What is the Best Itinerary on Carnival?

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, StephPS79 said:

 

My brother is a die-hard RCI fan, but when looking at Alaska, went with Princess.  RCI doesn't do Alaska very well.  Price, ship, and itinerary wise, I don't think RCI does Alaska very well.

 

Of the Carnival family for Alaska, two think they are the top of the heap in Alaska, Princess and HAL, both for different reasons.

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, Robo1098 said:

Correct. I don't dissagree with you. I will say that I have seen many complaints from cruisers on Quantum class ships that they do not go to many of the areas that other ships go due to their size. 

The RCCL problem in a nutshell

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

But Carnival could easily slide Firenze up to Seattle from Long Beach which also has the roof. Maybe they will in the future but it doesn't seem to be in their plans right now.

The acquisition of the Costa ships is fairly new (and dynamic from a timing perspective), you may be right, she would fit in nicely…..we shall see.

[jimbo5544]

52 minutes ago, tha sista said:

Are there no more St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua itineraries?  Or were those only out of SJ.  I can't remember.  I would love to hit some of those islands again.

For journey cruises they were out of PC (maybe more), but mainly SJ.  They are missed

[jimbo5544]

49 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

You'll need to research Journeys cruises to hit those ports. 😎

Sadly…..

[bdeluca03]

3 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

The acquisition of the Costa ships is fairly new (and dynamic from a timing perspective), you may be right, she would fit in nicely…..we shall see.

I went on the Luminosa last summer & was highly disappointed vs. Carnival Spirit on basically the same itinerary to Alaska. It seemed like they just rushed the Luminosa out of dry dock & didn't give it the same Carnival touches.

[jimbo5544]

Just now, bdeluca03 said:

I went on the Luminosa last summer & was highly disappointed vs. Carnival Spirit on basically the same itinerary to Alaska. It seemed like they just rushed the Luminosa out of dry dock & didn't give it the same Carnival touches.

Cannot comment, she was the first of the Costa makeovers….

[mz-s]

Just now, bdeluca03 said:

I went on the Luminosa last summer & was highly disappointed vs. Carnival Spirit on basically the same itinerary to Alaska. It seemed like they just rushed the Luminosa out of dry dock & didn't give it the same Carnival touches.

 

Carnival, like many in the travel industry, didn't expect the "revenge travel" bubble. They expected people to be hesitant to travel after COVID. When they needed capacity ASAP, they had to get ships ASAP and that basically meant they just scratched COSTA off the side of the ship and wrote in CARNIVAL.

[jerseyjjs]

31 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Carnival, like many in the travel industry, didn't expect the "revenge travel" bubble. They expected people to be hesitant to travel after COVID. When they needed capacity ASAP, they had to get ships ASAP and that basically meant they just scratched COSTA off the side of the ship and wrote in CARNIVAL.

 

 

And didn't even replace the funnel.

[bdeluca03]

1 minute ago, jerseyjjs said:

 

 

And didn't even replace the funnel.

Agreed, they didn't add Blue Iguana, Guy's Burgers & the features they did add like Alchemy or Piano Bar were absolutely rushed with Piano Bar for example having a walk way halfway thru it along with Alchemy. 

The marketing on the Luminosa vs. the final product was a definite bait and switch.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, bdeluca03 said:

Agreed, they didn't add Blue Iguana, Guy's Burgers & the features they did add like Alchemy or Piano Bar were absolutely rushed with Piano Bar for example having a walk way halfway thru it along with Alchemy. 

The marketing on the Luminosa vs. the final product was a definite bait and switch.

Explain how it was bait and switch’

[mz-s]

17 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Explain how it was bait and switch’

 

They didn't do anything to the ship except wire wheel COSTA off the side and paint in CARNIVAL. It doesn't even have Guys Burgers. It's a CINO - Carnival in Name Only.

[Jamman54]

35 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

They didn't do anything to the ship except wire wheel COSTA off the side and paint in CARNIVAL. It doesn't even have Guys Burgers. It's a CINO - Carnival in Name Only.

Well, it wasn't quite as bad as that, but if a person looked at the deck plans before booking,  they would have known what the ship did or didn't have. That's not bait and switch. 😎

[mz-s]

4 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Well, it wasn't quite as bad as that, but if a person looked at the deck plans before booking,  they would have known what the ship did or didn't have. That's not bait and switch. 😎

I didn't say it was bait and switch but I do think they rushed the conversion and really cheaped out on it which is a shame. If the ship stays with Carnival long-term they need to do a full conversion - add the venues Carnival cruisers expect, change out the funnel, etc.

[Jamman54]

17 minutes ago, mz-s said:

I didn't say it was bait and switch but I do think they rushed the conversion and really cheaped out on it which is a shame. If the ship stays with Carnival long-term they need to do a full conversion - add the venues Carnival cruisers expect, change out the funnel, etc.

