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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Yeah you can order that, but if you’re, say, out by the pool, you have to get your mixer from the bar/server, walk to your room, then go back to the pool. Also the glasses of soft drinks at the bar are pretty small, as I remember. Unless you get the soft drink package and then buy a (apparently) 14oz. insulated Carnival cup for like $8 and take it to the bar. Don't forget the free POG juice at breakfast on Carnival.
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Mar 12, 2019 01:56
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Currently on the Disney Wonder about to leave San Diego for seven days. San Diego is a beautiful city, and this ship is nice. Already had lunch dining as soon as we got on the ship, and so far, the theming is incredible. We will see how it compares to Carnival/Royal Caribbean for the whole seven days but so far I’m pretty impressed. Can’t wait to finally see Endgame in the ship’s theatre on Wednesday. I’ve tried really hard to avoid spoilers. 
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Apr 28, 2019 23:24
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skipdogg posted:Disney is a hell of an experience, but you pay for it. The Mrs get a nice discount? Yep. It was a last minute deal.
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Apr 29, 2019 00:20
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TheKevman posted:Can't wait to hear your review- the missus has been hounding me about a Disney cruise but I'm reluctant given the fact that we don't have kids, and I'd assume they're the ones that would benefit the most from the theming? 30 minutes before we leave port in Puerto Vallarta so this is short, but so far so good. To answer your question, not necessarily if your missus is a big Disney fan like my wife and sister are. You get a lot of the character experiences here and can take pictures with pretty much a lot of the characters from the parks and more (Marvel characters are on the boat). The theming is very nice, and if you’re (or your significant other) big into Disney, you’ll appreciate all the small touches. Different things from Carnival/Royal Caribbean: We have three dining rooms that we rotate through for every night so you get a different dining experience but with the same table mates. There is no buffet at night, but the buffet turns into a quick service with its own menu, and I think that’s how they train their staff. Cokes are free, so bring your Yeti/RTIC and fill it up. The split bathroom is something I’m definitely not a fan of as it seems really small, but it does allow someone to shower and pee at the same time in privacy. Tonight we have fireworks, so I’m curious to see how they compare to the parks. Endgame was great, and we saw the first showing in the big theater as that was the main attraction for the night (and had lines at the door an hour early). Two more days at sea, and then we come back to San Diego.
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May 2, 2019 22:22
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Not sure if this will come through but this is a shot directly from our balcony facing down right now. Just a funny thing to see on a boat instead of the normal port pier.  
Silly Burrito fucked around with this message at 22:29 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 22:27
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Pixelante posted:What's the best place to find deals? I ask Braksgirl. 😁
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May 2, 2019 23:11
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Welp, time to come back to reality. It was an excellent cruise. Now I’ve been on seven cruises, and this Disney cruise was the best one. Pluses: Ship feel and staff: Very clean ship, extremely helpful staff (to be fair, this applies to all ships I’ve been on as well). The staterooms were bright, and we had enough room to move around in the bedroom/couch area. Entertainment: The Broadway shows are the best shows I’ve seen on a ship. Compared to Carnival/Royal Caribbean, Disney’s shows have more special effects, better sets, and I simply enjoyed them more. The Frozen show was the highlight of the trip, and I definitely would not have thought that before last week. Food value: Disney is expensive, but I didn’t feel like I was nickel and dimed like I did on Royal Caribbean. Plenty of places to eat for “free” and 24 hour access to soft drinks, hot chocolate, coffees. Having three different themed sit-down restaurants that you rotate through nightly was a neat idea. Shop sales: Not a lot of pushy sales or gimmicks in the shops. While that might mean no 2 for $20 T-shirts, it was nice not having alcohol sales, gold sales or watch sales cluttering up the aisles when you’re just trying to see a show. Characters, characters, characters: This is the #1 reason I’d recommend Disney as a cruise line over others if meeting Disney or Marvel characters is your (or your spouse’s) thing. Last night, Braksgirl and my sister took 6-7 photos in 20 minutes with various characters, and they had so many opportunities to do so. You’d also just sometimes come up to them as they walked around the ship and grab a quick selfie (but walk fast with them because they are hustling). Lots of activities: We never were at a loss for things to do, and Disney smartly plans two shows at appropriate times for their big events to accommodate dinner times. You’d think that would be a no brainer but I’ve been on Carnival ships where there was one big show at 7 something and we would either have to wolf down our food or just skip it. We played a lot of trivia, and there were so many little events, shows, and other activities that I mainly took Friday off knowing that yesterday we would do a lot. And we did. 