Mardi Gras

[13cheermom]

6 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Or maybe it’s time for you to get a new computer 😊.

Lol, you sound like my husband, whom has a PC.  But no way, I'm team Apple all the way, (laptop, iPad, iPhone, & watch).  My daughters and I all have apple and he is the only one with a droid, we tease him all the time that he's the loser. 🤣🤣🤣.  But don't tell anyone, I did sneak on his laptop to look at the interactive plans. 😱

[tree.critter]

I'm on the T/A and lookng forward to this bucket list cruise.  I was surprised the T-pool and spa was lowered to deck 5 and the cove balconies were raised up to 5.  Score for me, booked a spa cove on opening evening from PVP call.  Looked at the deck plans a couple days later and saw most of the deck 5 spa cabins are under the new comedy club, will add earplugs to packing list in case needed.  

 

 

[tidecat]

2 hours ago, tree.critter said:

I'm on the T/A and lookng forward to this bucket list cruise.  I was surprised the T-pool and spa was lowered to deck 5 and the cove balconies were raised up to 5.  Score for me, booked a spa cove on opening evening from PVP call.  Looked at the deck plans a couple days later and saw most of the deck 5 spa cabins are under the new comedy club, will add earplugs to packing list in case needed.  

 

 

It looks like Carnival is reverting back to the deck numbering scheme it used on the Holiday and Fantasy classes, where Deck 4 is the equivalent of Deck 1 on the other classes of ships. 

[JimmyTheSaint]

On 2/8/2019 at 7:17 PM, soulsistah007 said:

What's the itinerary for the Legend? Is it offered the same time frame as the transatlantic?

Legend leaves Europe for the Transatlantic sailing on 30th October 2020 so about six weeks later than Mardi Gras. It's also a couple of days longer at 16 nights.

 

We have a soft spot for Legend as it was our first cruise in 2013, Venice to Barcelona. The itinerary is Barcelona, Malaga, Funchal (Madeira), Santa Cruz (Tenerife), St John's (Antigua), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) and Tampa.

[JimmyTheSaint]

On 2/8/2019 at 7:18 PM, crzndeb said:

I really wanted to book Mardi Gras, but really didn’t want to debark in NYC, after the fiasco with the Vista. They probably have it ironed out now, but decided to book the last Med and TA on the Legend instead. I also booked MSC Med prior to the Med Legend leg. I haven’t been to Venice, so this will give me a little extra time there. Plus I love Barcelona. I will eventually sail on the Mardi Gras.

One of the things putting us off booking the transatlantic on Mardi Gras is debarking in New York. We did the transatlantic last year on Horizon ( great cruise ) but New York was a shambles. We did the self debark so we were off the ship early as we had a plane to catch at La Guardia. Getting off the ship was fine and the Customs & Immigration people in the port were fine.

 

The problem we, and several hundred others, had was getting a taxi at the port. We waited almost two hours in a very disorganised line with a lot of people getting very agitated and at times very aggressive with fellow cruisers trying to cut in etc. A very unpleasant end to the cruise. I accept this is not Carnival's responsibility and it caught us unaware as we had expected there would be taxis just queuing up for 4000 people getting off a ship.

[iamsteph]

1 hour ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

One of the things putting us off booking the transatlantic on Mardi Gras is debarking in New York. We did the transatlantic last year on Horizon ( great cruise ) but New York was a shambles. We did the self debark so we were off the ship early as we had a plane to catch at La Guardia. Getting off the ship was fine and the Customs & Immigration people in the port were fine.

 

The problem we, and several hundred others, had was getting a taxi at the port. We waited almost two hours in a very disorganised line with a lot of people getting very agitated and at times very aggressive with fellow cruisers trying to cut in etc. A very unpleasant end to the cruise. I accept this is not Carnival's responsibility and it caught us unaware as we had expected there would be taxis just queuing up for 4000 people getting off a ship.

We had that problem in NYC when we got off the Vista, and we were off pretty early (Platinum group).  There were no taxis to be found.  After waiting in a taxi line for 10 minutes, and only seeing one taxi go by, and since we each only had a carry-on, we ended up walking east a few blocks and had no problem catching a taxi.  

[iamsteph]

27 minutes ago, iamsteph said:

We had that problem in NYC when we got off the Vista, and we were off pretty early (Platinum group).  There were no taxis to be found.  After waiting in a taxi line for 10 minutes, and only seeing one taxi go by, and since we each only had a carry-on, we ended up walking east a few blocks and had no problem catching a taxi.  

And by the Vista, I mean the Horizon lol

[sapphire_407]

That ship is just beautiful and I had to book a cabin.  Standard balcony, but my Carnival guy told me these balconies are larger than on the rest of the ships.  15th deck and the cost with taxes and port charges came to 2183.00 for 2 people with 200 onboard credit.  I had to make sure it didn't have one of those hideous shopping malls like the RCL have.   The atrium and the French Quarter look so gorgeous.  I'm assuming they have Cajun food on that ship.  They betta.

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

One of the things putting us off booking the transatlantic on Mardi Gras is debarking in New York. We did the transatlantic last year on Horizon ( great cruise ) but New York was a shambles. We did the self debark so we were off the ship early as we had a plane to catch at La Guardia. Getting off the ship was fine and the Customs & Immigration people in the port were fine.

 

The problem we, and several hundred others, had was getting a taxi at the port. We waited almost two hours in a very disorganised line with a lot of people getting very agitated and at times very aggressive with fellow cruisers trying to cut in etc. A very unpleasant end to the cruise. I accept this is not Carnival's responsibility and it caught us unaware as we had expected there would be taxis just queuing up for 4000 people getting off a ship.

