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Cove balconies are my favorite class of balcony, but I won't book one under the galley. I've heard too many stories about noise all night long and I'm a light sleeper.

And if I can add - will Carnival ever return to Vancouver B.C. as a departure port?

The long (and expensive at times) flight from LAX keeps me from booking that itenerary. We talk about trying a repositioning cruise that goes there someday, but I won't do that many hours on a plane roundtrip. So I agree, maybe a lower priced cruise as an incentive to offset that.

I totally agree - I think Dream class feels the most crowded, with lines for everything. We have been on completely sold out sailings on Excel class ships (spring break and New Years Eve) and feel they are well equipped to handle the increased passengers.

I just found I'd saved a PDF of our old boarding pass - we were in 8260.

In our case, our daughter slept on the couch. If I remember correctly, the couch was by the balcony door and there was no pullman option.

Yes, we had 3 people in a Havana Cabana and 2 more family members in an inside cabin across the hall. It was perfect - more than enough room for all 5 of us to hang on the patio (and deck chairs just in front of our patio). It was so calm, quiet, and relaxing - we rarely saw anyone else (on a sold out spring break cruise). If they weren't so much more expensive than a regular balcony, I'd book a Havana Cabana every time!

We loved out cruise on Miracle our of San Francisco, it's one of my favorite departure ports - so much to do in close proximity (you can walk everywhere if you want). I also like the fact that you can use SFO or OAK airports if you have to fly to/from port. It worked out better for us to fly into OAK and out of SFO (you never know ... check all options). She is an older ship, and if decor is important to you, very gaudy (but as long as a ship is clean and well maintained, decor doesn't bother me). The ship has a nice layout that doesn't feel crowded - we didn't experience long lines for everything like we have on some other ships. We don't have any food allergies in our family, but I've heard Carnival has an excellent program called Menu Mate (more info under the link below). https://www.carnival.com/about-carnival/special-needs/dietary-needs You didn't mention if you've cruised to Alaska before, but if not, that is a whole other discussion (great unique itenerary if you are used to the tropical cruises). Carnival has a great kids club program - it's been a few years since we've used it but my kids really enjoyed it in the past, along with the waterworks and water slides. Miracle should have Seuss at Sea for the kids too. It all depends on what experience you are looking for, but for the size ships that sail the Alaska itenerary, I think Miracle is good option.

Same for us (on Miracle) - we didn't experience exactly what you did but the vibrations during the night (for no apparent reason, not coming into port or anything) were brutal. It not only woke me up but gave me a headache. Between that and all the soot on our balcony, we don't care for aft balconies.

We have done several repositioning cruises w/Carnival (they are our favorite)! The ones we have done have been on Spirit class ships, which we really like. They are smaller with not as much to do, but they have a great layout and never feel crowded. In our experience, it's a much older crowd than we usually see on Carnival (last year we did 16 days through the Panama Canal and there were less than 20 kids on ship). I didn't feel the same party vibe I usually do on a Carnival ship (in fact it was the most empty I've ever seen the bars). People seemed to be there more for the itenerary/experience. I thought the shows and comedians were great (comedians rotated on/off the ship throughout the journey). There were also experts on board who held presentations. Our ship offered a lot of activities (there was a frequent painting class that was really popular). I've also done the Panama Canal on a HAL ship and it was very similar (the crowed was probably a bit younger on Carnival but not much!).

Agreed! I also don't consider a higher deck an upgrade but Carnival tries to sell it as if it is. I've seen upgrades offered where passengers would go from a cabin sandwiched between cabin decks to a room right under Lido (that would be a huge downgrade to me but I'm a light sleeper). I love NCLs process for selling upgrades (a bidding process) - I wish Carnival would switch to something like that.

We were on the Panorama (out of Long Beach) for Hurricane Kay. All of our port stops were changed to different days (and we ended up skipping a port) but the captain managed to dodge the bad weather for a few days. Unfortunately the last 3 days of the cruise were bad - very rocky seas, high winds, rain. Most of the outdoor decks were closed and pools were drained. They will do the best they can to dodge bad weather/storms but with the Mexican Riviera there aren't a lot of options. Regarding the terminal at Long Beach - yes it has a very large indoor space but they are typically pretty strict about not letting people into the terminal until their arrival appointment (you will see long lines outside divided up by arrival appointment).

