staceyglow

Excellent news for those of us cruising on Pride in the next few weeks! I got this email this evening: September 26, 2022 Dear Carnival Guests, As countries have continued to relax their testing requirements, we want to provide you with an update for your upcoming cruise. Vaccinated guests – A pre-cruise test is not required unless you are unable to provide proof that you are fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated guests – Guests age 5 years and older, will have to present the negative results of a PCR or antigen test taken no earlier than 3 days before sailing. Please be sure to visit our Have Fun. Be Safe. page on Carnival.com for complete information on vaccination and testing requirements. Thank you for your cooperation. Our entire team is preparing to make your cruise fun and memorable. Sincerely, Colleen Oliverio VP, Guest Services - Contact Centers

The computer knows. Even though your drinks are free, you will sign a slip that shows the cost of your drink, along with an equal amount crediting it out for a zero balance.

On the last Journeys cruise I was on, they had a Steakhouse Brunch on one day, and it was amazing! Possibly the best meal I have ever had on Carnival. Completely worth the $25 upcharge.

Only lobster tail is part of the free Elegant Night menu, not whole lobster,

I am sure Carnival wants to keep the itinerary unchanged if possible. They aren't going to announce any changes until a) it is absolutely certain they won't be able to keep to the orginal itinerary b) they know where they are going to go instead.

I don't either, until it starts impacting my vacation. If someone was smoking weed on the balcony next to mine and the smoke was drifting into my space, I am going to ask them to stop. If they don't, I would have no problem turning them in.

Except that I don't like to carry around my passport any more than I have to, and I don't have to remember to bring my driver's license when I travel because it is always in my wallet.

As our tour guide in Bavaria said, "there is a reason why they don't play Scrabble in Germany". 😄

Why doesn't Carnival do something about these hurricanes? With all the cutbacks, it's the least they could do!

I am with you. I have never had a problem booking a specialty dining restaurant while I was actually on the ship, so I never felt the need to know the menus in advance. To the contrary, sometimes I like the surprise of opening up the menu and see what I have to choose from.

So fist fight participants = mass shooters?

I was just mentioning to DH the other day that Carnival should try this out. It would be a great option for people who like to spend long weekends at the beach in Florida or the Gulf Coast.

Not every school has spring break during the same week, so the kids will be spread over about a month's time.

I recently got off the Royal Princess and the shows were straight up bad. Like, cast members dressed up like the Blues Brothers doing The Robot and The Moonwalk bad.

DH and I (in good health in our early 60s)are platinum Carnival people, but we recently went on a Princess cruise to Alaska. We had always thought "It doesn't matter if the cruisers skew older; we'll have our own fun!". However, I tend to be impatient with folks who don't move fast enough and impede my progress. Shore excursions were excruciating. People taking forever to get on and off the bus. I get that they are older and mobility impaired. But to take forever to decide whether or not they were even going to get off the bus at a particular stop, and then slowly gathering all their stuff, etc., drove me insane! Just something to keep in mind when considering a cruise line that caters to older folk.

I have to say that while I love Carnival overall, their production shows leave something to be desired. The female singers tend to be screechy, and their isn't much creativity in the shows. I have been on a couple of cruises where the shows were "in concert". That means no costumes or sets; the performers sit on stools and sing to the taped music. It is completely obvious that the dancers are lip synching. Inexcusable.

If you are on the dock side of the ship, make sure you are at your balcony/port hole at least a half hour before sail away. Watching the drunk dock runners is the highlight of any Cozumel port stop!

Correlation is not causation. There are a lot more states where marijuana is legal since 2019.

Just curious, my son is a huge Giannis Antentokoumpo fan. I thought it would be a Giannis t-shirt from Greece (when we are there next month) would be a fun souvenir for him. Have you seen anything like that?

I don't think it's Carnival that wants us to graduate to other lines, it's the passengers themselves. Those of us in flyover country don't live close to any cruise ports, so it doesn't matter where other lines port.

They raised prices because they think people will pay it. it. That is true whether they have debt or not. Every well-managed company's pricing model is based on maximizing revenue, regardless of their debt.

That's not how it works. Can you go into your boss and say, "I just got a huge new mortgage and a car loan, so you have to give me a raise"? The boss doesn't care. You can ask for a raise for any reason (or no reason at all), but they will only give it to you if they think you are worth it. Carnival is fully aware that their passengers don't care about its "mountain of debt". They are instituting additional charges because it believes enough passengers will think it is worth it to pay.

Why? That's still available.

Exactly. It would be rude not to talk to them if you were sitting at the same table. Not the case if you are at a separate one, no matter how close it is.

This. DH and I flew to Maui about 18 months ago and this was the highlight of the trip. It was our first trip to Hawaii.