Towel Critter

It sounds like you are ready for an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, or perhaps Southern. We love San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay. You'd probably have to sail from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale though. Not sure if flying is a problem for you or not.

OP, I think you made a good decision. On Conquest and Destiny class ships I prefer being higher up, closer to Lido. But on Dream class ships, I prefer a cove balcony. See my reply to Spike for the reason. A cove balcony isn't as convenient to Lido, but the tradeoff is worth it to me to be able to look down and see water.

Had a cove balcony on the Breeze a few years ago and loved it. I am not a fan of how the balconies on 6, 7 and 8 now overlook deck 5.

I'm glad to hear someone else say this! When I look down from my balcony I want to see OCEAN, not decking. Much prefer a cove balcony on the Dream class ships. Ocean you want, ocean you get. :)

We've done two Halloween cruises and both were a lot of fun. Yes, a LOT of folks dress for the occasion, some elaborately so. It's a good time to cruise for sure.

Keep in mind there are extra hoops you have jump through to go to Cuba. I'm not familiar with them, but I have seen post from others about governmental requirements to make the trip. Maybe someone will jump in and let you know about all that before you make your decision.

Curious, can you make any cruise b2b, or does the line specify certain cruises for b2b?

For example, I doubt you would do two 4 days to Cozumel as b2b.

 

Just curious!

 

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Yes. You may do two cruises back to back at any time you wish. The cruise line doesn't set them up. You can do a B2B seven night cruise for example, or you can combine a 4 night cruise with a 3 night cruise on a ship that alternates cruises in that way. Lots of possibilities.

My wife and I have done a B2B on MSC and it was a breeze.. same room, never even had to get off the ship. We are considering doing our first B2B on Carnival. For those of you who have done a B2B on Carnival, please share with me your experience with it.

 

The Ship we are looking at is the Victory our of Miami. It would be a four nighter, followed by a three nighter. Yeah, I know, no lobster. I'll get it over it.

 

If anyone has done an overnighter in Nassau, please talk about that... what you did after dark in Nassau (if anything), etc...

Funny how time changes things. All of the Spirit class ships launched with a "Juice Bar" pool side that did fresh squeezed juices and fruit smoothies. They didn't get alot of traffic or sales. Have they announced the Hibachi restaurant yet on Horizon?

I guess most cruisers aren't interested in a drink that doesn't alter their state of consciousness. Me, I like my state of consciousness just fine. :D Had I been on a Spirit class ship during that time, I would have kept them in business all by myself.;)

When you go to breakfast, leave the "Clean my room" door hanger on your door. More times than not, your room will have been cleaned when you return from breakfast... unless you had a very quick breakfast, in which case you might want to find something else to do for a little while after you eat. Same thing if you choose evening cleaning.

We're not big drinkers, just some social drinking now and again with friends or family. I did enough drinking in my younger years to last me. :p So the bars ain't for us. Your smoothie bar isn't a bad idea. I'm not into fruit smoothies myself, but I think a lot of people are. It could end up one of those "If you build it, they will come" kind of things. They can test it out on a very small scale to see how it goes over, even if it were just a little kiosk. Can you currently get a smoothie (not a frozen daiquiri) in any of the bars? If so, they would have the stats to see how popular they are (or aren't) and may already know serving them from an existing bar will suffice. So we are both in the minority among cruisers not being all that interested in drinking.

 

When we first started looking into cruises, we knew nothing of it prior to that and I just assumed that the ships were different. Different amenities & entertainment. I thought the lure of trying different ships with different on board activities and such was what attracted people back. It wasn't until after doing a little more research and looking at the other ships that I realized just how "cookie cutter" they actually are. I'm guessing that's a cost management technique for cruise lines :confused: and yeah, there are some variations between ships, but it was still a bit surprising to me.

So we are both in the minority among cruisers not being all that interested in drinking it seems. The smoothie bar idea was just the first thing that popped into my head as an alternative to RFP. There are probably other options that would appeal to a greater number of people. Most anything new that would be appealing to non-drinkers and light drinkers would be welcomed by me. I WOULD enjoy a designated bar where one can get smoothies and/or real fruit juices though. As for getting a fruit smoothie from one of the regular bars, I don't know. But I imagine it would carry the same price tag as a mixed drink, so I've never checked into it. I guess I should ask next cruise. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Thanks for your response.

Personally, I'd like to see them do different things on more ships. Even those in the same class.

