cruzincat50

As long as I am able to drop off my carryons and stow them in one of the closets, I will stay happy.  I think John Heald responded to someone on a cruise where they emailed everyone that the cabins would not be available until later than usual, that this would be the case.

21 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

 

Oh yay!  I can dream of one day being Aluminum!

 

Thank goodness I don't cruise for the perks.  I enjoy sailing out of Galveston and for me Carnival offers a good value for money spent.

 

 

I am holding out for transparent aluminum.

When I ordered distilled water for my wife on our last cruise, Carnival said I needed to have the Travel Agency we booked with inform carnival that we would be bringing a CPAP on board with us. I don't know why.  It's just their way of doing things.  Carnival recommends you hand carry the CPAP on board, rather than check it with your luggage.

I could see that happening to me. It seems a good percentage of the time we go on a cruise, the wife gets ill. I think it is the nerves of travel in general, but who knows. I've only gotten sick once, from the flu on a Hawaiian cruise and we both ended up restricted to our cabin while in the Islands. Some idiot woman sat behind us on the plane, first class no less, coughing all over us on the trip across the country to the west coast. We have a 14 day Journeys next month. If she gets sick, it may be her last cruise.

Do a search on Amazon for Beach umbrellas. They have portables that may be easy to carry off the ship.

I hate the play this card, but I really do think its generational. Us, our friends who cruise are all basically early 30s and do YTD and/or specialty restaurants. I am sure there are some 30yo's who enjoy set time dining, but I bet the % is much lower than the baby boomer set.

You may be right about it being generational, but even at your age, have you tried assigned seating more than once to realize the advantages it may have?

We don't want ANY 'dinner partners'. We do not want to be eating dinner with strangers. BTW with YTD you can request and get the same servers.

I am not the CC police, but I do wonder, in light of the thread you started about your experiences on the Pride, and your inclination to never cruise on Carnival again, why are you still here? Trolling?

Carnival has 27 ships in its fleet right now. On the other media page concerning CCL, I suggested the change to one out the 27 ships and one person thought it would be the end of his world. Someone who had been on 5 cruises this year already and 2 more coming this year. he didn't even know that smoking was allowed on the same decks where the pools are. I think he finally gave up trying to argue his side, but he never came back to acknowledge I might have been right about some of what he was wrong about.

If there are multiple ships leaving South Florida every week, how tough would it be for smokers to avoid one ship leaving from that area?

First... asthma does not fall under COPD.. just so you are aware.

 

Yep, EVERYONE has the right to go out and enjoy this world. If you venture into a smoking area, you will get smoke in your face... it's not rude - it is a result of being in the area that you are in. Also.. let's be clear - it is NOT a bad habit, it is an addiction. Your beef is with the tobacco companies, and the US government for putting/allowing the highly addictive substances, which had it's intended affect of causing loyalty, into a consumer product.

 

Not all humans are the same.. some struggle with quitting, while others do not. Some do not even want to quit, but that is usually the addiction talking, even though that person may not realize it.

 

Bottom line... you know the smoking is allowed in certain areas, so if you cannot tolerate it, then you should make the adult choice and not go!

 

OP - I think CCL will change the Paradise, or any other cruise ship for that matter, to non smoking - when they believe it will cause that ship to be more profitable than it is with smokers on board. They are a business after all.

If the trend towards lower percentages of smokers continues, I think that will happen. In the twenty years since the Paradise was built, it has dropped from 24% to 14%. That trend actually started 50 years ago. The rate of change has increased as well, so it may happen sooner rather than later.

I would like to see a few smoke free ships but I'm not sure it will fly, even now citing your statistic regarding percentage of smokers now versus 20 years ago. The cruise lines have steadily restricted the areas where people can smoke and (depending on the ship) I now usually do not find the second hand smoke to be a significant issue on a cruise.

As a betting man, I'll bet you don't spend much time in the casino when on board. There are some of us non smokers who like to gamble a little, and a cruise is an opportunity to take a vacation with family and friends who don't gamble and it is OK. How many non smokers don't gamble on a ship because of the smoke they smell when walking through on their way to the Main Dining Room?

Why not an alcohol-free cruise too?

I have never had a problem smelling alcohol on someone's breath, and it has never caused someone to have an asthma attack.

In 1998 when the Paradise came on line as a non-smoking ship, about 24% of Americans were smoking. 20 years later in 2018, the smoking rate is down to 14% of Americans.

