CaribSailor

I sure hope so. Why not? Hopefully its total legalization and RC will sell it "duty free" right in the General Store :cool: It would be a great revenue generator!

 

I do like and appreciate your certainty that it will be decriminalized one day :)

They don't do anything if you smoke weed on the ship. On multiple cruises we have smelt it a number of times. On a recent cruise on Oasis my wife and I were picking up our son from adventure ocean, walking back to our room the entire hallway for about 15-20 cabins stunk like Snoop Dog was on the cruise partying with Cameron Diaz. While we were enjoying.. I mean walking through the smog 2 senior officers passed us and we all laughed. They did nothing. This was like this for the entire cruise. I'm sure many of you are going to say you would have emailed Barak Obama,...I mean Michael Bailey and rushed down to guest services or interrupted the captain while he was in his jacuzzi or even try to phone Batman if you smelt it. Hey a great man has stated "What comes from the earth is of gods greatest worth, don't knock it til you try it first, you will see it's a blessing not a curse".

We were on Indy a couple of weeks ago. People were vaping where they wanted and the crew didn't say a word indoors and out. Much rather see people vaping then walk through smokers ally on the lido deck or casino.

I completely agree, my emotional-support Black Pug, GiGi should be allowed aboard. I saw a couple of dogs, on my past Allure Transatlantic and thought how great it was. It would be nice if more ships had kennels, like The Cunard QM2.

Well maybe you just found yourself and rags a new line to sail on.

Works on Duck Duck Go for me

Unfortunately, HIPPA laws (which do a lot of good in most circumstances) prevent companies from asking how or why a person is disabled. Therefore, Royal cannot ask "Why do you need a service dog." or even "What service do they preform." It makes it easy for people to take advantage. That is a shame because I think most people who require a service dog would be happy to show why or how.

 

In Disney World a person could get a 'guest assistance pass' until people realized they didn't need to have a real disability and started abusing the system. Since no documentation needed to be shown, people started making things up. They revamped the system and those with true disabilities suffered.

It's actually HIPAA, not HIPPA and is not international law. So yes, cruise lines can request the data.

We are a couple in our 60's who are pretty loyal to RCCL because we like the product despite cutbacks over the years. But we wanted to sail out of NOLA, so we chose to go on the Carnival Dream. First let me say, we had a great time (we were cruisin'!), met some lovely people and enjoyed ourselves. We are totally aware that you can have good and bad experiences on any cruise line, any ship anywhere. Having sailed Carnival once before, we were well aware there would be differences. So we went into the cruise with an open mind and tried really hard not to compare. We go with the flow.

 

 

 

Things we liked...

 

Cabin and steward....was fine! Actually I think our balcony cabin was a bit bigger getting around the bed. Towel animals EVERY night!

 

 

 

Entertainment... Production shows were excellent! No complaints!

 

 

 

24 hour pizza...very good!

 

 

 

Bar service was very good.

 

 

 

 

 

It was the little things that made the difference....

 

 

 

People....We encountered SO many rude people on this ship with poor social graces. It is hard to go into much detail but just the total lack of concern for others. 1100 kids on this ship, as well. MY fault for booking a summer cruise :eek: SO many people inappropriately dressed...letting it all hang out in a bad way. Some didn't seem to understand the difference between "casual" and "slob".

 

 

 

Food...MDR selections were not very good at times. For example, I ordered "tiger shrimp". I expected the waiter to come over and cut the shell off my shrimp as Rccl does. NO need! I got 4 tiny circular shrimp sitting in tomato sauce. THAT was my tiger shrimp! Prime rib was good, but that is the only meal all week I could rave about. AND we totally missed the bread choices! Only 2 types...Italian and a white roll. That's it! NO savory bites, seeded or wheat rolls! Buffet food was ok...but we missed all the selections RCCL has. No pineapple all week, very little watermelon; one of 2 kinds of cheese and lunchmeat on buffet. No pre-made sandwiches. Few salad offerings. All the stations had long lines which were chaotic. Even to get a hamburger, you had to go all the way out by the pool...then go back in to get the rest of your food. I really didn't like that all jellies, jams, cream cheese, etc were open large containers and not under a glass cover.

 

 

 

Room service...they only serve a cold continental breakfast.:(

 

 

 

Pop card...same price as RCCL....but you always had to sign a receipt! Big pain! And no pop stations as on some RCCL ships.

