carol louise

That is good advice. Adding to a somewhat chaotic embarkation for our June 19 cruise was the fact that there were many (perhaps new?) cruisers who did not realize the process in the Manhattan terminal is to hand over your big baggage at street level first thing. Then you go for check-in. There were people in the check-in line with their big bags still.

I like your attitude! Regarding food, I too, was more than pleased with the food on Venezia, especially the buffet, where we ate most of our meals. One day, for example, among the many choices available, they served mussels—for lunch! I helped myself to a plateful. This is the life, I thought. And you are so right about the building materials. Another consideration concerning wood is flammability.

It was our experience on Venezia, this past June 19 sailing. We arrived on board around 1 pm, went to shore excursion desk to sign up for Behind the Fun tour, then headed to deck 8 for our cabin because I was Platinum and hoped to drop off our carryons. The door to the corridor from the elevator/staircase was closed off. It was so close to 1:30 that we just waited. My general advice for air and cruise travel is to use a backpack as carryon, because it leaves your hands free.

Yes! I remember on a cruise out of SJ that there were many local people as fellow passengers. And that there was so much dancing, even impromptu, wherever music was playing. Seeing even little children dancing suggested to me that like we growing up in Wisconsin had ice skates at a very young age and Scandinavians learn to ski early on, Puerto Ricans start dancing very young. Wonderful music on that cruise.

Our room steward (on Venezia, 6/19/23) did not ask but just started doing it in morning, which we prefer anyway. On embarkation day when he first introduced himself, we asked for bathrobes and a third bath towel, which he brought back quite quickly, and he also gave us his card with a number to call if we needed anything. During the cruise, we often saw him in the area in late afternoon and evening, so I expect you could have evening service if you prefer.

Away from his parents, grandson may prove to be more liberal than you knew! 😉

I’m so sorry this happened to you; travel is stressful even when for something fun, and it’s easy to make a slip-up. Have you considered filing a report with the Baltimore port authority? Possibly, one of their employees observed your last minute baggage shifting and found a time and place to open you bag before handing it over to the Carnival crew.

Correction: “… after getting my scrambled eggs and hot cereal in the main line, I got fruit…”

Interesting. Maybe they changed the buffet arrangement after our June cruise. Definitely after getting my scrambled eggs and hot cereal in the main I got fruit salad or melon slices at the counter located behind you if waiting for an omelette, and the rolls/croissants were with the fruit. Or perhaps when we ate, around 7:30, those items were still there from the early continental breakfast set-up and were moved back to the main line before the end of breakfast service.

I was on Venezia in June. A couple tips regarding breakfast in the buffet. As another poster mentioned, the aft buffet section was less crowded than midship. Made-to-order omelettes are a separate line, and cold cereal, rolls/croissants, and fruit are at their own counter away from the eggs, sausage, hot cereal, cold cuts, etc. lines. A simple continental breakfast is available at 6 am before the lines open. And the hours are pretty extended, so I think you may find a way to not deal with long lines. My husband and I are fairly early risers, and as the cruise went on, our early breakfast got less and less populated as more people apparently were sleeping in or eating elsewhere.

A general comment about cruising with a wheelchair: Modern ships are long with endless corridors. Allow yourself sufficient time to move from place to place on board. You may be dining at an aft dining room, and have to walk the entire length of the ship after dinner to get to the theater all the way forward for the show afterward. If room stewards are cleaning cabins, their equipment carts may block your way and have to be moved into a cabin to let you pass.

P.S, Valor is another Conquest class ship, as is Conquest, of course.

I’ve sailed on the Splendor a couple times and liked it, particularly the layout around the midship pool, with that middle deck where you can sit in chairs looking down from a ringside seat to the fun and games around the large midship pool on a sea day without baking in the sun on the deck above. Otherwise, I’d say it is quite similar to the Conquest class (Freedom, Liberty, Glory), in terms of size, layout, and decor (festive!).

