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2 hours ago, InNeedOfSaltWater said:

Carnival is currently sticking with the CDC guidance of sailing with 95 percent of passengers vaccinated. However, the line will provide vaccine exemptions to children under 12 and adults who are not able to receive the vaccine to fill 5 percent of available berths. On cruises out of Long Beach and select fall sailings, Carnival will extend vaccine exemptions to travelers with religious beliefs that prevent them from getting vaccinated.

 

Unvaccinated passengers who wish to sail will need to be pre-approved during the booking process. The exemptions are not guaranteed and are capacity controlled. These guests will be required to follow specific health protocols and testing requirements, including providing a negative PCR test result at the port, taking an additional antigen test at embarkation and again 24 hours before the cruise ends, and only going ashore in controlled-environment "bubble" tours.

 

 

Cruisers departing from Florida and Texas who are not vaccinated must purchase travel insurance for their sailing. Unvaccinated guests sailing from those states, as well as Maryland and Louisiana, who cannot be vaccinated due to health reasons must provide a doctor's note confirming the medical exemption.

 

These policies will be in place until further notice.

 

 

https://cruise.blog/2021/09/cruise-lines-dont-require-covid-vaccines

Some of this information is outdated.  It's always best to go directly to Carnival's site to find the most updated information.

We usually fly in the day before just to be on the safe side (live in Southern Maryland). Back in January 2016, we were scheduled to go on a cruise out of Miami. Just so happens that a blizzard was headed our way. We had flights booked through Southwest and watching the weather, we knew they would be cancelled. Luckily, Southwest doesn't charge change or cancellation fees so we got all of our money back (as a credit) and rented cars. It took a total of 17 hours to get down there, which was rough.

Once again, we have booked another January cruise coming up in 2019. We have decided to drive down there pre-cruise then fly home post-cruise. We rented a car (through Travelocity-no credit card info needed so cancelling is easy) and will drop off right near Port Canaveral. After a vacation, the last thing I want to do is drive 14 hours. Doing it this way will save me about $500. If the flight costs go down, I'll fly and keep the rental car "just in case".

Hoping this is a joke...$1.50 more:rolleyes:

My thoughts exactly! If $1.50 is going to cause someone to have to re-examine their vacation budget, maybe they shouldn't be going on vacation. :rolleyes:

It was 5.5% on Fascination with a $5.50 minimum (so it would cost $25.50 to get $20).

Well that sucks...sounds like the fee went up.

I didn't see it mentioned but since you said you'd play at the Casino - if you don't bring cash - there is a small fee (don't remember the exact amount) but it's some percent of what you want in chips from the cruise card account. If you bring cash - you'll avoid the fee though so may be N/A.

The fee was 3%.

You know its a darn shame that this site is made up of folks that can't handle if someone has a negative comment or review of something. I just experienced more issues on Magic.

 

Just because I love Royal doesn't mean all my cruises on Royal have been without any issues etc. In fact, the Pizza on carnival is a lot better,tastier then that on the RC ships I have been on that offered it. And NO the "adult" area on the Magic was nothing compared to that of a RC ship, in fact the Magic was lacking a lot to be desired. No pool to enjoy away from kids, area just seemed to be filled with hammocks,lounge chairs and in my opinion that area should have more.

 

Not "all" crew was rude so I guess I should of clarified "some" to be fair, but most of the time there attitude wasn't very good and when asked where the BBQ eatery was they couldn't tell us, Several times we were told "Oh I just got on this ship 3 weeks ago", thats not a good answer. At the very least they could of said "let me get someone who might know the answer" But.... they didn't

 

As for the Itchy issue, Yes I complained about that as well as the AC not cooling our room several days. NO I didn't use any products such as lotion that I don't normally use so that wasn't the problem.Was it "bed bugs" I have no idea as I have never encountered them b4, I just said it could of been but I don't know. All I know is that I itched every night and only when I got under the sheets and at no other time.

 

We started to eat in the MDR on the 2nd night and walked out about 20 mins into it because the service,food etc was terrible. In fact my hubby asked for Ice Tea and it took forever for them to even bring it to him.Needless to say we walked out and said no more MDR food.

