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I'm with you 100% - same happened to us on Panorama. Glad we got to try it, but the ship spas are not for us (we found it to be extremely crowded, not relaxing at all). I'm not sure if this is the case on all ships, but we had to skip a port and they were selling day passes like crazy (way too many in my opinion). But I did absolutely love the very quiet cabin environment.

I agree - the ship got bigger and the elevators got smaller! 😄 I love the Vista class elevator system.

I posted a picture of it on Saturday: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2934248-carnival-dream-right-now/#comment-65294204

We were on Valor in November and enjoyed it - I love the fact that the port is within walking distance from several hotels. I've learned to avoid the 3 or 4 day itineraries along with holiday weekends, but I think a 5-day would be fine.

We have been pretty lucky with our TBA rooms - on the Dream it was assigned 75 days before the cruise, and on Vista it was roughly 50 days out. Let us know how it turns out! 🙂

I said the exact same thing the one time we had a spa room on Panorama - we will never book a spa room again for this reason. It was so crowded on sea days (and we ended up missing a port due to weather, so we had mostly sea days).

Totally agree - we were planning to quickly drop our carry-ons (we always try to be quick and stay out of their way). Our room steward saw us heading for the cabin and he came down, introduced himself and gave us our S&S cards and told us we could stay in the room if we'd like (we didn't). This was our 14th cruise since cruising resumed, and only the second time our cabin has been ready that early so I just wanted to give them props.

I was super impressed this week on the Dream when our room was ready as soon as we boarded w/the platinum group (that never happens anymore).

We had really high wind gusts - at one point, the captain ordered everyone inside the vessel (we couldn't even be out on our balconies).

Not Valor, but we just got off Dream this morning and it was really rough last night. We sailed during hurricane kay and I would say it was comparable to that.

We just watched the most amazing medical evacuation. Our Coast Guard is incredible! It was their second attempt- first time was this morning but we sailed into a huge storm and it had to be aborted. Entire ship cheered when this attempt was successful.

I am hooked! In 25 cruises with carnival, we are currently in our first cove balcony (getting off Dream tomorrow) and I can't believe we have missed out on this treasure for so long! It has been awesome - we have seen dolphins multiple times. Love the sound of the waves. We had a huge downpour in Freeport but stayed dry and out of the wind in the cove balcony. Planning to book another cove balcony as soon as we get home.

Absolutely true - happened to us for our upcoming Jubilee booking. I had obsessively compulsively researched/booked a very specific location at least a year in advance. Recently got a very brief email basically saying "you've been moved" (no explanation and no other cabin options available as the cruise is sold out).

We are on Dream now and they actually did run out of pins (huge number of diamond/platinum on this sailing) but they told us to come back the next day and they had more. Everything has been great - priority boarding & water shuttle, free laundry has been really quick (same day when submitted early enough).

We are sitting at the port of Galveston now waiting to board. We flew into HOU/Hobby last night (well technically at 3 am this morning after multiple delays on Southwest) and took an Uber to the port this morning. It took us 40 minutes to get here and cost $41 before tip.

We received a text yesterday stating the same, and final boarding is now 3:00, but no other info.

For reference, we were in 9370 (right above grand central) and loved it - close walk to many popular areas and no noise issues that we noticed (but we spend very little time in the room).

I think you made a good choice. We have been on Mardi Gras twice and Celebration once. Our first cruise on Mardi Gras we were also mid-ship, deck 9. It is a good location (but we have also been in a Havana Cabana and aft, deck 9 on our other Excel cruises, and all were great locations). I agree with you on staying deck 9 (or lower) in regard to the elevators. I see you are cruising over a holiday, so likely a very full ship (we were over spring break on a completely full ship). In our experience the Excel class doesn't seem as crowded when sailing full (the crowds on the Dream class kill me when sailing full).

Interesting (good to know!). I was disappointed to find that the Excel class ships don't have a library.

How was it advertised/how did you find out about it - did you book it through the app?

Yes, these cabins connect through an inside door. In our experience, it's not as bad as some hotels (where it can sound like the people next door are practically in your room) but not as private as a regular cabin. We never book these cabins on purpose, but have been assigned twice (when booking a balcony guarantee).

I agree - we tried an aft facing balcony once (but we were on Miracle). Between the soot and the vibrations we will never book one again.

We booked this type of room for Luminosa (I guess it's a spirit/vista hybrid in class?) - anyway, we paid the same price for this room as an interior (which I thought was an amazing value, not only natural light but a sofa also).

Thank you for posting - we will be on spirit when she goes back through the canal the other way in September (from Seattle to New Orleans), and I'm anticipating this will happen to us also.