cruiserbrianj

A few years ago on the Elation they had a similar offering but it was basically the seafood shack. It was outside dining around the lido area, menu looked pretty much like the seafood shack and servers waited on you. Considering they didn't have a seafood shack, I thought this was a nice gesture. I've been on the Elation several times and that was the only time I saw it offered.

16 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

Is that still at Eagle Beach?

Yes it is

21 hours ago, SKSMIKE5 said:

We'll be in Aruba in August and are considering going to Eagle Beach. Love to hear how your visit there this trip was.

Ok, so of the 3 beaches I've been to in Aruba, I'd rank them Baby, Eagle and Palm. The beach and water at Eagle beach where we were (more on that) was beautiful. Nice wide beach with powdery sand and lovely blue water. Our taxi dropped us off just outside the Coco Loco beach bar/restaurant and that place left a sour taste in our mouth. One, place was packed because there isn't really anything else "close"...two, they lost our food order and that whole ordeal was probably 60 min....three, order a bucket of beer and they aren't twist offs. Ask for an opener and they were pretty rude saying they didn't have one. Note, they have some openers under the bar on the patio. Anyway, we enjoyed our day but next time we're going to request our driver to take us to the Amsterdan Manor where there is Passions Beach Bar and give that a go. 

Currently on the Vista and they're handing them out left and right. First time I've seen them in a while. 

Surely I won't be the only one with their mind blown that after all these cruises (Diamond status) this is the first time the OP will be venturing into the steakhouse....just wow! That said, as mentioned above, I'd like to think a quick conversation with the host prior to dinner and everything will be worked out. Good luck and enjoy!

My vote would be Baby Beach....not crowded, nobody selling stuff to you constantly. Couldn't have asked for a more chill day. Wasn't impressed with Palm Beach the times I've been there for what it's worth. We're going to give Eagle Beach a go here in a few days...fingers crossed

8 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I've done it both ways, tipped extra and not left a tip and haven't noticed a difference in service at all, it's always been top notch.

Likewise...and if "treated right" means stronger drinks...i've never not seen a bartender not use a jigger when making a drink. Alchemy perhaps, but those are much stronger drinks in general.  Anyway, that's my two cents.

We were just talking about AI vs cruising the other day when carnival hiked up the WiFi again. I used to think the cruise was always going to be the better bargain but I'm not so sure anymore. Again, this is all dependent on how "you cruise" but we like to do a specialty dining once (or twice), don't always get the Cheer's package but we do purchase alcohol, we get the WiFi package (usually 2 to split between 3 people and then there's the hotel the night before. Once you add all that up, it's pretty significant. The only thing preventing us from doing an AI at the moment is, at least for us, the flights stink! As soon as you start customizing a flight the price skyrockets. There was one that I looked at, the only "included" flight had you leaving at 8pm only to arrive at 1pm THE NEXT DAY! You mean I'm paying for a day that I'm not even there? No chance. Anyway, we love cruising and the positives far outweigh the negatives but the AI's are on our radar.

Good timing! We just got off a couple of weeks ago and it was Christian. Rumor was that it was only his first or second cruise as CD but we were really impressed. He was approachable, entertaining but not annoying, helpful and very visible throughout our trip. 

Possibly an unpopular opinion on here, but I/my family tip as we would on land and that's for those are are directly serving us. We do remove the auto gratuities and then tip accordingly. Room stewards get more. Sometimes the bar service folks get more (than the auto 18%). When we dine in the MDR, steakhouse or other specialty restaurants, they get more. If others behind the scenes don't get something, I'd argue that their salary should be more and it's not up to me to supplement that. I tip as I do in the US and that's for those that are directly servicing us. If they (cruise lines) decide to include it in the price, then fine, but until then...I'll tip as I normally do.

I was just on the Pride and college ESPNish games were shown in the sports bar and on Sunday they had 4 different NFL games on. I was able to stream a game on the ESPN app but as previously posted, YouTubeTV won't work. Honestly, it's a crap shoot really. Good luck to you!

Seems to be. I went to check in for our cruise this morning and nope...not happening.