 

Me too... maybe something different than just more bars. Just dreaming. I know THAT isn't going to happen. :D On second thought, a non-alcohol bar, that designs smoothies and other fruit based concoctions (a la "Alchemy") would interest me... probably not a lot of other folks though. :(

You mispelled crook

Now that's funny. Thanks for the chuckle. :)

The room steward will clean your room in the morning while you are elsewhere and put out new towels and wash cloths. He will return in the evening (if you opt for twice a day service) and turn down the bed and leave you a towel animal. They don't deliver food, but will bring you ice if you request it.

HAHA - why is it your least favorite and what's your favorite?

What I don't like about GT is the artificiality of it... cruise line built and cruise line run. I'm speaking of course of the docking area where Margaretville and the pool is located. And what little there is to see beyond that area can be taken in in an hour. Honestly, I think what irks me the most about GT is that it is almost unavoidable, appearing on almost every Eastern itinerary. But that's just my opinion. Lots of other folks love GT and that's great. My favorite? It has changed from time to time, but right now San Juan is probably my favorite, lots to see, lots to do, lots of history. I'm glad you enjoy GT. I have zero problem with that. I just thought it was funny that your favorite is my least favorite and thought this perfectly demonstrates the relative nature of cruise experiences.

Not thrilled with the new format, but then I didn't care for the old one either. They are designed to sell cruises, not to make life easier for the one booking... or browsing, unfortunately for us. I shop elsewhere, then when I'm ready to book I put up with... I mean go to the Carnival site to book. That way I only have to deal with it once.

 

edit: I can get 10 times the info in half the time using my favorite cruise search engine. Initials: VTG.

What I meant was, we know to talk to our cabin steward. And we did. Not our first cruise. But there was nothing he could have done about the paint spatter, the chipped paint, the standing water... To my surprise, our Cove Balcony was much more of an industrial-feeling area. Like a mechanic's dirty garage. Or a dirty airplane hangar. I'm trying to convey (unsuccessfully) that it was much more dirty-feeling than anything poor Stewart was equipped fixed, and not the kind of welcoming, relaxing, comfortable area that invites you to hang out there all day.

Yep, I've seen the paint splatter and runs on lots of balconies. The thing is, there is more steel present on the cove balconies than regular balconies. Ship's painters are much more concerned about getting a heavy coat of "protection" on all that steel than they are aesthetics. Salt water is rough on bare steel. As an old industrial painter once told me, "runs don't rust." It's never bothered me, personally, but that's just my take. Anywhere you see steel on a ships you're going to see heavy coats of paint... and probably some runs and drips and splatters.

We've had coves twice and liked them. Our first cruise on Dream class we got our usual lido deck balcony. I walked out onto it, looked down, and realized I'd made a mistake. Directly below our balcony was decking, as opposed to ocean, which was what I was used to seeing on Conquest class ships. Since then I've booked coves on Dream class ships. Much better than the alternative... for my tastes. Haven't had a dirty one, or a flooded one.

[quote=BossOfTheHouse;53693155

Grand Turk is quite possibly my favorite place on Earth right now.

:)

 

Well, this proves the relativity of cruising and cruise experiences. Grand Turk is by far my least favorite port-of-call. :)

I am not certain you can blame the class of ship for crowdedness in general. But in our experience, the one ship that was barely tolerable was the Vista which was extremely crowded everywhere all the time. We were on the Vista in February, which is typically when we sail as we don't have small children anymore and it is typically a less crowded time of year to sail across the board....but CCL really messed up big time with the Vista.....to cram MORE people into a ship basically the same size as the Breeze etc, they closed in the Atrium....put more cabins and a theatre in the space.....thus a closed in awful feeling to us and a much smaller main lobby/atrium.....at times we couldn't even walk thru it. We will not be sailing that ship any time soon and await the reviews on her sister ship the Horizon (?) before ever booking that. Crowded is a nice way of putting it!! :(

Our next cruise will likely be on the Vista. My wife likes new ships. I like the itinerary we are looking at. So it looks likely. I hope we get one of the better Vista experiences that have been reported on CC, rather than one of the over crowded ones that have been reported. School will be in session, so that should help. Even if we experience tolerable crowds and lines, I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy the more closed in feel of the Vista, judging from some reports (including yours) and from photos. Wish me luck! I expect the Horizon will be more of the same, since it will be Vista class. For me, it will be a sad day when the Conquest class ships are put out to pasture. But hopefully that won't be for many, many years.

I agree that the potential for crowding and longer lines exists, but is not a guarantee that it will be experienced.

 

What I'm basing it on is that "not everybody does the same thing at the same time". There are lots of possible examples but here's a few.

