TomCruise48

6 hours ago, richfret said:

Although the majority of cruisers are of the older generation, Carnival designs the shows mainly for the younger crowd.  So rock or rock and roll dominate.  The music is extremely loud.  I mean really crazy loud!  Costumes are rather plain.  The shows are not bad but nothing like they use to be in the past.  When I get home, I don't rave about them like I use to but just say "Yes, I went to the shows."

 

One thing that is amazing are the backgrounds which use lighting and computerized sketches that the actors work with.  They have really become part of the show like one of the actors and some times the entire show.  I think Carnival has put so much money into this that it reduces monies for other activities during the show.  On the other hand, it is probably the best remembered part of the show.

 

So after 22 Carnival cruises, I will continue to go to the shows.  In stead of trying to get a front row seat (It might make you deaf), I sit at the back in case I would like leave early.  I know that sounds negative but as I said before, the shows are OK but not outstanding like they use to be.

 

    

Your post made me think of a couple of other points.

Carnival uses theatrical smoke and fog in most of their production shows.  If you have difficulty breathing, you should sit near the rear.

Some of the shows have laser strobe lighting effects and/or minor pyrotechnics.  If you suffer from PTSD, you should not attend these shows.  We have a traveling companion who suffers from PTSD, and he always checks with the cruise or entertainment director at the start of the cruise to see which shows he should avoid.

9 hours ago, petuniaflower said:

you mention for a 7 day they may have magic/hypnosis/juggling..any clue if any of these are on the Horizon?

Horizon alternates between 6 and 8 day cruises.  On our 8 day cruise earlier this year, Consuelo Ivy, a vocalist, was the fly-on entertainer.  We did B2B, and there was no fly-on entertainer on the 6 day.  

The Carnival entertainment is quite different from RCCL, but we enjoy both.  They don't do 2 to 3 hour Broadway type shows like RCCL, but rather will have 3 or 4  different 45-minute themed production shows with singing and dancing.  No Aqua Theater or Ice Rink.  RCCL has only one comedy show that repeats and possibly one additional late night show in the theater.  On a typical 7-day cruise, Carnival will have 4 different comedians, each performing 2 or 3 different shows.

Carnival entertainment teams get more involved with guests with events such as trivia, deck parties, and "name that tune type trivia" hosted by the cruise director in the atrium.  The Carnival cruise director and his/her entertainment team spends more time with the guests versus RCCL.

A 7-day cruise will typically have a fly-on entertainer performing such acts as juggling, magic, hypnosis, vocalist,...

You don't need to reserve your shows on Carnival like you do on RCCL.  On Carnival, the comedy shows are often SRO and you may not get in if you show up last minute.

Was on Sunrise 3 weeks ago and am on Sensation right now. Staff on Sensation is more friendly and Sensation is much less crowded. Sunrise has newer venues.

1 hour ago, iamsteph said:

I'm booked on the first cruise on the Mardi Gras out of Copenhagen. I've been keeping my eye on airfare opening out that far (British Airways is almost open out that far) to book a cheaper airfare. Maybe I'll wait.. Does travel insurance cover when the ship isn't ready 😧

I would certainly think that your travel insurance would cover a cruise that is canceled by the cruise line regardless of the reason, but you should consult your policy to be sure.  Have you looked into booking your airfare through Carnival's Fly to the Fun program?  We have booked our flights to European ports through this program and have found they have good prices, and even better, we pay with Carnival gift cards purchased at 10% discount.  With this program Carnival takes responsibility for flight delays (which happened to us when Athens air traffic controllers went on strike) and will get you to the ship at the next port if your flight is delayed and you miss the ship.  Of course you should purchase travel insurance to cover medical emergencies.

BTW, see you will be on the Sunrise soon.  We will be boarding her this coming Sunday.

13 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

You are confusing Meyer Werft (Papenburg, Germany), who built AIDAnova, with Meyer Turku (Turku, Finland) which is building Smerelda.  P&O's Iona is being built in Papenburg, and Mardi Gras in Turku.  The two yards are pretty evenly splitting the class.  While both are now owned by one company, the technical expertise does not necessarily transfer from one work force to the other.  If Turku has not built any, or many, LNG powered ships, there will be a steep learning curve in dealing with the cryogenic systems required and the welding of cryogenic steel.  Also, experiences learned in the operation of the AIDAnova over the past 9 months will have led inevitably to change orders and resulting delays, even if the same yard built them both.

