vacruisin

1 hour ago, KKB said:

Unvaccinated teens. Unfortunately they could have been vaccinated.

A passenger from that cruise commented that they didn't feel the unvaccinated (6%) were not as compliant about masking as they should have been, particularly the teens. And that crew was not particularly pushy about reminding them.

If these cruise lines are going to allow unvaccinated passengers to sail, they need to be very strict about enforcing the rules they have set for unvaccinated passengers.

6 minutes ago, KKB said:

We do too--have done Nachi Cochum several times. 

But haven't they always limited to 100 passengers?

I'll be sad if we can't go next month--they dropped the price to $39pp!

Yes, Nachi Cocom has always had a limit of 100 passengers per day.  We have gone there once before; it was very nice.  Loved the swim up bar!

32 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

Yeah, there were a few times where we nicely ensconced at Alchemy, and someone just walking by deciding to grab a Miller Lite from the nearest bar and it happened to be Alchemy, and was perplexed that the Alchemy Bar didn't stock that, and they had to walk to the next bar instead.

Yeah, might sound snobby but DW and I chuckle when someone comes over asking for a beer or a mixed drink.  Sorry, no Bud Lights or Tequila Sunrises here. lol  

Yes, I've had my CPAP with me on my last two cruises.  You can just plug it in on the nightstand right by your bed.  There is an outlet in the base of the lamp.

19 hours ago, tdggal1980 said:

This is hands down our favorite place on the ship!  You will often find my hubby & I at Alchemy during sail away 😊. We love the drinks and atmosphere.  And it’s our go to for Happy Hour (4:00-6:00) before dinner!

Co-signing on what my lovely wifey tdggal1980 said, this bar is our favorite place on the ship.  We will not cruise on a Carnival ship that doesn't have an Alchemy bar.  Every day from 4:00-6:00 we are there before our early dining seating and then we usually go right back there after dinner.  

It's a must to have Cheers if you like hanging out there though; those drinks can be pretty pricey.  My favorite is "The Remedy!"

17 hours ago, iamsteph said:

Sailing out of Baltimore is great! First you sail past Fort McHenry, then you go under the Key Bridge - watch out! It looks like you'll hit it but you won't 😉 A short time later, you sail under the Bay Bridge.  Fall/winter sailings out of Baltimore can get a little "rough" meaning you'll feel the ship moving more than you would sailing from Florida.  If you're sensitive to it, take your dramamine. 🙂 

Thanks for the vivid description.  We look forward to the new sights of sailing out of Baltimore; of course with a drink in our hands! 😁

2 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Also, the sailaway is one of the nicer ones after you get out of the port of baltimore, cruising under the Bay Bridge, etc.  We take uber to the port, from memory uber is ~ $43 each way, not much more than parking and the uber dropoff is a one minute walk to the check-in.

Great to hear!  We usually are at the Alchemy bar during sail away but I convinced wifey that we need to be on the Lido this time since we have never cruised out of Baltimore.   We’ll party on the lido for a bit before making our way down to the Alchemy bar to meet our Alchemist for the week!  We will be getting our money’s worth for our Cheers package, as we always do!!

Yesterday we were able to book the Pride sailing on 9/26.  Looks like that one will be a go.  We live in Northern VA, about an hour drive from Baltimore but we have never cruised out of there; always out of Florida (except for when we cruised on RCI out of California back in 2004).

We are excited about finally being able to just drive to the port.  Time to take a break from cruising out of Florida.  We’ll try Galveston and New Orleans sometime soon also.

Happy cruising everyone!

6 minutes ago, musbeus said:

Neither side of this argument will give an inch. We just all have to decided what risks we are willing to accept and where we want to spend our vacation dollars. 
 

With that said, if there is a serious outbreak on a cruise out of anywhere. Cruise companies will NOT survive another shutdown. Is Desantis going to welcome a unvaccinated COVID cruise with open arms and allow Florida to shoulder the situation?  

Great question.   

Just now, TNcruising02 said:

I think there are plenty of people who love Florida and are happy to cruise from the state to fill up all of the cruises that leave from the state.  But seriously, I would not choose to cruise from a state if I had so much hatred for the way it is run.  The difference is also that I would not go on and on and on and on about how much I hated the leadership and the state.  I would just accept that cruising out of that state wasn't for me.  I would change my choices, not expect a state to change because of my views.

