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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.

We have been on both Spirit and Luminosa and I like both ships equally (well maybe Spirit slightly better but that's probably just personal memories/perspectives). I recently posted some info during our Luminosa to Alaska earlier this month (link below): https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2955346-carnival-luminosa-out-of-seattle-aug-3rd/#comment-65858332

In 25 cruises we have only had an issue w/the laundry service on 1 ship (I believe it was Dream). I think they must have been short staffed, or maybe a new crew. We had a few items come back wet out of the washer (not like damp from the dryer but like they had never been in the dryer). Although strange, it wasn't a big deal, we just hung them up to dry. Unfortunately we also had 2 shirts go missing (just workout tees so not a big deal but still disappointing). Even though I filled out their itemized form, it was gone and no count was written on the bag (which they sometimes do instead). So now I take picture of the form so I remember what/how many items I sent. The hot water doesn't bother me (I'm kind OCD about sanitizing anyway). I wouldn't send formal wear or anything like that, but I do send my Lululemon stuff (and some people think it's criminal to wash that in hot water and dry in the dryer). 🙂 It's always come out fine.

7/1/23 picked up at 10:14 am, dropped off at 10:46 am.

Last month, it was 48.26 before tip (from LAX the morning of embarkation) for 2 people.

Sorry, I did not notice, but the meals in the MDR were kind of strange/inconsistent on this ship (so the steakhouse might have been too). Our first full day was a Sea Day, yet there was no Sea Day Brunch, but they did do a breakfast in the MDR, closed briefly, then opened for lunch. The next day we arrived in Juneau (around noon) and yet they DID offer a Sea Day Brunch that morning. And then one day dinner in the MDR simply said "open seating" so we weren't sure what to expect (there was no option to check in for YTD on the app) so we just went to the dining room when we were ready to eat and were shown to a table like usual (we just didn't have to check in ahead of time).

For the brunch in the steakhouse, you make a reservation in the app.

The naturalist was good and we could hear her fine. We didn't have much luck trying to run out on deck when she would announce whales had been spotted, but we just didn't see many this time. We had one outlet at the desk and 4 USB chargers in one of our nightstands. I typically love the Carnival beds (this was our 26th cruise) and prefer a firm mattress, but I think the mattress might have been new and not quite broken in yet (they seemed especially firm this time). We did not care for the one comedian (sorry, I don't even remember his name) so we did not go back. I thought the MDR portions were kind of small (especially if you only order a main dish) but with an appetizer, main, and dessert, it ends up being plenty of food for me. I don't recall seeing a laundry special and since we are platinum and get 3 free bags per person, I might have missed it. I thought the burgers/fries/tacos were good (and similar to the other Carnival ships (although they aren't branded the same way). Sadly we didn't care for the food we had at "chopsticks" but maybe just a timing issue (it's buffet style and may have been sitting there a while). One other thing I just remembered (and maybe this is standard and I just never noticed it before) but this ship offers a brunch (10:30 - 1:00) in the steakhouse for $25 per person that looked interesting (but we never managed to find a time to go).

I much prefer the lower decks and cove balconies (especially on those huge ships). Deck 5 on Mardi Gras is a great location in my opinion. But I love Carnival's marketing (higher is always an upgrade according to them). Do whatever you need to do to bring in revenue/get that stock price back up Carnival! 🙂

And lastly, Debarkation went smoothly this morning. They had Platinum passengers meet at 7:00 am for priority debarkation and we were allowed off at approximately 7:20 am. We did have to show our passport when we got off the ship (I haven't had to do that for the last 4 or 5 cruises we've been on, so I was kind of surprised) but they kept the line moving quickly. Overall this was a great cruise and we will likely do it again in the future. Let me know if you have any questions about the Luminosa and I'll do my best to answer.

We are currently on Luminosa and we were told to go to the Pamper Party because they discount nearly all services at the end of the demo. It was true - everything from facials to hair services to massages were discounted, but I heard them telling someone else it couldn't be a service that was already booked, it had to be a new booking.