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what's your favorite Carnival port for departure?


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Tampa hands down. It has the most efficient and friendly staff and we are on board and in our cabin about 15 minutes after entering the terminal. Embarkation and dembarkation are effortless. With 50 cruises in our experience, Tampa is the best. We have cruised out of Tampa, Port Canaveral, Jacksonville, Charleston, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and San Juan.

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Miami! 

 

We fly in the day before embarkation and the biggest reason why we like Miami is because of the authentic Cuban restaurants.  It’s our reminder that we are officially on vacation. 

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I like departing from Miami because I like cruising along the causeway, looking at the homes and condos, and then getting the view of the beach.  I like sailing in and out of San Juan because the fort is so impressive to sail by.  For some reason I really like hanging out in Long Beach too--it has a cool vibe.  And Fort Lauderdale...aww heck, I guess I like them all.

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I've cruised out of Baltimore, Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, New Orleans, and Galveston.  My favorite is Miami. I think the views are incredible sailing out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. My husband's favorite port is Baltimore because he loved it when we got a hotel near the water and walked around that area. He really liked the sail away too.  My least favorite as far as scenery is New Orleans, with Galveston a close second.

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Any port but Miami !! Miami is the only port that i feel taken (fleeced) by the porters. I know that Carnival has no control over them but dam. 3 Bucks a suit case or they don't make the ship No Porter should ever be saying that. Same people who when you return are asking you if you need help.

 

New Orleans was the easiest  and most comfortable before and after. Fort Lauderdale was also easy. 

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14 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

Any port but Miami !! Miami is the only port that i feel taken (fleeced) by the porters. I know that Carnival has no control over them but dam. 3 Bucks a suit case or they don't make the ship No Porter should ever be saying that. Same people who when you return are asking you if you need help.

 

New Orleans was the easiest  and most comfortable before and after. Fort Lauderdale was also easy. 

If a porter said that to me would say thanks for the info and immediately take our suitcase with us onto the ship.

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10 hours ago, ggtjr said:

We don't drink so don't know the exact rules. Yes, CCL's Cheers package cannot be used until later. RCL's Ultimate Drink package allows a select menu upon boarding. Whether they purchase single drink or use Ultimaye, RCL allows purchase. So can cruisers on CCL out of Galveston purchase select alcoholic drinks upon boarding?

Yes, the Cheers package does not kick in until day 2 out of Galveston.  You are also not paying for it until day 2.  So the Cheers pkg on a 7 day cruise is only charged at 6 days.  However, you can order any type of alcoholic drink on day 1.  It is just charged to your S&S card, along with sales tax.

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I have cruised out of every port in Florida multiple times, with the exception of Jacksonville. Although it isn’t the closest port to our house, Port Canaveral is my favorite port. Based on my experience Port Canaveral consistently has the smoothest and quickest embarkations and debarkations. 

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We are in Georgia and drive to ports.  We have left from New Orleans, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral.  We hated New Orleans, it was a zoo when we went and it took forever to check in as they opened all packages of water (which you cannot take anymore) and shook each bottle.  We loved Canaveral.  They seemed to have it all together and everything was great at embark.  However, depark was terrible as they were short porters and people were waiting forever to get their luggage. 

 

Next year we are going out of Fort Lauderdale again.  It was Ok, but will see how this time.  All previous cruises we were travelling with my parents (with Mom in a Wheelchair).  That could have tainted our views of boarding.  LOL

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I've sailed from NYC, FLL, MIA, NCO, TAM, NOLA, and IAH domestically.  I would rank NYC the best  for sailaway,  can't beat the NYC skyline and Lady Liberty IMO.

 

For ease of departure, I'd rank MIA first, since I've had very easy getaways from either flying or driving in the morning of the cruise.

 

Last place IMO is a tie between IAH and MCO due to the distance and added time it takes to get from the airport to the cruiseport.

 

I'd rank FLL up there with MIA except several of my cruises from FLL didn't start boarding until 1PM.

 

Disclosure:  I usually get some sort of priority boarding being diamond on CCL and platinum on NCL.

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We've left from Miami x 3, Jacksonville, Port Canaveral and New Orleans. Easiest has always been Miami and our worst was Jacksonville. Jacksonville was our least favorite just because we had to stand outside in the heat for about 2 hours before getting into the terminal, this was before check in times were assigned so it could be better now. I also love leaving from New Orleans simply because it's a great city to explore prior to embarking. There's definitely a different vibe of people that left from New Orleans too, everyone was so laid back, nice and happy on that trip!

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I've sailed from Port Canaveral, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, San Diego, Long Beach, Seattle and Vancouver.

 

My favorite has to be Vancouver.  I live in Victoria, so getting to Vancouver is easy and I don't have to fly in the night before.  Sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge with a view of the North Shore Mountains on one side and Stanley Park on the other is a big plus.

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12 hours ago, Micah's Grandad said:

If a porter said that to me would say thanks for the info and immediately take our suitcase with us onto the ship.

I don't like the porters at Miami either.  I saw my husband getting out cash so l  thought he was giving a tip. He saw something in my hand and thought l was giving the tip. We both walk away and the porter ran after us and said something snide. Embarrassed,  my husband handed him money.  Never again.

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We live just under 2 hours to Port Canaveral and Port Everglades Fort Lauderdale. Dislike Miami. Not just the port  so hectic, but driving there is also crazy. Off site parking is not that great either. Favorite is Port Canaveral. An easy calm drive and also the port is not hectic at all. Nice port. We do off site parking. The parking for Fort Lauderdale at Park n' Go is by far the best. They offer a veterans discount. Then Port Canaveral. Park n' Cruise. They have a discount site for Veterans at a very good price. Lots of Honor.

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14 hours ago, phoneman69 said:

Any port but Miami !! Miami is the only port that i feel taken (fleeced) by the porters. I know that Carnival has no control over them but dam. 3 Bucks a suit case or they don't make the ship No Porter should ever be saying that. Same people who when you return are asking you if you need help

 

 

Did you just make this up, there is no charge for luggage. We have sailed out of Miami many times, never have been asked for money. However, we do tip. 

 

 

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We have embarked from Port of Los Angeles, Galveston, Long Beach, San Francisco, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, New Orleans, Gulfport (when there was a power line hanging over the Mississippi) and San Juan.

 

New Orleans is my favorite followed by Ft. Lauderdale.  San Francisco was cool (homeport at the time) but only because we ran Bay to Breakers and then got on the ship...fun experience.  Our boarding picture was us with our race bibs :classic_biggrin: .

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We have sailed out of Miami, Tampa and Canaveral.  I would have a hard time to pick between them all. I like Miami because of the area.  I have always like to go and stay the night before while there and visit Bayside Market.  I like Tampa because it is just so easy to get around.  At one time, we lived in Brandon and we became very familiar with Port of Tampa and would just go and watch the ships leave if we were not on a cruise.  The area to go and watch them leave is nice and has stores and restaurants.  My first cruise ever was from Canaveral - so it holds a special place in my heart. lol  It was easy to maneuver as well.  DH and I are planning to leave out of Mobile for the first time later this year.  We moved from FL to TN and it just seemed like was one of the closer ones for us to leave from.  Mobile comments will have to wait. lol

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We have sailed out of

 

Long beach - loved it!

Galveston - hated the travel from Houston to Galveston

Tampa - loved it!

Fort Lauderdale - Loved it!

Port Canaveral - Don't like the travel from Orlando

New York - loved it, but hated that when we sailed it was December and took a whole day to get to warmer weather.

Southampton - Loved that we were in a different area of the world and taking the train was kind of exciting from London.

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