🙂 Kids: We did not bring our kids this time but we did take them in March on Carnival. I know my father is concerned about kids crying and wailing as a reason to why he doesn’t want to go on a Disney cruise, but it was never a problem for me. The kids had their own club and you didn’t see a ton of them running around on the ship, but even when you did, it wasn’t a crazy screaming mess. In fact, the worst crying we heard was when we debarked, which is understandable. The cast catered to the kids and the adults but it was cool seeing the littlest kids stand in awe of Mickey and company. To be fair, many adults did the same. Minuses: Cost: The main one everyone will immediately think of is cost, and I understand that. I was actually surprised because I’ve heard others say that Disney would blow me away and I’d be forever spoiled. Personally, I was not spoiled forever, but I think that’s also a testament to how much I just enjoy cruising in general and how nice some of my previous cruises were. I could easily take another Carnival cruise and not feel like I’m missing a ton. But to be fair, I’m not a mega Disney fan. If you just plan to lie out by the pool and hot tub, see a couple of shore excursions, and just laze around, I would think another cruise would work just fine. But if you liked Disney/ Disney movies as a kid, like going to the parks, or want to meet and take photos with the characters, you definitely get a lot of that theme park experience without waiting in line for hours and hours. Adult Quiet Area: This is Quiet Cove on Disney and Serenity Deck on Carnival. But, I found that every now and then, they’d bring in a singer in Quiet Cove or they’d blast the ship’s horn directly over us and I can assure you that it was not quiet. I much prefer the Serenity deck on Carnival because al I want to do there is sit down, hear just the ocean and read my Kindle books. No 24 hour food: I honestly didn’t need this, but both Carnival and RC have some sort of 24 hour food (like pizza or cake) and unless I missed it, Disney doesn’t have this. They do have late night room service and pizza until 11 or 12 and usually I was full, so this isn’t a huge downer, just something I noticed. Time changes: Holy hell did this mess with me. We left San Diego, had to move our clocks forward one hour in either Cabo or Matzatlan, and then had to move our clocks forward another hour again in Puerto Vallarta. Then we had to roll the clocks back one hour again that night and again the next night. It felt like two years worth of Daylight a Savings Time in one week and messed with my sleep. On other cruises we have just stuck with ship’s time, so I’m not sure if it’s a west coast thing or a Disney thing but that was definitely annoying. Split bathrooms: Personally I disliked them because the toilet room was way too small. I get the concept and I can see where it would be helpful, but I felt very cramped. The shower part wasn’t as bad and had a bit more room to maneuver around. Burgers: Both Guy Fieri (Carnival) and Johnny Rockets (RC) blow Disney’s burgers out of the water. This is the one (admittedly minor) place where Disney came in a distant third. TL;DR We talked last night whether I’d rather have one week on a Disney cruise, one week at Disneyland, or one week at Disney World, and even though I love to ride rides, I’d pick the cruise again easily. We had a lot of fun, and it’s amazing how fast seven days goes when you don’t want it to. Hope this helps anyone trying to plan a trip.
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May 5, 2019 19:10
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$200 a day per person may be a bit high. It just depends on which shore excursions you do plus how many drinks you have. Also add in a few souvenirs if you want them. Maybe use $10 per drink as a rough average for calculation (but if you get a drink pass I think it’s $50-55 or so a day on Carnival, roughly 8 bucks a day for the soda pass.) Excursions vary in cost, but I’ve paid $70-150 per person for whatever activity you want to do. Also, on sea days you won’t have those excursions. You may also decide to eat in the “fancy” restaurant, but if you eat in the normal dining room, no extra fees apply unless you get a steak or lobster tail on Carnival/RC. If you like photos prepare to spend about $20 per photo unless you buy a package. If you or her likes spa treatments, those can get pretty pricey fairly quickly.
