CookieShip

On 1/22/2022 at 2:06 AM, eyern1 said:

I haven't either but it certainly is on the cdc site which Carnival provides direct links to and clear as the nose on your face, it says you can fly with the letter and no other retesting is actually required. Maybe because it's a ship? I dunno, but it certainly doesn't mention it. Oh, both my tests were rapid antigen.

It's listed on the CDC site, but not Carnival's site at all. I would imagine it is to avoid unvax folks present them and avoid testing entirely. And if we really want to go with what the CDC says, the first thing is to avoid cruise travel... 

Really surprised your antigen tests would still report positive, would not be surprised with PCR as those are more sensitive and where people might continue to test positive for months after.I would try to periodically test with at home antigen test if you have them available. 

What kind of test did they do at your physical? Rapid antigen or PCR? 

I had covid earlier this month, was worried about continuing to test positive, but tested negative in less than two weeks even on a PCR.

Do you have some at home antigen tests you can try? I've not really seen anything from Carnival about accepting a recovery letter.

I would download whatever you wanted to watch to a tablet/chromebook/laptop. The TV is kinda tiny in the room anyway. 

Is this one cabin or two cabins? Not that I know what would actually happen. My guess is that the two in one cabin would be ok. The other two with one positive might be denied boarding unless the positive was a no show... 

9 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Can I cruise with your husband to get his RU2?

I get RU2 offers, I've thought about offering it out to reduce my solo supplement if I went alone, lol.

Legend visited HMC last week. It's a tender port so even if open, weather could prevent you from going ashore. 

There is cellular at sea that is super expensive. Carnival offers internet packages that are quite reasonable if he can work/ be reached in that manner instead.

Still have it.

I wonder what prompted the change, especially so late. 

Glad to see OP is rolling with the changes, not sure I could with such drastic changes. 

24 minutes ago, nwcruiselover said:

When I have done the Behind the Scenes tours no cameras or phones were allowed.  You were fortunate to have gotten these pictures.

Same here, we got wanded and a security dude followed us around the whole time.

3 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Not sure...we had anytime dining so were always on 3...

We had the anytime time as well, maybe he recently joined the ship, I'll be on the look up for him if we go on our Feb cruise. 

Ouch, so much tipping for drinks. I imagine a few bucks here and there probably gets you better attention from the bar tender. 

I don't really drink but wanted to try out something with my gold vifp benefit free drink, took forever to get the bar tender's attention. They focused on "regulars" whom still had drinks in front of them!

I'll have cheers next cruise, how does tipping work for a bar runner (or the person that brings you the drink), is there separate tipping for the bar tender and the bar runner? Or do they kind of split it?

I don't think I ever saw him, did he roam both floors of MDR?

I booked a cruise then noticed I had the offer, was able to move to RU1. My brother didn't have the offer, he did after finishing a cruise with me. Not really sure if the latter had any affect, but noticed it when I was seeing if he had any offers.

They were the same on our Christmas cruise.

1 hour ago, BasicSailor said:

It was open last month. But seeing as how fast this virus spreads It's not a sure bet.

I was there last week. 😊 Looks like this week's Legend cruise goes to Princess Cay instead, but seems all the Bahamas ports are open... for now. 

The big thread on the Bahamas board seems to indicate those new regulations don't apply to cruise ships 

1 minute ago, KmomChicago said:

I’ve always wondered about the brunch burger but because of Guy’s I can’t ever seem to consider it. Is it better?

 

When I ordered the signature tower they asked me if I wanted the tomatoes and cucumber which I thought was weird because I thought it was automatic but apparently not. I suppose they must have an issue with people ignoring it and so now it’s by request to avoid waste, particularly if they have trouble getting enough vegetables in the first place. Also, it’s not a tower, just a bunch of dishes. It was a tower on  Mardi Gras! 

 

We maybe got lucky but thought the lobster and prime rib were both very good. My mom said her mahi mahi was dry and overcooked. Everyone in my party with crème brûlée also said the crust was good.

 

Those shots seem like a scam to me-not included on Cheers!

The aft deck is actually brisket so maybe I should have called it sandwich? It was not a hamburger patty and I would try it again. 

We weren't asked if we wanted those sides for the signature tower, but good on them for cutting  waste. I did want to see the tower in person, lol. 

Those shots aren't included? Good to know! I'll be trying out Cheers for the first time on our February sailing (if it happens....). 

Reminds me that at Tea Time that they often first tried to offer the specialty teas that have an up-charge (but I think included on Cheers) before offering the regular free teas.   

Going to try to cover some of the food, because there was some stuff that wasn't worth the calories!

The shots at dinner always appeared to be some crazy color, this kind of looks like antifreeze for the car.

Calamari was kind of rubbery and not very crispy outside.

Chicken quesadilla was kinda boring, something I expect they would serve on lido.

Cured Salmon, my brother had this and liked it.

Mahi mahi - an attempt to be healthy here, tasted good, wasn't fishy.

This danish was a little sad at sea day brunch, it just had that dollop on top of the creme. I was expecting more creme I guess.

Steak and Eggs, yum

Ahi Tuna salad and smoked salmon from the signature tower selection.

