jewel825

My two daughters have always had their own cabin since they were 11 and 13.  Once we put them in their own cabin, there is no going back!  I can't imagine all 4 of us in one room again.  They are now 16 and 18 and definitely mature enough but I really had no issues at 11 and 13 and they've now done this 4 times.  We always have cabins side by side and open up the balcony outside when it's available.  Once we also had a connecting room but not a necessity by any means.  

54 minutes ago, James4me said:

Great review and finally a Havana review.  My question is this, how is Oceans Plaza for breakfast?  Being on deck 5 very convenient for us on deck 6.  

Breakfast in Ocean Plaza was awesome!  I went there every day!  I never tried any other place because it was so easy and convenient.  They had eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast rolls and muffins, fruit, cereal and cold cuts.  It reminded me of all the things you get at a free breakfast with a hotel stay but with a little bit more.  

My husband went and worked out every morning and tried all the other places after his work out since he was already up and about - omelettes in the buffet, breakfast burritos as the Blue Iguana and would sometimes grab a few items from Ocean Plaza to go with his burrito or omelette.  He said breakfast on the ship was good everywhere he tried.  The only bad food we experienced was MDR dinners.  

Havana - it's awesome!  🙂 

1 hour ago, JaniceB said:

Thanks for doing a review of your cruise and the Havana area.  I can't wait to try it.   I hope the food in the speciality restaurants is good, my friends and I have all of them booked execpt for elegant nights in the MDR.

You will have a fantastic cruise!  You can't go wrong with the Havana area and the speciality restaurants!  I really would have loved to try some of the specialty restaurants but with the gluten free issues we had going on, the MDR seemed to be our best option.  We looked at Ji Jis which looked so good but they didn't show any gluten free options and I never took the time to find out if they had any.  

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

Yeah....Carnival loves to give their clients the absolute worst experience to end a cruise.  It's there specially of saying thanks.....  How long would you have hung around on deck not prodded?  What numbers were they on, what number were you?  

We were number 16 and they never announced past number 9.  They barely had let off those carrying luggage on the lower decks.  It was weird.  We already had lost our driver for our pre-arranged shuttle back to FLL and they had to dispatch a new one who was also annoyed with us for taking so long.  

On 4/14/2019 at 7:47 AM, Bribrittmom said:

Just off the Horizon this morning. Longest debarcation ever. We are platinum so we could have had priority debarcation. We originally had luggage tag 3 but in our past cruises that was usually around 7:30–8:00 and we didn’t need to be off that early. Yesterday we told guest services that we wanted off around 8:30 so they said we should take number 6. Well, this morning number six wasn’t called until 9:45😬. No explanation except too many people going to deck three before being called. There should be a system where passengers have to show their zone number before getting in line to debark. We got in line when numbers 6-10 were called. When we got in the terminal we saw people gathering luggage with zone 20 on their suitcases. Messed up.

I was wondering what was going on with debarkation on Sunday also!  We are not platinum or any type of royalty but we were off the ship two hours later than what we were told too.  We were told 8:30 and got off at 10:15.  I heard Schwartz over the loud speakers telling people to quit coming down before their numbers were called but it was just complete chaos from what I could tell.  I didn't leave until someone came by and told all of us to get off regardless of what our numbers were since it was so late.  They made it sound like we were at fault for still sitting there on deck as we were asked to be.  The last time I was with Carnival 8 years ago, it was the same thing.  Not sure if it's a Carnival thing or just a coincidence that it was awful both times. 

7 minutes ago, purplephenom said:

I have this cruise booked for next year, and I'm SO excited about the Havana area.  Glad to hear it didn't disappoint.

 

Did you ever have trouble finding a lounge chair? On previous cruises I've felt like I had to choose between fun stuff to do or lounging in the sun- because if I gave up my chair it would take awhile to find another one.  So i'd try to do all my sun time at one time- were you able to come and go and find a chair?

 

Did you notice how often karaoke was offered on this ship?  

 

Did you notice gelato offered at lunch time?

 

Great review, thanks for doing it. 

I never had trouble finding a lounge chair.  Sometimes, it may not have been closest to the pool but I always had one available.  I also spent a lot of time in the clam shells.  They were big clam shells that 2 or 3 people could share and we did that a few times. I also just enjoyed sitting on the pool edge without a lounger when it was really hot.  I would just put my stuff in a chair and hang out in the water the whole time.  I never got up super early to claim my spot or worry about missing out on other activities.  We left and came back later (without saving our spots) and always had chairs available when we returned.  

