tree.critter

As the daughter of USN MCPO I had the opportunity to visit a few of the Navy’s ships as a child. It was cool, I had also gone on several local fishing and whale watching trips in So CA. Nothing could compare to the grandeur it felt like when I boarded my first cruise ship, the original M.S. Mardi Gras. The elegant wood carving, formal dining room, elegant meals. Not just the ship but the experience would be nice to bring back too.

Just for info, the $10 Dr. Seuss breakfast includes a filet option that was a good and fun steak option.

Quest was on Elation last week.

This is super smart, we ran into worst traffic ever trying to get into Miami on last cruise down there due to Marathon, all 3 cruiselines had late departures that day. ugh.

I went ahead and booked the 10 day Spirit Journey 9/25 to Alaska from Seattle. I was hoping for a 14 day one also.

I knew I was pushing the limit, at the time I mailed they said expedite was 7-9 weeks so I definitely paid for expedited service and delivery. I called on Monday since was in the 2 week travel window, she verified the expedited status and told me to keep an eye on update site. No emails but this morning I got tracking number with delivery expected in 2 days. Woo hoo! I am happy, it will be exactly 7 weeks from the day they received. I do suspect mine may have taken longer because there was two passports to renew, we both expired in November.

Maybe there’s hope for me, I sent in renewal which was received by them 7/7. Would have sent sooner but needed on cruise that included Canada stop. Sent for express, and express shipping. Travel date is 9/2/23, just called the two week update line yesterday, still pending so far.

I could do without the Plat/diamond party, they just aren’t the same anymore. Used to have games, ship trivia’s and the video included all the old ships for us old timers to cheer to, now they are all a blip. Let Carnival save the money, offer all the plats a free drink with $20 limit or so and let the diamonds have any 2 drinks up to $20 also, anytime during their cruise. They would avoid all the guests drinks that attend that aren’t this level VIFP, safe all the man hours and prep that goes into this party that just isn’t much fun or appreciated anymore. Or maybe a 50% off a specialty meal.

I love the journey cruises or anytime over a 7 day or less. The majority of the passengers are experienced and pretty lad back for the most part. I recently did a 10 day Alaska, it wasn’t a journey but had very relaxed journey feel and rarely long lines for anything. Have 2 journey cruises booked for 2024, Hawaii and a stop in South America on southern extended route cruise. I don’t recall any menus being repeated although I’m not a huge foodie and may not have noticed.

I was told this exact same thing about a week ago when I called to have my milestone added to upcoming cruise. Feel better to see this is normal.

I have also cruised Miracle 10 day Alaska out of SF this year and Panorama out of LB for 7 day Mexican Riviera. I loved both cruises, Alaska destination is hard to beat but the ship seemed much less crowded and overall a very “simple” cruise. The Panorama was a lot of fun, enjoyed the ports. Many more food options on larger ship, food quality was basically the same, I mostly do salads so not really a good judge on that. With 15 family members joining in I would go with the larger ship, there will be more activities to do for different aged groups, and you’ll be able to take a break from them easily when needed too. I liked the Miracle enough to book her for 15 day Hawaii next year and the Panorama with sister again too.

Got to thinking about this….do you think maybe Carnival figures anyone using the Cheers package won’t notice?! 🤣🤣🤣

Have used it several times now and LOVE it. Definitely makes boarding and debarking smooth and quick.

FWIW I ran the numbers out of curiosity and came up with the same figure as Carnival. Can’t see a reason why you came up with $891 price.

My 4/6/24 Hawaii cruise has been sold out for awhile now. We also booked a 12/1/24 journey cruise 3.5 months ago. The same balcony cabin is already $440 pp higher today. Planning as far ahead as is practical is almost always the best deal.

As a customer and a stockholder I don’t mind one bit the up charge for most room service menu items. I have cruised several times since the restart and don’t mind paying a fee to have room service delivered to my lazy butt when in my cabin. I love not seeing all the wasted food left in the halls nowadays. Optimizing crew hours and running efficiently is not something I mind, Carnival is still the best value for my vacation money.

Yes, this is exactly what happened. I was expecting the $100 fee, just surprised it has raised to $200. Good news though was they just added to balance due rather than having to come up with payment right away.

I always book ES rates and usually at least 18-14 months ahead knowing that there is a penalty to change names. Have done it more times than I should admit but the penalty was always $100 until fairly recently. I’m ok with the increase, the price of the cruise has gone up over $900 since booking and we got a nice room so was worth changing.

I just learned that the penalty for name change has increased to $200. Had a change for Journey cruise next year when DH said he could go. Ouch, don’t know when it changed but I’ll be a lot more careful when I book way ahead in the future and just do TBA.

Several have told you here, it was the chargeback. I am only curious to know now if you paid back the $250 chargeback if they would take you off the list.

I just whale watched with Harv and Marv’s a few days ago while in Juneau. Took the 6 person boat and it was one of the most phenomenal excursions ever. We lost track of how many whales sighted. All Humpbacks but saw 3 pair of mom with babies our of a total 4 pairs that returned from Hawaii for the season. Incredible footage and video, especially of the babies as they were quite playful and were splashing and showing off for us. Send an email to them, ask if you can get on a waiting list for either one of there 6 or 20 passenger boats, our guide/captain was super knowledgeable and time on the water was actually longer than advertised for our group as it was definitely a whale party that day.

I used to use my PVP exclusively with great success. However it was when we could put a hold on a cabin, she could complete the booking and get credit for it. I have been booking online myself for the last few cruises now. I am upset that Carnival took the revenue stream from their PVP’s.

Signage?! The signage at Port of Miami sucks! if you’re driving good luck to get across and figure out where to park after dropping luggage and people off with no way to cut across traffic to find entrance to parking garage. Took us an extra two trip circles to settle in on what was an extremely stressful port entrance due to marathon event also going the day we went. We also left from one terminal and returned to different terminal. We decided the cruise was great (Horizon) but NEVER doing Miami again, even as FL residents.

I print luggage tags for my bags even though I’m not checking them. The room steward could quickly identify that they belonged in that room. I try to avoid them as much as possible when dropping my bags, save the intro for later.

There is one thing I think we can all agree on. Mustering is the one thing I always dreaded pre-covid. Standing in sweltering heat waiting for someone to show up that just didn’t care about others and their drinks more important. On those hot days, waiting…..and waiting are gone now, hopefully forever. It was a horrible way to start a cruise.