6 minutes ago, heatherbean said:

I agree the cost of the cabana is outrageous. We still book them when they are available, but the price has gotten pretty high. We normally take a small softsided cooler with us and and the days leading up to HMC, we grab extra beers, never had an issue getting them unopened and taking them ashore with us. Since the cabana has a fridge and they give you a container with ice, no problem keeping the cold. 

Yep, we've done the same and it works out well. Our stateroom attendant will even fill it up with ice for us. At one point, Carnival sold a nice soft sided cooler that we bought and it's been good for us. Only issue is we run out of beers too fast lol

I'd be really happy with more lido deck games during sea days. Over the years these game/contests have really almost become non existent. Seems like when I first started cruising ('16) there were several "events" during sea days....now, there's barely 1. Seems like a small thing but I've always enjoyed them.

1 minute ago, 1025cruise said:

You can all board together if you are in the same cabin. Otherwise, you can wait and board with them. 

Yes, this....I forgot to mention that in my post.

Our kids have always boarded with us and we're platinum. We have always said, "we're a family" or "they're our kids" and it's not been a problem. IMO I wouldn't waste money on FTTF. Have a great cruise!

I'm partial to the Irish coffee and last cruise I got it iced instead of hot. Very good.

1 hour ago, HappySails4U said:

I enjoy sailing on the Pride. Love the look of an older ship and dark wood.  

 However cruising at Thanksgiving when school is out could be very interesting !

This will be our third Thanksgiving cruise so we know what to expect.

26 minutes ago, notscb said:

I agree with the other poster- any vacation is what you make of it.

Also, as another mentioned, you're getting on a ship that just got out of a drydock at the end of May, so you're likely going to get just as good of an experience as any in terms of the overall condition of the ship.

 

Curious- what bells and whistles are you hoping the Pride has that others didn't? If there's something specific another ship offers that you enjoyed more, you could always try to transfer the deposit to another sailing.

I know we'll have a good cruise...I think it would take a lot to be a "bad" cruise. To answer your question, things like the sports square for the youngster, more dining options...that's mainly what I was referring to. I'm encouraged by the comments and some of the YouTube videos I've been watching as well as that it just got out of the dry dock.

So we just booked a Thanksgiving cruise on the Pride. I realize this is an older ship and doesn't have all the bells and whistles but it did work out well with price and destinations. Lately we've been on the Horizon, Magic and Mardi Gras so I hope this "step back" isn't bad. I guess I'm just looking for a little reassurance lol. We did get an extended balcony which should be nice (although I don't know what we will do with the extra room...maybe wind sprints or something hahaha)

I'll add that for a long time I thought if they just had some tortilla chips at lunch time at the Blue Iguana it'd be perfect to go with all those different salsas they have.

Also, you can ask for nuts at the Alchemy Bar and they'll provide them along with some cheese.

I think I'd be inclined to do this if there was more included for how much it costs. It looks very nice but I really don't see all that much different between this and the Serenity deck. I realize it's limited capacity so there's that, but again, for as much as it costs I'd expect more...ie, bar drinks, snacks, food, etc.

It's funny how inconsistent the policies are. One time, out of Charleston, I saw them opening someone's 12 pack of Coke....however, they didn't open ours. That was the only time I saw anyone's 12 pack get opened. We have started putting our 12 packs in a roller beach bag and it just goes thru the scanner and we're off so to say they always open it is not accurate and honestly, it would really really delay the embark process imo if they did that.

Now, I'll add this...in December, out of Port Canaveral, they had all of us stop so a drug sniffing dog could make his rounds. That's never happened before in my 14 Carnival cruises but again, just my opinion, it doesn't need to happen every time. They just need to do thing often enough to make people possibly think twice. 

Finally, a funny...on that last cruise that I mentioned, we did see someone's 12 pack of "coke" bust open after the security checkpoint and there were 10 bud lights and 2 cokes rolling on the floor for anyone who wanted them because they just kept walking along lol.

Last two on the Magic (Nov and Dec 2022) they did not have the happy hour any more 😞

We had a free bottle of wine on our Thanksgiving cruise on the Magic. I'm not a wine connoisseur so I can't speak on the quality, but if it's free it's for me 🙂