missholly24

15 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

So if you get My time dining yes,every night you need to go into the app and request a reservation. You cannot make the reservations in advance,you need to do it every night. It's more how some restaurants on land where you call right before you go ahead to be put on a waiting list. So on the Celebration you do this on the phone app.  On the phone app you choose whether you want to be put on the waiting list for the MDR,Chibang, or Cucina. With YTD your are allowed 1 free visit to Chibang,after that it's an $8/pp cover. Cucina is unlimited. The thing is only MTD can you request to eat at Chibang or Cucina at any time during the night. If you're on fixed early or late and want to eat at either Chibang or Cucina you need to wait until after 7:30 before you can request a table. If you have MTD there's no time restrictions like with early or late. The same 1 free dinner at Chibang applies with early or late seating. 

Oh thank you so much! That answered all my questions. I had no clue you would have to wait until after 7:30. Thank you 😊

56 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

What other questions?

Related to the ATD and the specialty restaurants. Do you choose the place when you ask for a table? And is the first visit to all of them free or Just ChiBang as the above poster said? Do you need reservations at all of them? A few people have recommended ATD d/t being able to book the table there for dinner. Why is that beneficial? I'm a traditionalist and like assigned time dining so I'm not arguing with everyone to get ready at a certain random time, they already know what time dinner is. LOL 

7 minutes ago, weezal said:

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food?shipCode=FN

Thanks! Still leaves some questions but I like how they have the menus linked. 

39 minutes ago, Missouri travel girl said:

Hi, need advice on which ship would be most fun with 8 year old twins, leaving from Florida end of June. All advice appreciated very much!

Use the search tool on Carnivals website for the port you want to leave out of and the date. You won't have too many options once its narrowed down. Go from there! (I personally would avoid anything smaller than Dream class ships with 8 year olds). 

Ship Class Guide0324.pdf

The dining options for Celebration have my head spinning! LOL...I've been on tons of cruises but none with this many specialty options. I'm booked on Celebration for Feb, 2025. 

Does anyone have a clear post or file about what is free and when and how much the ones that aren't free are? Also trying to decide between YTD and timed seating because I've been told the specialty restaurants are included in YTD?? I'm all for wandering around but also like to know beforehand where we shouldn't miss. (I'm excited about ChiBang and Bonsai Teppanyaki). Been checking Youtube also but that can be tedious. I just finished a 45 minute overview of the ship and I love all of the nostalgia that was included in the design of this one.  I'll have a Blue card with me, I can't mess this up!  🤪🤪Thank you!!!

Happy Cruising!!!!!!!!!!!!

On 4/19/2024 at 8:09 PM, mitsugirly said:

Yep, it happened again...we were back on a cruise ship but this time with Carnival for Spring Break. WHEW! 

 

We haven't sailed with Carnival since 2018, but this would be our 7th cruise with Carnival and (I believe) our 24th cruise since we've been cruising regularly with our daughter Sakari.

 

After our NCL Encore cruise in December I made the executive decision that I WAS GOING SOMEWHERE NEW!!! I didn't care where, as long as it was some place different! We have been cruising the Caribbean (and land vacationing there) since 2010. The ports are "worn out" with us. We love them...don't get me wrong...and wouldn't hesitate to land vacation there, but deep in my soul I needed a change. I've had a bucket list for awhile that hasn't quite materialized into much over the years other than mostly jibber jab about "I'mma go here one day" and it was left at that. I get high anxiety of the "unknown" and have always felt more at ease with returning to familiar places but just doing something different each time. NO MORE I TELL YA! I'm spreading my wings and hopefully they were strong enough to endure the wind I was about to fly in....THE MEXICAN RIVIERA! 