As for the Buffet, we tried it several times and like I said in my 1st post ,the breakfast buffet and made to order omelettes was great, no issue with that at all and we ate the breakfast each morning. The other buffet food like others also mentioned was not that good so we ate at the eateries when open instead. In fact, RC Oasis buffet wasn't all that great either last year when we went, but on the Freedom the year b4 it was awesome. So you see its not just issues with carnival!

 

Dr E was great as I mentioned, comedy shows were also great, we didn't go to any other shows. Muster drill was like any other muster drill on other ships.

 

I am happy to read from others that the guy that had a heart attack didn't die, we were told he had died so thank goodness he is ok! And again I will state that the medical issue and the bomb threat scare "DOESN'T effect any part of my decision to NOT go on another carnival because we have no control of those issues.

 

And lastly, I didn't come on here for your sympathy or for any other reason other then to just simply post my thoughts on my cruise on the Magic. I will say that from now on I will NOT post anything in cruise critic ever again about my thoughts on a cruise whether good or bad because you people that flamed me are just to rude, and frankly its not worth my time. From the attitudes of people on this board, I would never recommend cruise critic to anyone again like I have in the past. I use to think this was a great site to learn about cruise ships,ports etc without all the "attitude" but I now see I was wrong. So with that being said I am done with this and my post, Buh Bye!

CalifGirl, this post/review seems much more balanced. If you had written that to begin with, then I doubt you would have gotten the responses you did. You mentioned the good stuff, but it was overshadowed by the negative title and overtone of the post.

We were on the Glory sailing Feb 20. I ordered my usual long Island Tea in the casino. When it came I was shocked. It used to be served in a tumbler that would hold approx. 16 oz. It is now served in a skinny glass that holds about 12 oz. and it cost $1.00 more than it did last year in Jan on our cruise. Last year they were $9.00 ish? with tip. This year it was $10.00 ish? with tip. Less drink but more money....NOT GOOD

 

I paid 2.99 for the water but at 3.99 it would still be worth it to not have to lug it around.

We were on the Valor in January 2012 and the Long Island Iced Tea was $10.06 (tip included). I remember this distinctly because it's all my husband and I drank so we could get the match play in the casino. We were just on the Breeze this past January (2016), and it was the exact same price and served in the exact same glass.

My sympathies are with the OP's family. If my cabin was over the theater, I would expect noise each night until the show ends but I would not have expected construction noise throughout the night. Even with an upcoming dry dock, that is no excuse. A guest in any room should not be bothered by continuous construction noise unless they were specifically informed about it when choosing that room.

 

I've read posts from people with complaints about their cabins which run the gamut from noise complaints to water/toilet/flooding issues, etc. I rarely hear anyone say that they had an issue with their cabin and it was resolved in a satisfactory manner. I honestly think this is an area where Carnival needs improvement.

 

If Carnival gave these people a 30% credit against the cruise they were on (as opposed to a certificate for a future cruise discount), that tells me that it was a pretty major disruption.

 

I love Carnival but so far I haven't had any issues with any of my cruises. Luckily, thru these boards I know that if I ever do have a problem, I should mention that I might want to invoke the vacation guarantee and I should insist on speaking with the hotel manager, but new cruisers or people who aren't on these boards have no way of knowing these things.

 

I don't think they are going to get anything more than the 30% they already got but money isn't going to unspoil that vacation anyway. [emoji53]

I had a cabin issue on the Breeze (January 2016) that was resolved to my satisfaction. We (2 adults, 2 kids) were in a cove balcony (2290). I researched my room and knew that it was under the galley, however the comments I'd read about the cabins very close to mine all said the area was quiet, so I took the chance. The first night we kept hearing this loud, whirring noise. It would repeat every few minutes and lasted all night. I thought it was the wind so I figured I had to deal with it. Night 2 & 3 - same thing! Around 1AM on Night 3 I went to Guest Services and asked if they had another cabin we could move to because the noise was keeping us up (lol...not my kids though, they can sleep through anything). I didn't care if we were downgraded, I just wanted sleep. They said they didn't have any quad cabins but they would come to the cabin and inspect the noise. Nothing was resolved that night but the next morning Guest Services told us they could move us to 2 cabins (a balcony and interior). I said one balcony would be fine since my son could sleep with us. The cabin was 4 doors down from our original one! Guess what...complete silence! They also gave us a $200 credit, which was really appreciated but I never asked for that, all I wanted was a new cabin. I was never rude and knew there was a chance I might not get moved. I was happy with how Carnival handled our situation.

