momin05

JH said in his post “I’m still waiting for the dates this year for Carnival Pride and Carnival Venezia.”

I am thinking exactly like your wife…

We are on the 10/19 Sunshine sailing…very first sailing with the new menu. Not sure I am excited about that. First, the new menu isn’t grabbing me so much. And second, being the Guinea pig for their very first time! Has anyone else sailed on the first sailing with the new menu? Would love to hear some thoughts.

Oh, I forgot about that olive! Only one olive I had was like that, stuffed with a hot red pepper, not jalapeño because it looked just like a regular pimiento. But it lit me up! But all the others were regular olives. Strange.

We enjoy comedy and usually find the PG shows are better…they seem to have to work harder to actually be funny versus just use a lot of profanity. On our July 31 Sunshine cruise, one comedian was really good and the other was pretty bad. They also had a 3pm show one sea day, which I had never seen before. It was the most jammed of any show I have ever attended. I don’t know why no one ever closed the doors. People were coming in all throughout the show and you couldn’t even get into the room, and they would leave. I feel like Carnival does such a good job managing all the other activities/entertainment/meals on the ship but just drop the ball on Comedy. Maybe the survey is a sign of better things to come.

I am surprised by all the hating on bloody Mary’s. They were awesome on Sunshine a couple of weeks ago. If they are using a mix fleetwide, I definitely like it. I don’t like horseradish taste, so it definitely wasn’t heavy on that. In the past, they have been very different depending on what bar you order from, so we usually search for the best one and then order from there the rest of the cruise. But this time they were the same at MDR (brunch) and in the casino. So no need to go elsewhere. Always served with two olives, which my husband doesn’t like, so I get 4! I had some really bad bloody Mary’s on a land vacation recently, so I was super excited about these!

I am not sure you are getting correct advice. Typically (unless during the off-season), Carnival will not allow you to book two people in a 3-person cabin. So when you try to change your booking to reduce the number of people to 2, they will want to move you. You will likely have to find two 2-person cabins to book for the 4 of you. Unless you had your heart set on this particular cabin, it shouldn’t be an issue. But if the ship is almost sold out, you want to act fast!

That’s right. When they put the mattress on top last year, it was easy to pick up the whole mattress, sheets and all, and just lay it across the foot of our bed. Then we had our couch back during the day. Not as easy without the mattress to take the sheets off and put them back on each day, so we didn’t bother.

My experience has been that they bring a thin mattress that goes on top of the couch. It is maybe 3-4 inches and like what is on the rollaways. Very comfortable. I know they did it last year because every day we would lift it off the couch and put it on top of our bed so we could have the couch back. But last week they did not put anything on top. Just put sheets on the couch. I thought it was pretty hard but my daughter said it was comfortable enough. If she had been uncomfortable, I would have asked the room steward to add it. I know they had them because I saw one in the hallway on embarkation day when we dropped off the luggage. So, just ask if she isn’t comfortable.

Just got off Sunshine yesterday. I will add a few thoughts: We had 12 people, had anytime dining, and never had a problem with seating. They always seated us at a table for all 12 and we never waited more than 5 minutes for our table to be ready. The HUB works great for this. We usually ate early but the last night it was after 7pm and it still was not a problem getting a table for 12. ocean plaza and red frog pub were cold. Everywhere else was fine. Boarding: we had 930 arrival appt but couldn’t manage to get there that early. On previous cruises, I have gotten there before they opened the parking and I will say it is just so frustrating to sit there. This time, we arrived at 10:20, drove right up to the pay area (no line of cars at all), parked, walked into the check-in warehouse (again no line at all). They had already called all priority to board so we got checked in and walked right onto the shuttle bus. (Ok, this part would have been true if we were by ourselves, but our family members had trouble with their boarding pass printouts so their check in took a while. While we were waiting on them, they started boarding the non-priority groups.) The non-priority people were waiting in chairs to be called. When we got to security, there were maybe 8 people in line. It was our best experience ever in Charleston. We turned off of Laurens street at 10:20 and we’re on board at 11 (would have been sooner if not for boarding pass issue). I wouldn’t show up early and wait in that line to park again. Just too frustrating. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it. We pulled out of the parking lot yesterday at 9:06 and we were on the very front end of the luggage groups. All the luggage was still in the warehouse when we left…still a lot of people to disembark. And people were already waiting to park. Ugh… Internet was so-so. In most parts of the ship, it was pretty good…both the hub app and the value internet. We couldn’t get it in our cabin down on deck 1. Had to stand in the hall or at least close to the door for it to work. I am happy to answer other questions if you have them, while it is fresh on my mind.

