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On 5/11/2024 at 6:33 PM, Riemercruisin said:

We are considering a quick beach cruise right after Thanksgiving. But everywhere I search, the reviews are awful.

Has anyone on this board been on the ship recently and can chime in?arting 

Is she really THAT bad??

I can't say how the Sunrise is now, but I can't believe the ship would be THAT bad.

Our first cruise back in 2008 was on the Triumph. After booking and starting some planning, started to read reviews...some reviews were like, best ship in the fleet, to best thing Carnival could do is take the ship to the middle of the ocean and sink it. I've long ago given up on reading reviews, they are of zero value to me.

We've booked a number of cruises on loads of different ships, across a couple of other cruise lines along with Carnival and did not rely on a single review to make our decisions. 

50 minutes ago, JOHN 57 said:

I have heard, that lunch is free on this cruise, but for only 1 meal.  What are the facts thank you

You're probably thinking of dinner, which on the Mardi Gras, and I THINK Celebration allow 1 "free" diner at Chibang. Jubilee is sailing it's "inaugural season" which should mean Chibang would be no charge for dinner if you went multiple times. We were on Jubilee in February and at at Chibang twice with no charges.

Venezia leaves out of Port 88 from Manhattan....we've a 10-10:30 check in time for our May 27 sailing...final boarding for out sailing is at 2:30pm

On the last 6 Carnival ships we cruised on, imessaging without an internet plan was unreliable at best. Three of those ships we're the Excel ships over the last year, it did not work all. The only "success" we had was on the Horizon a couple of years ago. Worked at the start of the cruise, part way through stopped working. Not at all something I'd rely on.

Very curious to know how Carnival made that decision.

On 5/14/2024 at 11:34 AM, pirate4me2 said:

Hi all!

 

As a recent Diamond member, I received a letter that says I get a 1 time free meal for 2 at a specialty restaurant. I was thinking about using it on my Vista sailing next month to take DH to the steakhouse on his birthday. My question is....when I go to book online, I see I have to pre-pay. There is no spot to show that it is a Diamond meal or anything. If I was to pre-pay, then  show up with the letter once onboard, would they refund the price to my onboard account? Or should I just try and wait and book once onboard? Thanks for any help/insight!

Please define, "recent Diamond member"? Do you reach "Diamond Status" on the Vista cruise you mentioned, or already have Diamond status looking to use that awesomely wonderful, one time...umm..."perk" of complimentary specialty dining?

Just being curious as we leave on the Venezia on the 27th, which is our "Diamond cruise" for both my wife and I, and have not seen that letter, unless it's something they provide onboard.

Scotch..bourbon...whiskey....neat....very very dry gin or vodka martini's

1 hour ago, toad455 said:

So is the May 19 Pride cruise sailing out of Norfolk?

Almost a certainty at this point that it will.

2 hours ago, TheLargeFamily said:

Maybe make all purchases on board with one persons sign and sail card if u can strategies that. 

Yea, I suppose we could do something like that, but I have this stubbornly misguided thought that after over 2 dozen cruises, with an average cruise length of about 9 days, Carnival would throw us a bone once in a while vs someone who hasn’t even cruised with them twice!! I know, completely illogical.

41 minutes ago, eas2225 said:

Last October we were on the Legend with our three grown kids and their families.  My two sons had the drinks package, bought a few pictures and gave their kids money for the arcade.

My daughter, however, rented a cabana in Grand Turk, had the drinks package, and spent a ton on pictures and arcade for the kids.  Now she is getting email offers for a free room, because of "your activity onboard our ships." 

Seems like offers are not just targeting gamblers.

 

Eileen

Curious, how many cruises has your daughter been on? We're sailing with a friend on Venezia later this month, this will be her second Carnival cruise. Since booking, she's received several offers for free cabins and OBC from Carnival, as well as from BJ's who she booked the cruise with. Meanwhile, we've hit the diamond level with Carnival and get..well...nothing. Sounds like we may have to up our onboard spending game.

We've sailed out of Barcelona 3 times all pre-COVID, however yes,we  were able to check-in and leave the ship, though we did not leave the port terminal building. Our goal was to grab wine and liquor from a store in the terminal, to bring back onboard which we were able to do. Not sure if this is still the case, but good chance it is.

I don't recall our scheduled departure times, but do recall boarding was much like other cruises we've done. While 2 of the ships we sailed were brand new builds, I believe prior to the TA they did a handful of Mediterranean cruises. Other TA was after the Destiny was converted to the Sunshine, and I think Sunshine did a few Med cruises also. 

Edit: Just noticed we're almost neighbors!!

13 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Always love the “inedible” comments.