 

Those that have followed my family for years on here and my travel website know that we 1) love the water 2) love the beach 3) love to snorkel 4) love to scuba 5) love the water 6) love the heat 7) love the beauty of the clear aqua sea and did I mention we love the water? Why have I held back for so long on visiting the Mexican Riviera...just plain scared...of...the water!  I read the stories, not crystal clear water, not the beautiful aqua turquoise color, not warm water (well unless you peed in it and we'll get to that at a later time...just saying), windy and the ship be rockin!  Ok, I got this! Cheers to new experiences.

 

We booked the Panorama from March 30 to April 7th. An 8 day glorious cruise to: Cabo, La Paz, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Woo Hoo!

 

And so it begins...

 

 

OMG you and GaPearl were/are my two favorite gals on here that review cruises. I'm so happy to see you back!!!! 

5 minutes ago, hapytobehr said:

If you have set dining time you have to wait until after 7:45 to go to any specialty restaurant.  With anytime, you can go anytime (lol)  

 

Cucina and Chibang are free on Excel ships for the first visit only.

 

You must try Emeril's if you choose Celebration.  The food is fabulous and very minimal charge.  Get the shrimp Po boy-it's yummy!

 

Celebration is my all time favorite ship.  Been on it 4x and going for a fifth in July.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

Thanks! I love this info. Booked for Celebration in February. Going to change my Dining time now. LOL...

1 hour ago, cellfree said:

If you choose Celebration make certain you choose “anytime dining” so you can take better advantage of the various dining venues. We are doing Horizon ABC’s in September, cruised on Inaugural TA many years ago, Celebration of course is a newer ship and very different from tradition cruise ship layout. Either a great choice. 

What does Anytime Dining do for the dining venues? Do you eat at those places as well for regular dinner (still charged?) Thank you!

guestsolutionssupport@carnival.com has fixed anything I've ever needing fixed. I'm not sure an "executive" would help. He/she would just forward to someone trained to do that. 

On 3/28/2024 at 3:14 PM, bdeluca03 said:

On yesterday's Carnival 2024 Q1 Earnings Call CEO Josh Weinstein stated in regards to the impact of new ships on pricing to Lizzie Dove of Goldman Sachs:

 

"Welcome to the first -- I think your first call or the first call since you've been covering us. So the new ships get a premium. There is no doubt that the new ships get a premium. The way we manage brand by brand, how much of that premium to get. It also depends on where we're putting that ship because we're not going to necessarily want to put the best ship on the best itinerary because that's not the good thing for the overall brand."

So if the Jubilee, Mardi Gras, etc. are the newest ships & not getting the best itinerary per Josh Weinstein - what is the best overall itinerary that Carnival Cruise offers?

Haha a thing we have known forever. Its why the cursed Sunrise always has the best (or at least most popular) itinerary! 😝I always try and find the sweet spot though where they meet. Usually, the Carnival Magic is involved and the Eastern Caribbean. 

On 2/9/2024 at 4:27 PM, Jamman54 said:

Every time we’re at Coki Beach I look over at Coral World and just smile, as it brings back some great memories. See those white specs on the lower platform? Those are the helmets used for the helmet dives…..

 

 

I hope you don’t mind, but I’m feeling a little nostalgic right now. I’m going to take you back to March of 2010 when we were on the fairly new Carnival Dream. I booked my boys and me on the Helmet Dive excursion at Coral World. Patti didn’t want to partake, but she was enjoying the exhibits. The following pictures were part of the package, so no, Patti was not floating around taking them. Lol. Ryan was wearing helmet #4, Kevin was #5, and I was #7. Enjoy!

 

Once you climb down the ladder into the water, you follow a trail. The water is about twenty foot deep. There are divers and guides all around you for safety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to say that you’re down there for twenty minutes to a half hour. Also included are these stock photos of the trail……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the flashback. Coral World still offers the Helmet Dives if you are interested.

 

To be continued…..