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May 5, 2019 21:14
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skipdogg posted:So I’ve watched dozens of hours of YouTube videos and read lots of blogs so I think I have a good handle on things for my upcoming cruise. Bought a bunch of recommended stuff to make the cabin experience nicer (magnets, portable fan, shoe organizer,etc). Didn’t plan any excursions as we just want to relax and unplug. We just plan on wandering around the port shops and chilling on the ship. We’re not huge drinkers so we’re skipping the alcohol package but are getting the soda package. I’m buying a bottle of Vodka for the room which with our 2 bottles of wine will cover most of our booze needs. I got some flaskaps for our tumblers so we don’t have to go back to the room for booze as often. Not sure if you’re a reader, but if you are, get a Kindle and load it with books from the library (or just bring a few). Bring one of those Anker multi-USB chargers so that you can charge your phone, camera, etc with one plug as there aren’t a ton of outlets in your room. When you get your itinerary, plan a few things to do on the ship but don’t be worried if you miss one. Bring comfortable stretchy shorts/pants. Bring extra medicine, sunscreen, aloe, and baby powder/cornstarch. Buy a t-shirt and/or a few crappy souvenirs. Take some fancy photos and some stupid ones. Figure out the best way you want to carry a ship and sail card (lanyard, pocket, wallet) and pack that. If you are the type to want to get on stage for silly gameshow type games or other events(like Newlywed game, trivia, karaoke, dance-offs, etc.), do it without caring. We all are laughing and no one else won’t care one drat bit once we are off the ship, but you will look back with fondness on some stupid fun. R-E-L-A-X
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May 15, 2019 00:02
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Slow Graffiti posted:I’ve never been on a cruise, so I’m not sure if they have ATMs on board, so ignore this if they do. However, I’ve been sailing around the Caribbean for a while now and I recommend bringing a few hundred dollars as an emergency stash if you’re going to go off the boat on excursions. Some islands have issues with their ATMs running out of cash or just being stubborn with US cards. Most of the issues I’ve found are on islands that use Eastern Carribean Dollars (I.e. Dominica), but I’ve also had issues on larger islands like St. Martin. Yeah, not a bad idea, also bring some smaller bills for tips for excursions (but I think you said you weren't going to take any). Also having cash makes it easier to haggle if that's your thing because if you bring out a credit card to some of those smaller shops, they're just going to look at you like you're crazy.
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May 15, 2019 03:40
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skipdogg posted:Cash is always a good idea. I always take 100 in small bills when I go on vacation. I’m a former service industry worker and I have a propensity to over tip especially on vacation. My way of paying it forward I guess. I’ll probably bring 300 on this trip just in case. Maybe more as I’m not sure about using my cards in port. I’ve got travel cards with no fees, but acceptance could be an issue. I never really think about someone not taking credit cards these days. Even the 70 year old guy that sells peaches on the corner takes and prefers cards. Tried to pay cash and he whipped out a square reader and said that was easier. Hell, if you really want to do Mr Sancho’s, just do it and meet back with your other couple back on the boat. We’ve done that when my parents wanted to do a different shore excursion than us and it worked out fine. Also, Braksgirl signed us up for Mr Sancho’s on our March cruise, and it was really nice. The kids and adults both liked it. Worth a visit IMO and you’ll still have plenty of time to visit the terminal shops.
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May 15, 2019 11:04
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skipdogg posted:I really want to. The other couple is deadly terrified of being left behind at the cruise port. We could hit Sancho's from 9 to 2 and have tons of time to get back. We may still go without them. Coconut Shrimps be callin me. I see a ton of people who bring a few 12 packs on the boat when they get on. You can always buy a coke at any bar though.
