cyntil8ing

We've been on three different cruise lines for Christmas, Carnival in 2017, Celebrity in 2019 and Royal Caribbean in 2021. Not going this year unfortunately. I love being on a ship for Christmas. We never brought along presents. We did our gift giving and breakfast traditionally, just either before or after the cruise. There was no way I wanted to lug gifts aboard.

By far, craziest guest dress was on Carnival. It was not even close. There was a family of five or six all wearing the Christmas Story pink bunny suits. It was adorable. There was a couple dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus walking around taking photos and handing out candy. There were a ton of ugly sweaters, light up jewelry, hats and elf shoes. It was fun.

Wear your jammies on Christmas morning. You won't be alone. And the ship will be lovely!

My kids were 4 and 6 for their first Celebrity cruise, to Bermuda in 2011. They’ve been on probably a dozen more since then, as well as others on Royal Caribbean and Carnival. I am so glad I didn’t listen to Cruise Critic posters when I decided to book a family cruise.

Celebrity excels with the younger set and it was our line of choice until they were about 10 and 12. The kids clubs are smaller and not as overwhelming, with more attention for each child. There are also family activities you can all do together like bingo, talent shows and our favorite, scavenger hunts. I highly recommend it! 
 

Here are a few photos from our first two X cruises.

14 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

If you forget to set anything aside while packing, you are also likely to be wearing the clothing that you will be walking off the ship with!

There was that time my son accidentally packed his shoes. He was too embarrassed to go to breakfast, but by the time we got to the airport, he was happy making a fashion statement.

I doubt we have ever had our luggage out by 10pm as we don’t go to dinner until 8:30. Usually it’s closer to midnight. Our luggage has always been picked up.

The temporary profile photo was for 24 hours. It's back to what it was before.

11 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Oh yeah. He's the opposite of clean. I think he's one who struggles with that. Has to have a gimmick for a clean show. If I recall correctly he had everyone bring a dollar. Then took a kid  around to interact with everyone and take all of the dollars.

He was on Pride in Europe in August 2022. We went to a couple of his shows. He loved my teen son’s haircut, a sort-of Mohawk, which he compared to a landing strip. I was embarrassed to later have to explain to my son what a landing strip was. We still laugh about it.

My son is internationally adopted and appears different than my husband, daughter, and me. We are not overly sensitive to the topic, but have been offended by a comic picking us out in the past. We don’t usually sit near the front to avoid this, but Manny roams the room and he found us. He walked a line between funny and offensive. He made everyone laugh, including us, but didn’t make fun of us.

Facebook profile photos are temporary. They update them for any reason. Remember the rainbow X during June? And the double XX for International Women's Day when Captain Kate, et al., took over Equinox? Here's an album to refresh your memory: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.740672111437281&type=3

If it was a rebrand, the web site would have been updated. The logo there is the same, though some buttons have changed to orange. I think it makes them easier to read.

The weather can really make or break a tour, and a rough start can really put a damper on the experience if one can’t get past it. Sorry that you had a bad day.
 

We did this tour in August 2022 and it was good, but not exceptional. Our tour guide was rather dull, but also talked a lot. My teens were not too impressed. We ended up ditching the guide in the Guggenheim and walking around on our own. Our stops were the transporter bridge and an overlook of the city, both interesting. We had plenty of time on our own before meeting again for the Guggenheim tour.

I am a fan of Spain Day Tours and would not hesitate to use them again. Pre-tour communication was excellent and bookings were simple to make and instructions easy to follow. Our other experience with them was in Lisbon on the same cruise, where we had a private driver. It was an exceptional day, even though we got rained on a bit.

I have absolutely no issue with price consciousness. We are too! My comment was if you book Rodeway, use their shuttle, as it is efficient and included. Taxis would be an extra cost, for no good reason. Bon voyage!

In my opinion, the only reason to book Rodeway Inn is because you’re very price conscious and therefore would recommend the shuttle.
 

It’s been about 8 years since we have stayed there, but we had no issues using the shuttle. We had a late night flight in, arriving past 10:00pm, and we were able to catch it and the restaurant was still open so we could have dinner. I don’t think there was anything else around. In the morning, we caught the shuttle to the port. We were boarding Celebrity Constellation and my kids still joke about the shuttle driver calling it Celebrity Constipation.

22 minutes ago, prmssk said:

Or it could just be a bad 5-6 weeks or maybe some really disgruntled passengers.

