asalligo

No, it is not possible. The closest you can get is a YouTube video posted in the weeks before your cruise, but even that is only a probably going to be the same if the same itinerary. 

5 hours ago, Redskinsfan92 said:

Update concerning the cruise leaving on March 31st.

Carnival is offering shuttle buses from Baltimore to Norfolk for those who need transportation on the 31st to embark onto the ship in Norfolk.

 

This makes it acceptable that they are not offering a full refund. 

Afternoon tea is still happening fleet wide on all sea days at 3pm. Even my 3 day cruise March 8th had afternoon tea on the sea day at 3pm. Remember that they have a free tea. You will be offered a paid tea bag first. 

I was on the March 8th cruise, it was the second night. 

Is Carnival at least giving the option to cancel for a refund if Norfolk does not work for some people? 

This is complicated, First, every cruise there are a certain number of people who have buyers remorse. This cruise was awesome on day one and terrible on day seven because it is almost over and nothing but bills and memories are left.

Second, I love some of the features on the new Excel class ships, but it also has some serious faults. Cabins are smaller, venues are smaller even though the cruisers capacity has tripled in some cases, elevators are a mess, and people are everywhere. Combine that with the fact that everything from service to food has decreased in quality for people who experienced cruises five or ten years ago and some people are just not going to love it. 

I have cruised all three Excel class ships in the fifteen months, first Mardi Gras, then Celebration, then Jubilee. There are things about all three I really loved, but i still feel the essence of cruising, the things that make cruising really nice are better on the smaller ships. I was lucky enough to be on the Paradise two months after the Celebration and I noticed the things that I missed there. try finding a place by the window to just sit and relax and watch the water on the Excel class ships. There are 600 places to sit and watch the ocean roll by on the Paradise. Conversely there is no Street Eats, no Guys BBQ, no Chibang, no Cucina. 

So, know what you want from a cruise and what you are getting into and you will be fine. If your idea is to relax, Excel is not for you, but if you want twenty things to do and ten places to eat at any time and are willing to jockey for it, Excel is for you. 

I can tell you I played a minimum of 30 minutes a day for a seven-day cruise and racked up 600 points at the end and I got no offers at all. This made me swear off trying as I hated spending 30 minutes a day in the Casino. There is just so much I love doing on a cruise ship and this is not one of them. 

I fly often and to be late 15 minutes is nothing these days, I would say near a quarter of my flights land over an hour after the planned arrival. Flying is just not what it used to be, and extra time must be factored in to make a cruise. 

Wow, this thread has gone off the rails. Yes, we have done this before and you should not have an issue letting him stay over with you at night. 

Just now, ProgRockCruiser said:

I believe JH noted that while GS doesn't give the card decks away any more, you can get them at the Casino.  

Oh man, wish I knew that while on the cruise. Thank you. We bought a set at first port. 

I miss the libraries. Carnival really is looking to dump anything that does not maximize revenue. Our favorite activity when any downtime on a ship is cards and we thought we had brought more than one deck and found we had none when on the Pride this year, so I said they used to give away free decks of cards, let's go get one. Nope, no free cards anymore. That's cool, probably an item I might have cut also if looking to trim the fat, so I start checking the stores and cannot find any cards. I ask the person working the stores and she says Carnival decided to remove cards from the shop, people sitting and playing cards spend less money. 

I would do it in the room, especially if you have a balcony. I often wake early and cater my families breakfast in the cabin from the buffet. Borrow a tray from room service to make it easier. 

I loved my Margaritaville cruise on Paradise and I think there is a bigger market than other lines realize for older smaller ships. I predict in another five years MAS is going to be a major player in the economy cruise market. 

9 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

When we first started sailing with them (1999) on the Sensation, they didn't have specialty restaurants, and the dining experience in the MDR was stellar... it was a "fine dining" experience. Over the years, as they started adding in pay options, perhaps they intentionally changed the MDR in such a way to get a little more $ out of you if you still yearned for something more...