The Paradise experiment apparently failed because it was difficult to book groups of people because in any group of people you were likely to have a number of people who smoked.

I think it is time to try it again. Maybe not as stringent as the rules were on the Paradise, but why can't they have at least one ship embarking from a busy port like Miami or Ft Lauderdale, out of the many that leave every week where smokers can have a place on the back of the ship where they can puff away without bothering people with asthma or just a dislike of the smell?

We managed to take a cruise on the Paradise in its inaugural year, and probably would have had several more cruises on her, if they had kept it non smoking. And that would probably be in addition to all the cruises we have taken since, on ships where smoking was allowed, some of which were on other cruise lines. We might have been Platinum status a few years ago. Some of the money spent on those other cruise lines might have been on a Carnival ship that didn't have the smoke.

What say you?

I agree with the smoking. Next to last night, both of us were sitting at a roulette table making a killing. She ended up winning >$400 and I won over $200. We might have won more but her asthma started giving her breathing problems due to the smoke. I wonder how many more players who were losing money to Carnival had to leave because the smoke got to them.

I wish they would have at least one ship, like the Paradise was for a short time, with no smoking. I understand it made it difficult to book groups, but times have changed and a lot less people are smoking now than did back then. Even if they would just provide an area on an aft deck for those who had to have an occasional puff, it would be so much better. Do it on a ship out of Miami where there are so many ships, one with no smoking, or at least restricted smoking, would not be any trouble. Give us options!

The MDR menus were always there at the deck 2 entrance on the left. Sometimes you had to go past the white bulkhead type doors to see them.

I still prefer the MDR with the same crew serving you each time. The good crews can anticipate your needs and desires after a couple meals. I even miss the scheduled breakfasts and lunches in the MDR on sea days from years ago. I wish they would bring back that option.

Haven't been on that many ships that were memorable enough to have a favorite, but we did just get off of our third cruise on the Pride last week. It had been three years since the second, and I like what has been done to some of the interior design. They got rid of a lot of the nude cherub type art work in public places that became the target of defacing by juveniles of undetermined age. They didn't bother me, except for the fact that in every elevator someone had to make their mark. Now that it is gone, the ship looks much cleaner.

If I had to pick one it could only be the Paradise when they did not allow smoking. The good old days!

We recently sailed on the Pride and one night the Maitre D', Ken, stopped by our table to chat. (We were at a table for 6 for the late seating.) He asked how our service had been and we all said that it had been great. He then mentioned that there were 800 empty seats in the dining room for the late seating but only 9 empty seats at the early seating. Ken did not have to "do the math" for us. We easily figured out that part of our excellent service was due to the fact that our waitstaff had more time to devote to us since they had fewer tables to atttend.

 

So, I recommend choosing "Late Dining" or not trying to switch to "Early Dining" if you get assigned the late seating. You'll appreciate the quicker, more attentive service.

Hey R!

I thought that might be you from another post in a different thread. just confirmed it. Table 103. We sat on the other side, husband and wife, not the other couple on the end. Enjoyed your company. How is S? Say Hi for A, and I.

R

It’s not like he’s graduating from kindergarten.

 

Thousands of men and women complete basic training every year. They don’t need their mommies there.

They have taken the first step of separation from you and going out to make their own world.

 

Be proud of him for willing to make the sacrifice and go on your cruise

I tend to agree with this. Nobody had graduation ceremonies when I went through basic in the 70's. It's just the fact that they started doing it and play families against families for who loves their children more, and it really benefits the local hotels and restaurants a great deal. We did Ft Sill in Winter time for our daughter graduating basic. While it is nice to support your children, I feel that the base is using it as an excuse to bring more money to the local economy to maintain a better relationship with them.

You would be far better off to visit them at their next assignment, probably another training base, where they will have more time to spend with you while you are visiting.

We just got off of the Pride on Sunday. The Ravens were on in the Skybox Sports Bar on Thursday night. Only problem was they didn't have enough chairs to sit in. kept me from staying long, since I can't stand in one spot for long and I certainly won't hold a cold drink in my hand at the same time. They might make more on drinks if they would move chairs into the bar.

we had adjoining rooms on pride. an interior connecting to a balcony. LOVED IT. we had the 14 and 16 year olds in one room, hubby and I in the other. It was perfect.

The only way we would ever get a connecting cabin is when we have both. Most of the time in your case, you probably had the door open any way.