It could also be external factors. Lots of hurricanes lately causing itinerary changes. It's outside the cruise lines' control, but could effect ratings.

This is where we were dropped off on Norwegian Escape last month.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@41.4894209,-71.3174565,17.85z

Anyone ever seen crazy low bid amounts for the very top suites? We're currently booked in a Sky Suite on Apex in December. We never got the email, so I used the upgrade link on our booking. There are no suites above Aqua Sky Suite available.

But the minimum bids for Iconic Suite and Penthouse Suite were $140 and $100! Of course, I offered max for both -- $700 and $500. All of the other upgrades were more in line with what I've seen in the past, from $475 for Sunset Sky Suite to $2,150 for Edge Villa.

But weird, huh? Never thought I'd put in max bids for Penthouse and Iconic Suites! 

Gosh, I never want to get into a dress code conversation, but the no-no list for Carnival and NCL are really pretty close. Neither seem to enforce them anyway, so who cares, really? The only dress difference i noticed was the very large number of old guys wearing ball caps in the dining rooms. It used to be the old guys yelling at the teens to remove their caps.

My post was that if only those two things were stopping you from considering Carnival, they were no longer an issue. My last four cruises have been on four different lines. I am not a cheerleader for any of them. But I think it’s good to reevaluate occasionally, especially as all the cruise lines’ offerings have changed over the years. Had I not earlier this year, I wouldn’t have booked Escape, and I had a good time.

36 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

and I'm also a huge fan of the freestyle dining.  I don't want an assigned seating time/table and picking  early vs late (as it looks like Carnival now allows) is not the same as show up whenever you want.  And Carnival still has formal nights.  Also a showstopper for me.

I would invite you to re-evaluate your showstoppers. Neither are the case.

Carnival's Any Time dining, which has been around since I started cruising with them years ago, seems to me, better than what I experienced on my one NCL cruise where we had to eyeball two lines, and pick whichever one looked shorter like we were in a grocery store.

When you're thinking about dinner, you check the app for wait times. I've seen anywhere from no wait to 75 minutes once on lobster night. Ten minutes is most common. When you're ready to go to dinner, you request a table. It defaults to the number in your party (including linked reservations), but if you're feeling social, you can request a shared table. When your table is ready (and the timing is usually slightly less than predicted), you just make your way to the dining room, show the table number from the app, and are seated. No lines.

Our usual pattern is the early family comedy show, then we request a table and by the time we arrive, our table is available. Once we found a waitstaff team we really liked, so we stopped at the desk on our way out and requested their section for the rest of the cruise. We were warned it might increase wait time a little, but it never did. So, to me, that was the best of both traditional and anytime, a wait team that gets to know you (our's delivered my Prosecco as soon as they saw us arrive) yet dining whenever you want.

Carnival also has not had formal nights for years. They have "Cruise Elegant" nights that most people honestly ignore. Yes, you'll see a some suits, maybe a tux or two, and gowns or sparkly dresses, but it's not required. Guests are "invited" to participate -- "On certain special nights, our main dining rooms celebrate our Cruise Elegant festivities and we invite guests to enjoy a special night out in a sharp and chic way." 

Ok, this was not Carnival, but we held a fruity rum drink run-off a few months ago The drinks were (in order) Bahama Mama, Rum Punch (Fun Ship), and Rum Runner. As you can see, it was a very serious competition. The winner was the Rum Punch. Cheers!

I’ve been cruising on Carnival, but not exclusively, since 2008. I just did my first NCL on the Escape a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. My last Carnival cruise was on the Magic two weeks before that.

NCL actually felt kind of throwback, which was fun. Key cards are handed out in the terminal, not at the cabins. There is a printed daily planner, that even has ads for the spa and art auctions. There were tablecloths on the tables. We were asked if we wanted to share a table at lunch. There was always plenty of staff around.

i am not a big food person, so it’s not a big deal to me. I never was extraordinarily pleased nor disappointed with any of the food. What was nice was the buffet hours. I am so used to returning from a port day and the only options being Guy’s Burgers or pizza. The Escape had full buffet until 4:00pm, then snacks. I had a scone every afternoon! The main dining rooms for dinner had way more choices. There were even some options on the Always Available menu that sounded good, not just plain chicken, salmon, or whatever that inedible steak cut is. 
 

