csm5986142

In regard to where it's listed - I selected Shore Excursions, then filtered by day (selecting only embarkation day) and it popped up. $130 per person.

I just found it available on our Horizon booking (which is for November of 2024).

I'm in the minority here - I absolutely loved our Havana Cabana on Mardi Gras. We had a nice sized patio - we had 5 family members total (3 in the cabana room and 2 in an inside room) and we had more than enough space for all of us to hang out on the patio. There are multiple chairs and a swing chair that we really enjoyed. We were on a spring break cruise and the ship was absolutely packed, but even so, the Havana deck and pool were never crowded. In fact, if anyone used the pool, they usually had it to themselves. There were always tons of lounge chairs available. It was just a really nice quiet break from the crowd. The only noise we ever heard was the occasional blender from the bar. But I will concede, I'm not a pool/hot tub person. If you are, you might find the pool to be too small. And you are correct, aside from the unique cabana patio, the only other benefits are the Havana deck/pool/bar, which requires a minimum age of 12 years old to be booked in that area (so no young children on the deck either).

We will be there with you - can't wait. We have been on Mardi Gras twice and Celebration once. I think you will love it. We booked this cruise almost exactly a year ago. I was tired and exhausted after hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner and I said, "I'm running away next year" ... and within a few days this cruise was booked. 😄

Where did you find it? I'm not seeing it as an option for our cruise next week?

Oh wow, and the cruise the day after tomorrow is over a 3-day weekend - in our past experience that was a really full ship. I feel bad for all involved.

That's strange - we are on the sailing the week prior to you and none of the dining options say "coming soon" - they are all available for booking (if not sold out already).

I think you will be fine. The one time we got back to port late, we could have easily made a flight at noon or later. It was my own fault, I should not have booked such an early flight (I think it was either 10:30 or 11:00) but we've done that port many times (on both Radiance and Panorama) and always had plenty of time. And Carnival did warn us with an email a few weeks prior to our cruse (that the propulsion issues would likely cause us to be late) but by then the flights were already booked and it would have cost just as much to change them at that point, as to wait and see if we could make it (and then change them when we realized we wouldn't make it). Fortunately there are so many airports to choose from when sailing out of Long beach, we can always make something work (but LGB is my favorite - small, calm, quiet, open-air waiting area after security).

Panorama is one of my favorite ships and we sail from Long Beach often (it's one of our closest ports). Missing a port wouldn't really bother me (we've been to them several times) but in July, we got back to Long Beach late causing us to miss our flight (so that was kind of an expensive ordeal). In the future I will definitely book an afternoon flight when getting off Panorama.

Yes, that should be the case. Not the exact same situation but similar - we were on the Breeze's first sailing after the 15 month shutdown, and they announced in the terminal prior to boarding, that cabins were ready and everyone could go directly to their rooms if they wanted. Also, in the past when we've been on a Christmas sailing, they passed out complimentary glasses of champagne when we boarded the ship (that was a few years ago, so not sure if they still do that).

We are on sister ship Celebration for Thanksgiving and could have chosen a 9:30 - 10:00 arrival appointment - I don't want to sit around the terminal that long (so I chose a later time), but I haven't seen that early of a window before.

Thank you for posting - I just ordered some. We only travel with carry-ons and liquids are a challenge with all the sunscreen I need to bring.

We will be on Jubilee for New Year's Eve 2023 (her second sailing). It wasn't planned that way but they had to cancel a bunch of earlier bookings.

Not a transatlantic, but we were recently on Spirit for a 16 day repositioning cruise. We were in an inside cabin and it was perfectly fine. So dark and quiet, I slept amazingly well. The cabin was also larger than the inside cabins on the newerships. Spirit never feels crowded and you can always find a secluded area both inside and out on deck to relax. I probably would have upgraded to a balcony had we had that option but they were sold out. In the end I'm glad we didn't spend the extra money.

Although a simple "no thank you" in most areas doesn't bother me, but I wish they were not in the dining room. They usually interrupt conversation and I've never wanted my picture taken while I'm eating.

I noticed this too. A long time ago we booked Jubilee for this NYE, and at that time the price was pretty reasonable. Now, almost 2 years later, we tried to add one more person to our booking and were told they would have to recalculate the entire cruise fare, which ended up being an additional $3,591. It seems prices have really jumped the last year or so.