I never knew that's what Coral World was! Wow, I can't wait to check it out. I love following you and Patti's adventures. They really bring me peace for some reason. I have two boys and one is really struggling with mental health at the moment. Seeing Kevin's good times in life is so special. You will always have those memories. ❤️‍🩹

May not be related but my iMessages recently worked on an airplane when I had not purchased the wifi plan. (phone was in airplane mode) lol....Apple may hack/connect passively into wifi somehow? I was surprised to be receiving random texts from iPhone users but not Android. 

23 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

 

In Costa Maya, we did Jamie's at Blue Reef. I just double checked my notes and it was $52 pp all-inclusive. It's a small resort...but absolutely beautiful and peaceful. They only usually take 35 guests total, so it's not crowded at all. There were six of us girls here and we each had a large, nice lounge chair under a palapa. Plenty of shade. Our waitress was amazing and kept the drinks and food flowing! Her name is Digby! The bartender makes a lot of her own syrups for drinks from scratch. The drinks were awesome! And the food was too. The ceviche was some of the best I've had. There aren't any other amenties here like water inflatables for kids or massage huts. But it was a great day! There was a rooftop pool at the hotel here, but we stayed down on the beach. 

 

In Cozumel, we went to Nachi Cocom. It was $59 pp all inclusive. The food is a four-course lunch (appetizer, salad, entree, desert). It's a bit larger, but still caps out at 130 people total. I think when we were there, there were only 85 people or so (according to our host). Same kind of set up...we had reserved loungers under a palapa and a dedicated server who kept the drinks flowing. There is also a large pool at Nachi. The food was better at Jamie's, but for the price, everything here was great as well! 

 

Here's a link to my cruise review for this trip. You can find our Costa Maya day starting on Post 41 and our Cozumel day starting on post 51. 

 

BTW - HMC and Grand Turk are two of my favorite ports as well! Just so beautiful! 

Thank you so much! I will check that all out. Happy Cruising!!

3 minutes ago, Riles34 said:

Yes you have a large balcony, enough space for a lounger. And the ability to look directly into your neighbors room and balcony. Watch the youtube video of the room on the other side, 10475. i like the midship bump out rooms port side so you are not looking down on deck 8 but instead the ocean. Enjoy!

Awesome. I just watched it and that's good news. I dont plan on being a peeping Tom so hopefully the neighbors are nice. LOL

1 minute ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Congrats! When are you sailing? Happy to share this great ship’s information with you. 

Oh not until next year. Have to leave Michigan every February. Its dreadful. But I feel better when I can see the countdown....😁

Hello again! I booked cabin 10474 on Celebration which looks to be sort of a "hump cabin". Is the balcony larger? Did I find a small hack?

It's listed as 8B not extended. EXCITED for this trip. It's been a while. 

YASSSSS! Just booked her a few days ago and soaking in all the info! This is perfect timing. 🙂

1 hour ago, MisterOJ2 said:

 

I know you weren't asking me, but Maya Chan in Costa Maya and Nachi Cocom in Cozumel are the two very favorite all-inclusive beaches that my wife and I go to. And because of that, those are our two favorite ports. When we're looking for cruises, we will often look first at itineraries that include both those ports, just because we love those beaches so much.

 

Now, I know the prices have gone up in recent months, so I don't think it's $65 for either of them anymore, but they're still great deals. Also, the price for Maya Chan includes transportation to and from the beach, but you have to get a taxi to and from Nachi Cocom.

Ok thank you! I have been to Nachi in the past (probably 10yrs ago) and can't remember anything about it. LOL...I will check them out!

1 minute ago, mlshum said:

Gosh, thank you so much for reading and for your kind words!  Yes, that is the correct website.  It's a weird name but they were the nicest people!  Thank you for letting me know that the message feature is turned off.  Technology is not my strong suit!  LOL  I'll have to check into that.  Ron laughed over your last comment.  🙂   Thanks again!  I appreciate you and hope you have a great time on your next cruise!