I enjoy those comments as well. Particularly this time as we were on the Jubilee this past February, the week after the Super Bowl along with Valentines Day. We booked that cruise very late, and all the specialty restaurants to the surprise of no one, were booked solid for Valentines Day, Pre-cruise menus we looked at suggested they'd have the somewhat then, recently added Beef Wellington as a selection for V-Day,  so we decided on that for our V-Day dinner. We we not at all disappointed, maybe a bit surprised it was better than we anticipated. 

25 minutes ago, tlsearay said:

I would like to know if the bed is by the balcony in any of these Celebration cabins:  12370, 12346, 12350 or 12374.  Thank you.

If you go to Carnivals website and pull up the deck plans for the Celebration, and download or option the .pdf file, I'm pretty sure the cabins shaded in grey have the beds located closer to the bathroom, the rest or unshaded ones the bed should be nearer the baclony.

4 minutes ago, Noledad77 said:

Kind of a sidebar from this, if my check-in (online) date says June 30, does that mean June 29 at midnight -->> June 30 or June 30 at midnight -->> July 1st?

Midnight June 29 EST

4 minutes ago, shari1737 said:

I have tried to find the answer to this question but so far haven't found anything.  We aren't going on our cruise until next April but are probably going to be getting the Cheers Package.  My question is when I go to the website, it says purchase prior to sailing and save up to 10% vs. purchasing onboard.  Everything I have read says it is $59.95 per day ($70.74 with service charges added) so is it more than $59.95 if you sign up onboard? 

Yes it is, something like 64.95 a day purchased onboard.

45 minutes ago, jeblack1 said:

Yikes....I have read thiat the bathrooms are smaller, but even if they are smaller, at least you don't have to share it with the shower curtain creeper....now I am wondering if I should try to switch to a room that is opposite with the bed near the window.

We've been on all 3 Excel class ships, in balcony cabins with the bed nearer the bathroom, and nearer the balcony...while these cabins did not "suck", we actually prefer the bed be nearer the bathroom, seemed to open up the area next to the balcony door. But yes, the cabins are a bit narrower, but nothing for us to be concerned about. Though them bathrooms are a bit smaller...does make for a cozy shower experience. 

1 hour ago, SpainAlien said:

Thank you for the info.  We thought since we were flying in from Europe and the dates tied in we would do both cruises at once and save flying over a second time, having said that we've booked to go from Miami at Christmas too

On the Excel ships (Celebration), Cucina del Capitano, Chibang, and Guys Pig&Anchor are available at no charge the first time you dine there, then I believe it's $8 for additional visits. One "caveat", is you must have Your Time Dining if you want to dine at those spots before 7:30. Those with set time dining must wait until that time to dine at those restaurants. 

Last year we did a B2B, ok, side to side from the RCI Harmony of the Seas to the Celebration in Miami. We went a different "route" and debarked the Harmony as soon as we could to get down to the Celebration. Walking was really not an option, or at least a safe option, so we took a cab from the Harmony terminal down to Celebration. With all of that being unknown, we did things as soon as we could. We did wait about an hour to be let into the terminal and start checkin, We were under cover so no sitting in the hot sun, and chatting with others passed the time. We had a great time!!

7 minutes ago, pirate4me2 said:

We have done Rudi's 3 times on MG. First time was meh, and I wasn't sure about returning, but decided to give it a second shot on a different sailing....and it was delish! So much so that we booked another night there on that same sailing. I would go again in the future! 

We did Rudi's on the Celebration last May. We were curious going in having read about Rudi'ls prior to the cruise, sounded like a nice addition to their new ships. Once we boarded we decided to try Rudi's the first night of the cruise...free bottle of wine drew us in!! Unfortunately we were disappointed. Probably mostly due to poor service, our server was just not that attentive. I think that set a bad tone for the rest of the meal, at one point I wanted to leave but my wife wanted to stay. Our menu selections disappointed as well, certainly aided by less than expected service.

We just chalked it up to a "bad night", probably not the norm. But, we laugh at this. While we didn't feel what we experienced was really indicative of dining at Rudi's, we've since been on Mardi Gras and Jubilee several times since Celebration, and cant' bring ourselves to try Rudi's again, even telling each other we should!! Oh well, maybe next cruise on an Excel ship.

I'll add another nod to Celebration, for mostly the same reasons as stated, better dining options, bar options and new ship design and layout. We've done 8 day ABC cruises on both, Horizon and Celebration and given a choice would choose Celebration. Can't say if it's "worth' the $300 difference, but having been on all 3 Excel class ships...I seem to lean towards them!!

20 hours ago, bumorgan said:

We hope to leave May 5th on the Pride. Will it be Norfolk or Baltimore. They are still selling this cruise from Baltimore. Any one else going on this cruise?

Just did a quick look on Carnivals website, the May 5 from Baltimore sailing seems is not showing up, not unusual for a sailing only 3 weeks out. However I'd think at this point the May 5 cruise would leave from Norfolk, but just a guess.