Entertainment was very good. I really enjoyed the dueling pianos. The musicians rotated breaks so there was always someone playing. The comedians were good. One was an SNL alum. The Choir of Man show was amazing, with singing so good I realized just how bad the singers were on Carnival the week before.

The Waterfront area was so nice. I spent so many hours out there relaxing, and there was bar service!

I can’t really think of an instance where I thought Carnival did something better. Ok, the app is much better, as is the premium internet. My only complaint, and it is a complaint with Carnival too, is having to walk through the smoky casino to get from here to there. There was also a cigar bar, but we could just avoid that area. Celebrity wins for no allowed indoor smoking.

Honestly, after avoiding NCL for so many years, I am kind of kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I will definitely be back, if for nothing else than to use the 10% FCC we got when our itinerary was changed due Hurricane Lee. Carnival, the week before, gave us OBC when our Bermuda cruise changed to the Bahamas due to Hurricane Franklin.

Here are some random photos.

17 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

People will figure it out eventually when they book an excursion on their own that ends up being in a different province. 🤣

Someone on my roll call did that. Shared an excursion she had booked, looking for others to join. Someone clued her in (nicely). I don’t know if she got a refund. I don’t remember if she posted again.

2 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

On my last 3 cruises, I never saw any "Fun Ship" drinks being offered.  Nor were those words ever used.  This leaves me to believe that they are promoting a new drink in its place.

They found us on the Magic a few weeks ago.

Wasn’t a five day to Bermuda from Baltimore just canceled completely last week? I think I’d prefer a cruise over a cancellation.

That said, I have cruised in late August every year since 2010, and only had one itinerary change, until this year. Our August Bermuda cruise, a six day from Norfolk, ended up in the Bahamas. I had our three days in Bermuda all planned out and it was really disappointing to go to ports we’ve been to many times. The entire week before, our roll call and fb group sounded just like this post, trying to figure out possible changes that were in no way realistic.

Anyway, my other cruise that was rerouted this year was a Canada cruise. We ended up missing Bar Harbor and Halifax and floated in NY Harbor for two days instead. No casino at all.

But anyway, one of our stops was Saint John. We did a Bay of Fundy Coastal Photography Tour through the ship that was probably one of the best ship tours I have ever done. Small group with a photographer tour guide. We did four different stops, and got back in enough time to check out the surrounding area too.

One interesting note on Saint John. The tides change 28 feet every 12 hours. Snap a photo of the ship when you arrive and again when you leave. Look at the photos below and you can tell that more than an entire floor, or row of windows, “disappeared” because of the lower tide. Very cool!

Here are a few others from the day. Try to make the best of it and enjoy your visit.

Thanks for the review and photos. We were on the week before you, where we floated in the harbor for two days. I just told my daughter that we totally missed a crepe station and she is ready to return to find it right now!

5 minutes ago, paperboys said:

No one walks from where Celebrity ships tie up to Old San Juan correct?  They use the Pan-American pier?

If it's a port stop, Celebrity uses the Old San Juan piers. Pan-American pier is only for embarkation/debarkation.

This thread made me check reservations for our port stop in San Juan in December. Unfortunately, we will also be there on a Monday, so our very favorite restaurant, Jose Enrique, will be closed. Bah!

I can't give it a complete review, because our cruise last month to Bermuda was re-routed to the Bahamas due to a hurricane, but we had a reservation at Sweet P at the Perfumery in St. George. They offer tea on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Arrangements were easily made via email and Paula was pleasant to deal with, including when we had to cancel. We are looking to book another cruise to Bermuda and will be making another reservation.

https://www.lilibermuda.com/pages/afternoon-high-tea

(also note the URL above refers to both afternoon and high tea. 😀)

Vision out of Baltimore has been canceled. 
 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/notices/travel-updates

7 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

It's just luck.  We were on NCL Escape 9/3 to Canada...it was like cruising in the Caribbean; perfect weather.  The next week, same ship, same itinerary....missed 2 ports and floated off the coast of NYC for 2 additional sea days.

We are booked for Greenland next August and I am half-heartedly thinking of canceling. After ten years of August cruises with only one weather-related itinerary change, our last two cruises had them.
 

We were on the 9/10 Escape cruise that missed Bar Harbor and Halifax. We got $100 non-refundable OBC and a 10% FCC from NCL.

We were also on the 8/27 Magic cruise that missed Bermuda. We got $200 OBC from Carnival.

I am feeling pretty unlucky right now, almost afraid to step foot on board!