JohnSpo

A beautiful couple and a beautiful beach. Thank you for sharing Quilcruisers!:)

Jeanie's on the Beach is a bar/restaurant serving great drinks and excellent Mexican food at great prices. Great waterfront location and excellent service. Check out their website. It is close to downtown Cozumel but not as loud as some of the other places. This is a a great stop to go to after your excursion. Enjoy Cozumel.

I enjoy both Freeport and Nassau. In Freeport, within the port area, there are vendors for souvenirs, food and beverages. I also book an inexpensive excursion to Paradise Cove for snorkeling and relaxing at the beach.

In Nassau I walk over to Junkanoo Beach to enjoy the beach and beer and conch. There is plenty to do at the town near the port as well.

There is always something fun to do in both ports. The people are nice and I didn't these ports dirty as was mentioned above.

It is just an opinion of the people who say don't get off the ship. It is not the rule. It all depends on what you like to do when you travel. Enjoy both Freeport and Nassau and do what you like to get the most out of your cruise.

The "green continue button" just after you select # of guests, past guest info and the resident rate info was not able to drill down to. Carnival has now fixed the "green continue button". That is a big fix. Hopefully some of these other issues get fixed as well.

Drill into the cruise documents section. Sometimes the OBC is shown there. If not then I would call and find out.

51 days since Elation out of Jacksonville and 302 until Fascination out of San Juan. Elation was great and I have been hearing great things about Fascination. I look forward to the 2.0 upgrades on Fascination.

Hopefully Carnival brings back the Canada/New England cruise in 2019. I have done it twice and am looking to book it again for Fall 2019. I remember seeing Holland America docked in Halifax so perhaps I will check out their itineraries when they are available but I am still hopeful for Carnival.

I also go relatively plain with cheese, pickles, onions and ketchup and boy is it good. I am on Fascination next April and I hope Guys will be included in the 2.0 remodel along with the Alchemy Bar.

In case you don't know it you can also make reservations on carnival.com/Manage/My Booking/Specialty Dining Reservations.

You will get a confirmation email back from the steakhouse. This is a great option to make sure you get the exact day and time you want. I missed out once when I did not make an online reseveration because it sold out when there was a convention on board.

Don't worry about the reviews. I have been cruising Carnival for 14 years. My latest cruise on Elation last month out of Jacksonville was actually my favorite. Great food and service and a clean ship with great entertainment. I even got a beautiful remodeled cabin. Yes there have been cutbacks but the quality is still very good and so is the value. Cruising a mass market cruise line may not be best for a pickey person looking for faults. But if you are not pickey and go with an open mind with the understanding you are not the only person on board then you will have a great time. Enjoy your cruise.:)

You can only order one main entree. I have ordered multiple appetizers and side dishes without a problem. I never attempted multiple desserts because I was full by then.

What is the correct way to change the number of travelers. I see the click on in the upper right, then you arrow down to the number of travelers, but the continue button at the bottom is not visible to continue. Any suggestions?

The new booking site is terrible. I have tried 2 different computers and it does not work. The continue buttons are not visible so I am not able to change the # of travelers. Did they even test the new site? I guess when I am ready to book I will have to do it the old fashiion way and call in. Hopefully they fix this. The old booking site was excellent. Too bad they changed it. So much for their enhancements.:mad:

All are good but my favorite is the Italian Taste Bar. I eat late in the MDR so heading to the Taste Bar before dinner will tide me over until dinner. I believe the Taste Bar is from 5:00pm to 8:30pm. I have never seen a long line and it is not a problem to get multiple servings. I would prefer they had it every night instead of half the nights on the cruise.

Now, if there would be able to see them BEFORE boarding, that would be helpful for booking steakhouse reservations...

Now this is a good idea. I always hate missing something I like in the MDR.

About 4 years ago on Splendor out of NYC to the Bahamas, in the Disco. A low twenty-something female was with her family. She was dancing on the dance floor and started twerking with a young man. The twerking was getting very suggestive even for the Carnival disco. I was surprised her family didn't ask her to stop. I guess the young man may have took her up on her suggestive dancing and she went to her family. The family ganged up on this young man and started beating him up. Then they picked him up and threw him into the air and he smashed right onto the marble floor. They cleared the club and let us back in later. I am not sure what happened to the young man or the family for that matter since everyone was at fault.

I was on Fascination back in 2004 and loved her then. The mere fact I'm looking forward to sailing her again should tell you a lot! She is due for refurbishment between January 31 and February 17, 2018. So, for me, she'll be almost new when I'm on her next.

I am booked for Apr 2018. Good to hear the refurbishment is scheduled. It will make the cruise even better.

Congratulation making Platinum. The perks are good. Laundry is great because I like packing light.

We sailed this ship in March and had a great time!! Would do it again in a heart beat and definitely recommend. Sorry your AC didn't work well! That would definitely make things a little uncomfortable. But as far as the ship, I have to disagree. Yes, it is an older ship but has been maintained nicely in my opinion,

 

Donna

I have this cruise booked for next year. Glad to hear you had a good time. I was on a sister ship Elation last month. I enjoyed the ship and it was well maintained. Luckily the AC was working but I don't like an overly cold cabin.

I have had this happen to me. What I do is go to the airline's website and choose a flight that works better. Then I call the airline and let them know of the schedule change and give them the new flight I want. They have always changed it to what I want without paying any additional fee.

I was on Elation last month. I thought overrall the MDR and Lido food was good to very good with many choices to choose from. The American Table menu had a good selection. Carnival food is a good value for the money. And service in the Your Time Dining was very good. :)

The only negative was the Rotisserie food on Lido. Dried out chicken and tasteless mac & cheese and mashed potatoes.

I look forward to seeing the rest of your pics.

May I ask about the Butter Pecan ice cream? I don;t recall seeing that before but easily could have missed it...BP is my wife's favorite ice cream but she ONLY likes it from Haagen Daz - any time she tries it from anyone else she just thinks it's not as good. Any idea how Carnival's compares to Haagen Daz? I'd like for her to have her favorite ice cream on a cruise...

 

Thanks!

I had the BP every night. It is very a very creamy taste and texture (no icy crystals). It is a notch below Haagen Daz quality but still very good. Full of pecans and went great with the chocolate melting cake and the daily fruit pies. :)

I cruise solo. I choose YTD because it gives me the flexibility to eat anytime I want and I can eat with others or eat solo if I want. I find when I have my own table, the meal service is quicker and I can get out of the dining room faster and on to the shows and the casino. There might be nights when I want to dine with other passengers so that works well also. The flexibility of YTD is great.

Throughout the entire cruise, as a solo traveler, I have always met really nice passengers and crew and I never felt alone or out of place. Enjoy your solo cruise.:)

I think this is where much of the confusion lies. The new program is indeed very restrictive and I will not be able to partake in it in the future because I cannot book early saver due to name change restrictions.

I agree. I used the prior program all the time and the flexibility always worked for me. For me this puts Carnival at a competitive disadvantage and I probably will be looking at other cruise lines in the future but I hope to still cruise on Carnival.

Excellent review. Thank you. Glad to see you had an awesome time on HMC.