JerrynClaire

Nope. The pilot is merely a consultant. The Captain does not give up physical control and is not required to except for one place, which is the Panama Canal. The pilot is onboard to give advice and info that may not be on the latest charts due to storms, accidents, etc that might have debris in place that it hadn't been or shifts in sand, etc. Every bridge tour I have ever taken (many) , the Captain has answered that question and they all say the same thing. They are still completely in charge of the ship and the pilot does not drive the ship, except in the Panama Canal.

The correct term would be "steer" the ship/ You do not drive a motor vessel... You're right tho.. The Pilot does not steer the ship, but neither does the Captain. A quartermaster steers the ship.. They are given their steering commands from the Captain at sea, and yes, the Pilot in ports. It is 100% true that the captain is always in charge, but trust me, in a place like the Mississippi River, the Captain of that ship does NOT want to be the one giving navigational commands. They do not know squat about the currents, channel, revetments, navigational lights etc. in the river. The Captain is more than happy to not have to deal with that.. How do I know? Easy, I have 4 family members who are Crescent River Port Pilots that bring the ships up the river daily.. I, myself have had a 1st Class Pilot's License for the Lower Mississippi River for some 30 years now. I run harbor tugs docking ships... I have done Pilot ride along many times on ships, including The Carnival Conquest and Carnival Triumph. In most instances, once the pilot gets on bard at the sea buoy and the captain has met the pilot, they don't even stay on the bridge.. The Pilot gives the steering commands to the quartermaster.. A Mate is always on the bridge with the pilot, but very rarely does the Captain stay up there

Personally, I could never bring myself to stay at the Holiday Inn Superdome.

This won't matter to you, but let me tell you why...

 

Back in the 70's when I was just starting high school, The Holiday Inn was called "The Downtown Howard Johnson's"

 

This is the site of one of the most tragic and bloody events ever to occur in New Orleans.

A sniper named Mark Essex killed many people in that hotel as well as police and firemen.

He set the hotel on fire in a lot of different locations to lure the fire and police department to the building. Once they arrived, he started shooting them one by one...

This went on for over 24 hours before he was finally killed by Police Sharpshooters from a Military Helicopter...

 

That hotel has always had a dark cloud over it ever since for lots of us who witnessed this tragic incident...

 

Now, I HAVE stayed at Drury, and yes, the parking is expensive, but man, it is a fantastic hotel!

I've sailed Triumph 3 times, the last time being in September 2017... The ship was spotless... Don't sweat this...

I have sailed Triumph 3 times no with another booked for Jan 25th.

While there is no steak house, they DO offer the steak options in the MDR for the same upcharge as the ships that have stand alone steak houses... I've ordered surf and turf in Triumph's MDR several times.

17 till leaving on Triumph.. I hope those hurricanes stay away till at least we can get out of port. Not worried once we at sea... I kinda like it when the seas are choppy, especially at night. I sleep like a baby

Anna Maria Lucaci on the Vista is awesome.... I ave followed her from ship to ship after she took such great care of my wife and I when my wife was dealing with cancer. I have seen her on Elation 6 times, Liberty 3 times, Sunshine once and will soon see her on Vista!

 

I know my 60s music. I've now won two and that's two more than I need. :p

 

I have 17 Ship On A Stick's to date. I have won every music trivia Game I have ever entered. I welcome all challengers!

Not an easier port to embark and debark from anywhere.. NOLA has it together!

Here's the easiest way to make sure you get the liquor for your second leg of the B2B... If you go buy the liquor on the last night of your first cruise after 7pm, they will just hand you the liquor no questions asked. I've done this on all 4 of the B2B's I've done and works every time! Worked on Dream, Elation, Fantasy and Glory

Since guarantees are assigned late in the game I have found they are often the cabins nobody wants with public areas above and/or below them. We did a guarantee once on the Conquest- never again. We ended up in a balcony above the showroom. Between all the shows and rehearsals we about lost our minds from the noise. It is worth it to me to pay what it takes to get the location/cabin I want.

Not true at all.... I switched from a Veranda Deck interior midship on Dream to a guaranteed balcony this past week. My cruise doesn't sail till Aug 31st but I have already been assigned my balcony.... Veranda deck midship!!! Veranda deck is an EXCELLENT location on Dream... it has cabins above and below it so there is no deck noise.... Hardly a cabin "Nobody wants"

Just got called back from my PVP... I am booked now in a balcony room... easy as pie

I have a veranda deck interior cabin booked on Dream through early saver. It is paid in full. Has anyone ever tried changing to a balcony that is assigned by Carnival? I have been told that it isn't possible because that is considered a downgrade with early saver. I dont see how. The difference between the paid interior that I chose and an assigned balcony is $178.72. I am willing to pay that. But my PVP has told me it isn't possible. Am I missing something?

