jamie717

On 4/3/2024 at 11:29 AM, dctravel said:

The brewery tour is $30 and you sign up at the Pig & Anchor bar. The tour was with the head Brew master for all of Carnival, Mike, who is also the current brew master on the Jubilee. We tasted 5 different beers (liberal pours), got a tour of the brewhouse (which is behind the Pig & Anchor Bar), got a souvenir glass (was supposed to be a pint glass, but they were out, so we got cool Red Frog Tiki rocks glasses) and coupon for a free beer redeemable at the Pig & Anchor bar. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I thought a good deal.

This sounds like something my husband would enjoy!  Is it available throughout the cruise?  Do you need to sign up day 1? Thank you!

36 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

I wouldn't think it would be any more dangerous there than in any city in the US, including where we live.

I think you hit the nail on the head.  We always need to be aware of our surroundings whether we are at home or on vacation.  To switch everything now would be a HUGE hassle, in my experience and opinion.  Whatever you decide, have fun and great job to your troop with their cookie sales!

I'm curious if anyone has experience with accepting an upgrade, offered on the Carnival website, and existing OBC.  When we originally booked our cruise it had an offer of $500 OBC and I'm wondering if we accept this $66 cabin upgrade will we lose our OBC?  I called Carnival and they've closed for the evening, I'll call tomorrow but keep thinking of the potential scenarios. Thank you.

15 hours ago, staceyglow said:

I sailed on the Radiance right after Thanksgiving and got the toiletry bag.

Oooohhhh, I am definately excited about that! Thank you!

Sailed on the Radiance last month and received...another can koozie!!  3 sailings as Platinum and 3 koozies!  Sailing again in 13 days, I hope the Radiance has gotten rid of all their koozies in the last two months! 🤣

1 hour ago, dlphn501 said:

I don't live far from the Jacksonville, FL port, and I always get so excited when I see the ship in port as I'm driving over the bridge.  There was one time I saw it on my way to the mall, and it had started sailing away omw back, so I drove to the port to watch it, then drove over the bridge a few more times so it would go under me.  LOL

Oh my goodness, this would be me!!

On 12/11/2023 at 8:01 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

I'm just not as enamored with it as I once was

We started cruising in 1993 and a lot has changed in our 30 years of cruising.  The excitement I feel when we are close to the port and looking every which way to get the first glimpse of the cruise ship is the same today as it was the very first time! If I ever lose that feeling, that excitement, then I know it's time to look elsewhere! Many changes in cruising but, thankfully, no changes to the way it makes me feel every single time!

5 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

Did you report that to Carnival? I certainly would have.

We did not. I think the excitement of getting the six of us on the ship, after the delay, took over and we just went about our vacation. 

We sailed out of Galveston in February and the dog alerted on my husband.  This policy does not bother us, Carnival is cracking down. My problem was the agent/officer that while checking extensively through the carry on luggage in my husbands possession and was threatening to not only keep him from getting on the ship but also throwing him in jail!  Unprofessional, unnecessary, and in my opinion someone in a position of authority out of control.  After a good 45 minutes he was able to join us. 

1 hour ago, Brgoescruising said:

Curious how this worked out for you, my partner had zero issues getting a card reprint with his name on it, he just had to bring the deadname card and passport with him getting on/off at ports.  Other than that, zero issues(except the cabin steward writing "happy birthday deadname" the first morning night before we even got the new card lol....but hey, that's his fault for waiting 4 years to change to his name, procrastination gets ya

We didn't even try to get a card with his chosen name, we opted instead to have a blank card that sat on top of the sign and sail card while hanging on his lanyard.  I am happy to hear you had zero issues and will go this route moving forward.  We did have one moment that I found to be comical and have never experienced on any other of our cruises.  One evening in the MDR the assistant waiter came to take our order and when he got to my son, I'm assuming he had deadname instead of chosen name on his order pad, and rather than referring to my son by either name he just tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and take his order.  I was the only one who noticed and it prevented either one from being embarrassed.  

jenn117-Thank you for sharing your experience with me/us.  I will definitely go to the service desk first thing and see if Carnival does anything differently.  The more I have looked into it, the more I see that there isn't too much that can be done.  

