Moonarino

Caution with this. Data is just data, not calling. Cellular calling is "always on" unless airplane mode is enabled, which means that roaming charges are likely unless airplane mode is turned on.

We've sailed both Magic and Dream twice over the years. Both cruises on Dream (although not our favorites) were hands-down better than Magic. FYI @cacruisin, if departure port isn't an issue, sister ship Breeze is our favorite in this class. But I'd say Dream is definitely worth a try.

Handy little "compare" page: https://www.carnival.com/cruise-ships Scroll down the list and check the box on the right for up to 3 ships you want to compare. Celebration and Mard Gras are near the top. Click "Compare" at the top, and then the "Dining" arrow to expand the list dining venues.

We sailed Oasis (for the third time) this past November and were both more disappointed than ever about the food. Yes, despite having so many venue choices. The one exception was the ribs place Llido deck aft, if I remember correctly). Four years ago we gave up on Johnny Rockets after paying $10 each for two very cheap milkshakes. This past cruise the MDR was as bland as ever, same with Windjammer. I ended up just getting a free hot dog (or two) on the boardwalk 3-4 times, instead of wondering whether one of the main venues would be worth the wait or fighting the crowds. The majority of our cruises have been on Carnival (4 on Royal, 2 on Celebrity) and we keep going back to Carnival because of the food. Just my own humble opinion. We're currently booked on Mardi Gras in April. One other thing is that a couple of our relatives are loyal to Carnival because they've always taken such great care of their kids.

Airplane mode doesn't affect WiFi at all. Cellular and WiFi are different radios in your cell phone.

Same here, actually for medical reasons. And the rest of it for me is I will absolutely never pay 70 bucks a day for drinks or anything close to that. So I'll take a few knocks about buying bottled water and keep cruisin' on. Everybody's got their thing.

We had a "deluxe" OV on Dream about 8 years ago, Deck 2 forward portside, and had no issues at all with noise, even when docking. Don't know what might be different between Dream and Magic (same class) but I wonder, were you on the starboard side? Even with that, I have no idea what it would be any different. Maybe they just got cheap (or experimental) with Magic in some weird way. As for "LOUD", FYI, we just finished our 3rd cruise on RC Oasis of the Seas, and not only was the PA system LOUD , it was also thoroughly UNINTELLIGIBLE. Several times I asked several people if they could understand any part of a particular announcement, and every time the answer was pretty much "not a word." Just sayin'. RC vs Carnival and Carnival wins? That's just too funny. Room service: By comparison to your experiences, both Celebrity and Royal failed us immensely on our last two cruises. Skimpy menu and long waits for lousy food served cold was pretty typical. Adding a host of other issues, we have sworn off both of those cruise lines -- not just for our most recent disappointments but because of less-than-stellar experience overall. WiFi was good to great on Silhouette and Oasis but that's about the end of it. Mardi Gras (one of your posts) is our next Carnival outing and we're looking forward to it. Been sailing Carnival since 2008.

Still not working right. Logged in but I couldn't get past step 1 on a new booking. It always takes a few minutes for all the functionality of servers to restart properly. Maybe have some hors devoures first. Yeah I know I didn't spell that right 🙃

Coastal NC has that "demon" too, usually around October. Fog rolls in (or out) across a pretty big area in the early mornings and typically keeps "rolling" for hours. Having spent nine years in eastern FL (Space Coast) I don't remember ever seeing that on the Atlantic side. Only sailed from Tampa once, in April, but I keep thinking about doing that again. All that to say thanks for the tip, I'll catalog it for future reference!

Same, when we have WiFi for each of us we each create our own login. Guess I'll find out for myself when we cruise Oasis next year (for the third time, just can't get enough).

Yep, this has always worked for me. Sometimes had to wait 10-20 minutes, but it was worth it. Yeah most tables are very close together, but that few inches of open space does usually help in ignoring guests that we want to ignore, and also (sometimes more importantly) in being ignored. Not that we're antisocial, except that after a couple of bad experiences with people at shared tables (like idiots gawking at my lady's anatomy), yeah, we can definitely be anti-social.

But it seems weird that everybody would have to use the same login. Also considering that RCI and X share IT resources to a large extent.

I can't say for sure about Royal lately, but for multiple-device packages on Celebrity each person creates a different username and password.

