sparks1093

I'm sure that it's happened but I wouldn't count on it as a regular occurrence.

Passports and passport cards can also be misplaced or stolen. (I read one thread where the OP lost her passport on the flight to the port. Fortunately someone at home was able to fax her birth certificate to the port which allowed her to board.) I personally wouldn't use this instance to justify buying either if I didn't need them. (But because I do have a passport I keep it separate from other valuables when I carry it.)

True

I do too, but hopefully they are on a cruise and have forgotten about us.

Yes, how dare they let their wallet be stolen right before a vacation.

Yes, if it is just a piece of paper it's a no go, but if the paper has your picture on it then it's good.

The two posters were talking about total passenger load, with one of them saying they wouldn't sail on a ship with a capacity of more than 2,000 passengers and I was responding to the one that suggested traveling during the off-season would help avoid a large number of people.

I have no direct experience with a temporary ID with a picture but Carnival's FAQ does state it is acceptable and I've read a couple of posts where the OP had to use one and had no difficulty. Hope it works out OP!

We were on Pride going back to Baltimore and had to pass through the remnants of a nor'easter. 50 knot plus winds and the waves that go with it. I felt right at home (another Navy vet, serving on an LST and a DE/FF) but my travel mates weren't very happy. One swore off of cruising as a result.

There might not be 110% of passenger capacity during an off season but there might be 90% and on a mega-ship that is still a large number. Emergencies tend to bring out both the best and the worst in people but I suspect if passengers need to be in a lifeboat for any amount of time it will turn nasty very quickly. Fortunately as we've noted the odds are very good that none of us will have to worry about this (and if we do, and survive, we could probably work the talk show circuit for the rest of our days).

Yes, it is very unlikely and my comment pertains as much to a "routine" emergency as a whole ship evacuation simply because many people 1) don't listen and 2) don't follow instructions. I think the Concordia disaster required the use of lifeboats and that wasn't too long ago. I shudder to think what the outcome would have been had they been in deep water.

A lot of food for thought in this thread. As I said in another thread about the muster drill "I look around me and all I see are future casualties".

Thanks for the thoughts! Looking forward to sailing on Glory this April for the second time (last time was 5 years ago or so).

Only in the dining room. If you drink it in your cabin you are fine (and there is nothing that says you can't pour a glass in your cabin and take it to the dining room).

It is one bottle per adult, two bottles per cabin. If you are a single cruiser you can probably very likely bring two bottles through security and they wouldn't bat an eyelash, thinking you were a party of two.

I also love seafood (so of course I marry someone who is allergic) and I will eat frozen lobster when I have to. Heck, the 3 oz tail isn't that big that I can't finish it even if I don't like it. Lately the lobster on Carnival has been all right. Certainly not in the same ballpark as a fresh Maine lobster, but still edible. But there are certainly enough options on the menu (note to self- try the sea bass next time).

I would second this. One of the pleasures of cruising is meeting new people and dinner is one of the areas where it's easy to do that.

Yep, following directions is not practiced very much in the States. It's always do your own thing no matter what. I look around me at the muster drill and all I see are future casualties. As for the question, no, we don't do anything differently.

Here's the thing (for us, likely for many, but who knows)- we typically cruise about once a year, year and a half. If it weren't for Cruise Critic most of these changes (whatever you want to call them) would go absolutely unnoticed by us. We never go thinking things are going to be the exact same thing they were, or that no changes will ever occur. We go and take things as they come. If something that we liked is no longer available we make do with what is available. We cruise to have fun. To be at sea. To visit different ports. To eat food we wouldn't eat at home prepared by someone else. To have different activities available day and night. To spend time together. Actually, spending time together, either as a couple or with family and friends, is the most important part of any vacation. We do recognize that other cruise lines offer more amenities, but that always comes at a price. If we can cruise with another line for about the same price as Carnival we won't hesitate to jump on it (that is what happened when we cruised Anthem, Royal was actually $400 less that time) but we are more than comfortable booking Carnival at the prices they charge. (And Royal was nice but they didn't "wow" us enough to get all of our business, either.) I don't sweat the small stuff at home, I am certainly not going to sweat the small stuff on vacation.

Yep, we found that out processing our own meat chickens this year. How any animal is handled from the time it is harvested until it is frozen is going to affect the final quality.

The prices I gave were for a mid-ship balcony. We are in an Ocean Suite on Glory this upcoming April and that one was $2811 when we booked it about a year and a half ago (and yes, I am aware that the perks are very scanty but it still suites us😁).

I would if I could but the cruise on the Mardi Gras is a group cruise. I will definitely include X in all of my future price checks when choosing/booking a cruise.

Tom made me look. We are currently booked on Mardi Gras for April 2024, so I looked to see what kind of deal we could get with X. Our balcony on MG is $2086. Celebrity came in at $5343 with the drink package, wifi and tips included. Add in Cheers, Wifi and tips to the Carnival fare and it comes in at around $3350. Now, I'm sure that X has a much better product for that price, but I'm not willing to pay that much more for a cruise.

When we've ordered morning room service it was a pot that held 4 cups of coffee as I recall (but of course my memory isn't what it used to be).

From what I've read the PBJ is the best that most people have had (not high on my list of things to try) and the same thing is said of the tenders. They call what is added to the bar bill a service charge also, don't they? I know that they do for CHEERS.