The very first Live review I ever read was the one you did onboard the Mardi Gras, I absolutely loved your wit, humor and sarcasm (despite not being in the best head space at the time).  Thank you for another excellent Live with Sid "review", it's been a fantastic ride!

13 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

And, thanks to every single one of you who are at work now reading this instead of doing your job...

Follower #201 and officially guilty of being at work and reading this instead of doing my job! 🤣

1 hour ago, jenn117 said:

We leave Saturday but I will let you know how it goes.  I was told to check in with customer service once boarded and they can put a note on the account.

Thank you, I would appreciate it.  I hope you all have a great cruise.

On 8/10/2022 at 7:38 AM, jenn117 said:

They are pretty quiet and introverted and won't want to rock the boat, but as the mama bear to two amazing human beings in the "alphabet soup" community I will do whatever I need to  - ahead of time or at embarkation - to have them be more comfortable and not cringe every time they hear their birth name. Less important, but it may be helpful to staff as well since they look like a "Jay" and not a "Chelsea" for sure.

We are cruising Carnival in February with our teenage trans son.  This will be our first cruise since transitioning and if you have any info to share I would appreciate it.  My biggest concern is the sign and sail card that will be printed with a very feminine birth name, did NCL print a second card with preferred name?  I know Carnival is LGBTQ+ friendly and I hope I'm worrying for no reason.  Thank you, from one mama bear to another.                         

I had to cancel by husband from our July cruise and in the email from Carnival it stated "Aon Affinity has informed us that he qualifies for a 75% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) towards his next Carnival cruise in the amount of $379.25USD. Since this cruise was paid by your credit card, this credit will be placed in your name."  Hope this helps.

Dwright826, Thank you for updating us all, sorry it didn't pan out for you and the family. 

We were on the Spirit for 8 days in July and I believe the TV was on for less than an hour total, the selection is definitely lacking.  I downloaded six movies onto our I Pad and we ended up watching 4 of them throughout the cruise.  

1 hour ago, tw67 said:

MOVIENIGHT22  for 2K

Thank you!

It's already been mentioned but we find Bonine works well and never use anything else.  It doesn't make you feel sleepy and it doesn't give you that medicated feeling either. It also works well after the cruise when I have those 2-3 days that "my ship is still rocking" feeling. 🤣

We love the Panorama and getting to the cruise port from either LAX or LGB is really easy, we have used Uber from both.  Hotels in Long Beach are more expensive than Los Angeles and you probably want to book early.  Relax, don't be nervous, don't overthink it, and just enjoy the anticipation of being on the cruise!  I hope you all have lots of fun!!

We cruised on the Spirit in July and the way the loungers were situated towards the screen there were only approximately 40-50 available.  A couple times we went to watch but did not make it there early enough to sit in anything other than an upright chair.  If the movie is popular you may have to get there pretty early to watch comfortably.

6 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Are you sure the rooms on the MG are smaller?

I didn't measure, if that's what you're asking! 🤣 I suppose I can't say with 100% accuracy that the rooms on the Mardi Gras are smaller but I know they sure seemed to have noticeably less room than on the Panorama.

13 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

It's nice to give a reason why you don't like something versus a simple "we did not care".

The rooms on Mardi Gras are much smaller, the bathrooms are way smaller, the staff was overwhelmed and many times tables were left for upwards of an hour on Lido before they were cleared, the ship had many instances of wear and tear (Feb. '22 and stairs on Lido broken and falling apart, rips in carpeting, the "metal" was worn away because it wasn't metal - it was painted on, palm trees on lido were falling apart), the food was not as great as anticipated.  

The reason I simply said we prefer the Panorama over the Mardi Gras is because I didn't want to sound like a complainer.  We are, after all, on the newest and "greatest" ship of the fleet sailing the Caribbean and despite having some dislikes...we're on a cruise sailing the Caribbean. 😀

We did not care for the Mardi Gras and have really enjoyed the Panorama.