The USACE and the Unified response groups working on the salvage operations from the Key Bridge collapse are aiming to have the normal shipping channel re-opened by the end of May. Certainly not a set in stone date, but a timeline they are working towards. Could be sooner, could be later. We could only assume that means cruise ships will be able to return to the Baltimore cruise port. Seems Carnival should be aware of this and making it's decisions, but who knows.

If you are curious, can read about the salvage operations here.

https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/3731790/us-army-corps-of-engineers-develops-tentative-timeline-to-reopen-fort-mchenry-c/

27 minutes ago, stobe1 said:

Go to their contact page. Maybe they have a process where you can manually upload your most recent Fidelity statement showing your CCL stock.

Thats pretty much exactly what I've done. My investment are through Fidelity. First time I used/setup Stockperks I included a copy of my ownership statement and used that one statement to redeem the perk for 3 different cruises. No login to my Fidelity account needed. 

21 hours ago, wannagonow123 said:

Let me see if I can word this properly. Is there a dollar amount limit that I can place on the on board  account  that I can use AARP gift cards to cover? 

 

For example, if I charge $3,000 from the casino to my room, can I apply $3,000 in Gift cards to cover the charge? I understand It will be a "use or loose" situation. Just trying to  figure out a dollar amount I should bring. 

 

Anyone know?

I'm not sure of dollar limits with gift cards applied to onboard spending accounts, however gift cards are not use or lose, thats cruise cash. Gift cards are non-refundable of course, however if you do not spend the entire amount of a gift card, the balance will be returned to another gift card.

23 hours ago, noshoobie said:

Sorry to get off topic from the OP, but can you give me your insight on the Celebration itself? We are considering either Horizon or Celebration in September to ABC. @Saint Greg is travelling on the Horizon to ABC this month. I would love to hear the different point of views of the ships. Thanks. 

We loved the Celebration...we've also done the other 2 Excel class ships, Mardi Gras and Jubilee. We are fans of bigger ships. Have done a few of RCI's Oasis class ships and enjoyed those as well.

We are not even close to being cruise ship foodies, we just don't concern ourselves with food or dining options that greatly. Having said that, we did enjoy the more varied , included options Celebration and the other Excel class ships offered. We will always/only do YTD, and having Chibang, Guys P&A and Cucina as dinner time dining options in addition to the MDR and Lido for no charge, or at least no charge for the first time you go is a big plus. We're not fans of the MDR.

The layout of the Excel ships takes a little getting used to, but does seem to spread the pax out among the various entertainment and bar options. We had no issues when wanting to hang out on deck getting a lounger, then again, we stay away from the Lido pool madness. I guess one thing we're not real crazy about is the location of the Alchemy bar. We enjoy what the Alchemy bar was about when first introduced some years back, and although the concept remained intact on Excel ships, its now situated in a spot where it feels more like a party bar, and in a location that is pretty noisy. But there are other bars we enjoyed that were a little less rambunctious for our tastes.

I'm not big on reading and especially doing reviews, so sorry for not alot of detail other than to say we enjoyed the Celebration and the cruise to the ABC's. Our last 6 cruises were on Excel and Oasis class ships. We have a cruise booked next month on Venezia which is basically laid out similar to the Vista class ships. Going to be interesting to see how going to a "smaller ship" feels!!

Incidentally, we've done an 8 day ABC cruise on Horizon also, one of first cruises we did after things opened back up after the COVID shutdown and did enjoy that very much as well

We last did a B2B on Mardi Gras last October. "Things" were a little different from what I've read. We did meet at the Brass Magnolia seating area, were led off the ship to have our faces scanned, took maybe 15 minutes to get off and back on. What we've "heard" is that if there is a "larger" group of B2B'ers, that is when you're more likely to go off and back on...could be true, could be it varies from port to port. We were told there were over 200 B2B'ers. Got back on away we went. No mimosas. Back in our cabin there was a bottle of champagne, fruit basket, and coupons to head down to Pixels and have a "B2B photo taken"...just us 2. Also we each had a coupon for one complimentary drink to be used at any bar onboard. 

Overall, pretty good experience, however we didn't get to enjoy the full "empty ship" experience as we had friends boarding the second leg who were celebrating a birthday, so we took the time while the ship was empty to head over to their cabin and do some, decorating and other silly stuff...was all greatly appreciated!!

Just kind of an OBTW...I did not see it mentioned, Celebration does an 8 day ABC cruise out of Miami...we did our 5th Southern Carib/ABC on Celebration last May, and was probably the best for us ABC cruise we've done. Or best cruise was the 16 day transatlantic on the Sunshine some years ago. Alaska would be up there, but on our Alaskan cruise last year the weather had other ideas. Nice cruise, but definitely was "subdued" by the weather.