed or described here. Stay updated on current Health and Sailings Advisories.

One thing that was concerning health wise to me, was his response when asked about air filtration.

He talked about conflicting reports as to whether that was actually a concern for spreading the virus.

Knowing that it probably isn't feasible to update older ships with fresh air to each room systems... I would have liked to hear they were looking into something to upgrade filtration.

22 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival got suckered by purchasing a type of paint that was supposed to last longer, but instead seems to accelerate rusting and deterioration. Likely one of the reasons so many dry docks are/were scheduled over the next few years. Ecstasy was last in dry dock October 2019.

 

 

that pic above was shocking! And definitely won't help sell their cruises as an adventure on a well maintained vessel.

Hopefully they are able to take advantage of this down time and address this issue on all impacted ships....unless they intend to just scrap them, which I was shocked to hear in the interview. 

anybody want to start a go-fund me to buy a cruise ship?

I saw the same thing when i was booking my last cruise...and it is confusing.

But I figured out that the lower rate would be for any balcony...not the subcategory I was looking to book.

I took this literally that they are defining it in the parenthesis and would make no assumptions it would mean you get to specify the Havana area: Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type (Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, Suite)

If you call and find out differently...let us know 🙂

So I wonder if the ships will stay close to their drop off locations, instead of sailing back to US waters.

That would allow them to bring crew back in-mass, when they are ready to begin operations again.

I know this is frustrating, I would like to know the status of our upcoming Memorial week cruise also.

My take away from today's video, in corporate speak,  is that they are giving their managers a chance to inform employees today of the decisions directly impacting them, then they will release it to the public on the next business day.  This way employees don't hear it from the media first.

On 11/30/2019 at 7:33 PM, marci4tony said:

We did an Western itenaray – Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica.  In Cozumel, we went to an AI resort up north – El Cozumeleno.  Beautiful resort – Easy check in.  We were there early enough to catch the breakfast buffet – outstanding.  We grabbed a place on the beach, and our waiter never let our drinks go dry. He brought us nachos and ceviche later on too. It was far from crowded – there was a small sandy beach area but is was never so busy you felt crowded.  There were a lot of rocks, but that made for amazing snorkeling!  Parrot fish, Sargent's, Blue Tang, pencil, angels, porcupines, etc...  I cannot even name the assortment of fish that were there.  I thoroughly enjoyed my day in the water.  Former reviews said the food was bad – I can verify it was NOT.  This is a great place with no crowds.  The shopping in port was way too easy, and we ended up with a couple bottles of tequila! 

here...  Geography, I guess. 

thanks for the great review.

how much is an all-inclusive day at El Cozumelo?

And do you have to pre-book?

23 hours ago, groundloop said:

 

Maybe a stupid question, but what purpose does a pocket knife serve on a cruise ship?

Hey - you never know what you'll need to do.

To quote my DH "How am I supposed to MacGyver stuff if I can't take my pocket knife?" 😆

2 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

..... lack of drink runners

Is this even still a thing? 

Its been a couple of years since we sailed, but seems like even then we had to go to a bar for drinks.

I kind of missed that being waited on hand & foot while lounging feeling... but we did spend less on drinks this way.

Amy

3 hours ago, FSHLOT said:

 In your room waiting for you too.....👍

for those who have used this convenience... how does it taste? 

is it simlar to PureLife? Aquafina? Desani?

your best bet would be to search on here for the Upsell Fairy threads and see if one of the phone #s provided can get you to someone to see if there is an offer for a balcony available for you cruise. (note this is not a free upgrade, but sometimes the price difference is minimal)

i keep wanting to try this... has anyone tried calling these #s and were successful?

On 2/23/2019 at 6:48 PM, gkbiiii said:

I would like to see a "Carnival Luxury Brunch buffet" like other lines do.  Celebrity did them on even 5 night cruises.  This was with ice sculptures, carved meat, chilled shrimp, and many great deserts. If they did something like this, in the steakhouse, i would even pay to go!

This is basically what the old midnight buffet was, back in the day on Carnival.

Ice sculptures, all sorts of meats and deserts and carved fruits as pictured above.

This is what people are saying is a waste, since more people took pictures of it, than went back through to eat.

5 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

Haha...I’m actually not too worried about the money! Just trying to figure out which is the better route to go! I’m having a hard time passing up the aft wrap, but maybe more cabin space would benefit us gals (who I’m sure will all overpack!). 

yes, this would be  my concern... room for 3 adults and all their stuff.

that being said, we LOOOVED the aft wrap we got as an up-sell 1 time, the balcony was bid it had like 11 pcs of furniture on it! (felt a little guilty with just the 2 of us) 

1 hour ago, cellfree said:

Again get the PVP to only put one name on per cabin until you are absolutely sure - $50 loss for one person is better than $50 times however many names are on the cabin. 

Hmmm.... so you can book a room for 2+ people, and only reserve it under 1 name?

For one of our cruises, our friends from another state missed their flight, but their luggage didn't.

Since we drove down, we ended up going to Huston Hobby to pick up their luggage, while they were flying in later to Bush Intl.

We put all our bag tags on the biggest pieces and planned to carry on the rest...however I think the porter helped us with more tags and took 5/6 full size pieces of luggage, without batting an eye. (like most people we tip per bag, so I'm guessing the porters are like - the more the merrier)