Yes, I could be wrong of course because I have never messaged anyone on here. Thank you so much!! 🙂 

On 12/20/2023 at 12:24 PM, mlshum said:

Saturday, December 2nd – Final Sea Day

 

Our last sea day.  How is this possible?  Didn’t we board yesterday?  It’s always surprising to me how quickly time goes when you’re on board as opposed to how slow it goes when you’re WAITING to board.  The days had flown by, and we were down to our last day. 

 

We went to Lido and opted for Big Chicken this morning.  I like the chicken at Big Chicken but I’ll confess, I’m not a fan of the biscuits.  I’m pretty spoiled, being from West Virginia and having Tudor’s biscuits.  Big Chicken biscuits just aren’t the right consistency for me, and they are too sweet.  I’m glad I tried it…again….but it still is a “no” for me.

 

After breakfast we went to Limelight to do our last trivia of this cruise.  We always enjoy the trivia.  Ron is usually much better than me but I’d had a very respectable showing on this trip.  We each won a round this time.  One thing we noticed on this cruise is that there was no shortage of solid gold plastic ships on a stick.  For the last few cruises, they were either sparse or non-existent.  Not this time!  It was kind of like Oprah, “You get a ship on a stick, and YOU get a ship on a stick…”   This would be the most we had ever won on any cruise; a grand total of 6.  We gave some away, we kept a  couple, we brought one to Liz….there seemed to be plenty to go around.

 

The "get off our ship heart" had already shown up

 

Both of our trivia games were won by tie-breaker this time.  Ron came up with a numerical answer that was closer that the other person in his round.  I wound up doing rock/paper/scissors.  We tied about six times before I finally won and Jareel just gave both of us a ship on a stick at that point.  I gave mine to a little girl and a little green duck that we had found to her sister.  They had been in the trivia game with us all morning and were SO good!  I doubt my boys would have ever been that good for that long!

 

A little green duck that we gave away during trivia

 

After trivia we stopped by Pixels to order some pictures and then headed straight to the Havana bar to play a Carnival history digital scavenger hunt.  I'd never done one of the scavenger hunts before and wanted to try it out.

 

Celebration is absolutely covered up in Carnival history.  I’ve already mentioned several things including the car from Ecstasy and the pictures from Victory, but there were other mentions, even if there weren’t specific items, from all of the ships.  Right outside Golden Jubilee bar there are a series of coins in the floor telling which year each ship began sailing.  I think it’s kind of like the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  There are the portholes dedicated to the various decades and other things that are harder to find that I won’t mention in case someone else wants to play the game and I accidentally spoil it for them.  This was our first scavenger hunt.  There were a total of 14 items to find in 25 minutes.  We found 11 of them and finally had to head back.  We were two minutes late getting back so we were docked two points for that.  That put us in a tie with the next highest team at 9 points each.  The host seemed to think those were pretty good scores so I felt good about it.   It helped that I had already been all over the ship the first day when I was getting my ship pictures.  This was a lot of fun and I’m glad we did it.  I may have to do that again in the future. 

 

An upside down picture of one of the coins in the floor

 

After all of that was finished, we went to Guy’s Pig and Anchor for lunch.  We had planned to go to our super secret reading spot after lunch so that’s exactly what we did.  They are very close together and the temperature was perfect.

 

Relaxing in our spot after lunch

 

 

One of the things we really enjoyed on Mardi Gras was Carnival Kitchen.  We did the pasta class on Mardi Gras.  These classes seem to be really popular!  I’m kind of surprised they don’t offer more of them but as far as I can tell, they offer each class only once per cruise.  I may be mistaken about that. Some of them were offered on port days and some on sea days.  Since I always want to go into port, that left three options and we chose the Bake Shop and Pie Town class.