Hi All,

 

We are planning a family reunion type trip with about 6 cabins, 2 people each.

My spouse drinks and wants the package since it is a group cruise with other drinkers.

I don't drink--for medical reasons I have MS and just stick to healthier options.

Would my spouse still be able to purchase the package if I had a Dr note?

Have your spouse and another person in your party who wants to purchase the package get a cabin together. You would have to book with someone who didn't want the package. Then when you get on the ship you can switch rooms.

I am the exact same way when it comes to flying!! I always look around to see if anyone else looks nervous but everyone looks calm and relaxed. I have to take Xanax and even that doesn't help much. I cry, clench the armrests and do a Lamaze-breathing type of thing. I know I look ridiculous but I can't help it. :rolleyes:

We rented a villa last year and had 12 people, 5 of those being kids. The kids mostly stayed in the water so it was rare that we had over the 8 max in the villa at one time. People were in and out all day long. At one point, we had one of the bartenders and some of the dance crew in there with us, and no one ever said anything.

Has anyone used A Family Limo for transportation between Fort Lauderdale and Miami?

Thanks everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it! We went ahead and booked cabin 2290. Only 114 more days!

I am looking at the cove balconies on the Breeze and was wondering if anyone had experienced any noise coming from Deck 3 (Dining Rooms and Galley)?

$12 a day is all you HAVE to tip (automatically charged to your S&S card) that is meant to cover all servers who wait on you around the ship (dining room, bar servers, room steward). But, we always tip bartenders and/or drink servers an extra $1 or $2 a drink- especially for great service! At the end of the cruise, we leave a tip for our room steward. If you have assigned seating in the dining room, so you have the same servers there all week, and think they've done a great job, then you can leave them an extra tip at the end of the week. (usually we do anytime dining, so every night may be different servers, we don't usually tip them any extra). If we have room service, we also give them a few dollars tip. no tipping necessary in the buffet, or going through the burger line or pizza line. Again - it's a personal preference. Some people feel that $12 a day is all they need to do - and some will bitch that that's too much!! We always feel like everybody takes such great care of us around the ship that we're happy to give them some extra.

 

also, fyi - the post above about charges for food is not quite correct. There is NO extra charge for Guys burgers, or the pizza place...

The part about bar servers being covered in the $12 tip/day is incorrect. When you order a drink from the bar, you will pay an automatic 15% tip on top of the drink. There is a spot on the receipt to leave an additional tip if you choose to. Below is a breakdown of what the $12/day covers:

Service Per Guest, Per Day

Dining Room Services $6.10

Stateroom Services $3.90

Alternative Services: distributed to kitchen, entertainment, guest services and other hotel staff members. $2.00

Total Gratuities $12.00

Thanks for all of the feedback and potential reasons our situation occurred. Not trying to be inflammatory, but you folks either didn't read closely, or misunderstood what was written.

 

1) All written documentation, both from the TA and Carnival clearly states that all reservations are linked and Early Dining is confirmed. We had this documentation available. They didn't even offer to move us to ATD until the 3rd day. This is a Carnival issue, not a TA issue.

 

2) I clearly stated that it would have been easier to ASK the guests that were not attending the early seating table if they would prefer Any time dining and at the very least see what they said. I did not ask that they be MOVED without their permission or knowledge. Simply asking a question should in no way make anyone upset. This is called customer service, and is done (usually) with a smile in most other venues, when an error has been made.

 

3) The dining rooms were being monitored very closely, and everyone attempting to attend ATD was required to give room number and # of guests. The assigned seating was equally monitored, so there was no way to "buck the system", which we would not have done anyway.