A similar situation happened to us on the Breeze. We were given 50% off our current cruise (returned to our original form of payment), 50% off a future Carnival cruise (no specific ship) and OBC. In our case we received a letter in our cabin explaining that they would be extending a 50% credit for the future cruise (FCC) based on the cruise fare for the current voyage (excluding taxes, fees, and port expenses). We also had to use it within 1 year. The letter gave instructions to book the new cruise, then follow a link to their reimbursement form to provide them with the booking info so a FCC could be processed. In our case the OBC was per person and immediately posted to our Sail & Sign cards.

We have sailed for both Thanksgiving and Christmas . Prepare for the ship to be very crowded. That part doesn't bother me too much, but if you have to fly to port, the airports/flights are a nightmare at the holidays (every plane is packed full), and weather can be an issue/cause delays. But I don't mean to be negative, the holiday cruises are very nice (and even with the airport chaos we still have holiday cruises booked). It's just good to be prepared for it.

We were on Luminosa in August and Spirit in September (both departing from Seattle) but different itineraries. We really enjoyed both ships and I think it comes down to personal preferences. Both are a nice size and layout, never really felt crowded. No long lines for anything. They are older ships but both were clean and well maintained. On Luminosa we enjoyed the on-demand movies in our room, but that was not an option on Spirit. Spirit seems to have a lot more for kids (water slides/water park, etc.). Luminosa doesn't have the slides/water park or even a mini golf course (well I guess they have a putting green or something but much smaller than Carnival's typical mini golf). Aside from the kids club and the pools, it didn't seem like there was much for kids to do on Luminosa. We liked the food a little better on Spirit, but that might have just been due to timing and that specific cruise. I've heard the spas are different on each, but I'm not a spa person, so I don't know for sure. According to the website Luminosa has Cloud 9 and Spirit has Spa Carnival (from what I've read Luminosa has Thermal Suite and Hydrotherapy pool but I did not see those listed on Spirit (but again, not personal experience, so I could be wrong). I liked the walking/running track better on Luminosa. I thought it was bigger/better located. Luminosa offered a Steakhouse Brunch for $25 per person, so we expected the same on Spirit but never saw it on the schedule (though I've heard others have experienced it so maybe just not on our itenerary). When booking our trips, I was a bit concerned about Luminosa because the reviews I had read were not good. Several mentioned plumbing issues, but we had none (aside form a slow draining shower).

I agree - loved our cove balcony but they are small.

We fly out of LAX frequently (and I agree, it's terrible but has a lot more great/direct flight options). Typically we have had no problem making it from the ship to the airport in time for 10:30 or 11 am flights. But we do Platinum debarkation, never check bags, and have TSA Pre-check. Although, in July were on Panorama and had propulsion issues, got back to port late, and we did not make our flight. We weren't able to get off the ship until 9:30 and were in our Uber by 9:40, but with/LA area traffic we were just a little too late. Having said all that, worst case scenario, we still could have easily made a 12:25 flight.

We are on Celebration for Thanksgiving and we just received an email today saying boarding will not begin until 12:30 (that is about an hour and half later than last time we were on that ship). I'm curious to see if that impacts arrival appointment times once we are able to check in.

Thanks for the pics - I'm on the ship and like those better than the ones i took!😄

Aside from the casino, how was the cruise? I had previously sworn off Radiance's holiday weekend cruises after being on one that was really over capacity and then on top of it, we had bad weather, so there was not a bit of free space inside that ship to sit and relax. Lines and lines for everything and you just couldn't escape the noise and crowds. ... But I'm already starting to reconsider ... she's a great ship and so easy to hop on over a 3-day weekend.😄

Most of my answers have already been given (just more options across the board - entertainment, lots of included in fare food venues, plus the Excel class ships have Grand Central which is another entertainment venue but very cool with a window view (when the LED screens are open) that spans 3 floors, etc.). The technology is pretty amazing. It's just a great comfortable area to hang out. My first time on Mardi Gras a crew member told me, "on the smaller ships I can get to work in 3 minutes, on this one it takes me at least 15 minutes". I thought that was funny, but it's true. The Excel class ships are just so big and spread out it takes a while to navigate. And I like the fact that I don't keep running into the same passengers. Having said all that, as much as I love the shiny new big ships, we still happily sail on most of the smaller ones (not a huge fan of the Fantasy class but the rest are great). Now that we've been on nearly all the ships, we care more about itenerary and departure port than ship class. I think it depends on what you want to get out of your vacation. We aren't looking for a lot of adventure or to be entertained every minute - we mostly want to rest and relax away from work, get a little sun, and any ship works well for that.