 

Tom

Yes, I think this has been a calculated decision by Carnival over the years. Take a good steak off the menu and add it as a pay version, reduce the quality of the desserts, but have a paid dessert right down the hall. I suspect at this point only competition will change them. I was hoping MSC might do that, but they are worse than Carnival in that respect. Margaritaville could be that line though. They still have a long way to go, but right now they are still doing many things that Carnival has cut. I am excited to see them get a spirit class ship and see how they run it. I was on Margaritaville two weeks ago and all the little things, tablecloths, robes still in the cabins, along with glasses and soaps and conditioners and ice buckets. Employees just stopping and asking if there is anything they can do to make my cruise better. My waiter heard me trying to decide between Baked Florida and the brownie and he just brought me both after I ordered the Baked Florida. That kind of thing used to happen on Carnival ships, but it has been a long time. 

15 hours ago, icft said:

I rather suspect that, like us, they have seen Carnival become a mere shadow of its former self, know Carnival can do better and are frustrated that Carnival won't, or can't, pick itself up. That frustration is probably not helped by the numerous threads (though not on display in this thread) in which folks respond by expressing pride in how poorly they can be treated without it bothering them.

 

This! So much this!! We all know Carnival can be better because they were better. 

This is so helpful for my upcoming cruise, thank you. 

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Carnival was advocating leaving the scene of an accident and getting on board?  Sounds like getting to the American Embassy for protection?  Would the Mexican police not be able to board the ship?  @chengkp75 do you have any info on this scenario?  TIA!

I am not sure what their plan was, but they did say get back to the ship if you can. I suspect they were going to help negotiate you leaving today, probably by maxing out your credit card. 

This scenario is not new to old cruisers. Heald has been warning people for years not to rent vehicles in Mexico. I know a pastor who got stuck in Mexico for months after a car accident in a rented vehicle. Mexico requires some kind of monetary deposit for foreigners involved in accidents before they can leave the country and I have also heard before they can get medical treatment. At one point Carnival actually advocated just returning to the ship if this happened. 

On 9/18/2023 at 1:02 PM, ProgRockCruiser said:

But hey, if the vegans in the crowd find it satisfying enough, good for them?

 

Just don't take away my real salmon/poke.

This! Just don't take away my real salmon which is what I worry may be the end result. 

On 9/13/2023 at 2:36 AM, momof3cruisers said:

Carnival is quite firm on this. Even with someone being pregnant or having a medical reason, their stance has been that there are other things included like bottled water, milk shakes etc.

 

On our last cruise, we put cash n our account in the amount that Cheers would have cost us to both get it. I don’t drink very much, I have a lot of water, a few specialty coffees and I like Coke, not Pepsi. My husband wanted the freedom of ordering whatever like you talked about. I brought on a 12 pack of Coke and we ordered water sent to the room. He was worried, whereas I knew we wouldn’t even come close to the total. I was right and we actually ended up having more than half of the money left over so it wouldn’t have even been worth it for him on that trip.

Exactly, Carnival would never sell the package if most people broke even on the deal. I know many people do, but the reality is most don't. 

20 hours ago, Petersonfcu said:

Maybe MSC has improved.  But we aren't going back to MSC to find out.

Nope, pretty much the same now. 

16 hours ago, KKB said:

On both cruises (which was odd--2 very different demographics), I have never encountered more rude passengers in my life!

Complete disregard for common courtesy & politeness by far too many--ramming trays in the back of others in the buffet, ignoring lines, physically moving children aside, etc.--and sadly, I saw these things multiple times.

We experienced something similar to this. For some reason the MDR did not open on time and when we arrived there was a line that we got in, but as others showed up they did not get in line. They just pushed their way to the front and MSC did nothing to enforce any queue. We were like the tenth couple when we arrived and when dinner finally opened there must have been 100 people in the hallway in front of us. Almost like getting in first was a sport to them. 

I wanted to love MSC, I really did, the price of cruising has just gone up so much this year, but the cruise we took on MSC was really not worth our money. Food, entertainment, service. All just bad. It was hard to find any redeeming factor in the cruise. I guess the ship was nice. 

John Heald said he would remind all ports that FTTF can enter the Priority line at their leisure, but I still grab the earliest time possible just in case I get an employee that wants to be trouble.