Thanks for the clarification.  Always appreciate your vast knowledge and deep insight.  Posted this one in a rush just before bedtime, and had the feeling that I was missing something shortly after I clicked submit!

4 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Ummm, that is how you fix issues that occur, by analyzing problems that occur and implement changes to ensure that they do not re-occur in the future.  Kind of a proven technique,  Just one block in a plan, not the whole enchilada.

Agree, as long as they are taking a parallel proactive approach.  You shouldn't wait to have an incident like recycling potentially used silverware by just wiping it with a napkin to address the issue.  There needs to be training of the crew to prevent such issues from occurring in the first place. 

4 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Saw this earlier as well.  These delays for the first two shipa (both Carnival owned) has been rumored for a while.  They do not call it bleeding edge for nothing, hopefully the Mardi Gras, being a year later will not have the same fate.  Being on the first sailing def brought it front and center when I saw it posted in another rag.

What surprised me is that Meyer Turku has already constructed the AIDAnova, a similar LNG fueled 180,000 ton ship.  I would have thought that many of the construction problems would have been worked out on this build.

Just read that the delivery of the Costa Smeralda, a sister ship to the Carnival Mardi Gras, will be delay by about 6 weeks.  Wonder if this delay will propagate to to the Mardi Gras as well?

https://www.cruisehive.com/construction-on-carnival-owned-cruise-ship-forces-delayed-delivery/34508

Seems to me to be a reactive approach.  Would feel better if they were proactive to prevent events from occurring in the first place.

4 hours ago, fyree39 said:

Super Mario and Mama Lee are two other people that have "retired" on cruise ships.

Super Mario was recently honored by RCCL for 8000 days on their ships.  That's almost 22 years!

You may want to look into staying at a hotel near Newark, NJ Liberty Airport that has a free park and fly package.  For example, Courtyard by Marriott near Newark Liberty has a package of up to 8 days free parking with a minimum one day weekend stay and only $25/day for additional days of parking.  It is easy to get into downtown Manhattan for sightseeing from there by taking the hotel's free shuttle to the airport and NJ Transit train to NYC Penn Station.  On the day of the cruise, you can take the hotel's free shuttle to the airport and use Carnival or other transportation services to get from the airport to the port.  One member of our group is doing this on a Carnival cruise from NYC later this month.

Not sure which ship you will be on.  If Lido Deck is Deck 9 on your ship, you may get a lot of noise in a cabin on Deck 8.  After making the mistake once of booking a cabin directly below Lido Deck, we will never do that again.

3 hours ago, bakersdozen12 said:

I did it on the Conquest, and while it was fun (made a door sign), my complaint was that they held it in the atrium where there’s really no tables. It was really awkward trying to do a craft on one of those little itty-bitty tables that are really meant to just hold a couple drinks. I’m not sure why they didn’t hold it in Ocean Plaza where they usually do trivia, since there’s real-size tables there. 

When we have been on ships that have the Ocean Plaza, this event was held there.  I believe that only Dream and Vista class ships have the Ocean Plaza, and Conquest class does not.

4 hours ago, xbatt8 said:

 

We have sailed on more than 50 Carnival cruises, and brought wine on board nearly every one of them. Usually my DW just fills a glass in the room and brings it to dinner. However, there have been many times when she brought the opened bottle with her. We had never been charged a corkage fee... until we were. Eventually, the Maitre ‘d came over and waived the fee, but only because we are Diamond. He said that just because some waiters don’t follow the rules - which do say that the fee will be charged if you bring the bottle in to the MDR - doesn’t mean they all won’t. He was right, of course. Since that time, it’s glasses of wine to the MDR only.

 

As I have been known to quip, the only consistent thing about Carnival is their inconsistency...

 

Bob

Just under 50 cruises on Carnival, and our experience is the same as yours.  I think maybe once in 20 times were we told there would be a fee, so I went back to the cabin and poured it into glasses.  My take on this is that most waiters don't want to be confrontational with the guests over this for fear of having their tips reduced or removed, so they just ignore the fee.  

If you don't use a TA or PVP,  you can call Carnival direct and have them link your bookings.  You will need both booking numbers and may be asked for the PIN associated with the booking numbers.  Have the other couple tell you exactly how their names appear on the booking and their birth dates, as you may be asked this as well.