When you have the cruise for free, it’s a lot more palatable to pony up for air. With Galveston a 6hr Drive, and NOLA a 10hr Drive, the last time we flew for a cruise was five years ago when we were using a free cruise cert we won playing bingo.

 

18 month’s is plenty of time to find a 6 day window for work vacation and with that much notice very easy to find good air.

 

And gee, how bout driving to NY or Charleston to do something different?

 

 

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Generally speaking, the only 5 day cruises that are remotely interesting, are coming out of South Florida or Tampa, because they can go somewhere other than the Bahamas or Grand Turk. Yes, the cruise to Bermuda might be worth flying into Baltimore from other parts of the country. I just find that, considering where most of the people live and patronize the Baltimore sailings, Carnival is being somewhat inconsiderate to offer a 5 day cruise to only one winner of a bingo game even if it is for “free”. Figuring 1062 cabins divided into the typical cost of a five day cruise, probably an inside cabin at that, and the cost of inconveniencing the rest of the other passengers is under a dollar per cabin. If they had just held a raffle, how many tickets would you buy for a dollar to win a free cruise? Sometimes I wish I was bad at math. I wouldn’t get as riled up as I sometimes do.

If we were given a free 5 day cruise, given 5he fact that we also have to buy one now, in order to get our 25% “ benefit”, I would probably book a b2b in conjunction with the 5day, which would make the travel to the port more worthwhile. I don’t have to worry about taking vacation anymore. Just have to worry about paying for it, since I retired over a year ago.

There is no difference between closed connecting doors and a wall. The doors are probably a better sound barrier than the wall.

I totally disagree with you on this. We just got off of the Pride yesterday. We booked late and had to take what was offered. We ended up with 6108, an inside cabin next to the farthest forward balcony cabin. As soon as we got in the room, we noticed the people in that balcony room were loud talkers and we could hear every word they said through the door. During the day, usually in the morning when my wife was still asleep, and it was dark in our cabin, I could see light coming through the sides of the door. As soon as we heard them, we went down to guest services to see if we could get a different cabin, even paying for an upgrade if necessary. They told us there were none available.

This could have been a lie, due to the fact that we heard later on that the number of pax on board was much lower than usual. We hoped there would even be a no-show because the Bermuda destination was switched to the more common Bahamas itinerary.

Fortunately, after turning our tv up a bit, they probably realized we could hear them just as easily, and most of the rest of the cruise they were not as loud.

Yesterday was the last full day of our cruise. We usually get early dining, but it was a last minute booking and we were stuck with late. Either way we always go with the mdr. We were hungry about two hours before dinner, so we went up to the Lido to get a light snack. We had checked out the evening menu and did not see any desserts we were interested in. The Lido had carrot cake, so i tried one. I ended up bringing more back to the cabin for an after dinner dessert. First time we ever did that. The, later that night I see John Heald's poll about doing that. I lol'd.

In spite of the questionable math by Carnival, the cruise met expectations, so I can't say it was a bad cruise. kudos to the maitre'd Ken, who is an excellent singer serenading us while the desserts were being served in the main dining room. Also, the assistant CD Bendey Blake was fun watching as he went through some very physical routines, especially during the Movie Theme Song Trivia game.

I was also on the Bermuda Cruise that diverted. The 25% that Carnival is offering is really the approximate difference between the two different itineraries. We had an inside cabin and it was approximately a 20% difference in costs. However they only refunded $20.01for the supposed difference in government tax/port charges. I couldn't check until i got home to look up my email. We paid $178 in Gov/Port charges for the Bermuda cruise, and the going rate for the itinerary we ended up on was $127. $51 - $20 = $31 per person in Carnival profits. ~2200 people on board, means They made about $68,000 for our inconvenience. They did give us $49 for the missed port, Freeport, though. So, while they still made out pretty well, at least the net difference is less than what it originally was. Basically Carnival only gave us the approximate difference for the basic cruise fare/ tax charges, and offered nothing for our inconvenience. That turned out to be the third time on that itinerary for us, and we would have never booked it for a third time.

Most people like cruising out of Baltimore because they can drive and park, not having to deal with Air Travel. There is a significant size of the US population within easy driving distance of Baltimore. This leads me to ask, when is the next 5 day cruise out of Baltimore?

Remember, they gave away one 5 day cruise to the woman who won the bingo game. She is from Maryland. By the Way, the question about the next 5 day cruise out of Baltimore (on a Carnival ship) is a trick question. Check it out!