Well we all are guilty of going on and on about certain things soooo…..🤷🏾‍♂️

2 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

 

Well, people whine and cry about Florida and its laws.  News flash.  They can cruise from a port outside of Florida.  Nobody is forcing anyone to cruise from a state they hate with leadership they hate.

Sounds good on paper but don’t underestimate how much Florida’s economy relies on cruise dollars from out of staters.

Some Floridans seem too smug in thinking the cruise industry needs them.  
 

It is a simple choice for me now: I choose to only cruise if vaccinations are required so any cruise that doesn’t require it won’t get my money.  If you don’t like the protocols, don’t cruise or only cruise on ships that will give you the cruising experience you want!.  We just booked a cruise today on the Pride out of Baltimore for the week of 26 September.  We were originally looking at booking a cruise on the Magic in August but after the new ruling we just don’t want to give Florida any of our money right now.  We also have 2 cruises booked out of Port Canaveral in January that we may change to cruise out of some other state.  We really want to get back on the Magic so that is the only reason we have not quite pulled the plug on those cruises.  However, I  am just not too happy with Florida and this “no  vaccination passport” crap DeSantis is pushing.  And we all know why he is doing it (but I won’t go there).  
 

Bottom-line is we all have a choice to make and we can choose to get frustrated and whine about the rules or we can show our displeasure by not giving money to those smug “entities” that  choose to put their own self interest and political interests over doing what is best for a very impotant industry in his state.

Sometimes when you “win”, you really lose.  We’ll see how this plays out:  

if you are vaccinated and you don’t want to put up with Florida’s crap, don’t cruise out of Florida.  

12 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Well, that is just what this ruling seems to say: the CDC requirements for masks for unvaxxed go right out the window. All can sail, and no restrictions, just suggestions.

I wonder, will all ports allow Carnival ships to dock if unvaccinated passengers are onboard?  Or if we’ll only be allowed to do book shore excursions sponsored by Carnival?  
 

There is just no way Carnival can take the risk of having a cruise with no restrictions if unvaccinated people are on their ships.  There will be some restrictive rules in place that would not be needed if they were sailing with only vaccinated passengers.

COVID is still out there; even if some folks want to act like it’s a thing of the past.  And some states are severely lagging in vaccination rates.  You bring all of these components together and you are potentially inviting another shutdown to the cruise industry.   

It's all about risk mitigation.  For all the "anti-vaxxers", just know this:  If the cruise industry restarts and there are COVID outbreaks on their ships again, they will be shut down again and that could do irreparable harm to their brand and also to a lot of businesses that rely on the cruise industry to stay open.

It is just a FACT that requiring vaccinations is the best way to cut down on the chances of having interrupted cruises and dropped ports.  It doesn't make it less of a fact just because you don't like to hear that.

I am vaccinated and don't care if you are vaccinated or not.  You make your choice and believe what you want to believe about the vaccines.  BUT, what I DO care about is the possibility of having my expensive (and much needed) vacation interrupted because some "entitled" anti-vaxxers tested positive for COVID, causing my vacation to get cut short.  

3 minutes ago, ultrafighter said:

This is totally us.  I quit caring about getting off in Cozumel after the second time I went there, and I've honestly never heard a good thing about Progreso so I don't care if I can't get off in that port on my next cruise.

Same with us.  We've been on so many cruises that we now cruise more for the ships than the ports.  As long as a ship has an Alchemy Bar and a Guys burgers joint, I am good. 🙂
 

1 minute ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It's good that Federal law will be followed. Best for vaxxed pax. Galveston businesses are excited.

Yep.  Those businesses that count on cruising will be pumped about the re-start.  "Other" stubborn states can continue to play hardball.  Cruising will go on without them.  I have no problem changing my January FLA cruises to a TX cruise or another state if I have to. 

People who love cruising want to get back on a ship.  Most aren't going to care so much about the ports...at least not initially.  

At the end of the day we all have to make our decision on what we're going to do once the protocols come out.  DW and I are fully vaccinated and we have 2 cruises booked in January.  We don't care so much about contracting COVID from unvaccinated people because we and all of our loved ones are fully vaccinated.  However, we are concerned about some of the restrictions that would surely come with cruising with unvaccinated people.  We refuse to cruise if we have to wear masks. So if the protocols require masking we'll cancel our cruises and do something else until we can cruise without masks.

It's all about choices and everyone has to make the choice that is best for them.  Either way, I pray that everyone stays safe and enjoy whatever vacation you choose to take.