Yes, it has. I do almost all of my reading on my iPad mini. I load up several new books to the Kindle app before a cruise, but usually end up not reading much at sea anyway.

Actually, I believe there was trouble on the June 27 cruise (I was on the June 19 cruise).

Here’s the “library” on Pride sent by my sister, who is on board. We had the same piece of furniture as library on Venezia last month. My husband did find a book about civilization in Renaissance Italy, which is his kind of book.

Regarding the carry-on, may I suggest using a backpack as your carry-on. That way you’ll have both hands free to better handle the wheelchair. I switched to backpack from rolling carry-on when I needed to push my husband in a transporter chair. He’s long since passed away, but I still always use a backpack as my carry-on when traveling. As others mention, the way they stack the luggage for onloading to the ship looks like it could damage a chair.

Thank you, new_cruiser, for your comment. I am Joanne’s G.’s sister, and have vicariously experienced this cruise disruption of hers via our text messaging. Indeed, it was the prolonged uncertainty and—particularly frustrating—the conflicting information provided over several days’ time that made her situation especially stressful.

That is a good question. On our 8-day cruise on Venezia last month, bananas disappeared at about the 5- or 6-day point, after they had already begun to look somewhat overripe. And no banana bread appeared that I noticed, so I assumed there were none left. Maybe there is a way to keep bananas longer than 6 days, or maybe the provisioning department did order various food items while you were stalled in Kiel.

Another thing: not this time but the previous times when we signed up for the tour, it was several days before the tickets were delivered to our cabin.

Hi, Haljo1935. As I have done in the past on recommendation of posters here on CC, we went to the shore excursion desk as soon as we were on board, which was around 1 pm. We were told there were still three places left, so that’s still good advice.

We took the “Behind the Fun” tour on our June 19 Caribbean cruise out of NY. There were enough takers that they conducted two separate tours of about 10 people each. The tour lasted 3 to 3 and a half hours; our escort was a manager from the Human Resources staff. During a short sit-down break, we asked him questions about hiring, training, and working on a cruise ship. I had taken two behind-the-scenes tours in the past—one on Carnival and one on Princess—but still learned new things on this one. We visited the galley and food storage and preparation areas, the laundry room, the propulsion control center, the crew break room, the bridge (where we chatted and also had our photo taken with the captain), back stage in the theater, and lots of crew area passageways and stairways getting from one area to another, including passing by the medical center and the brig. Since it involved a lot of walking, we were warned about that before we signed up (it’s not suitable for a person with mobility issues). No cameras, phones, purses, or backpacks allowed (we were wanded before leaving the meet-up room, and they took one man’s phone until after the tour). It took place in the morning on the second to last sea day before returning to NY. The cost was $130 pp. Sign up at the shore excursion desk. It was fascinating, and the crew and staff members who explained things and took questions were personable and generous with their time. The mechanical equipment and specialized computers and electronics were impressive to see.

When I cruised Carnival, solo or with my sister, when having chosen fixed seating, I found they put me or us at a table with other adult singles (i.e.not obviously married couples or families), though not necessarily solo travelers. So I would not find myself as the sixth person sitting with a family of five, for example.

P.S. to my comment above: I suggested she check those supposed luggage tags for the second leg and they do not say priority. But we think that may be because she has not yet completed the first leg. She did not book the two legs at the same time, so part of Carnival’s computer still thinks of it as two separate cruises rather than one big one on which she turns Platinum.

I agree with the comment that it varies. My sister is currently on the first leg of a B2B and expects to turn Platinum on the second leg. She did not receive Platinum on the first leg. Since she has not yet achieved that status she is getting emails now telling her to check in for the second leg and choose a boarding time, print out luggage tags, etc. for the second embarkation which is still several days away. Her travel agent and guest services on board have assured her Carnival knows she’s on a B2B and will provide specific instructions about turnaround day. I am pretty sure that since they close the books on the first cruise when it ends she will get a new folio account and therefore a new card, presumably Platinum. I hope so anyway!