There was a lot of karaoke on this ship!  They had the PG version in the Havana bar a lot so I walked through that a couple of times.  I also saw the over 18 ones in a couple of the other bars.  I was never looking for it, but saw it a lot just walking around.  One night I was coming back to the room walking through Ocean Plaza (another happening place for anything musical) and cringing at the gal singing thinking she was terrible and it was actually a woman in the band singing and it wasn't karaoke.  The karaoke singers were much better than her!  She was the only performer that I didn't care for.  The most impressive musicians were the rocking violins.  They were amazing!  

My kids saw the gelato at lunch every day.  They would often get the self serve ice cream and then the condiments from the gelato place to put on their ice cream.  

9 minutes ago, Jenjer said:

Thank You for your review. I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind

 

So disappointed to hear the MDR food was not good. mmmmm maybe we will eat in there less than we had planned.  Did you ask specifically for all sourdough rolls? can you, I see that as a issue with my family too? We like you are used to the wait staff knowing that person x always orders a sprite and person y drinks iced tea and the whole family likes bread with butter so set out extra. Sounds like you have request everything, every night. 

 

We are cruising with our 15 Yo DS and 17 YO DD so same ages also in the Havana. How did your DDs like the Havana, anyone give them issues being teenagers? 

 

We are thinking about Guys for lunch on embarkation. Was your difficulty with finding a seat because of the buffet? Are there places to sit outside of the buffet but not in the sun? any advice to make embarkation lunch less crazy?

Love to answer questions!  

Yes, we did specifically ask for sourdough and got a basket of everything each time.   It was like this every single night.  It never changed.  We would then have to ask for the butter every time.  It got to be funny and we would start to laugh each night knowing exactly what we were going to need.  In past cruises, all of our favorites would be set out waiting for us when we arrived.  Not even close this time!  

Your kids will love the Havana area.  Mine didn't mind they were the only teens in there and no one seemed to care either.  They quietly did their own thing so no one even noticed them in there.  I was hoping there might have been other teens in there that they could have met but not on this week.  

I would recommend Guys for lunch because it is really good!  Our issue finding a table was there were no tables anywhere inside or out!  We wandered around for a long time looking and eventually found one at the very end of the buffet outside by the pool and the Fish Shack (furthest place away you could get from Guys).  There are 2 lines for Guys and the line from the pool side moved much faster than the line from the outside.  We made sure we got in the line from the pool side and it were through it within 10 minutes.  All of the eating places blend together and people just sit wherever they can find a spot.  I'm sure getting on the ship earlier would have helped but we were already boarding a half hour earlier than our scheduled time.  I swear the entire ship was already on board by the time we got there!  

10 minutes ago, KAP84 said:

Thanks for the review!

I ran into a similar issue on the Miracle travelling with my husband who is gluten free - the MDR is the best place for him to eat but I struggled with a lot of the food quality.  He thought it was great since he isn't used to waitstaff/restaurants catering to his dietary restrictions and usually just "makes do", whereas the staff on board provided wonderful service and choices to him. 
I'm very interested in booking a Havana area room for our next cruise

🙂

It was nice that she could choose anything she wanted on the menu and they would make it gluten free or at least find a substitute that was close to what she ordered.  It was nice that she didn't have to do any of the work to figure out what was gluten free and what wasn't.  We didn't plan ahead with Carnival on her dietary restrictions and just asked for a gluten free menu on the first night at dinner.  Our wait staff said they didn't have a gluten free menu and really didn't say much to help her.  Then after dinner our head waiter came out and gave her the menu to order her meal for the next night and it went well for her every night after that.  They also offer gluten free pizza at the pizza place which she said was good but kind of "spongy".  

I would highly recommend the Havana area if you are all interested in being around the pool or hot tub.  It made our "meh" cruise into an amazing cruise!  

7 minutes ago, Nevada Jen said:

Great review.  Did your kids hang out in the Havana area?  One of the reasons I booked it is I thought my son might enjoy less crazy around the pool.  I have not read many reviews where people with teens stayed in a Havana cabin.

