RoperDK

Please don't tell me that Carnival still has "bacation". I keep reading about elimination of bacon in venues. No bacon in omelets and no more BLT at the deli. Certainly, they have gone back to normal by this time. I mean how much more expensive is bacon than pastrami or chicken? Sorry, I don't want to bring this into the omelette conversation, but I am just surprised at this point. We haven't cruised on Carnival in over a year and I just assumed that they would have some normalcy at this point.

On our 2 Mardi Gras cruises they didn't have any sides available. Just the sandwich. I remember that on other ships (before the shutdown) they had fries and at least potato salad. Don't know if that is still the case. One of the reasons that I didn't care for the Mardi Gras was that the Deli and Pizza place were stand alone. Guys was, too. I understand the concept of spreading everyone out and that is a good idea. However, I found myself wanting to get a slice of pizza or a sandwich along with a small salad many times. Also, DH might want Guys, but I was in the mood for something else. When all the venues are on Lido, then people can pick and choose what they want and then still sit together for the meal.

We've only cruised 2 times on Carnival since the restart. Both on Mardi Gras. Ship is beautiful. Service and food okay. We are on Spirit out of Mobile in February. We love Spirit class and are going with an open mind to see how we feel about Carnival at this time. We've been cruising Royal lately, too, but their prices are hard to take right now. I hope that Royal keeps cruising out of NOLA. We are already booked with them there and will probably book more if they keep coming to NOLA. Each cruise line has pros and cons and I wish some posters here had a more open mind about others' opinions. Everyone's opinion is valid and gives others input to use in planning their cruises. 🤔

If you visit the other cruise line forums, I think you'll find enough criticizing to go around. Many people are trying other cruise lines to see which ones might be a better fit. I'm sure you have cruised other than just on Carnival since you feel that they provide you the best experience. Each cruise line has adjusted their product in different ways. Many of their loyal cruisers gave them plenty of slack after the restart but are beginning to question whether all of the changes should be continued at this point. Celebrity discontinued their everyday menu items and quickly added them back after cruiser feedback. Carnival brought back several items such as the daily cruise schedule in paper because of cruiser feedback. Speaking up should be encouraged whether it is positive or negative. I feel it should be balanced though as no product is perfect, but neither is it a total disaster.

Carnival used to have high tea with all the trimmings! I believe it was only on sea days. Waiters wore white gloves and there was live music. Over time the tea and food selections decreased along with the formal atmosphere. It was still a nice event. They did away with high tea at some point. Don't remember when.

I was hoping for a ship to replace Voyager doing 4 and 5 night itineraries (like the Mariner does now) and hoping that the pricing wouldn't be as crazy as the larger, newer ships.

Weren't there Carribean itineraries supposed to open up this week? I'm surprised that Royal waits so long to post sailings. I was looking at PC in particular and it seems that they are missing a smaller ship that sails 4 and 5 day itineraries.

I booked ours on Wonder Jan. 28th today on the website. Everything was available including the comedy.

Sometimes the faucets malfunction and turn on without actually being triggered. Not a good thing to happen when you are away from home. It's the same reason we turn off the icemaker before we leave. We never got a motion activated facet because we had kitties. No need to explain that one! 😺

Our preferred port is PC because it is close to family. I can't believe the pricing now! Is the Adventure gold plated? Granted, we like to sail in suites, but geez I can't believe what they are asking.

Looking forward to your review! I spent quite a bit of time during my military career at Keesler AFB going to tech schools. Biloxi has changed so much over the decades. Of course, Katrina made the most impact. It is nice to see how the city has come back. Lol, driving down I-10 is not for the faint of heart. I think I would take rather I-75 or I-95!

We always have a Funship on Lido deck once we board the ship. It is our cue to relax and start to enjoy our vacation.

Yes, very true. We still cruise on Carnival but do venture out to other lines, too. It seems like they all are making cuts and have some unhappy loyal customers. Lol, we have had bad luck with getting to sail on Celebrity. All of our booked cruises were either cancelled or we had to cancel for various reasons. They were all in Sky Suites. The uproar on the Celebrity board about food in particular has been a sight to see. Now the prices in The Retreat are too high for us. Perhaps it was never meant to be. We've been cruising on Carnival for over 20 years, but only on 26 cruises with them. I do miss some things that have gone away. Many other changes didn't bother us. We will be cruising on Carnival in February, so we haven't given up yet.

You are totally misunderstanding my post. I'm not trying to denigrate newer cruisers. I was saying that those new to cruising aren't looking at the experience with the same lens as those that have cruised with Carnival for many years. Neither is right or wrong, they just see it differently. The newer cruisers are, for the most part, happy with their cruise experience. I think most that have cruised with Carnival for many years, still think the product is good, they just miss parts of the good ole days. Those that don't like the product, have moved on to other cruise lines or other types of vacations. Since Carnival is sailing with full ships, then why should they change back?

This is an important and telling post. Us old timers remember what cruising was before the many rounds of cuts that make us feel that the Carnival product has degraded. The newer cruisers must be happy with what is offered or they wouldn't continue to sail with Carnival. Cruise pricing is going up and the ships are sailing at full capacity. Why should Carnival change what they are doing at this point?

I think the disappointment comes from long term cruisers that have seen too many cuts along with too many price increases. Singularly it's not a problem, but all together it lessens the product. Something akin to the straw that broke the camel's back.

I'm sorry that happened to you. I've had to travel in a scooter before and I was always pleased by how other passengers made room for me in the elevators. My thoughts are that money can't buy class and karma always comes through in the end.

No flames here. Your feelings about JS are known. We will be cruising in our last JS on Wonder next month. We will be in a full suite or not sail with Royal from now on. Our experience in prior JS when we couldn't get a full suite was great. We could eat dinner in CK any night if we wanted to. We do have flexible dinner times and actually enjoy a later dinner. I'm curious to see what our access will be. I do feel that the new Sky JS category will change the second class citizen status of the regular JS. Access to CK dinner will probably be denied at that time.

When did you notify them of your seafood allergy? I don't have a seafood allergy, but I don't eat raw fish. The tuna tartare from Wonderland was totally wasted on me. If they don't have a substitute, I will ask them not to bring it to me in the future.

We did it once and have rebooked it again for later this year. We really enjoyed it! It was a lot of food and very well prepared. It was a nice sampling of different items and the service excelled. Give it a try,

The dress code does allow shorts. Dress shorts with polo shirt are allowed. Gym shorts and t-shirt are not. This per 2 concierges on 2 separate ships.

I guess we are officially chasing points. We swore we wouldn't do it, but here we are. We will be 3 points shy of Diamond+ with our currently booked cruises. We aren't close to ports to easily fit in a short cruise. We will see how we end up. We switched to Royal from Carnival. A plus for them is if you board a cruise where you will reach the next level at any point in that cruise, you are awarded that status at the start of the cruise.

You also have access to the suite lounge on deck 17 once you board the ship. It is a great area to relax and escape the crowds until your cabin is available.

Try Grey Goose vodka in your preferred martini set up for a different taste.

I googled the Freedom charter cruise. Hope the participants enjoy themselves and glad it's a whole ship charter as the impact on other cruisers would be overwhelming.