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May 15, 2019 21:01
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About to set sail from New Orleans to Key West/Bahamas on Royal Caribbean. Anyone have an opinion as to the best key lime pie in KW?
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Jan 18, 2020 22:29
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skipdogg posted:Try them all and let us know. Maybe someone will have a key lime king cake.... mmmm I’m planning at least two stops. Kermit’s and another one that I don’t remember at the moment. Got to see if they beat a Publix pie, which will be pretty drat hard to do.
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Jan 18, 2020 22:58
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Zero One posted:I've never been but I've heard of Key Lime Pie on a stick covered in chocolate. Try to find that. You read my mind. That’s what we’re going to Kermit’s for!
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Jan 19, 2020 00:20
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Great write up, thank you! You mentioned travel agents and that’s one of the reasons we’re on this cruise. My wife Braksgirl is a travel agent and we’re checking out various spots in Key West and the Bahamas so that we can recommend/not recommend certain things. Cococay is the big fish on this trip. We’ve never been. Funny thing though is that on this specific cruise, we’re the rookies. I’ve taken 8 cruises (Disney, Carnival, Royal Caribbean) and she’s taken 10, and we’re meeting people who’ve taken 30-40 cruises easily. Now granted those people are retired and we’re in our early 40s but still. Key West looks cloudy today so I hope it doesn’t rain. Haven’t been here since our honeymoon 19 years ago so I don’t remember a lot. Just give me some pie. I am looking forward to Cococay and Nassau since I’ve never been but for the first time ever, we’re not doing shore excursions. Just exploring and checking everything out at our pace. One fun trip that I didn’t know existed until we met some people from Missouri...a cruise from San Diego to Hawaii. I’m very interested in finding out how much that costs as I’ve never been to Hawaii and that sounds pretty drat tempting.
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Jan 20, 2020 15:10
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:15-18 days, 4-5 days of open sea at both ends, starting at roughly $1500 pp before port fees. For us commoners without travel agent juice. That wouldn’t be too bad at all.
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Jan 20, 2020 17:47
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Anya posted:Silly burrito! You and braks make sure to hit up Irish Kevin’s for me - or a meal at Pepe’s (on Caroline St) today. Dang, sorry. Saw this too late. Just got back on the boat. We ate a ton of key lime pie though. My official verdict: it’s all drat good but Kermit’s is the best of the one’s we tried because it was just a bit more tart. It’s just the plain key lime pie that we liked the best. The chocolate covered one was good but the chocolate overpowers it a slight bit. We only had a sample of their strawberry key lime pie and that was amazingly good too. We also tried blueberry key lime pie and the original Key Lime bakery original and coconut. All in all a shitload of pie. Walking around Key West was nice. Saw the southernmost point of the US, saw the lighthouse, saw Hemingway’s house and his cats. I imagine if you had more than 5-6 hours you could slow down a bit but hey, you do what you can. Zero One posted:I went to Coco Cay for the first time in October (I never went to the old version). It was pretty great. Even though there were two ships that day (us on Mariner and Grandeur) it never got too busy. I picked up a water park pass in advance for $38 and got off first thing on the morning to hit the slides. I probably didn't need to do that since there were never any lines for the slides but it was pretty at sunrise. I debated whether or not to get the water slide tickets. Right now I’m not but if I change my mind I’ll just buy it. Thanks for the pics, it does look very fun. I’m looking forward to some beach R&R. Silly Burrito fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jan 20, 2020 |
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Jan 20, 2020 20:59
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skipdogg posted:A Hawaii cruise would be way too many sea days for me. I can see this as a legit concern. But I’m almost the opposite. I love sea days. More time to relax, read, nap, sit around the pool, etc. I know you don’t HAVE to but I almost feel obligated to stop at every port and go shopping or something along the pier even if you’ve been there a few times already or don’t need a cheap T-shirt. With a sea day, I don’t have to plan anything at all. Now with that said I’ve only been on a seven day cruise max, so maybe my opinion would change on a 14+ day cruise. 