Yes!  This was the whole selling point of this cruise was so they could hang out at the pool all day every day.  This was a teen girl's dream!  They were down there every morning (except for the 2 port mornings) and then for most of the day.  Our "go to" place was Havana area and even if we were done laying out in the sun, we would hang out in the chairs in the shade by the bar.  They were the only teens that week in the Havana area.  I never saw any other kids that entire week we were there.  My younger daughter even had pizza delivered there twice.  They delivered it to her in her lounge chair.  It was awesome!  

We just got back from our Spring Break cruise on the Horizon.  Our family included me (49), my husband (50), two daughters (15, 17) and my parents (78, 80).  We have done 7 cruises together and they have mainly been Royal Caribbean.  We chose this ship because we were excited about a new ship, new ports that we had never been to and the Havana area.  We booked it over a year ago so we had a long time to wait!  We are from the Seattle area and we were so ready to get out of the cruddy weather and enjoy some sunshine.  I'll just break down this review into the different categories of what we experienced.

TRAVEL TO MIAMI:  We took a red eye flight on Alaska Airlines departing on Thursday night and arrived at FLL early Friday morning.  We pre arranged shuttle service from Larry's Limo's (booked online) and a brand new black stretch limo was waiting for us when we arrived.  It was so fun!  Our ride was from FLL to the Hyatt Centric in Miami which was about a 40 minute drive at 6:00 AM.  We had used Larry's Limos in the past and were pleased with the service so we booked them again and were happy again on this segment (more to come on our ride back after the cruise which was not a positive experience).

HYATT CENTRIC MIAMI:  Gorgeous hotel!  We were there so early in the morning and it was way too early to check in.  The front desk was very nice and accommodating as they took our bags and gave us a key card for access to their rooftop pool to hang out at for the day.  This hotel is new and everything was in pristine condition.  They mainly cater to the business travelers so we had the whole pool area to ourselves.  There were dozens of deck chairs set out around the pool and a handful of clam shells.  We had our pick of whatever we wanted!  After flying all night long, we were dead tired and ended up falling asleep in the comfy clam shells.  As the day went on a few other people showed up on the pool deck but there were never more than 10 other people there at the same time as us.  It was like a private pool for us!  My teenage daughters were loving the opportunity to sunbathe all day!  Our room was ready around 3 PM and we got out of the sun and headed out to dinner.  The hotel is located next to an upscale mall which was fun to walk around and have dinner.  Would highly recommend this hotel!  

CRUISE DAY!

EMBARKATION:  We took 2 Lyfts to the port which were each around $12.00 including tip.  The drive to the port was around 10 minutes.  The drop off was so much easier than Port Everglades and everything was just so simple.  We had a 12:30 embarkation time and we arrived around 12:05.  No problem.  We got right into line, through security and onto the ship within 10 minutes which included to boarding picture.  Impressive!  

FIRST LUNCH:  OMG - chaos!!!  Once we set foot on the ship, it was just loads of people standing around everywhere.  Impossible to get around people and the lines for the elevators spilled out across the rest of the common areas.  I'm a stair gal anyway and made my trek up to deck 10 on the stairs.  My parents waited for the elevators and we eventually met up with them on deck 10.  All I saw was lines, lines, lines and more lines.  Ugh!  We couldn't find a table that would accommodate the 6 of us.  We ended up squeezing into a 4 person table and kind of ate in shifts.  We all wanted something different and took turns on who went where.  Yuck.  This was thankfully the worst part of the cruise for us.  Everything went uphill from this.  I had Guys Burgers and it was awesome.  I wasn't expecting it to be that great and I was crabby from the crowds and chaos but ended up really enjoying it.  My husband had something tasty from the deli and my kids both had Guys with me.  My dad ended up eating alone somewhere because he never could find us!  I felt bad but wasn't surprised with all the people around.  He's easy going though and had no problem with that.  My mom ended up getting a few things at the salad bar because it was too hard to find anything else.  After that first day, we avoided the crowds and never had any similar issues.  

MUSTER:  Boring and long waiting for people but I know it's necessary and it wasn't bad.  The hardest part is waiting for all the no shows to finally show up.

SAIL AWAY:  We went to deck 5 and hung out in the Havana area for sail away.  We stood at the edge of the pool looking out at the aft of the ship and had a perfect view.  I had a beer in my hand and life could not have been better!  

