dolphinsfan246

Panorama did go the long way around , just not with passengers. They were adamant about her being “brand new” when she got to Long Beach. It was a 41 day voyage from Italy. Vista class cannot do the new locks because of the lifeboats overhanging. If they were designed more tucked into the hull than they could.

I was also told that maintenance on those roofs is very expensive and that’s why they started to move away from them, including removing them from the Destiny class during their transformations. I’ve been on a few ships with them and have never seen one closed, even in the pouring down rain lol

One visual difference is that Venezia has the enclosed Lido deck with retractable roof. That’s something Carnival hasn’t done in years. I think it will be good for sailing from New York though.

Yes I would not be surprised at all to see them move more Costa ships over. I believe Costa Serena still has no deployment plan. And like I said before , I wouldn’t consider Sunshine safe just because. I know Carnival does not have the financial position to make large ship orders any time soon, so they have already shown they are going be creative to expand their fleet by poaching other brands. Replacing Sunshine with Costa Serena is plausible and lowers the age of ship by 11 years.

I’m just saying that’s the reason John heald gave for retiring Ecstasy and Sensation when he was on the Ecstasy’s last cruise. They wanted them until 2025 but the engines needed expensive repairs asap.

I wouldn’t be so sure , Sunshine was built in 1996, that makes her 26 years old. Inspiration was built in the same year and was scrapped. Yes Sunshine had a major renovation in 2013 but 26 year old engines are still 26 year old engines. If the cost of the repairs are more than the return on investment they would get, then they will have no problem selling her as well. This is what happened to both Sensation and Ecstasy, they wanted to keep both but both needed costly repairs of over $20M each. Sensation was in worse shape than Ecstasy, so that’s why they gave Ecstasy the final season in Mobile over Sensation.

Personally I haven’t noticed anything unusual in deployment changing time frames. I’d consider the restart in late 2021 as a total “restart” of any deployments that existed prior to Covid. Sure some ships remained in the same ports but I think Carnival is still getting their footing so to say with the return to cruising. Ft. Lauderdale is still left out, but they were always basically just an extra Miami berth anyways. Mobile used to be year round but is now seasonal. It will be interesting to see how things unfold in the next couple of years. If more Costa ships come over, if Elation/Paradise/Sunshine head to the breakers , etc. I don’t see them having the means to make any large ship orders any time soon so they have to be creative by absorbing Costa.

I sure hope Carnival doesn’t get forced to pay some kind of legal settlement to this fool. I’m sorry but you don’t just wake up in the middle of the ocean. This guy had to work by climbing over railings to fall off the ship. Whether he remembers it or not , he did it.

I wouldn’t mind the medals so much if they had the actual ships name on them. The cool thing about the ships on the stick is that they are unique to each ship so it makes its fun trying to earn one throughout the week each cruise. But now it’s just the same generic medals on all 3 of my cruises this year , I haven’t seen a ship on a stick yet this year including last week on Mardi Gras.

They are fully putting the pressure on the ports to build terminals outside of their bridges if they want to stay in the cruise game. Eventually the cruise lines will have their way and the ports will cave. They build ships based on cost per berth , the only way to get a cost per berth number that they feel like they can turn a good profit on now days is to build at least 4,000 passengers. That’s how cruising prices have mostly remained the same since the 1980’s. If they were to build a smaller ship , it would be the most expensive one to cruise on in their fleet.

When I’m rubbing body parts with strangers and I can’t move an inch, the elevator is full. And I never heard an alarm. “Max capacity 17” LOOOL

Those excel class elevators are a huge con! We were on Mardi Gras last week and I was very shocked how small they were, you could really only comfortably fit 5 MAYBE 6 people but we kept getting smashed in with 10+. Which I guess I understand because people were tired of waiting for one. I was just really scratching my head how the biggest ship with highest pax count was designed with the absolute smallest elevators I’ve ever seen on a ship.

We were on the Mardi Gras last week and as we were returning to the ship for lunch, we witnessed security informing a lady that she could not get off because it flagged her sail and sign when they scanned it. She made a big skeptical shouting about it. “SO YOUR TELLING ME MY HUSBAND CAN GET OFF BUT I CANT WHAT IS THIS?” To which the workers responded “Um yes mam because he is vaccinated and it says you are not”. She was being a real delight.