Sorry. You were replying to Jimbo's post that said "explain how it was bait and switch", so I assumed you were giving an explanation of why it was bait and switch. My bad. 

[mz-s]

56 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Sorry. You were replying to Jimbo's post that said "explain how it was bait and switch", so I assumed you were giving an explanation of why it was bait and switch. My bad. 

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say it is bait and switch. But I could see how some would think that.

[MtnSeaGirl]

We really like the ports of St Kitts, St Lucia, Grenada, San Juan, St Croix, Bonaire, Barbados and a few others. We are also looking forward to another West Carib next year.   BUT, we have not cruised Alaska or Europe yet. Our thoughts could certainly change.  We pick and chose what fits our budget and time we have.  Hopefully, we will be able to cruise longer in a few more years. 

[jimbo5544]

All good ideas.  They are all fairly unique and offer a great vacation opportunity.  It used to be in Carnival, that they only way you cruised in them in Europe, it was when a new ship came out.  Now, there a re great chances to experience lots of different European cruise vacations.  As someone who has done a few, I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you have never been there.  Cruising Europe gives you the opportunity to get a “flavor” of different things, from the Med, to northern Europe, Scandinavian Countries, GB, Iceland and more.     

[jsglow]

So we're on Venezia right now. As @mz-sindicated, there was a fair amount of 'wire wheeling' but the conversation they did do was good. She's got enough Carnival features while still offering something different. I can't speak to Luminosa. 

[bdeluca03]

On 3/29/2024 at 4:45 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Explain how it was bait and switch’

I'm happy to explain my rational for calling it a bait & switch based on booking it before it ever sailed as Carnival was marketing the new Costa ships especially the Luminosa at the time based on the press-release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-cruise-line-announces-that-costa-luminosa-will-transfer-to-the-carnival-fleet-and-start-service-in-november-2022-301567973.html

While the statement, "Given the short timeline to get Carnival Luminosa ready for service, the ship will go through some modest updates to change over from Costa to Carnival over the next few months ahead of the November service start-up. The ship will not initially have all of the Funship 2.0 branded spaces that are seen across the Carnival fleet."

 

Based on the success of the Firenze/Venezia (can't remember which ship was released at the same time) it seemed like a gamble worth taking - but I agree that they just ripped off the Costa Branded signs, made minimal changes and put it out to sea. If I would have booked a Marriott Hotel (Ritz Carlton) and later found out it was a Fairfield Inn, I'd be quite disappointed.

I felt the same happened here in the Summer of 2023 (August 2023) with the Alchemy Bar being in the middle of a walkway; the Piano Bar being in the middle of a walkway; the ice machines having issue; Ocean Plaza having the only TV's onboard for sports, etc. (no Red Frog Pub, Heroes, Sky Sports Bar, etc); the Chefs Table being in part of the Steakhouse next to a crowd of loud individuals, etc; the F1 Bar (Smoking) former race simulator covered up for smokers with not a single dollar spent on adding a bartender, tv, or any amenities to the area whatsoever.

There will a lot of complaints at Guest Services onboard about this ship from a line of guests waiting to be heard.

Edited April 1 by bdeluca03

[bdeluca03]

12 minutes ago, jsglow said:

So we're on Venezia right now. As @mz-sindicated, there was a fair amount of 'wire wheeling' but the conversation they did do was good. She's got enough Carnival features while still offering something different. I can't speak to Luminosa. 

I've read from the online reviews the Venezia was leaps above the Luminosa.

[bdeluca03]

On 3/30/2024 at 10:37 AM, mz-s said:

 

They didn't do anything to the ship except wire wheel COSTA off the side and paint in CARNIVAL. It doesn't even have Guys Burgers. It's a CINO - Carnival in Name Only.

I'd wholeheartedly agree with this assessment of the Luminosa.

[noshoobie]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:04 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

I haven't done either. But I am doing the Horizon ABC soon and I have seen the Hawaii prices.

We are considering this itinerary for September. When are you going? Can't wait to read your review. The other Carnival option to ABC in September is the Celebration. 

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, noshoobie said:

We are considering this itinerary for September. When are you going? Can't wait to read your review. The other Carnival option to ABC in September is the Celebration. 

 

This month.

[noshoobie]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:29 PM, bar1068 said:

Just kind of an OBTW...I did not see it mentioned, Celebration does an 8 day ABC cruise out of Miami...we did our 5th Southern Carib/ABC on Celebration last May, and was probably the best for us ABC cruise we've done. Or best cruise was the 16 day transatlantic on the Sunshine some years ago. Alaska would be up there, but on our Alaskan cruise last year the weather had other ideas. Nice cruise, but definitely was "subdued" by the weather. 

Sorry to get off topic from the OP, but can you give me your insight on the Celebration itself? We are considering either Horizon or Celebration in September to ABC. @Saint Greg is travelling on the Horizon to ABC this month. I would love to hear the different point of views of the ships. Thanks.