It's working fine for me - just got done with a booking. It was a little slow, but I thought that was my internet connection.

It is open to everyone - here is a picture I took of that pool a few weeks ago on jubilee.

You won't lose your OBC but the offer might be gone (taken by someone else) by the time you try to "accept" it (that happened to us).

We have been on Celebration twice and absolutely love it. So many restaurant and entertainment options, the ship can be your destination (there were some ports we didn't even get off) and you never get bored. We have been on around 30 Carnival ships and feel their Excel class is a whole new experience.

I was going to say the same thing - we have been on around 35 cruises (once during a hurricane) and only one time were seas rough enough that the captain ordered everyone inside the vessel. Even in that instance they did not close off our our cove balcony with the big steel door.

We were just talking about this when we were on Jubilee. We have been on all 3 Excel class ships, and Mardi Gras is the only one where we saw views of the ocean and it was so stunning. I don't understand why Celebration and Jubilee don't do this, but we paid particular attention on Jubilee and never saw the open ocean view.

Exactly - I have purchased multiple days as needed throughout the cruise, but it is a little more expensive to do it that way.

If you have "Your Time Dining" you can request a table (in the app) anytime the restaurant is open for dinner (I believe it is between 5:30 - 9:00). That is what we did. I haven't experienced it, but I've heard that if you have an assigned (early or late) dining time, you can't request a table until 7:30 I think. We have never tried it, but I don't believe you can request a table at the door - I think they will direct you to the app. We were on Jubilee the end of December and at that time the specialty restaurants were running extremely slowly (for example, it took exactly an hour to get our dinner after the appetizer at Cucina). It's likely because the crew was new to working together, etc. so it might be better now.

I totally agree - we were on the NYE sailing of Jubilee and we were told 50% of the ship qualified for priority. I heard it was the same situation on the inaugural (and Christmas) cruise the week before. I mostly felt bad for the crew, debarkation was kind of crazy. Carnival needs to revamp their VIFP program.

That is interesting - I'm not booked on a Carnival ship until the end of August, but if I look at my planner, I do see a check-in date under my To-Do List (and we have not made final payment yet) so I'm not sure why you aren't seeing that on your May 2024 cruise.

We were on Horizon for Christmas several years ago (out of Miami). It was okay, but we didn't love being on a ship for Christmas and don't have plans to do it again (even though we cruise on the majority of the holidays as that is what works best for my work schedule). Based on some of the things you mentioned, I'm wondering if you've considered a New Year's Eve cruise? We found that to be so much fun and will definitely do it again (already booked on Celebration for next time around). For Christmas, I just felt bad for the crew members who couldn't be home with their families. It's a different atmosphere - a nice, family oriented cruise with tons of kids/families, whereas NYE was just fun. Not so many kids, and the NYE party was incredible (it's one of just a few instances where I've seen many off-duty crew members up on deck taking pictures/videos). It was just a really fun/friendly crowd in general the entire week. And Carnival did other unique things, like a special menu for NYE (in addition to it being formal night) and a buffet offering (special breakfast menu) following the party (in addition to their regular late-night buffet). They also passed out champagne at the party just before midnight. I can't think of anything else right now, but there were other specials (I think I heard something about additional free bingo cards w/the purchase of a package). Either way, based on our experience cruising Thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE, I would recommend a Vista or Excel class ship. It will be an extremely full ship and I feel like they do the best job at dispersing the crowd around the ship (w/more food and entertainment options) so it doesn't feel as crowded. Even so, things like the first sea day brunch were very popular (plan on at least a 1.25 - 2 hour wait to get in for example). Not complaining, just saying plan accordingly.

I agree. In our experience (just last summer) we couldn't use the app in a case like this - we just walked up to the door of the MDR, they asked our cabin number, and seated us. In our case (a party of 2) we did get our own table, but I can see where that could vary by ship. The app will specify "open dining/open seating" or something like that, so you know it's not a typical dinner process.

I caught a cold during the trip/wasn't feeling well and didn't make it to "Dear Future Husband" but my travel companions loved that show. They said it's one of the best shows they've seen on Carnival.