 

I'm not trying to bash Carnival, I just feel this situation would have been handled far better in just about any other venue I've ever been in.

 

We can debate all day long, but facts are facts, and there is very little "opinion" or subjectiveness about this situation. It was handled poorly, period.

 

We know we now prefer both RCI and NCL over Carnival. This review was written as an opinion, and intended to be as honest as possible. We DID have fun, and we DID enjoy ourselves, but Carnival is not going to get our business again.

Just a quick question....where on your boarding documents does it show the others cabins that yours is linked to? We've done 4 cruises with several other families and always had our reservations linked. Never once did I see on my documents the other cabins listed as being linked to mine.

Something else to think about if you're cruising from Baltimore is the weather. The weather is very unpredictable during the March/April timeframe. You could spend the first few days in pretty cold weather. Wearing pants and a sweater is not fun on a cruise ship! :)

PortSideCruzan,

Thank you so much for the detail on each port! We've never been to any of these ports so I'm trying to find out everything I can before we go.

Thanks everyone for the quick responses! This helps a lot!

We are booked on the Liberty (Southern Caribbean itinerary) and I was wondering which of following ports have tenders:

St. Thomas

Barbados

St. Lucia

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

Thanks!

I've read on here about a lot of people who have trouble with their children's schools/teachers. My kids are in 9th and 4th grade and to date, I haven't had any problems (we just took a cruise a few weeks ago). I usually email the teachers and front office a week ahead of time letting them know.

My friend and I are the exact same way! It seems every time we get together that we're trying to plan a vacation!

My husband is the same as yours....he asks the week prior what ship we're on, what ports we're going to, excursions we're doing, etc.... How can someone live like that??? I need planning, research, reviews!

The other "issue" I spoke of earlier that I said happened at Margaritaville was this:

While waiting 20 minutes at the swim up bar for drinks, the DJ was playing songs left and right to keep the party going. Everyone was having a good time.

 

The songs being played were mainly booty and music, no songs of which I knew because I haven't listened to it much lately, however I don't mind it. Well one song comes on, and everyone that wasn't at the bar, started splashing. Like 10 feet in the air splashing, ridiculous splashing. Now, people at the bar down on the left of me were not happy at all, as they were getting pretty wet.

 

I felt it was pretty rude. Now I know we're all in the pool, and you're bound to get wet, but the splashing was pretty unnecessary. Just my thoughts....

We were at the tables around the corner from where this was happening! It was so incredibly loud and irritating. After waiting almost an eternity for our bill (corrections were needed since food we ordered never arrived), we got back on the ship and enjoyed the quiet.

Ethan fell asleep pretty quickly in the room, as I came back with sandwiches around 3pm. We left Grand Turk right at 5pm, and the sea was kinda rough still. We had a late dinner in the buffet, and finally had ice cream! We’ve still yet to have pizza…..My stomach was not liking the seas, so Ethan and I went back to the room. (I know I’m sorry, now that I write this, I’ve realized we hung out in the room a lot) Ethan and I watched Rio and the start of Frozen before it was 9pm which was his bed time. Tommy came in sometime around 10:30pm from the casino.

 

Side note: Margaritaville was fun and relaxing but.......I don't know if it's normally this busy, since this was our first time here. However, I will say that Margaritaville should have had more servers outside walking around for drink orders, or more people at the swim-up bar to help out. It was hard to tell who wanted drinks since many were standing behind those that were sitting at the bar.....Just sayin'.

 

Coming up: Sea Day, Dr. Suess character breakfast and Ethan's first time in Camp Ocean......

We were also on this cruise and in my opinion, Margaritaville was a waste of the day. We had been there before and service was incredibly slow so I'm not sure why we decided to go back. There was also a large group there that was really loud...it definitely made the day less relaxing.

It sounds like you got back on the ship fairly early on HMC. We were on the last tender and the wait was ridiculous. I think we waited almost an hour in the blazing hot sun...not fun!

Other than those small issues, our group of 22 had a blast. I'm ready to book the next one!

Booking Liberty from what port?

San Juan.