 

We were in the Carnival Kitchen at 2:30.  The class was sold out and we shared stations, which was fine for us.  We would be making an apple pie this day.  Usually when you finish the Carnival Kitchen class you can sit down and eat whatever you have made.  The pie class is a little different.  Due to the relatively long bake time, the chef takes all of the pies at the end of class, bakes them and they are delivered to the rooms by 7pm that night.  I’m not a huge apple pie fan.  I prefer some other flavors more. I enjoyed the crust more than the filling.  We had SUCH a good time doing this class!  I’ll certainly make the crust again at home.  I will just use a different filling next time.  Everyone in the class and also the chef seemed to be having a good time.  It was a fun afternoon.

 

Carnival Kitchen

 

All ingredients are ready

 

Getting ready to start

 

Ron's pie is ready to be baked

 

I tried for a Christmas wreath

 

 

The finished products were delivered to our room later

 

 

After class I was tired, so we went up to Serenity to one last time to doze and relax in their nice puffy loungers.  We still had our Kindles with us, so I read a bit, too.  It was a very nice, relaxing day.  The sea was beautiful and glassy.

 

It was time to get ready for dinner one last time.  We opted to go back to Festivale.  We both had the jerk pork and baked Alaska.  It was good, as always.  The waiters sang the “Leaving on a Fun Ship” song.  We had purposefully went to dinner as soon as the dining room opened so we could finish quickly and get to Celebration Central in time to get good seats (hopefully!) for the last showing of the circus show.  This time, it worked, and we got very good seats on the floor level.

 

We enjoyed this show very much.  It seemed a little slow getting started but they made up for it with the aerial acts as the show progressed.  I can see the logic of having this show in Celebration Central simply because of the aerial acts.  I was glad we were finally able to watch Most Magnificent Circus.

 

 

Afterwards we got our free drinks…Ron opted for milkshake, and I got a lemon slushy (basically a lemon daiquiri with no alcohol LOL) and we went to sing with Misso one last time.  This time we sat on the other side of the room, which was close to the bar.  Now I don’t mind when people congregate and talk.  I do it, too, but I DO mind when they do it very loudly while a performance is happening in close proximity.  I always try to be respectful of whoever is performing.  If you want to have a conversation, it’s perfectly acceptable to step outside and carry on the conversation there OR, conversely, to talk quietly so as not to distract the performer or the spectators.  In this case, there were multiple people, probably 8 – 10, and they continued this loud conversation for the entire time we were there in the piano bar.  Finally, about 10pm, we gave up and went back to our room to pack.  It was time to go home. 

 

Sunday, December 3rd - Debarkation and Final Thoughts

 

We were up pretty early and, due to a relatively early flight from FLL, we opted for self debarkation.  The whole process went pretty easily.  Ron found a couple of ducks on the way down which we gave to a little boy.  Debarkation is always much less exciting than embarkation.  At that point we're tired, broke and facing the return to work.

 

We walked through customs pretty much without stopping.  Love that facial recognition technology!  We walked out of the terminal and immediately boarded a shuttle to the airport.  Vacation was over.

 

Our traditional "now the cruise is over and we're pouting" picture

 

At this point, our next cruise is on Mardi Gras in September with a bunch of our friends....basically the same group that traveled together on Sunshine in February.  I'm really looking forward to that!  We have exactly the same itinerary as this cruise, so I hope to make up for some of the things I missed this time around.  September seems like a long time to wait......

 

I DID overhear an elf whisper to a reindeer that I might be receiving a quick cruise on Elation out of Jacksonville this spring as a Christmas gift.  I've been an angel all year after all (I see you cracking up, Ron and Liz!), but you know how unreliable elf intel can be so...who knows?

 

Until I DO see you again, I'll be reading all of your awesome posts here on Cruise Critic.  Merry Christmas, my friends, and have a Blessed New Year!

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your review! I wish it was longer! 🙂 I'm sorry you had to go through feeling so crummy. Always thankful for the Medical Center! 