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Jan 20, 2020 21:12
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Anya posted:No worries - I realized I probably should have messaged you faster. Love me some KW Funny enough, we came back to Key West today because Nassau had bad weather. Didn’t get a chance to eat at the Irish Pub because it was very full and we didn’t have a lot of time. However, we did tour the Hemingway House and good Lord did Braksgirl squee over all of the cats. Two more days at sea and then home. Although since we had to come back to America we all had to go through customs again. Never had that happen before on a cruise and that ate up most of the day until 2. Hopefully that speeds us up when we get back to New Orleans but I doubt it.
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Jan 23, 2020 02:19
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Anya posted:I have a matching pic of the Hemingway house bed with cats - it made me chuckle. Annoying they had to have you do customs again, that sucks so much time up. I have to admit, I was wrong. When we got back to New Orleans, as soon as they called our luggage tag number, we walked out into the line and got our luggage. Then we trekked to Customs where.......we walked straight through.  Since we had it done in Key West, we didn't have to do anything at all in New Orleans. We were in and out in 9 minutes or so. Fastest debarkation ever.It was a pain in the butt to have it done in Key West part 2, but man did it save a huge hassle in New Orleans.
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Jan 26, 2020 02:26
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I just remember it being spotty using Carnival a few years ago and we mostly stayed together anyway. Not a complete waste of five bucks but it wasn't as useful as I thought. I keep forgetting about the walkie talkies though.
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Feb 13, 2020 02:55
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bonus hole boy posted:
If your ship has a Johnny Rockets and you want a good burger, go ahead and pay the $10. It's unlimited burgers/fries/chili, plus the burger patties are much tastier than the ones they have on the buffet. Plus you can get a great peanut butter/chocolate milkshake for a few bucks more. We noticed our cruise director eating there the night we did. It was the best meal we had on the last Royal Caribbean cruise IMO. Hopefully the Oasis ships have a different selection.
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Feb 16, 2020 03:28
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BlackIronHeart posted:The Refreshment package that covers soda on RC will also cover the milkshakes and floats at Johnny Rockets, as well as non alcoholic smoothies. But not the one that JUST covers Cokes. At least ours didn't.
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Feb 16, 2020 04:04
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Boxman posted:I never found it unenjoyably crowded, with the exception of the hot tubs which always had a few too many people in them for them to not seem a little...human stew-ish. But for funsies I went and found photographic evidence. These are from a sailing on Allure way back in January 2018, but I'm sure occupancy is pretty static. Wow. Now I really want to try one of those Oasis class ships. That makes me feel like Tiny Elvis.
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Feb 27, 2020 04:50
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Viking cancelling all cruises until May 1st.
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Mar 12, 2020 14:46
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Add Royal Caribbean to the list. https://twitter.com/verge/status/1238563968744140800
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Mar 13, 2020 22:35
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Welp, we’re booking a trip on the Mardi Gras for November. 2021. Fingers crossed that the vaccine is a thing and we’re getting back to “normal” in 16 months.
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Jul 24, 2020 14:46
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slidebite posted:Went onto CC for a look and already seeing some posters who are anti-vacc saying "If they FORCE us to have a VACCINE WE WILL NEVER CRUISE AGAIN!" 
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Dec 12, 2020 18:30
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Really hope that the vaccinations tick upward soon and the restrictions are lifted. Hoping for that Virgin cruise in October for our anniversary and another in November for all of the family. All of us (minus the kids) are all pumped full of 5G nanobots.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:14
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About to disembark off of the Carnival Vista after a seven night cruise. Man I missed cruising. Good things: Food seems to be better than I remember for Carnival. The beef tenderloin and mushroom risotto was amazing one night. The worst thing may have been the lasagna in the pasta bar and it wasn’t bad just not what I wanted. Most people complied with masks where applicable, mostly. We should’ve all tested negative before we boarded (hopefully). Tried the eat-at-any-time dinner, and really appreciated that you didn’t have to rush for 5:30 or 8:15. You also eat by yourself but you still can join a group if you want to. Bad: Staying on the 14th floor is a pain in the rear end elevator wise. They are not synced, and you could frequently wait 1-2 minutes before the elevator makes it there. Usually someone has pressed all the buttons because the three sets of elevators are different (0-12, 3-12, 0-15) so you stop at almost every floor. The Serenity deck on this ship played a lot of loud music when we were there a few times, which sort of defeats the purpose of the Serenity deck. Chairs were comfy though. Everything is in the Carnival Hub app now. Menus are still available if you ask but they expect you to use your phone and scan QR codes for the menus. I realize that’s a really small thing but it is nice to look at those giant menus when you sit down to dinner. Also the daily printed schedule is no longer delivered. All in all, not much to complain about and it was very nice being back on the ship.