OUR ROOM:  We had a deck 6 aft balcony in the center.  My kids had the room next to us and my parents had one two down from them.  The balcony divider did not open and we did not have a connecting room so we constantly had to knock on doors back and forth to talk to each other.  In the past we've always been able to take down the balcony divider and/or had a connecting room so this was different for us.  It turned out to be fine but just not as accessible as we are used to.  It was nice that we could look down at the Havana area and could talk to each other from our decks if someone was down below.  I always knew where my daughters were and it made it so easy to find people.  

The room itself was nice and was just as I expected it to be.  I never really ever met our room steward.  He was never present and available.  Ever.  My husband met him on the first day and that was it.  He was also the steward for my daughters' room and they never met him either.  On the first day, they found shampoo bottles and soap left in the shower from the previous guests and the shower was not clean.  They never said anything (they never saw him) so they just threw away the bottles and soap themselves and took a shower the next day instead.  Not a big deal but not what I expected.  I really wanted ice each day but never had a chance to ask for it so I just would get it down at the Havana bar when I needed it.  

HAVANA AREA:  This is what made our cruise so awesome!  I loved, loved, loved this area!  I think we were down there everyday all day long!  The people working there are so nice, the pool and the hot tubs were so nice and never over crowded.  We met some of the nicest people down there and enjoyed seeing them everyday.  I would never sail on a Carnival cruise again without having this area.  It was worth every extra penny to be in this area.  

DINING ROOM:  We ate all 8 dinners in the dining room.  Our waitstaff was friendly and seemed to have a lot of time to spend with us.  So many people don't show up to dinner so it seemed like they had a lot of excess time to just chit chat with us.  That part was nice and I enjoyed their entertainment they did most nights with some singing and dancing.  It was always just a quick song but it was fun and had everyone in a good mood.  They knew our names right away and called us by name every night.  

The rest of the experience was not that great.  My daughter is gluten free so she would order her dinner each night the night before.  We had to eat in the dining room each night since they made accommodations for her that worked out so well for us.  Otherwise we would have spent our nights elsewhere.  

The food in the dining room was not good.  Ever.  I'm not a picky person but the food was always bad.  The meat was always fatty, the pastas and desserts were dry, the flavors of everything we ate was just off.  Then when we wouldn't eat everything or just a few bites, we were always questioned why we didn't eat it and why we didn't like it.  It was awkward.  I didn't want to say the food sucked every time they took it away.  I would hear them asking the tables around us the same questions and see those people squirm too at their questions.  Ugh.  I am so used to the waitstaff knowing what our likes are from the beginning and making sure we have what we need each night.  This was not the case for us this time. We had to ask for extra bread (we always went through the sourdough bread immediately) and when we asked for more, we would get more of the types we didn't touch and only one or two of the kinds we did like.  We also had to ask for more butter every night.  After 8 nights, you would think they would have our rhythm down. It never changed!  On our previous cruises, the wait staff had our likes down on day one and when we showed up each night, we had everything we needed.  This felt like a fight every night to get what we wanted and again it was just an awkward experience.  Then at the end of the cruise, we were flat out asked to fill out the survey and give them a 10.  I hate that.  

FOOD ELSEWHERE:  Really good!  I loved Guys Burgers, the pizza place, Pig and Anchor, Blue Iguana and the Deli.  All of these places had great food and I was pleased with my lunch every day!  I also loved the cakes on the lido deck during lunch.  I'm not a big dessert person but I had a few slices over the week but it was so good.  I would have been content to just eat at some of these places for dinner instead of the dining room but we with my gluten free daughter, it was a better option for us to eat in the dining room.  

PORTS:  We had fun in all 4 ports.  In Grand Turk we just hung out at the beach near the ship.  We didn't use the free lounges (most were taken) but we only paid $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella just a little bit down from the ship right in the front row.  It was nice and worth the money.  We also paid to go tubing which was so much fun!  In La Romano, we just walked around the terminal and my kids had pictures taken with monkeys that turned out really cute.  They wanted to do Monkeyland but it was sold out by the time we knew about it.  In Curacao we just walked around and had drinks in a bar and stole a few minutes in the casino.  Fun port!  In Aruba we did the Kukoo Kunuku tour which was fun.  They drove us around the island and then took us to a beach.  Had a great time there too!