Your Costa Maya info is priceless! I was looking for a fishing charter for my next trip for this itinerary and was worried. Your PM's are turned off I think (it says deactivated). However, can you verify (if we are allowed!) that the site is (elgrannohochkaybigfish***)? It matches your description, but the site has an odd name. Thank you again! Your relationship with your husband is the cutest!

On 1/2/2024 at 1:53 PM, MistyRo76 said:

I just did a five day cruise to Nassau and Half Moon Cay after having not been to the Bahamas in probably 8-10 years. Nassau has never been my favorite port and the last time we were there years ago we just stayed on the ship. But we had our 9 year-old with us this time, so we knew we'd be getting off the ship. 

 

The Bahamas have some nice beaches and I'm sure there are fun things to do there. But my biggest gripe with Nassau is how ridiculously expensive it has gotten. We did the "free" beach (Junkanoo Beach) as none of the excursions in Nassau held much appeal and were very pricey and the cost of doing a day pass at a decent resort would have set us back $500 or more for our family of three. Even at the "free" beach we still managed to spend over $100. The beach itself is free and we could have probably plopped our towels down on the sand, but it was mega hot when we were there so we wanted some shade and I'm not that young anymore and my back would have hated me for sitting on the sand for very long. The cost of two lounge chairs and an umbrella was $30. Plus the chairs were squished together so tight that your neighbor next to you was practically on top of you. We then paid $70 for a very basic lunch - cheeseburger and fries for the kiddo, an appetizer for the hubby and a shrimp and rice meal for me plus two sodas. It took almost 90 minutes just to get our food. There were no other amenities here other than the restrooms which were filthy. I get that you get what you pay for...but it's hard to justify $500 for a beach day (that doesn't even include all drinks and food) at a resort here. Especially after having been to Cozumel and Costa Maya on my previous cruise. In Cozumel, we paid $65 per person for an all-inclusive day at a beautiful resort. Included all food, drinks (alcohol included), had a pool, gorgeous beach, and the service was amazing! In Costa Maya, we paid $52 for the same type of package. And both places limit their capacity so it's not overcrowded. It was peaceful, relaxing and fun! 

 

Now, Half Moon Cay on the other hand is amazing and one of my favorite cruise stops! The water is beautiful, the activites on the island are reasonably priced (the three of us did a stingray encounter for $150 total), the food is included, and there is a ton to do! We even splurged and got a cabana (shared the cost with the family we were traveling with). And this was the way to go! It was absolutely worth it to have our own private space. 

 

All that being said - YMMV and you may end up loving the Bahamas as a whole. You won't know until you try it. If we do book a cruise that has Nassau as a stop in the future, I will most likely stay on the ship. And I doubt that I would ever book a cruise that ONLY stops in the Bahamas again. 

May I ask what all-inclusive you loved in Cozumel and Costa Maya for $65pp? I am headed there and Costa Maya in Feb and researching what to do. Thank you so much! I'm scared to not just be going to HMC and Grand Turk (my favs). LOL....

On 1/6/2024 at 4:58 PM, stobe1 said:

People watch the Oscars ?

What I came here to say. LOL.....I thought they were cancelled a few years ago. 

On 1/6/2024 at 7:26 PM, defo said:

Long time cruiser and lurker on these boards, first time posting to make sure people are aware that you need to book the behind the scenes tour as an excursion rather than the old way of running to the front desk!

 

I'm going on the Firenze inaugural sailing in April and I would've been so upset if I didn't see the behind the scenes excursion!

Awesome thank you!

On 1/5/2024 at 6:27 PM, dlphn501 said:

I've been looking at trying to book a Havana inside for 2025 on a Vista class ship for 3 people, and it seems they only have 1 cabin!  It's like a race to see who gets it first lol.

Yes! There are a lot of cabin restrictions on ppl. 😐 (but also they don't always show you every cabin.)

I think I found my answer. Those cabins have a 2 guest limit so they weren't showing up in my 3 and 4 guest searches. 😭😭😭