mz-s

The Spirit and Legend are very similar being the same class.

If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to do a certain excursion or speciality dining time or what have you, there's no downside to booking it now (except of course, you're paying for it now). You can cancel up to the night before embarkation if you change your mind with no penalty.

There's so many ways to catch it on a cruise, I'm not convinced that showing a negative test 2 days before makes any difference at all.

The disconnect here is the CDC says you need a second booster to be up-to-date. Carnival uses the same verbiage as the CDC (they say up-to-date on their COVID policies page) but they don't use the same definition of up-to-date. You only need one booster to be up-to-date in Carnival's eyes. "Up to date means a person has received all recommended COVID-19 vaccinations, including any booster dose, when eligible." (notice the singular plural) However - this could change tomorrow (and we have seen their rules change overnight) so it's up to you what you recommend they do. I would tell them to either get a second booster or plan on testing two days out. https://www.carnival.com/Legal/covid-19-legal-notices/covid-19-guest-protocols?icid=advisory_cruisehealth_040122

I definitely agree that testing's days are numbered for cruise travel, but it will not be because of this announcement - that's my point.

My wife loves Blue Iguana. Me - there's not much that beats a hot and fresh Guy's burger with fresh fries.

I have never heard a reliable first-hand account from someone who got an exception. It's always "Uncle Ernie's good friend who was just on the Carnival Oasis didn't have to buy the drink package"

The room service coffee is definitely better than Lido's coffee. I don't notice a huge difference between the dining room and room service's coffee though. I wish there was a place on the ship where I could get a cup of normal light roast drip coffee.

Incorrect information.

That's a requirement to test when flying back into the US, which has never been required for cruise travel as far as I'm aware. So no, I wouldn't expect this to affect cruise travel at all.

I used it once and the beer was somewhat warm and it charged me a gratuity for a beer I poured myself. I've never touched them again.

I can tell when it comes out of the machine if it's the creamy ice cream or not. So if it's not the creamy soft serve, I let the kids have all they want and I just head back to the cakes and cookies.

The butter crock thread feels like a fever dream at this point.

They've been serving a vanilla soft serve that is icy and not nearly as good as the typical soft serve. The "old" soft serve was more akin to McDonald's or Dairy Queen - by far my favorite. The new vanilla (or at least the only vanilla that the Sunshine seemed to have) is more like Chick-Fil-A's Icedream.

I think it'll be the Carnival Magica so they don't have to change out all the interior signage and the Captain can just scribble over "Costa" on his business cards.

This benefit has been "suspended" because of the extra time needed to sanitize rooms in accordance with COVID protocols. Suite guests still get this benefit however. As Blerk said you can drop off your carry ons if you wish, and then leave the stateroom corridors so the stewards can continue doing their thing.

They had to cut farther down the funnel than I expected. I expect she will look like this until her next drydock, whenever that may be.

Do you agree that Carnival has multiple kinds of vanilla ice cream? Only my wife and I acknowledge this fact apparently!

I love all the carved meats (well, except lamb - never really liked the flavor). One of the things I look forward to most on a cruise.

I agree the beef tenderloin is great, definitely one of my favorite dishes. I don't remember it from before COVID so I can't say for sure if it's a new dish or I just never noticed it before.

The hash browns are exactly the same as the Bo-Rounds served at Bojangles

I always like the carved meats. Turkey, roast beef, prime rib - probably my favorite item on the buffets. By far my favorite dessert is the funfetti cheesecake which seems to only be served on embarkation day.

I love the Sunshine and I am wishing you a very fun cruise, I see you are heading to Half Moon Cay tonight judging by the cruise mapper site. Enjoy!

You may be surprised on how many people still do dress up on elegant night. A lot of cruises out of Jacksonville and Charleston have a lot of first time cruisers, or a big family cruising and grandma wants nice pictures of everyone, etc. But it's your vacation wear what you want - they will wear what they want. Life is good. As others have said just don't wear poolside attire to the dining room and you'll be fine.

One or two of them would probably have been there by now anyway (or at least sold to a line like Margaritaville at Sea) but I think most of them were scrapped because of COVID. Not necessarily because they were old or small or anything else.