Carnival falling behind NCL and RCCL? LOL... How? Because they don't want to build those Mall size ships that can't dock in a lot of ports, making them unappealing? hmmm.... RCCL and NCL builds nicer ships? Why? Because they're bigger? Need you be reminded Carnival owns MANY brands in the cruise industry and NONE of them are targeted at each other's demographic market. RCCL and NCL have NOTHING that can get even close to comparing with Cunard, a Carnival owned line. Bigger and newer is not better people... its all based on each person's opinions. Princess ships are every bit as "Nice" as any of those 2 lines... HAL is even nicer. Carnival is in a class all it's own. They are the leader in cheap, affordable cruises, and THAT is exactly the market they chose for THAT line... Cunard blows away EVERYTHING out there in elegance, once again, owning their demographic market. HAL does quite nicely in attracting the older crowd that still has some life left in them.

 

Personally, I have sailed RCCL and never care to do it again. Those huge Mall Of The Seas ships have no interest to me whatsoever, but if that's your cup of tea, have at it...

 

Carnival will be around as long as they want to be, and will continue to dominate their desired market.

I have sailed from just about every port Carnival sails from with Mobile being the absolute worst ever. Glad that port is history. Galveston has parking issues out the wazoo... New Orleans is the easiest port there is. If you had issues there you wont be happy with any port... I have sailed out of there a total of 8 tiems never once having an issue. without fail we have always been on board with a DOD in hand by 11:15am.

Wait..I thought a Somalian was a Pirate who attacked cruise ships... LMAO

 

Wine junkie? Nah... Don't need em... that's for the Elitist's.... Oh wait... I just read the name...

Risa Barnes. She dosent have the stage presence like Butch or Jamie, but she is one of the kindest and most caring cruise directors i have ever met. She is a very genuine person. That means more to me then somebody who can entertain a crowd.

 

I second this... Risa made our recent Fantasy cruise spectacular. My wife is in the middle of chemp treatments for leukemia, and Risa went above and beyond to make sure my wife's cruise was the best ever. Risa, we love you!

The New AND old Legends show is being phased out... the NEW show does exist.. James Brown was replaced by Bruce Springsteen in it. There are other changes as well. Ricky Martin is gone and Michael Jackson was added...

still more changes but I just dont remember them all.. the show I did Bruce on was Elation in 2012. I was on her again this year in january and Legends has been replaced by the guest talent show... John Heald posted just the other day that they are thinking of getting rid of that show too and bringing back more professional entertainers...

Just got off Fantasy on Saturday.. Captain Morgan was readily available at every bar on board as well as the Duty Free Liquor Shop.

in the last 3 years I have sailed out of New Orleans 6 times. We have also sailed out of almost every port Carnival sails out of. New Orleans is without a doubt the easiest port in regards to parking, checking in and embarking. The poster above who said if you arrive early you will definitely be stuck waiting in long lines is incorrect. We always arrive at the port by 10am, speed thru check in (literally less than 10 minutes each and every time), and are on board no later than 11:15am ( we have gotten on as early as 10:45am before). FTTF, to me, especially when sailing out of New Orleans is a waste of money. If you get to the port by 10am, the time difference in someone with a Zone 1 boarding pass as opposed to someone spending $50 for FTTF is no more than 10 minutes... I can't see 10 minutes being worth %50. That will buy quite a few DOD's.

You should be on the Port side.

 

Sometimes when the ship leaves port it will go upriver and underneath the Crescent City Connection Bridges and turn around then head downriver...so you would want to be on the Port side of the ship for the downriver part which will be approximately an 8 hour cruise until you reach the Gulf.

 

Cruise ships cannot go underneath the Crescent City Connection. They stand way too high, They turn around right off the port terminal.

There is a significant potential of some impact in NOLA as, of course, all of those flood waters are headed toward the Gulf down the Mississippi. If the water level rises too high the ships won't be able to make it under the bridge...

 

No impact for Galveston...

 

:)

Since There are no bridges carnival needs to go under to reach the port of New Orleans, that wouldn't be a factor. There are other factors that COULD possibly affect Carnival. I speak as a person who was a Mississippi River Harbor Tug Pilot for years. The dock in New Orleans where Carnival's landing is located is a very tricky spot. There is an upriver current right at the dock, known as an "upstream eddy" to mariners, that can reek havoc on docking a ship there. Now, since Carnival ships are equipped with bow thrusters as well as flanking rudders, this MIGHT not be an issue, but it could be. There could be a possiblity that Carnival would have to use harbor assist tugs to dock, which most ships use anyway. The other issue is that the strong river current coming down from upriver could cause the ship to not stay moored up against the dock without being held in place by tugs while it is in port.The next issue is getting the shipr turned around with such swift current coming down before falling down on Algiers Point, which is the first bend in the river the ship must navigate just below the mooring facility.

All these factors will be looked at before cancelling a cruise. Keep in mind that the Pilots who are in charge of these ships while navigating the river are experts at doing this. They know much more about how to navigate safely in the river than the actual Captain of the ship.