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If it helps, according to my boarding pass (when we are on Mardi Gras back in April) final boarding time was listed as 3:00 pm (of course it could change though).

Yes, it's very similar. But I thought the airports were worse than the ship. Super expensive and every flight overbooked (paying volunteers to take later flights).

I was just going to say the same thing. We were on Valor last week and I tried to purchase it for just our last day (catch up on emails/check in for flights, etc) and the social plan was not available. The next best (lease expensive) option was value plan - $20 for a 24 hr period.

We were instructed to meet at 7:15 in the dining room for early debarkation, but at approximately 7:05 when we arrived, everybody was already gone and they quickly ushered us off the ship (so apparently we could have gotten off even earlier but didn't realize it). If you are Platinum/Diamond you will automatically get a letter telling you where to meet. But you can also go to guest services and let them know you have an early flight, and they will add you to the priority debarkation group.

We had planned to stay at Omni but due to a huge convention in town, most of the hotels were sold out. We took a chance (it was only 1 night and we are usually exhausted from travel, so if it's clean and quiet, we are happy) and booked Cambria in the warehouse district (we knew nothing about it). We were pleasantly surprised. It's in a great location for walking around town. It is a clean and quiet boutique hotel - really great staff. We walked to the French Quarter for dinner and then around the Riverwalk/port area. It only took us 10 - 15 minutes to walk to port the next morning. We thought the price was great (but that might have been because we paid in advance (nonrefundable, through a 3rd party site).

Thanks Greg - sorry, I did screw that up. I also wanted to thank you for your awesome information on New Orleans. Our hotel staff tried to tell us not to walk to the port, but I pulled up your instructions (posted several months ago) and it was super easy.

We just flew home from there yesterday. We had a 10:20 am flight and had plenty of time to spare. Looking at our Lyft receipt, we were off the ship and in the car by 7:25 and at MSY by 7:54. We did use priority debarkation (carried off our luggage).

I have had this happen also. From my online account, I was able to print out (PDF) some screen shots and they accepted that.

I agree - we have been on Mardi Gras at 50% capacity and have been on it at spring break when we were over capacity and it was fine both times. The first time, there were not many passengers, but because of that several venues were hardly open (some of the bars had really limited hours, if they were open at all). At least 50% of the buffet was shut down. The didn't use half of the dining room. At full capacity all of these were open and it was fine. I also worried about embarkation/debarkation with so many people but it was fine. We enjoyed Mardi Gras so much that we are booked for Celebration in January and Jubilee Dec. 2023.

Yes, I think so. I agree every place is different, but for what it is worth, I have 4 kids and none of them ever had a spring break that late in April. The younger kids always had the first full week of April off. We have found that to be an extremely common spring break while at WDW or on cruises. Our college age kid has spring break in early March.

Yes, that is the best part! My favorite was an amazing Coconut Pineapple Vinaigrette, but they also had Balsamic Sherry Vinaigrette, Moroccan Vinaigrette, Caesar, Ranch, and Blue Cheese. Unfortunately if it gets too windy, they close the serenity deck and Fresh Creations, so don't put off going (it might not be available later). We were cruising during Hurricane Kay and it was closed for several days.

I do this also! I didn't mention it because people look at me like I'm crazy on the ship! But I agree, that is one thing I will miss (unless I sleep in until 11 so I can get my coffee with a dab of ice cream in it.). 😄

I believe it was deck 4 near the casino.

For embarkation lunch, go up the stairs near the rear buffet, to the Asian or Italian restaurant (there is an upcharge for dinner, but both are free for lunch). When we were on Panorama a couple months ago, the buffet was crazy busy during embarkation and people could hardly find a free table. We went upstairs to the Asian restaurant (it's called JiJis at night but something like the Asian Wok during the day). It was very quiet with just a few other couples in the entire restaurant. Service was amazingly quick and the food was really good. By later in the week people had figured it out and lines were long and service was slower. My other favorite thing about Panorama is Fresh Creations on the serenity deck (made to order salads where you select the ingredients and they put it together for you). Really good salad with different options than their typical salad bar. We grabbed a salad and brought it down to a lower deck and we had like 8 people ask us where to get it.

I am actually happy to see this (Carnival trying to minimize food waste). With inflation at a 40-year high businesses can't keep going on with business as usual. They either have to try to contain costs or raise prices. I guess Carnival is doing a little of both, but it's understandable. Add me to the list of people who really hate to see all the food wasted on ships (it's bothered me for years). I know... I know ... it's not "wasted", it's fed to the fish. Well, if Carnival has to keep paying top dollar to feed the fish, they are going to pass that price on to their customers (they have no choice).

I love the lido interior cabins on that class of ship. In my experience it's a very quiet location (if you aren't too close to the door that leads out to the deck). it's also a convenient location - we hardly had to take the elevators, but if we did, it's a large bank (atrium elevators) servicing that forward section of the ship.

The most recent was 43.55 before tip, and it took us 27 minutes to get there.

I think that would be fine. We have been on Radiance twice in the last year. Looking at my Uber receipts, we were off the ship and in the Uber between 8:00 - 8:15 am both times. We are also Platinum and do priority/self debarkation.

Long Beach is set up that way also.

We have been on 8 cruises in the past year (10 since they started this new process) and in our case it totally depended on the port, except for guests in suites, they had priority in every single port. In every port (except for San Francisco) we boarded by boarding group and it was very quick and organized. San Francisco was a total mess (boarding was late, then they called for any guests in suites/diamond/platinum, all at once, which resulted in a huge crowd rushing toward the boarding area). To further add to the priority/no priority confusion, some ports have lines designated for Suite Passengers/Platinum/Diamond for expedited check-in, but even if you get through the check-in line quickly, you still have to wait for your boarding group to be called.

I was just curious what Carnival told you when you called? But it sounds like maybe you have determined (through screen shots and advice here) that it's a balcony guarantee, not Havana area? If you have time to come back up update us after your cabin is assigned, I'd love to know how it turns out. Living on the west coast we sail out of Long Beach frequently but I've never tried a guaranteed cabin.

I thought the same thing. Hopefully OP will come back and let us know how it turned out.

Yes, take a copy of your request (including proof of ownership) to guest services and they can apply it onboard.

I called Carnival when I had something similar happen, and in my case, was told it was a balcony guarantee (not HC). I know their agents can be hit or miss in helpfulness lately, but you might give it a try.

Wow, I'm jealous, what a deal. We are booked on Celebration in January, but the price for the Havana Cabana was significantly more than an extended balcony cabin, so we booked the ext. balcony.