lappy22

Is everybody talking about the 12/8-12/12 cruise?

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No reason that you can't walk a little further and take an independent tour.

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After 18 cruises I've learned that most port employees are not always the most helpful and have no idea what others are doing 100 feet ahead of them. They are just there to direct you to customs, down the escalator and out the door.

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They did not have them on Fantasy last week. They served Jäger bombs with sugar free rockstar drinks. Yuck.

 

 

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I prefer sugar free rockstar and monster to red bull. Anybody know if the ships usually have the sugar free (any of the three) available?

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On Fantasy class...

The OP asked about the Sensation and last time I checked the Sensation was a Fantasy class ship. Has this changed?

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Why is he your favorite? Have you ever had John Heald or Jorge. Have a great time on your cruise this weekend.

Stu Dunn has great energy and was all over the ship all three times we sailed the Elation. He is also very aproachable and just a good down to earth guy. We had John Heald on the Liberty in 2006. He is our second favorite. Funny as hell. Jorge Solano just plain stinks. Had him on our last two cruise, the Triumph in Feb. and the Glory in May. Somebody said he was a comedian before being a cruise director. Now I know why he failed as a comedian. All his jokes are old and rip offs from other comedians. Never saw him around the ships except in the main lounge. Entertainment and activities were so-so on those ships and I blame the cruise director for that. I know most of the activities come from Carnival but the entertainment staff seemed to be just going through the motions on both those cruises.

We like Stu Dunn very much when we cruised with him on the Triumph (2006). Haven't run into him again though.

He told me that he prefers being based on the west coast. A little closer and easier to get home to Australia. He was on the Elation for a couple years before moving to the Spirit last year.

Has anybody had Stuart Dunn as a CD. How is he

Stu Dunn is by far our favorite. We will have him again this weekend on the Spirit.

We almost always get better deals into FLL but it is a smaller and limited(restaurants and shops) but easy. The one time we flew into Miami I thought it was a dump like LAX and Laguardia.

People please, Your all telling me you would be just fine not getting any sleep for the first 3 nights of your cruise, and for compensation...$120...yeah right! Maybe the OP DIDNT choose the room and thats what Carnival gave them...I know I would have been a little frustrated if this happended to me....but then again, I am not a carnival cheerleader like most here.

Not a cheerleader at all........seems like a good resolution to a problem the OP was having.

I must say that this my 8th cruise was the worst ever. Actually this was the first cruise I was ever disappointed in. Left Baltimore 1-10-10 arrived back from Port Canaveral and the Bahamas on 1-17-10. I wanted to share with readers my experience so as to spare other the same fate. I've never posted before but my concience would have bothered me if i didn't tell my story.

The first night on the Carnival Pride was where it all started. We had a extended balcony room #8237. We went to sleep at 12am only to be awakened at 1am,3am and 5am by extremely load noises on our ceiling. Each time we call guest services and they stated they would look in to it. After a similar second night and repeated calls to guest services they sent 2 people to the room at 2am and said they were going to check out the situation. By now we were having to take midday naps missing out on activities. By the third day i had learned we were underneath a galley on the 9th deck and that the Guest Service reps were asking them to be careful but there was really no way to stop the noise. I asked for another room ,even a inside small room just to get a good night sleep but was told the ship was full. After the 3rd night I became extremely verbal. I and my wife actually considered disebarking in Florida and driving home. Finally on the 4th day we were told there actually was a smaller balcony room and that if we wanted it we may switch. We did immediately. I went to guest services and demanded compensation. This was their compensation for 3 sleepless nights and shortened days. $128.40 total for me and my wife. Yes a whole $20 per person per day. I called them and stated i was not looking for money but compensation of maybe 20% off on a 7 or 10 day cruise to make up for the wasted time. They said sorry but there formula only allowed this amount as the maximum. Anyway this was the main issue but there were other issues that im going to list that contibuted to my worst experience on a ship ever.

1. No PPV movie worked on any day ever, When Guest Services were called they said the had a issue with audio video. They did not have an issue with billing for all the attempts to start one at $8.99 each.

2. The bed in both cabins were well worn out. they all had a sizable depression in the middle

3. The balcony roof on #8237 was literly rusting away with 12 inch pieces hanging down.

4. Something I've not noticed on other ships was that you were no longer able to take you own breakfact bacon or ham. you had to ask for it from the cook making eggs. I can only guess this is a cost saving measure.

 

This was my 3rd and final cruise with Carnival. I hope others head my warnings and don't get burned the way I was..

It seems you were a winner on this cruise. Not many return and post that they were able to move you to another room, but they also gave you $120 back. Chalk it as a big time win!

Since many of the ports that cruise ships dock at are commercial/container ports, why does it matter? I just look at the bridge, look out to sea and enjoy the ship. I'm there for only a short while before sailing.

 

Long Beach is definitely a nicer airport but if it's more expensive and less convenient to get a flight, it's not a good choice no matter how nice it is. Orange County is just as nice, perhaps even nicer. It doesn't make any difference if you can't find a reasonable airfare or a timely flight home. Heck, I would love to fly out of SNA all the time but I can't get non-stop flights from there to BOS or FLL, for instance and it's more expensive. Thus, it's rarely an option.

Well I would put San Pedro as the port with the most container ships than all the ports I've sailed out of. This includes Long Beach, San Diego, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and San Juan. I really enjoy sailaways and love getting great pictures but leaving from San Pedro is always a little boring and a lot less scenic.

Hi , I live here in the Long Beach/ LA area. Princess has never used Long Beach , only San Pedro. The San Pedro facility is much better staffed, etc. It is part of a much bigger port area (it is huge for cargo ships) , one of the largest in the US. And Long Beach is fine but is it a smaller port facility, and Carnival is contracted to use that port. Some years ago there use to be a naval shipyard between the San Pedro and the Long Beach ports, but that has since closed. Now the Port of Los Angeles takes up a really large area there.

The eariler poster is right Long Beach Airport is much closer and way less busy , but flights are limited to some areas, but I much prefer flying through the Long Beach airport. LAX can be a real zoo , and it a large airport, and sometimes connecting flights can be a problem trying to get from one terminal to another, so if you have a choice , Long Beach is better. Hope you enjoy your cruise.

Cori

I get all that, but Carnival Corp invested much of its own money into the terminal in Long Beach. I wonder what stops them from moving Princess operations to Long Beach as well. I'm just not a fan of the San Pedro cruise port. Doesn't make for a very nice sailaway when you have a bunch of ugly container ships to look at.

I agree about Long Beach airport though. By far the easiest airport to navigate that I've ever been in.

Does anybody know why Princess doesn't use the Carnival Long Beach pier? I know Long Beach can only handle one ship at a time, but Carnival only uses it on Monday, Friday, and Sunday. The Saphire could easily use it on Saturdays. My only guess is that there are probably longer cruises, 14+ nighters on Princess that might cause too many ships to be in Long Beach at the same time. It really is a shame because cruising from Long Beach is miles more beautiful then ugly San Pedro.

Thanks for the pics.....can't wait to be there in the spring!

I've read all the replies and there is still no way that I'm going to a Wal-Mart on vacation.