I started to ask this question before we left on Sunshine this past Monday. But we had the earliest check-in time (9:30) so it didn’t really matter. We didn’t arrive until 10:20 or so and by the time we got to the check-in warehouse, they had already called all priority groups to board. My family members had FTTF and a 10:30 arrival time, but since they had already called FTTF to board before we arrived, it seems like they could have gone early. I don’t know if they would have turned us away if we had a 1pm arrival time. But it did appear (in Charleston at least), all priority groups (regardless of arrival appt time) were allowed to check in and board before they started with any other boarding groups (B04, C01, etc.). All of the non-priority people with early arrival times were sitting and waiting to be called. This would seem to support the “it doesn’t matter what arrival time you pick, just show up early if you want to” theory. But my question is…if this is the case, why do we get the 2 extra days to choose an arrival time? That shouldn’t be necessary if arrival times don’t matter. I think it was a Covid procedure that they have just never done away with, even after they reinstated priority embarkation. But it sure is causing a lot of confusion. And the website clearly says one thing and JH clearly said something completely different recently.

And I should have mentioned, that schedule was for the 9-11 year olds. Enjoy your cruise!

So, my niece never went to camp, but to my surprise, I could see the camp schedule on the HUB app. Here are the screenshots. I hope there is nothing to prevent me from posting these.

We sail on Sunshine on Monday with my 10yo great niece. If they have paper copies of the schedule, I will bring it back and post it. I will note the Fun Times mentions the schedule is on the Hub app, so there may not be a paper copy.

Yay! Thank you!

Thank you. Not sure I completely trust this, as it is just copied from the Carnival website. It concerns me when you add it to your cart that it only lists the 3 apps. Maybe someone has first-hand experience!

In the More Details section of Carnival’s website, it says it includes “Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linked In, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SnapChat”. But when you add it to your cart, it says it only includes “Facebook, Twitter, Instagram”. Does anyone have recent experience and can verify what it actually includes? I am particularly interested in whether it includes WhatsApp. Thanks in advance!

I sure hate to hear this. Sailing on Sunshine twice more this year. $5 tables sure are more enjoyable than $10 tables.

Thank you! I just made my reservation!

Thank you. Good to know the reservation can be changed. We don’t usually do specialty restaurants but want to try JiJis, given all the rave reviews.

A family member wants to purchase a dinner for my husband and me. I assume the easiest way for her to pay for our dinner is to make the reservation online before we cruise. If we make a reservation in advance, can we change it once on board (subject to availability, of course) if it conflicts with something else we want to do? if we wait to make the reservation onboard, I assume they charge it to each person’s S&S, making it difficult for someone to treat us. Thanks in advance!

Oh ok, ours is a 5-day. Too bad. He has DOUE so I guess he can order shots and take them to his cabin to mix.

Wow, people were fighting with the liquor bottles from the fun shops? Just kidding. It does seem strange they would pick that to single out. That really is disappointing. Price never mattered to dad…he just wants to mix his own bourbon and ginger ale in his cabin and enjoy it on his balcony. At 83, he probably wouldn’t even pick a fight with anyone.

I have been away from the boards and away from cruising since last June, so I may have missed it. But I am back on the wagon with 3 cruises booked in the next 18 months! But I noticed there are no liquor bottles for purchase in the Fun Shop? My dad will not be happy if he can’t get his bottle to enjoy on the balcony. I see water, soft drinks and wine. Thanks for any information you have.

It appears that just isn’t possible anymore, at least when you book with a PVP. He has helped me so much, especially through the Covid rebookings, so I hate for him to not get credit for my bookings. But I guess in the future if I have uncertainty, I just need to book it online. Or put in a name and pay for the name change.