23 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Which is probably why the cruise lines aren't talking about firm decisions cruising out of California.  They are starting where they are most likely to actually sail.

These cruise lines are a business and they are resourceful.  Sooner or later they are going to start cruising and if that means they have to go to other countries or other states in the US they will do just that.  So FLA and TX can have this "Carnival needs me" attitude to their detriment.  And once these companies get comfortable in other states and learn that they can make money without all the political grandstanding they could decide to permanently move their business to more accommodating states.  The short-term political game of some politicians could have long-term effects on their states.  Long after they are out of office.  Sooner or later your political bluff might get called.

We did a 4-day on the Victory last year right before she got the 2.0 upgrades. She ship was clean and beautiful but without the 2.0 dining options we were not impressed with the food at all. DW and I ate pizza just about every meal for 4 days.

I can’t imagine eating pizza for 14-15 days straight.

We won’t book the Hawaiian cruise on the Miracle.

Thanks to all for your inputs. Happy cruising.

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DW and I are thinking about booking the 15-day Hawaiian cruise on the Carnival Miracle in January 2020. The only thing holding us back from booking this sailing is that it looks like the Miracle does not have Guy’s burgers or the Blue Iguana so we are hesitant to book.

However, we just got off the Magic last week and a couple of the Alchemy bar mixologists insisted that the Miracle does have those two amenities.

Can someone please confirm if Guy’s burger, Blue Iguana, and the other 2.0 upgrades are on the Miracle?

I cannot see me on a 15 day cruise without my Guys burgers!!

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Anyone know who’s on the Magic? We board her in 4 days and we love hanging out at the Alchemy bar on our cruises. Our past favorites are Vera, Ionna, Latoya, and Tatianna!

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There are lots of good, detailed reviews on the Magic out there. This won’t be one (good or detailed), so feel free to skip. And some of these aren’t specific to the Magic but Carnival in general. So there’s that.

 

The Good

 

1) the entertainment was really good. Christian did a good job with the trivia. Playlist seemed better than normal. The singers around the ship were awesome. And good comedians. I know that changes a lot but we really had a good time in terms of entertainment.

 

2) the MDR service was good. Had Marko as a head waiter. They worked hard.

 

3) Tandoor. No idea why that isn’t more popular but I’m sure it’ll be gone soon.

 

The bad

 

1) the lido floor seemed slippery. That is easily fixable. So fix it, Carnival

 

2) the drink service needs work. I know that is a popular complaint and it’s true. I don’t mind finding a place to get drinks. But I shouldn’t have to every time. It’s nice

 

3) hate to say this but Cookie the cruise director needs to cut down on the number and length of announcements. I Don’t need the fun times read to me every hour.

 

Overall, it was a great cruise because the things I like, Carnival did well.

 

And to Natalyia from the Alchemy bar, have a great wedding and life after Carnival.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the review. We are on the next sailing (7 July) so all feedback is appreciated. Especially thanks for the heads up on the slippery floors on the lido deck. We experienced that on the Breeze a few years ago and we saw several people almost fall.

Do you remember all the Alchemy bar mixologists? How was the atmosphere there? We like to spend a lot of time there so the personalities of the mixologists is very important to us.

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We are currently on the Magic 6/23 sailing on a deck 11 spa balcony. The AC is working as well as it has on the other ships we have been on. The "hot" tubs are woking and so is the T pool and saunas. The internet is complete crap even on the most expensive plan and I am going to ask for a refund. Hope this calms some fears.

 

-Mallow

I am feeling better and better by the minute about my upcoming cruise. Thanks for taking time from your vacation to report back. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

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T-Pool was working fine on the 16th-23rd sailing. It was the first time we had booked a Spa cabin and we enjoyed using it.

Excellent to hear. Now we just need the A/C to work in our room. Thanks for the response!

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This is really depressing! We are booked on the 7 July sailing and instead of the usual excitement that comes with being less than 2 weeks out from our cruise, we are worried about whether or not we’re going to have A/C in our room or even if we’re going to get cancelled altogether. We booked a room on the spa deck specifically for the perk of having access to the T-pool so having that out of commission would be a huge bummer as well (I am assuming that problems with the hot tubs also means problems with the T-pool). Can anyone confirm if these issues are effecting the Spa deck amenities?

I am praying that these issues are fixed before we board in 13-days!

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