It implies that it comes with tomatoes, cucumbers, bagel? My brother ordered seconds of this and explicitly requested tomatoes and cucumbers which came the second time around.

Banana creme pie - Tasty and you can see the chia seed pudding my brother ordered after I raved about mine.

Chopsticks menu on lido for lunch. They seemed to always offer a soup and then a few different dishes. 

Tasty option for lunch, it's not fancy. I've seen it compared to Panda Express and I would agree.

Blacked pork tart - Didn't really care for this so much, ate the pork on top. 

My brother got mushroom bisque and meatball soup

Usual lobster tail

Prime rib - as mentioned, not very beefy.

Creme brulee - This had the perfect top crust.

I think this is the coffee creme cake that my brother had

Big brunch Cesar salad with plenty of chicken, I had asked for the dressing on the side, but they brought it already  tossed. Aft deck burger. I enjoyed my brunch.

On 12/28/2021 at 6:33 PM, sparks1093 said:

I priced tickets to Florida at the time I booked the airfare to Baltimore and as I recall it was less than $200 more, so like anything else it depends. 

I can't recall if this was the lady that said their party of 6 (3 rooms) got extended balconies for $200/PP. 

We thought we had gotten bargains on our regular balcony room, but paid more than they did.... I do think the holiday/kids being out of school affected the flight costs more than usual during this time frame.

7 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

Thanks for the review. We are on the previous sailing and found things very similar to you.

 

Funny you mentioned about the liquor sales. We went to buy their 'sale' on 
Bacardi's, 4/$40 and they were out. I have never heard of a ships liquor supply being out. So much for Bacardi's as Christmas presents. 

 

 

That is exactly why I mentioned they didn't seem to restock. I saw a few bottles early on, but then it was empty the rest of the cruise. 

A 90 day sighting? :o

Did you see them again? Were they filming? 

Loved that you got the pictures of your ship alongside Pride. We were on Legend last week and someone was telling my brother how big the Mardi Gras was, so now I have a good comparison picture for him.

I believe your hubby had escargot that one night with the veal. 

If you have your own home tests, I would absolutely pack them. Don't have to worry about them being unavailable or something like that with the increase in cases. 

On Legend, I liked the pizzas and thought they were very consistent. I remember on the Splendor that sometimes you would get a lot of crust and/or be burnt, but that was also almost a decade ago :|.

I liked the chocolate chip cookies ok from the buffet, not the best thing ever, but edible. The brown flour chunks from the deli were inedible to me, regretted getting 3 of those. 

4 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

So...maybe it is me but I'm on the legend now and while the link is there to view future day menus, it gives an error when you click on it. I can only see the current day's menu

That was how it was for me on Legend as well. Sometimes the menu never worked from the app and I would have to go to the URL to download the PDF.

7 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Thanks Cookie! Great review. They were giving out the Christmas hats right before Leigh’s Q and A on the last sea day in Follies. I’m surprised you didn’t get one up in the balcony. I believe the bells were given out at caroling on the Lido on Christmas Eve but we didn’t go to that either.
 

We saw only one of Kier’s shows and it was okay for us as we are old enough to know the songs. I wanted to see Roman but the timing never worked out for us.

 

Glad you had a positive experience on this sailing as we did, despite doing a lot of things differently. We saw your drone fly by us at Cabana 13 down at the far end of HMC. 

I heard later that the Truffles emergency was a choking handled with a successful Heimlich and I actually was trying to go to sleep early when they called the Avalon. Since my teen was out and about I immediately got dressed and ran up the stairs to check it out. It was an older man who was conscious and sitting in a chair when I arrived and surrounded by a bunch of crew, staff and officers. I assume he had either fallen  or fainted as the danger seemed to have already mostly passed and was under control. Of course I didn’t linger or get too close or in the way. 
 

I appreciate your post, great recap.

Thanks for filling the details!

That was probably the other drone flyer on the ship, they were flying in Nassau as well. I tried to keep high and away from people to not disturb them with the drone. 

5 hours ago, cocomango said:

Since KMom mentioned "despite doing a lot of things differently." ... May I ask how you kept yourselves healthy on the ship?  Aside from the handwashing, masking etc.  How was it in MDR and in the buffets? Did you try to eat outside?  Stuff like that.  Trying to make mental notes!  

 

Thank you! 

 

We masked, felt the MDR and buffet were operating just like normal. Some of the MDR seats are very close together. We did not do a shared table at anytime. At the buffet, we tried to sit away from others and there were times we took our food out to the serenity deck or back to our cabin. Sometimes being in a crowded area was just unavoidable, like the returning water shuttles from Half Moon Cay. I did bring a pack of covid tests with us, just in case we felt the need to test.

5 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Well, considering that we'll have to fly to the port now (even if it's Baltimore) it's very likely that our next cruise on Legend will be our last cruise from Baltimore since if I have to pay for a flight I'd rather fly to Florida, but I'm with you in spirit anyway. (I hope that all makes sense, it's why Ms. Hammond hated run on sentences in English class.)

I kind of wondered who flew in for this cruise, because it's not all that exciting of an itinerary, why wouldn't have they flown to say like Florida and been able to see more ports? From talking to another passenger, the plane tickets to Florida were very expensive at this time of year, more than the the cost of the cruise itself!