 

 

 

MDR Wait staff...We had a really bad team! Even our tablemates who are avid Carnival cruisers were so disgusted. All around us were waiters doing an awesome job and had the guests up dancing and having a great time. Our's just wanted us out of there...so they rushed us thru every evening. If you ordered a 2nd entrée, they put it on the table with the first . Served us cold coffee one night; dirty butter dish; served from across the table; never offered us anything else to drink or coffee at the end of our meal even tho' we wanted it and had to ask; the waiter had the ass't serve our whole meal 3 nights while he set a table for the next day; they only had 2 tables! It was an eating extravaganza, not a dining experience! They made the first couple order immediately before the 2nd couple arrived 5 min. later...so they had their food before 2nd couple even ordered. It was ridiculous. We know you can have a bad waiter anywhere, but it just added to the list. Not once did our waiter fill us in on the next days activities, ports, etc like they do on RCCL. Guess Carnival doesn't do that.

 

 

 

General Lack of supervision....on RCCL, you always see supervisory staff wandering around whether you are at the pool, MDR, Buffet, stateroom area. We hardly saw anyone overlooking things. Never had a maitre'D come to our table in the MDR! Dirty tables were a frequent sight in the buffet. Un-potty trained kids in the pool...nobody seemed to care.

 

 

 

Pools....OMG! NO adult-only pool!!!That was pretty much a nightmare. The pools are very small for the size of that ship and kids overtook the pools and hot tubs. There is a Serenity deck...but only whirlpools.(And you have to climb 2 flights of stairs to get to it since the elevator doesn't go that far.) Carnival need to change that big-time. And the pools are only 4 ft. deep and kids were jumping over our head with no place to go.:eek: There is NO kids pool area. No steel drum music around the pool...in fact , no live music at all!

 

 

 

Out of order!!....I have never seen SO many things out of order on a ship! This included elevators...(3 or 4 at a time), urinals in men's bathroom(per hubby, they were "out of order for beautification"...HUH?), drink machines in the buffet (so you have a plate of food and have to cross the whole dining room to get something to drink without spilling it of being knocked over by someone pushing!)

 

 

 

Hygiene....There were hand sanitation stations near every buffet, near the MDR, etc but we hardly saw anyone use them. I know some people prefer not to, but this was pretty much the way it was always. We are used to RCCL encouraging the use of them. Kind of concerned me at the lack of hygiene, even tho' many people claim they wash their hands. (BTW, I am not a germ-a-phobe!) Just an observation.

 

 

 

Casino....no non-smoking nights. The smoke was SO disgusting every minute of every day and even unbearable for my husband who usually doesn't care....we couldn't even go in there...plus it penetrated all the gift shops and a nice music bar area...sadly, we had to stay out of ALL these areas.

 

 

 

Extras....we missed the ice shows. They showed a movie every night at the pool, but we were always at dinner. Evening Bingo was always during our dinner as well.

 

 

 

Loyalty...We did not get invited to a Welcome Back Party...they changed their levels that qualify...but each got a 1 liter bottle of water. I think with RCCL, we are Emerald and still only get a 20 oz water...WOOHOO! Carnival has you beat RCCL:!

 

 

 

Disclaimer....these are all my opinions, so no need to flame me :-) There are good things about every cruise line and every ship. WE just came off the ship feeling like Carnival wasn't what we want in a cruise line. They pushed FUN, FUN, FUN in your face constantly. Music was SO loud all over the ship ALL the time. Maybe if we were in our 20's......

 

Just when you think RCCL isn't worth the extra money, we decided you get what you pay for....and for that little extra money, it is worth it.

You do realize you CAN NOT complain your way to happiness right? HAL is your answer.

I think you start from a false premise. I think there is universal acceptance and tolerance for real service animals for people with real needs that the dogs receive a high amount of training.

Agreed.

If you rely on a furry animal to comfort you a cruise is probably not the best vacation for you and your beloved rover. We actually have 4 dogs but would NEVER want to bring them on vacation with us. I'm sure the dogs look forward to the breaks from humans as we do them.

I have been waiting for the right time to use this

That made me laugh.

No thanks... Leave your rug rats and ankle biters at home please.

I have yet to see an answer from CaribSailor when I asked a similar question a few months ago.