Welcome to the 21st century, Uber and Lyft would solve that problem and cheaper to boot.

[cbell21219]

6 hours ago, iamsteph said:

We had that problem in NYC when we got off the Vista, and we were off pretty early (Platinum group).  There were no taxis to be found.  After waiting in a taxi line for 10 minutes, and only seeing one taxi go by, and since we each only had a carry-on, we ended up walking east a few blocks and had no problem catching a taxi.  

Take Uber or Lift, taxis are a thing of the past. And they come directly to where you are, no reason to try a find a cab.

[iamsteph]

7 hours ago, cbell21219 said:

Take Uber or Lift, taxis are a thing of the past. And they come directly to where you are, no reason to try a find a cab.

We stayed in NYC prior to our cruise and used both Uber/Lyft and regular taxis. We found that depending on traffic conditions and our purpose, the taxi could be better and cheaper.  We also had the one Uber driver who wouldn't use the air conditioning even though it was 85+ degrees out.  The time it took us to walk a couple of blocks was the same time it would have taken to pull out the phone, call up the app, put in our trip info, and then wait for an Uber/Lyft to actually show up. 

[JimmyTheSaint]

9 hours ago, cbell21219 said:

Take Uber or Lift, taxis are a thing of the past. And they come directly to where you are, no reason to try a find a cab.

We're not familiar with Uber or Lift as we live in a country with strict taxi licensing laws. We had researched getting a taxi beforehand and were aware there is a taxi stand directly opposite the cruise terminal and we had viewed it on Google street view. 

[sapphire_407]

I booked the ship for the December 2020 cruise.  I'm looking forward to it but not happy that they ripped off the passengers for one port.  They could have stopped in Half Moon Cay as they will sail right past it.  On the western route they took away Grand Cayman.  We are not stupid and I suggest Carnival, if they read this, add those ports.  Also there does seem to be A LOT of cabins, lots of passengers and I wonder about long lines.  Two weeks before Xmas is my favorite time to cruise as the ships are never packed. Also beautifully decorated . So I have that.  Also the weather is always perfect. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

5 hours ago, sapphire_407 said:

I booked the ship for the December 2020 cruise.  I'm looking forward to it but not happy that they ripped off the passengers for one port.  They could have stopped in Half Moon Cay as they will sail right past it.  On the western route they took away Grand Cayman.  We are not stupid and I suggest Carnival, if they read this, add those ports.  Also there does seem to be A LOT of cabins, lots of passengers and I wonder about long lines.  Two weeks before Xmas is my favorite time to cruise as the ships are never packed. Also beautifully decorated . So I have that.  Also the weather is always perfect. 

 

I figure they are being "safe" with the number and type of ports while they figure out logistics of such a large ship - it might not port or tender easily at every current Carnival port due to ship size or sheer number of pax, for example.

 

Also, to "stop" at a place you are passing by means you lose time in port plus time to get in/out from the passing route - so say the ship docks for 8 hours, you are looking at 10 hours or more of lost time - maybe, based on expected sailing speeds, they simply can't insert that amount of time into the sailing right there.  And maybe they are being cautious with overall sailing speeds for the first six months or year or whatever, and once the ship proves it regularly keeps at 21 kts (or whatever) cruising speed they can be assured it will make additional ports on time.

[cruizinisthebest]

5 hours ago, sapphire_407 said:

I booked the ship for the December 2020 cruise.  I'm looking forward to it but not happy that they ripped off the passengers for one port.  They could have stopped in Half Moon Cay as they will sail right past it.  On the western route they took away Grand Cayman.  We are not stupid and I suggest Carnival, if they read this, add those ports.  Also there does seem to be A LOT of cabins, lots of passengers and I wonder about long lines.  Two weeks before Xmas is my favorite time to cruise as the ships are never packed. Also beautifully decorated . So I have that.  Also the weather is always perfect. 

 

Count me as one that loves only 3 ports. I always thought 4 ports in 7 days was too much. Grand Cayman Belize, and Half Moon will not be part of any Mardi Gras itineraries, because it involves tenders or rather "water shuttles." Been to GC enough and going this summer. Never been to Belize, but I guess I'll have to book another ship to get there. We're booked for October. I'm sure the ship will be beautifully adorned for the Christmas season!

Edited February 10, 2019 by cruizinisthebest

[shof515]

6 hours ago, sapphire_407 said:

 They could have stopped in Half Moon Cay as they will sail right past it.  On the western route they took away Grand Cayman. 

 

due to the size and passenger capacity of this ship, it is logistical impossible to do any tendering/water shuttle operation like what they can do on other ships. The Mardi Gras itinerary will have ports the ship can dock and a pier people can walk on

[jimbo5544]

8 hours ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

We're not familiar with Uber or Lift as we live in a country with strict taxi licensing laws. We had researched getting a taxi beforehand and were aware there is a taxi stand directly opposite the cruise terminal and we had viewed it on Google street view. 

Ummmm, I think the point is you were in New York, it is common to use them and would have been a much better plan.  Try it, sometimes better to go with the flow of where you are, not where you are from.

[shof515]

14 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Ummmm, I think the point is you were in New York, it is common to use them and would have been a much better plan.  Try it, sometimes better to go with the flow of where you are, not where you are from.

 

also sometimes, it is better to walk a block or two away from the terminal/crowds to meet up with a uber/lyft. this is what i do and is always sooo much easier finding the taxi

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

 

also sometimes, it is better to walk a block or two away from the terminal/crowds to meet up with a uber/lyft. this is what i do and is always sooo much easier finding the taxi

Makes sense