Agree. Value is the key word. Really? You can ignore people here too, or use to be able to anyway. I haven't done it in a while. It's been quite a while since I retired, but during my entire 20-year career, single folks living in base quarters didn't get housing or sustenance (or whatever it was called) allowance. Base pay was pretty much it. Of course they could do better with the base pay for themselves alone than a family could. . . . Housing covers the added cost of housing, food allowance covers groceries (as opposed to eating in the chow hall) and base pay covers everything else, for one or several. Indeed. I never claimed it, but as an E-5 with two kids I qualified for food stamps. I still remember getting paid something like $260/month fresh out of basic training. That was it, many years ago but that was the grand total of my paycheck (minus taxes on the entire amount of course). I got married a year later and my "income" roughly doubled (as did my expenses). The extra income is allowances paid to us to offset additional costs of living for the service member. That bolded part is the key to the whole deal. No additional costs, no extra pay, base pay only. - - - - - - - - - I also remember (again many years ago) when it was the norm to tip 10%. Over a few years as prices went up and up, that 10% also went up to 15%. Inflation on top of inflation. More price increases, tips went up to 18% . . . 18% of a still higher price. Now 20%? So 'progress" has us inching ever closer to 100. Where will the creep stop, if it ever does? NCL is leading the way, and of course RCI and others will follow sooner or later. I won't call it price-fixing because it isn't that. . . . . . . potayto potahto 🤪 . . . . For the cruise I booked last week I paid taxes and port fees of a whopping $286 and change, grand total for 2, for a 7-day cruise with 4 ports of call. That doesn't seem like a whole lot more than I was paying 10 years ago. I guess gratuities haven't gone up "all that much" in 10 years either, but. But but but.

We've had some good lunches at 3-4 different places on Cozumel but I can't remember the name of any of those eateries. Tres Amigos has good beer. Lol. If you can get waited on.

Better than Bimini for us, but to each his/her own.

Like that exercise in management class or whatever. Relay a message through 10 people, one to the next, and you'll get 10 different variations.

Okay thanks... the Royal website itself shows deck plan changes for ("after") April 23, 2023, and April 14, 2024, and again on September 26th, 2024. Yeah one reason I'm booking Oasis for a third cruise (instead of a 6-day on Symphony) was because of the 2019 "Amp". I also wonder if the Starlink Internet upgrade will be installed in April. I've been wondering if that can be done in a few hours during turnaround, or exactly when/how Royal will get "all" of its ships upgraded by the end of 2023 Q1 as advertised.

I've seen mention of changes in some of Oasis' deck plans next Spring, on a couple of different websites, but can't find out exactly what this is all about. A quick web search didn't turn up anything. Anybody know how extensive this apparent/supposed dry dock will be?

Went on a "short" 5-day the past May (on Carnival) and we were switched from Nassau to Bimini about a week before. Bimini is NOT Nassau, not even close, and the Nassau stop was one of our prime selection criteria for that cruise, since we hadn't been there in a good while. The Bimini port is fairly new, so no not common, and I can't remember seeing it on any Royal cruise in any of my shopping adventures. Maybe it will improve over time as it brings in more revenue. For us in May it was a major disappointment.

I usually go through 3-4 half-liter bottles every day. I've had drink packages that included water -- no charge if it clearly says water is included, unless it's "premium" water which might not be included. My two cents: I found it's a measurable annoyance to keep having to go to a bar or wherever to get a couple bottles of water (or a few) for me and my lady, and then carrying the big handful back to my cabin. Same with refilling. For me the inconvenience is just not worth it. From here out I'm paying a little extra for a couple of 12-packs delivered to my room.

I'm curious about Wonder too, Oasis class plus several more feet in length and width, according to what I've read. But I'm always curious about new Oasis-class ships 😀

Nice to know, this thread's comments in general, because: We sailed Oasis in 2011 when she was still almost-new and fell in love. But again 5 years later, a complete disappointment. The ship already seemed old and worn out, but I think only because cleaning crews were doing a lousy/lackadaisical job, but the ship also seemed noisier/more abrasive than before, for reasons I can't quite put into words. Just not as well-managed overall would probably sum it up. But we love Oasis class and, especially after a refurbishment, we're looking forward to sailing either Oasis or Symphony next fall. Probably Oasis because Symphony is only offering 6-day cruises and I just don't know if we could handle a day less than 7, lol. In particular we're trying to squeeze Nassau and Jamaica into one cruise, and just try finding something like that. But Oasis and Symphony both have that combo lined up in November 2023 -- the other ports being Coco Cay and Labadee, of course. All the positive comments here are appreciated and encouraging.

Expect the doors to open by 1:30.

Thanks a big bunch and right back atcha. Salivating for a pile of sliced turkey and stuffing with gravy sloshed over all.