 

We were debating between an OS and the AquaTheater suite. We eliminated the Loft due to my bad leg... Just the idea of walking up & down the stairs several times wasn't sitting well with me. And I really didn't like the bathrooms in the accessible loft (with an elevator) IF just ONE of the bathrooms in the loft wasn't set up as a disabled bathroom, we would have booked a loft in a heartbeat!!

 

It really comes down to what you like to do.... Do you enjoy eating full meals on your balcony or just a snack and a drink? Do you like to people watch or just want to escape it all and only see the ocean on your balcony? Do you want to be steps away from the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen or near an elevator in the middle of the ship?

 

Too many opinions can make it difficult to decide. Think about what YOU like to do and go from there!!

Nicer room in my opinion. More room, much nicer balcony. Just watch a few videos of both and you will see. The only good thing about the CL is if you want to stay away from the herd as you are on deck 17 and can frequent the SL/CK.

I think after a certain age it should be mandatory you sail on HAL. Where in part of the disembarkation process you have to take your drivers license test again.

OS all day long.

I'm curious about what kind of spa discounts you rec'd as a Suite guest on Oasis and how you knew about them.

The concierge.

We have stayed in full suites 4 times on oasis and multiple times on other class ships within the RC fleet. Here are the best parts of Oasis:

Coastal kitchen - made to order breakfast, nice lunch and dinner - better quality food than MDR.

Suite lounge- beer and wine 1130-11pm

Comedy tickets and other shows - we typically only go to the comedy show

Labadee - western

Tour invites (bridge etc)

Champagne and other treats delivered daily

Concierge

Spa discounts (yes suites get better deals)

Lots of Extra room

We like suites and have traveled them extensively across multiple lines. RC is not the best perks wise but it's enough for us. We like to escape the herd on vacation.

There was someone on Indy last week with an ankle biter. Said it wasn't a service dog when someone asked.

Would depend on the itinerary... Labadee for example I would rather have the gold card.

The child must be potty trained for Adventure Ocean 3-5 yr old area (no pull ups). If not the child will be with the younger kids 18 months to 36 months. No pull ups allowed in pools.

No diapers in pools/h2o is a joke. We just got off Indy on Sunday and I can tell you that on any given day there were 5-10 diaper wearers in the h2o zone and pool. The pool attendants didn't seem to care one bit although one day he walked passed 2 kids that were no more than 1 year old and clearly in diapers in the h2o zone to ask someone sitting by us if their nearly 4 year old had a diaper on. The lady said "no he doesn't" but what about those 2 you just walked past? He shrugged his shoulders and walked off. There were plenty of Asian families filming their little one in diapers in the h2o/pool zone with their gopros. I heard someone say to a family I heard speaking perfect English multiple times that their child should not be in the pool they claimed they didn't speak English. Attendants never said a word to them.

Your family will love it. The pullout couch will be fine for your little one and they will love adventure ocean program. The H2O zone is perfect for kids. Plenty to do on Indy.

That pretty much sums it up. Congratulations to the parents. That's all I got.

Exactly.

At the end of the day who's business is it anyway? Not anyone's on CC that's for sure... Bunch of drama queens here. SMH. So many people have nothing better to do then speculate, I feel like I'm reading yahoo news.

We just got off Indy yesterday. All is good. Very clean, decent food and service. No complaints. This was our second time on Indy in the last 2 years.

I'm on The Allure in a few weeks in one of the new GS, and I have to say if I couldn't get a table in CK because of to many guests. I would be very annoyed.

It's not like you are seated with others like in the main dining room. The only probable instance is if they allow JS guests that might be a challenge which they do sometimes. On 4 cruises that we have been on since CK has been around on 2 of them they allowed JS in CK for dinner.

Sorry....but taking all the risks to being on a ship at that later stage of pregnancy seems really foolish. It also makes one wonder what was reported as her delivery date - certainly 2 weeks off is not unusual...but that close to delivery makes one wonder what this person claimed.

 

 

 

Congrats on the successful new little one brought into the world...but in the view of many...the parents can't be the brightest bulbs on the tree for taking the risk.

I'm sure at one time or another there were people who thought you weren't the sharpest tool in the shed either.

A fifty dollar tip for a drink?

Extra for the week if we visited the same bartender multiple times and service/drinks were good. On our last cruise I tipped 4 bartenders 50$ each at the end of the week on top of whatever they get from the package.