CASINO:  This cruise was an "ultra" cruise which we were not members of.  I have only been on 2 other Carnival cruises and the last one was 8 years ago so it was like we were new again.  The vibe of the casino was not what I expected.  All of the tables were filled with ultra members who were playing with different chips  and they were all part of a drawing going on over the loud speakers the entire night.  It was just loud and obnoxious.  If I was an ultra member, I'm sure I would have felt differently especially if my name was drawn to win cash and prizes!  But I wasn't so it was not a great experience.  I felt like I was at a party that I wasn't invited to and could not participate in any of the fun.  One of my favorite parts of cruising is going to the casino each night and this time it sucked.  On every other cruise I've been on,  I always meet people at the tables and see them around the ship during the day and we chit chat and meet up again at night.  Not this time.  It was kind of a buzz kill.  

SHOWS and ENTERTAINMENT:  Schwartz was our cruise director and he did a great job of engaging the passengers.  In all my other cruises, I've never even known who the cruise director was or paid any attention and it was impossible not to notice Schwartz.  He was fun and always visible.  We had fun at the White Out party and the 80s deck party.  He was teaching dance moves and everyone got involved.  We also participated in the Friends trivia and had a blast.  I thought for sure our group knew everything and it was a no brainer that we would take home that ship on a stick.  Not the case!  We missed 3 questions and there were a ton of other people in there that knew more than us!  I saw one of the movies at night on the lido deck and my kids hit a few others.  Great concept!  

TEEN CLUB:  Kind of a bust this week.  My kids used to love the kids clubs when they were younger and now they aren't really that interested in them.  I "forced" them to go on the third night just to see if there was anyone they could meet or just get some ideas of activities to do.  I said they only had to stay 5 minutes but to just get a feel of it.  It turns out there were only 70 kids on board in their age group and only handful of those showed up to the teen club during the week.  The week before that had been over 400 registered in their age group so we just had a bad week i think.  My oldest daughter turns 18 this summer so this was her last shot at a kids club so I was disappointed that they really didn't  have any interest in it.  

DEBARKATION:  Slow.  Really slow.  We were supposed to be off by 8:30 and we finally got off around 10:15.  Not sure what the hold up was.  Usually we are forced off the ship by 8:30 regardless of what your number is.  I have no idea if it's usually like this but it seemed unusual to wait that long to get off.  

SHUTTLE TO FORT LAUDERDALE:  We used Larry's Limos again for our ride back to Fort Lauderdale from the port.  Our driver called and said she was waiting outside but since we took so long getting off, they dispatched her elsewhere and we got another guy who did show up on time.  He kept calling asking why we weren't off the ship.  Annoying.  It's not like we had any control over it.  This driver was terrible.  Frightening might be a better word to describe our ride home. I honestly don't know if this guy was drunk, high, sleep deprived or just a bad driver.  He went between 10-20 mph BELOW the speed limit on the freeway, kept drifting out of his lane the entire time and had absolutely no idea how to get to our hotel.  We were staying at a hotel at the FLL airport so pretty simple place to take us.  He started getting agitated and asking us to look it up on our phones and give him directions (as he was swerving all over the road).  Then his eyes kept shutting and we would feel the braille of the lanes as he drifted again. I kept talking to him to keep him awake but I have never been so scared in my life.  There wasn't a place for us to just get out of the car since we were stuck in the middle of the freeway.  I lost count at how many people honked at us on the road (over 20).  I didn't know whether to kiss the ground or not when we actually did arrive at our hotel safely.  OMG - do not use Larrys Limos!!!!  

CROWNE PLAZA FLL:  I wasn't impressed with this hotel.  Very small lobby and filled with people coming and going from cruises.  It wasn't very well organized and the staff was rude.  They were over stressed with all the commotion in the lobby and took it out on the guests.  The rooms were actually nicer than I thought they would be and the location was nice to the airport which included a free shuttle for us in the morning.  I wouldn't stay here again though.  

OVERALL:  Fun family cruise!  

My husband and I are Carnival cruisers. We love the go, go, go FUN atmosphere. The first time we went on Princess we had a good time but the night life and activities seem to be lacking. We got a lot of sleep on this cruise as it seemed everyone went to bed by 8.

We booked a Thanksgiving cruise on Princess because it was over $500 cheaper for a better balcony cabin then on Carnival. I am trying to go in with a positive attitude but I am a bit nervous about the lack of night time activities. Wondering if I should have just paid the extra $500 and went with Carnival.

The first Princess cruise we took was a Pacific Coastal cruise. This one is a Mexican Riveria cruise. I heard the colder the cruise, the older the cruise (hence the lack of night time energy on the Pacific Coastal cruise). This one is a warmer destination so I am hoping there will be a younger (50's) crowd as we are going for my 50th birthday celebration!