2 hours ago, 25thcruise said:

We stay at Holiday Inn Port of Miami. Great location across from Bayside Marketplace. We use SAS Transportation from FLL Airport. Take taxi next morning to Port. We will be doing this again in October. Can't wait.

Several shared ride services are available from FLL to Miami.  We also stay at Holiday Inn Port of Miami.   Price varies by time of year, and will likely be a little above $220 with taxes included.  Walking across the street to the Bayside Marketplace with all of its dining and entertainment venues is a great experience.  We often eat in the evening at Bubba Gumps, walk around the shops, then stick around Bayside for a free concert.  On the morning of the cruise, we eat breakfast at one of outdoor cafes on the waterfront, then take a short (less than  $20 incl tip) taxi ride to the port.

2 hours ago, blyle said:

Just not sure if it applies on cruises longer than 8 days.  Be sure to check!

 

Used my Diamond upgrade on a 15 day Hawaiian cruise.

1 hour ago, blyle said:

Okay first of all it's a little confusing so I will try to make it clearer.  Once you know the ship, sale date , cabin category.  Call the diamond Desk.  They will check to see what categories apply.  It is different on some ships.  What happens is.  You buy a cabin at the class below what you want and get a cabin in the class above ( OV to Balcony).  I booked an Ocean view cabin and got a Balcony cabin. The highest upgrade is to Balcony.  Suites do not apply or Aft.  So you pay whatever the lowest price is for an Oceanview and can get upgraded to a balcony. We used ours that way.

This exactly describes what both DW and I did when we used our Diamond upgrades.  Lowest price OV to extended balcony.  

11 cruises on Spirit Class with 2 more booked.  These ships were built in Finland and the construction and workmanship is so much better than the ships built in Italy.  Was happy to see Carnival go back to Finland for their new ships.  Have great hopes for the Mardi Gras.

9 hours ago, elcuchio24 said:

 

Pretty sure Jen is jumping ship the cruise before the TA....

Hope you're correct.  She's not our cup of tea.

5 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

While true, the demographics say otherwise.  Diamond and plat cruisers spend WAY less on a cruise then new cruisers.

While it is likely true that frequent cruisers generate less onboard revenue, I think the point that Carnival may be missing is referrals.  Between DW and myself, we have introduced about 30 friends and family to their first Carnival cruise.  Word of mouth from experienced cruisers should give a much better return than lots of advertising.

9 hours ago, fyree39 said:

It could be sold out, but when it gets past final payment travel agencies will release unsold cabins back into inventory. At least, that's what I've been led to understand from other posts/conversations about this sort of thing.

Not a travel agent, but have a good friend who is.  She cannot hold unsold staterooms for that amount of time.  I think it depends on the particular cruise, but in the past, one month was the longest.  She has had to return unsold cabins even earlier when the cruise starts booking quickly and the price starts going up.  That makes sense to me in that Carnival would not want unsold cabins held with locked in lower rates when they could be selling them at a higher rate.

The Legend did a 12 day Baltic cruise in September of 2013 that visited 4 ports in Norway, 3 of which are on next year's itinerary.  We were on that cruise, and my recollection is that there were plenty of good excursions to choose from.  We are booked on this cruise for next June and the TA before.  My main concern is who will be the CD.  I hope that Carnival replaces the current Legend CD with one who is familiar with the ports and appeals to the demographic that will be on these cruises.

34 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

There will be 4 to 5 inspectors.

There is a difference between local health inspectors and USPH. USPH is not mandated with ensuring the health of the passengers, but with preventing the introduction of infectious diseases into the US, so if there isn't an imminent threat, they won't demand immediate action, but most lines will try to correct as many items as possible, and this will be noted on the report. The VSP is a program developed so that cruise ships calling at the US weekly, do not have to be fully inspected every week, with the attendant delays to turn around, including interviews with passengers about their health before disembarking.

 

If the proper culture is not present, then the crew won't care about the proper practices, and this is why USPH requires a meal service during the inspection, to stress the crew to see if the proper practices are second nature or not.

 

Again, not at home, working off the phone, so I haven't read the report, but even the silverware issue, while disgusting and unsanitary would not be considered a major threat. When Silversea had a ship where the inspectors found potentially hazardous food "hidden" in crew passageways and cabins, the inspectors poured bleach on the food items so they couldn't be used again, but did not stop the ship.

Thank you for this response.  You always provide such useful information.  Your knowledge and insight are a great asset to this forum.