carol louise

Old San Juan is picturesque and walkable on your own. Consider downloading a walking tour.

Very “old-school” but ship to shore service is still available via your stateroom telephone. There’s a per-minute charge billed to your on-board account, but for an important work call, maybe this would be a solution.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139

17 hours ago, mizLORInj said:

Yes, your cabin is on the opposite side of the ship.   The only time anyone used that door is when the crew was doing a drill one morning. Other than that we heard no noise. I was concerned about that as well, but it worked out fine.  

Thank you. We are booked in 8485, which is also adjacent to the crew staircase. Good to know.

Just cruised in June on Venezia, first time since 2019. 
Poster “wickoffclan” above mentions no more prefilled fridge with sodas, beer, and mini liquor bottles. That for me is an improvement. Room for my wine and chilling water bottles, and no need to find room for that other stuff when we remove it (or worry about possibly getting charged for it).

On my first solo cruise I booked a ship-sponsored kayaking excursion. There were about six or seven couples plus me. On the minibus to the lagoon the guide informed us we would be in two-person kayaks. I told him I had not signed up with a partner. He said he’d partner with me; then he was not able to for some reason but he said I’d be fine—just take the rear seat position.

I was happy as a clam paddling around easily as I watched how the couples struggled to coordinate their paddling front with rear!

80’s night! Nostalgia keeps moving on. My first cruise (on the Norway) was in 1997. They had a 50’s/60’s night. I had not known so I wasn’t prepared, but did my best by wearing my hair down (looking like Janis Joplin’s) and big hoop earrings. There were even a couple women who brought poodle skirts. Another night was Country & Western night, and some people actually had cowboy boots. Lots of luggage in those days! There was one woman we saw on our cruise the following year, apparently traveling solo, who boarded wearing one outfit, we saw her at sailaway in another outfit, and she changed again for dinner.

On 8/16/2023 at 8:30 AM, Bound4Bermuda said:

….Otherwise she could go near the port earlier just to give her bags to the porter without going in and then walk around the port area to kill time. 

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.

On 8/3/2023 at 11:57 AM, retltrcrr said:

I would like to comment on the decor being made from plastics.  Could you imagine the weight issue if everything was real marble, wood or tile?  The fuel consumption would be so high the ship would be refueling between islands, lol.  No ship holds its beauty once thousands of people roam her every day of her life.  I have always been happy with the food on any and all cruise lines I've sailed because it's convenient, abundant, varied and I didn't have to cook it. Waiting in line, where else do I have to be?  Chat it up with the people around you….

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.

41 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

If I recall, pre-pandemic, they actually closed off the hallways to guests on embark day until those rooms were ready.  

Is my memory serving me right ?

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.

1 hour ago, sydney dog said:

My first cruise ever was on the Destiny over 20 years ago out of PR.  DH and I found out during the cruise that a lot of last minute cruise deals were taken by locals, which is just like any other port I would think.  Anyway, the whole cruise had al lot of Latin music.  We were not used to this but did enjoy it a lot.  However, when we got back on land we found ourselves listening to a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the such...lol.  It was definitely a different cruise but it was our first and has led to even more cruises.  Actually because of that cruise I go out of my way to make sure I get some local food, drink and more wherever I go.  

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.

On 7/31/2023 at 9:11 PM, bettysuetraveler said:

are we allowed to choose if we get morning or evening cleaning service?

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.

13 hours ago, firstjourney said:

Been following your adventurous journey! Minnesota here, will also be on September 10 Dover to Rome. I thought I was going to enjoy another solo cruise but lol looks like my 22 year old grandson will be accompanying me. Something to the effect of making sure grandma doesn't run astray with any wild Spainiards or such...🤣

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…”

2 hours ago, Bound4Bermuda said:

 

On my cruise, yes, cereal was off on a stand near the tables and the omlets were in the middle. However, the fruit was at the beginning of the buffet line and the croissants were at the end of the line, so you had to wait on the full line to get both. I also went around to all 4 lines, and none were better. Also not all 4 lines were always open, depending on the time, so you might need to walk around until you found the food. But I probably went at peak times or later.

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.

19 hours ago, mdepsmom said:

Thanks for this detailed review!  I'm Diamond on RC and am taking my first Carnival cruise in 20 years - a 10-night - in May.  Really appreciate the tips about where to find loungers and getting an early tender to HMC.  I'm not looking forward to the lines at the buffet - Windjammer was always my breakfast go-to, so we'll see how that goes.

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!).

7 hours ago, danielscott said:

Well, the time of digitalization has done its job. I also always take my Kindle with me, although my love for printed books remains.

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.

4 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Hear the brig was full when you got back on that sailing - 

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.

14 hours ago, Tall22 said:

Thanks for your response.🙂

I know I can manage the walk as I experienced it last year. We sailed out of Baltimore last November and I took my wheelchair with me at boarding. It was a major pain. Trouble getting through the crowds, finding a place to park it out of other people's way, managing it and my small carry-on. Just looking for an easier way. 

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.

3 hours ago, Joanne G. said:

I stand corrected - we have bananas at breakfast this morning. And they are not overripe, as you would expect if they had been onboard since July 9 LOL.  Maybe we picked them up in Kiel??

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.