I've only been on one Princess cruise and it was a bit "snoozeville". We were on a family reunion trip with 3 generations so I figured we would have a lot of activities and stuff going on with everyone. The reality was every generation was in bed early. There was nothing to do! My kids were 10 and 13 at the time and there was nothing for them to do after dinner. Even the kids clubs really weren't happening. It was an Alaska cruise so maybe that had something to do with it.

Interested as well

 

 

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There is no Let it Ride on the Harmony. Sad, I know. I love that game too. They had 3 card Poker and Ultimate and both of those tables had a $10 minimum bet. It's always been $5 on every other cruise that I've been on so I was surprised it was $10 on the Harmony.

Yes, what you describe is accurate. We have started to just carry on our own cokes which Carnival allows in your carry-on. Twelve cans per person in your carry-on and you can put twelve for each person in one carry-on. You may also bring more on at each port.

 

 

 

We found that you really only get half a coke when ordering via bottomless bubbles and yes, it is often flat. It is better to order without the package and pay for the whole coke occasionally.

Thank you! I think you guys have me sold to do that! I really do appreciate all the responses back. I read Carnival’s policy but I like to hear the reality of how it really works. They don’t write in the policy that you get flat already open cans!

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If you buy them individually, they give you the full can.

That’s good to know! I think I will probably bring some on board with me and buy them individually when I’m out and about. I just didn’t want a half open watered down flat can that I’m buying individually. Those are spendy sodas!

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On my last cruise we were served the entire unopen can each time. I am not sure if this was just on the Dream or if other ships are serving the entire can.

It seems like it’s hit or miss like that when I fly too. Sometimes the flight attendants give you the whole can and other times you just get what they pour for you.

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I've done the BB and yes you get fountain at some bars and cans at others. In the MDR always got a can and the can was left at the table for me. I have also asked for the can at the bars that provide them and have never been refused.

It’s good to know they actually do have fountain at some of the bars. I was under the assumption it was all cans.

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That's partially true.

 

 

 

If you order a soda at a bar that has fountain soda, you'll get fountain soda. But some of those bars don't have some types of soda in the fountain system, so if you order say, a Coke Zero, it will be out of a can. They don't give the whole can, but at the busier bars, they go through the open cans fairly quick.

 

 

 

I've also had bartenders toss the open one and open a new one for me, if they feel it's been sitting for so long.

 

 

 

But you've hit on one of my frustrations. I drink a lot of soda, and I've always bought the soda card. But I'm not really happy with getting warm soda poured over ice. It instantly melts half the ice and gets completely watered down.

 

 

 

So I try to use the indoor bars, where at least the soda is stored at a cooler temp than the outside bars where it sits in the Caribbean sun all day.

 

 

 

In the dining rooms, I've sometimes been brought a cold can and sometimes gotten fountain soda. Not sure if it varies by ship.

 

 

 

Since you prefer fountain soda, just figure out what bars have a fountain system and use those. The bars at the aft corner of the lido deck seem to usually/always give cans.

It’s the warm watered down soda that is turning me off from this program. It’s too bad because I really like the convenience of it.

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I have only bought the soda package on Royal Caribbean so I'm not sure how it works with Carnival. On RC, it's fountain drinks only that you can get from a bartender or from the self serve machines when you use the special cup they give you. I bought the package because I preferred fountain drinks over cans.

It sounds like Carnival is only cans which is fine. However, I keep reading that passengers are often served flat sodas from cans already opened and sitting out and warm drinks are poured over ice. Is that really true? If I don't buy the bottomless bubbles and just pay each soda as I go, do they give you the full can then? Or is just whatever fills a glass with ice?

UPDATE: thanks for all the replies. I went ahead and made the switch today. I just can’t justify over $1200 for the extra space. I think I’d be happy paying $100 a night (or $700 total) for that second room, but $1200 will pay for our gratuities & drink packages so we can make it work, and have some leftover for another cruise! We should take advantage of KSF while the kids are still small, because as many of you pointed out, once they are teens that won’t be an option!