Ok this makes sense now! I am just a casual casino player and I was on this cruise last week not knowing or caring that it was a massive casino cruise. We usually only spend around $100 in the casino but like to hit max bets on a machine that has like $3 max bets. Couldn’t find that anywhere, I was amazed that the minimum bet on a lot of machines was $8 or more. Because of that (and because it was nearly impossible to ever find a open machine) we totally skipped the casino for the first time. Those bet amounts were totally insane to me and I can’t imagine how much some people probably spent.

Sorry that happened and that sure does suck. But it’s seems childish to swear off Carnival over a mistake that Port Canaveral employees made. Especially when you even admitted everything about your cruise was great. I think your stewards and everybody else who waited on you hand and foot are well deserving of that “great review” you seem to be holding hostage because of the port workers. I was on the same cruise as you and this ship had the best crew I have seen in YEARS. Even prior to Covid. And the little jab about Royal putting your bag in the right zone, once again has nothing to do with the cruise lines and all to do with the porters unloading luggage. I was ready to sympathize with you but that part at the end was so dramatic.

Personally I am glad they charge a fee for Bolt and here’s why. Roller coasters take an incredible amount of maintenance, and are expensive to operate. I imagine the cost of that maintenance is even drastically higher at sea (salt on track,etc). If they insisted on having one at sea, which they did , I’m glad they made it an extra OPTIONAL cost to guests. They could have pushed those operational costs into the fares of everybody then everyone is paying for a feature I assume only around 35-45% of the guests even use. I was perfectly happy to pay the $15 TWICE to ride it because I enjoyed it and that’s what I wanted to do. It’s the like same concept as complaining that they have up charge restaurants, it’s optional, you either do it or don’t. Your on vacation and honestly what’s $15 compared to the thousands you’ve already spent ? Just do it if you think you would enjoy it. The $15 cost covers the operational costs of the ride plain and simple.

I’m so glad I don’t have to go to a bar to get a soda on Mardi Gras next week! I’ve experienced exactly what you mentioned a few times this year. One bartender basically threw a can at me, no cup or ice just the can and basically shewed me away like I was a bother.

I understand what you are saying to a point. I’ve seen some crew members who really don’t look like they are that into it. Usually older more “mature” waiters. But I’ve also seen the majority of them truly seem to enjoy it. I talked to one waiter about it a few years ago, asked him in his honest opinion if he really liked doing the “showtime”. He was a younger guy and he said he absolutely looked forward to it every single day. He said he used to work for Celebrity Cruises where he made way more money in gratuities, but he left that job voluntarily for Carnival because he actually enjoys himself and it doesn’t feel like work at all when he gets to have fun.

Well if history is anything to go on, I think it’s pretty much a 100% chance that any “Sunshining” of the Spirit class will definitely add more cabins. Most likely trimming the main theaters from 3 decks to 2 and adding cabins on deck 4 forward. The good news is other than that, they don’t present many other opportunities to squeeze in cabins. They could add a deck forward like they did on Paradise and Elation, but even that area only provides enough room for maybe 15-20 cabins. They could add cabins on deck 9 above the bridge, and probably market them as Spa cabins due to their close proximity.

Also John Heald mentioned on the final cruise that they really wanted to keep Ecstasy for longer but she was needing very expensive engine repairs, they looked into fixing her but it would have cost over $20 million. It was just too much to invest in the old girl. But even with that, Ecstasy’s engines was in better shape than Sensation’s, which is why they kept her around for that little final season from a Mobile instead of Sensation.

There is an Instagram account named @good_ship_ that does cool “what if” renderings. He recently did a modern Fantasy class.

I’ve read multiple posts on here that the Pride is in the same condition as you just mentioned on Sunshine. Those years off from Covid really put them behind on basic maintenance. And I still feel like each ship is still very under staffed. Sad , I wonder if we will ever get back to way it was before.

If I had to venture a total guess , I’d say they go out sometime in 2026-2028. Also let us not forget that the oldest ship in the fleet is now the Carnival Sunshine (1996) . So I’m more interested to see how much longer she lasts even though she had a major refurb in 2013, but old engines are still old engines, which was the sole reason Ecstasy was retired without being able to find a buyer.

John Heald said during a Q&A session on the Ecstasy that there are currently no plans to build any smaller ships. But he also said there is no plans to retire any ships in the coming years. So we have the 2 remaining Fantasy class and now technically 5 Spirit class with the addition of Luminosa. Also by todays standards , I’d even consider the Conquest class a smaller ship experience. He did mention that those ports that are locked by size restrictions could look at dredging or new terminals to accommodate. Seems they will put pressure on the ports to accommodate larger ships if they want to stay in the game.

I was told she was going to Miami first, for final preparations and crew transfers then to Aliaga as final destination.