SRQbeachgirl

Inch by inch...

That's one of the things I'm looking forward to about having a balcony looking over the aft Patio pool area on MG. We can enjoy a show without the earsplitting bump-and-grind music on the Lido in the afternoons.

And even if they were holding a couple of cabins for issues that might arise, what are the odds they're premium cabins? We're paying for an aft extended balcony, so getting moved to an inside cabin definitely wouldn't cut it.

There are zero cabins available on our Mardi Gras sailing leaving next Saturday (6/25).

I work with over a dozen people who have tested positive in the last three weeks with NO symptoms, and they all used the rapid antigen test. All but one has been vaccinated (and that person already had COVID once previously) and most are double boosted. So my anxiety is well-founded.

Well the stress I have right now waiting to test next week for our 6/25 cruise is so bad that I'm almost wishing we had canceled. I'm probably going to cancel our RCL cruise if they don't lift the testing requirement before then and will not book any more cruises until they do. If they cancel testing requirements we would likely book two to three additional cruises for the next few months, so our bookings would cancel out your cancelations. 😆

Dropping it before, say, June 22 would be great. 😉

It's amazing what a little well-timed passive aggressive behavior will do. We had some late-night noisy neighbors on the first night of one of our cruises. I told my DH "Oh #%$@ no, we're not putting up with this all week." I like to get up very early on sea days, which happened to be our first full day of the cruise, and I might have once or twice (or five times) accidentally swung my empty suitcase into the wall between our cabins at 6am. Amazingly, we didn't have any late-night noise after that. Huh.

That experience is at the top of my "Things I Never Want To Do Again" list! One elderly gentleman did get pistol-whipped because he wasn't taking his watch off fast enough for the thugs, but thankfully he wasn't seriously injured, just bruised up. I will say that Carnival was truly wonderful in taking care of all of us afterwards. We were not all all surprised Carnival dropped it as a port six months after we were there.

The anxiety I have right now about testing is making the lead-up to our cruise so stressful. My office has been a germ factory lately, with 14 coworkers testing positive in the last three weeks. Most have had no symptoms and only a couple who ran a little fever, but just knowing I could end up testing positive and derailing our vacation is stressing me out. I'm spending a small fortune testing at home every couple days. My anxiety (and no small amount of resentment) is growing daily.

Our very first cruise was on the Holiday so I love that idea!

Thank you and I certainly will!

Hi Jamman - how do you find out the passenger count? I just realized in all the years I've seen passenger counts on this forum I've never actually known how everyone finds them. And...we completed online check-in at 12:01 this morning for our 6/25 sailing. Mardi Gras here we come! 🥳

Love, love, love the Magic! The Promenade deck (deck 5) has an outside area to walk all the way around the outside of the ship. The Panorama deck (deck 11) has the best comfy chairs and ottomans in the shade all the way around the pool area. The Thalasso-therpay pool area is arguably the best on any Carnival ship. The Ocean Plaza area has a great layout - you can sit at the Alchemy bar and play trivia at the same time!

Same way it somehow knew you were standing up at a restaurant, rather than sitting down at your table. 😉

Thank you! We can't wait!

Is there a booth where you go to get your cabana assignment, wristband, etc?

Our tour bus was held up at gunpoint in Caracas, Venezuela (way back in the 90's when Carnival still stopped there). Once police were finished with statements we were all very grateful that we were on a Carnival excursion rather than an independent operator.

A lot of the popular excursions for our upcoming MG cruise are sold out. Other vendors do offer many of the same options and are often a bit less expensive. Just be aware that if it is a long excursion or in a remote location where there is risk of getting back to the ship on time Carnival will not wait for you unless you are on a Carnival-sponsored excursion and they cannot help resolve any service or billing disputes with the outside vendors.

Now I want to book the Celebration. *runs off to look at Carnival's website*

Well done, Carnival, well done. 👏

ABCs for 8-days, definitely. Every ship and it's dinghy does Western, but a chance to do the ABCs on a great ship is special.

We do carry-on in addition to a backpack for DH and a beach-type bag for me for our 7 day cruises, and we have never had to do any laundry on a cruise. I used to always come home from vacation with my giant suitcase still full of clothes I never wore, so I finally learned to be realistic and pare it down to what I knew I would actually wear. For clothes I typically only pack capris, sleeveless and short-sleeved tops, one or two pairs of sandals/flip-flops, swimsuits, and my undergarments. I stopped wearing make-up years ago on cruises (I have to wear it every day for work, I am not on a cruise to impress anyone, and DH is fine with me sans-makeup!), and all toiletries are travel-sized. It's very liberating to not drag a giant suitcase around. Still not as liberating as it was when we learned how to do Disney World with nothing but our phones - no backpacks, fanny packs, crossbody bags - nothing. No standing in line for security check or trying to stow a backpack on rides - bliss!

@willdra I can't begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed your review! You and Jamman have given me exactly what I need to survive the next 16 days until we get on MG! Now I just have to stay away from all the germy people at work so I don't test positive!

This looks great! Thank you!