 

Of course I’ll be looking to see if the gap narrows between this room and 2 connecting rooms or a junior suite, but if not I’m quite happy with the price paid for this Spring break trip and I’ll remind myself of that as I’m tripping over my kids and their belongings in our tiny room! ;)

 

A warning note to people who book 2 rooms non refundable and want to later switch to a single room to take advantage of a promotion or upgrade to a suite: even though you’re not changing the sail date or ship, there is a $100 fee per person in the second room to make this change because technically that is a “cancellation” even though those people are still sailing. I was able to get RC to waive this by being persistent, spending the better part of an hour on hold, & explaining that I was told repeatedly that as long as we don’t change the ship or sail date we can change rooms on our sailing without penalty. I was told this repeatedly. I now know this nuance to the rules...won’t make that mistake again!

 

Thanks again for the input-I’ll be thanking you all when I make final payment and then cursing you all while I’m unpacking looking for a place to store my socks, underwear and beer koozies! 😜

I would have done the same thing! That's a big price difference. When my kids were little, all 4 of us were in one room and it worked fine. Even with a connecting door, I would not have been comfortable having them in a separate room. However, now that they are teenagers, we have to get two rooms and there's no going back. Enjoy the one room price while you still can!

Looking for recommendations on something to do after our cruise on the Glory in July. Our flight doesn't leave Ft Lauderdale until 6:30 that evening. Just don't want to spend all day at the airport but then what do you do with luggage while doing something???

We had this same issue on our last cruise. We had an evening flight out of Miami and all of our luggage with us with no car. We ended up getting a Day Room at the Miami Sheraton at the airport. It was the best day! We had just one room where we stored all of our stuff and we spent the majority of the day out on the pool deck. There were 6 of us and we basically had the whole pool area to ourselves. A couple of other families came down during the day but we never felt crowded. We had one person in our group spend a few hours in the room napping and we had a chance to shower and get ready after being at the pool all day. We had lunch at the restaurant at the hotel with beautiful outside seating. The day went by quickly and so much better than camping out at the airport. I think the rate was around $70-$80 for the hours between 9 AM and 6 PM. I don't think you can store luggage that cheap for that many suitcases. Then the hotel had a free shuttle to the airport that we took. Perfect way to end our cruise.

Has anyone noticed that you need to book "that certain cabin" earlier and earlier each year?

I suppose it all started when CCL wised up and started to have sub-categories for all deck's cabins. (Yeah, I'm old enough to remember when a cabin category price was only related to which deck you booked.) So, it goes...

Being an Aft Rat, it used to be, "eight month's, or, ya snooze and ya lose".

 

Now, I have to book "that certain cabin" almost a year in advance to snag what I want.

I'm not complaining, just observing............:confused:

We had to book a full year in advance to get a Havana room. I really wanted one of the Cabana rooms but ended up with an Aft Balcony because that is all that was left. Even all the interior rooms were sold out! Crazy, so far in advance!

My son is finally 12 and I have been wanting to stay in a Havana cabin since I first saw them. Vista is moving to Galveston so I am looking at Havana rooms on the vista since it is close to us and we can drive. They are a lot more expensive so I am just wanting some opinions if they are worth the extra money. And any opinions from those that have traveled with a teen.

 

 

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I'm hoping it's worth it! We booked Carnival and this specific ship just for the Havana area. I have two teen daughters (will be 15 and 17 when we sail) and they are so excited for this "private" pool area. They are lay out in the sun kind of kids so this is absolutely perfect for them. We have a balcony room on deck 6 overlooking the Havana area so I'm hoping I can communicate with them easily from our balcony. The pool areas on other ships tend to get overly crowded and we have a difficult time finding each other or even getting loungers side by side. I'm excited to give this Havana area a try!

We were in Havana extended balcony 6465 a couple of weeks ago. The room was wonderful, and so was the Havana area. The balcony is larger than usual, with 3 chairs and a small table. However it is very sunny and hot. The only time of shade was the last morning when we were sailing NE. We had good shade. I cannot take a lot of hot sun.

On some nights about 10 to 12 pm we could hear music/vibrations from the band below. It was not enough to interfere with my sleep. We really enjoyed this room and the Havana area. It was worth the extra money, must reserve early.

Hey, that's one of our rooms! So excited to hear that you loved it and it was worth the extra money!

Thanks Linc for responding! That is really cool! I saw something similar to that at a local hospital but not quite as high tech as this.

Does anyone know what the new technology is for the Horizon elevators? I heard there is something new but I have no idea what it is or what it means. I'm guessing someone here knows. :)