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Oct 23, 2021 15:11
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We’re on a Princess cruise to Hawaii and just pulled in to Honolulu. I know we joke that cruising is geared towards the older crowd but holy crap, is that true for Princess. I’m 44 and easily in the top 10% of the youngest guests here. One of the shows is promoting the music of Doris Day and Perry Como. On the plus side, we’re on the Lido deck and since there’s not huge deck parties, it’s nice and fairly quiet. Oh and while we were docking, we saw a live shark in the water eating something so that was cool.
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Apr 1, 2022 17:51
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I’ll be damned. Since Carnival stock was getting lower, I bought 100 shares to qualify for the free onboard credit. It took about two weeks but they just added it to our upcoming cruise. As of right now it’s trading at 8.52 a share but I plan to hold on to it for awhile.
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Jun 30, 2022 17:24
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Omne posted:My wife and I don't think we're cruise people, but we booked the Disney Wish 3-night for our anniversary. We are peasants and will get the latest booking window for excursions and specialty dining. Any suggestions? I think we'll be fine if we don't do anything, just explore the ship and hang out, but wondering if it's impossible given our lack of status Those three nights are gonna fly. That’s a really quick cruise.
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Jan 24, 2023 02:54
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slidebite posted:A good friend of mine is going to try an ultra cruise for the inverse of your reason. They typically do to Mexico for 2 weeks at a time and pay 5-figures for "OK food and booze" and a relaxing time, but really wants to try spending a similar amount of $$ and see more of the world on basically a floating 5-star hotel. They've never cruised in their lives but will try later this year. It all depends on what you’re looking for. Carnival has the best blend of activities, price, food, and accessibility to taking a cruise compared with others I’ve tried. If you’re looking for an ultra quiet ship though, Carnival isn’t it. You can find quiet spaces but the main objective is to party, eat, drink, and dance. Some people hit a few of those harder than others. 😄
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Jan 24, 2023 15:32
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I hate formal night. I completely understand those who want to dress up, but leave me out of it and let me get my normal dinner please.
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Apr 20, 2023 22:28
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birds posted:Anyone have opinions on MSC (specifically Seashore) and Royal Caribbean (Allure or Freedom)? Is there an obvious best option out of those three for a first cruise? All are similarly priced for a 4 night Bahamas or Caribbean cruise. What I mainly remember about our two Royal Caribbean cruises was that they nickel and dimed you to death and a lot of their food options closed early. Other than that, the cruise itself was fine.
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May 25, 2023 19:28
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One small thing I like about Carnival, and others may do it too, if you have 100 shares of their stock and show them proof before you sail, you get a stateroom credit. I think it’s $50/100/250 depending on the length of the cruise. I bought 100 shares at 11-12 a share a few years ago, and I plan to just keep it for the perks. I think it’s around 16 a share now.
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Jan 3, 2024 18:23
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Well, yeah, ok but you happened to buy at a historic low, and Carnival's outlook isn’t exactly rosy. May not be the best financial thing to do, but /shrug. It’s $1600 lifetime and we’re talking cruises. Cool. I only found out about it myself on a cruise around 2019 or so when another guy at our dinner table was talking about it. Worst comes to worse, I sell the shares, but we do take a majority of Carnival cruises so it works out for us.
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Jan 3, 2024 22:16
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