 

Breakfast Buffet: On a sea day, some people are up at the crack of dawn, some sleep in until 9 or 10 or later. The few hundred early morning breakfast people eating at 7AM and the few hundred late morning breakfast people eating at 10 are going to have a different experience than those arriving for breakfast between 8:30 and 9:30.

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

 

Casino: Can vary depending on time of day. Some people like playing during the daytime and can sit at any slot machine or table they choose. Some play only at night after dinner and may have a hard time finding an open table or their favorite slot machine. The daytime players are going to have a different spin on their casino experience than the evening "crowded /smoky casino" posters.

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

Alchemy Bar: Hit it at pre-dinner cocktail time and expect a significantly larger crowd and vibe than stopping by at say 10PM.

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

Sports Bar: Plenty of seats and bar stools. ice cold beer, lots of TV's and fast service most any time. Go during a week of NCAA Finals / NBA//NHL/MLB/ World Cup Soccer or Sunday/Monday Night Football and your answer to "is the Sports Bar crowded?" experience will be radically different.

 

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

My Time Dining: It's available from 6PM - 9:30PM. Show up between 6 and 7 or after 9 and you'll have a 1 to 5 minute wait to be seated. Go between 7:15 and 8:30 and the lines and waits are longer. The same can be said for land based restaurants on a busy weekend night.

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

Guy's Burgers or Barbecue: Go at 12 - 1PM during prime lunch hours and your run a good chance of a line that may look intimidating, but the lines move fast as they are not cooking to order. Go later like 1:30 - 2 and you can walk right up as I have experienced a few times and enjoy!

 

Getting Back On The Ship After A Shore Day: Big lines usually starting around 3PM. Do a morning excursion and get back to the ship around 1:30 and you'll breeze back on and have time for lunch plus a good seat near the pool and short lines for the waterslides.

The Class Of Ship does not matter.

 

These are just a few examples.

Okay, so it is possible that lunch at the Lido Buffet, or wherever, might be as crowded at times as it is on the Breeze, or Dream, or Magic, or Vista. I don't doubt that for a minute. I still maintain it is much more common on Dream and Vista class, especially Vista class. The more cabins there are and the less public space there is, the greater the likelihood for crowing and long lines. It's just common sense. Besides it has been reported here multiple times, in addition to what I have experienced. Do I hate Dream and Vista class ships? No. But I prefer Conquest class because of more public space versus passengers aboard. The Conquest class ships are Goldilocks ships, not too small, not too big... just right. :) Happy cruising, whichever class of ship you prefer.

The OP states they were on the Dream in 2010 and enjoyed it. The Dream is the same basic layout and size of the Magic + - 40 passengers.

I've also been on the Dream and enjoyed it. It WAS more crowded than the Conquest class ships though. I just didn't let it ruin my vacation. My next cruise will likely be on the Vista, my wife's idea and I'm okay with it. I do expect it to be more crowed that the Conquest class ships though, my favorite class. But like with the Dream and with the Breeze, which I've also sailed on, I won't let the crowds get to me... I hope. Crowding varies on any ship, as I'm sure you know. But at capacity, Dream class and Vista class are going to have more crowding issues and longer lines than Conquest class ships. Do you disagree with that? If so, based on what?

I like ketchup....on hamburgers!!!!

Ketchup on hot dogs is almost as bad as putting mayo on a pastrami sandwich [emoji31]

I'll come clean. I do put catsup on hot dogs, but never ketchup.:D

My only issue is the picture....if you put ketchup on a hot dog, you need to be banned from ever being allowed to eat a hot dog again....that is just so wrong!!!! [emoji36]

Hey, this is America. We put ketchup on our ketchup! ;)

Don't sweat the flamers, OP. I can tell the difference between pot-stirrers and those with genuine complaints. I believe you are genuine and I'm sorry you had a bad cruise. It seems more passengers and less public space is the way Carnival is going. I guess we'll have to accept it or look elsewhere. Problem is, I think it's the same thing with most other cruise lines. The Magic and her sister ships are okay when not full up, otherwise not so much. I still prefer the Conquest class ships myself.

I forgot to mention one little experience we had in Mo Bay. I guy walked up to us and tried to convince us he was our waiter in the MDR. He asked if he could borrow ten bucks and that he would pay us back at dinner. No, he was not our waiter. Someone trying to sell you drugs is very common, as others have mentioned, but that isn't just Jamaica. I've experienced that in St. Maarten, something I wasn't expecting there. It is much more common in Jamaica than most of the other islands though.