Cinders411

We have only cruised Carnival and Royal Caribbean so far. We enjoyed all of our cruises. After several Carnival cruises we just wanted to try something new. You cannot beat Carnival prices in my opinion. For entertainment, RC wins hands down for us. Both lines are good and as others have posted, more similar than different. We had a lot of friends who commented, "I would NEVER go on a cruise with Carnival".:eek: Most of them had never been on any cruise........ :D

I was just looking over the benefits of Crown & Anchor and had a question. We are still only Gold but I noticed one of the benefits stated: Private departure lounge with continental breakfast. How does this work? We knew nothing about it during our last cruise. :confused:

My cruise documents did not reflect my change of levels. When we checked in the lady behind the counter told me that my change would not show until after our cruise even though I would hit the higher level on day 2 of our cruise. After we boarded I had to go to Guest Services and they gave me the gold card and pin.

I would've been much happier if they released the new itineraries, the cruise director doesn't matter to to me at all.

I agree :)

It is going to kill me with anticipation. Really it is. Nope, not kidding. October 9, 2016 on the dream. Paid the deposit yesterday with gift cards purchased at Kroger and they were having 4x fuel points. I managed to get 4000 points which equates to up to $1 per gallon of gas off until the end of May. I can't beat that. I will get the gift cards again when I have to finish paying off the cruise and for my s&s account. The S&S gift cards will be used to pay for the gas on my trip down to New Orleans.

It's official, I ain't as dumb as I look. :D

I just posted on the, "How long until your next cruise thread?" I have 581 looooooong days until our cruise on the Vista! We are doing a RC cruise this fall though so that will help with the wait. :)

581 till we sail on The Vista, New York to Miami. Long wait but, I did receive $50.00 on board credit today yay!

I have never found the DOD's to be very strong. I do think the other's have enough alcohol in them though. I stopped ordering DOD's when I saw how much weight the sugar in them put on me after my first cruise! :eek:

LOL! i believe this is the start of 'candy smuggling' threads! :D

Okay, laughing really loud!

I understand your concerns. The quality of the production shows is one of the reasons we started sailing RC. I am hopeful though that the Vista will have some new shows we have not already seen multiple times. That being said we have always really enjoyed the comedy shows on Carnival.

Just booked the repositioning cruse from New York to Miami in Nov 2016. Haven't sailed on Carnival in a few years. Looking forward to seeing what they have done with the Vista.

Thank you all so much! You helped tremendously with your good advice. Looks like I have some choices to consider! :)

Its not going to work with us either. We normally have 1-2 drinks a day each that's it. I can not have that many drinks a day. I am more of a soda drinker. Too bad you couldn't pre buy a gernic drink package for 20 drinks or something. I know there is different prices for different drinks so that would be hard to do. Something like that I would buy if it saved you a small bit .

I wish you could do this as well.

I really wonder how the specialty dining is, I never got to try it, because the Carnival Victory did not offer it: yet this ship seems to have MANY different options. Best of all, I am surprised how many are included in the base fare.

I can tell you the food was really good at the steakhouse on the Dream. It was a lot better than at Chops on the Freedom of the Seas.

Glad you received the help you required. Hope all goes well with your situation. It is so awful to be compromised like this.

All but one of my cruises were in the fall. We love the fall and have never experienced bad weather. Don't worry the captain will steer clear of any dangerous situations. Hope you have a great time!

It makes no difference to me. I doubt I could remember a single CD's name on any of my past cruises.:confused. :confused:

We are staying at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Boston before our RC cruise on the Brilliance in Oct. The hotel website indicates it is only 1.5 miles from the port. DH & I will only have 1 medium rolling suitcase each. Is this walk doable? We are mid 50's and in fair physical shape. Thank you for anyone who can help me decide. I have read that a taxi ride would be about $30. Does anyone know if a taxi is really going to cost $30 to go 1.5 miles? It would be on a Sunday so the downtown traffic should not be too heavy I am thinking.

How scary for everyone. Glad things worked out okay! :)

When I read/hear of the CCL cutbacks I get aggravated at first. Then the more I think about it, the cutbacks are trival or on things I don't use or do.

 

I get over it and look at the big picture and move on.

 

When I have to bring my own life vest, I'll reassess things.

LOL about the life vest! :D

Sorry you didn't enjoy Freedom of the Seas. After 5 Carnival cruses we tried RC. We loved Freedom! To each his own. Everyone likes different things. :)

While it is often true, that I do not like change. I found the the booking process more difficult than before. I like to zip in/out to check price drops. No zipping with this system. :p

Some cruisers prefer a specific line others do not. It doesn't make much difference to me if cruisers complain about a line. Everything is relative to the person cruising at the time. Several of us like to move around and sample more than one line. I hope to cruise them all one day! :)

I have never used a TA. I have always booked direct on the RC & Carnival websites.

The Dream is a good ship. We booked a balcony spa cabin a couple of years ago and it was wonderful. We had never used the spa before and really enjoyed it. We were in the Thalassotherapy Pool every single day! The only area I think Carnival lacks in is entertainment. The production shows are not that entertaining after you have seen them over and over again. We have been sailing on RC lately. That does not mean I would not return to Carnival but, I like exploring my options.