Eli_6

Interesting about the TA's putting a large number of rooms on hold. I did not know that, but it makes sense. Also makes sense as to how a ship can show as sold out on the Carnival website but then there be offerings through travel agency websites. I feel like I learn so much just by lurking around on these boards...

Me, too! And I am the odd man out in that I love the Vista class because of the Havana area. I am super pissed Galveston is losing the Vista! I wish they would take the Dream or the Breeze instead and let us keep the Vista.

Splendor IS the Splendor class. 😂

Completely agree with you on Loft 19. The pool/hot tub was more like a wading pool/kiddie pool. Did you feel like the Mardi Gras was super busy? We went when it was at partial capacity.

I was in the Starboard Vista Suite on Deck 4 with the adjoining aft balcony room. I would hope they would have fixed the shower by now since that was months ago... I actually loved the location of that room and the layout other than the shower. Especially with the adjoining room. When you combined the Vista suite with the adjoining room, you basically had a little apartment with the living room in the middle with two bedrooms on either side. The balcony is huge and is fully covered. I think most of the other Vista balconies are not fully covered (maybe the one under the lido deck is, not sure), but this one is and it is closest to the water. When the ship was in her prime, it was probably the best room on the boat! The shower wasn't that big of a deal because we just used our son's shower. I got tired of calling the repair people because they never showed up when you called. It might be 20 minutes later, or it might be 5 hours later when you are needing to be in the bathroom to get ready for dinner, or it might be the next day when you are taking a nap and don't want to be disturbed. So, I eventually just stopped calling them even though it still was broke and let the shower be broken and used the shower in the adjoining room. I told guest services about it before I left, though, so the next person would (hopefully) have a shower.

I was on Pride in July and it (especially some of the cabins) need TLC. Our suite looked like it had been more recently updated, but my son's balcony room looked its age.

I am inclined to still go to Europe because we already made plans for my husband to get off. I like the Venezia TA sailing so I will probably do that (if we can get good rooms still) or an MSC sailing out of Barcelona if this cruise cancels. I feel more confident in it NOT canceling after learning that those third party port websites just go off the Carnival website and that we ARE on the Gibraltar port website.

Well, my husband is the sole owner so the business will pay for him to have coverage to go on a once-a-year vacation because otherwise he will have unhappy children, an unhappy wife, and an unhappy life. And then the "business" will make less money because he will not be seeing patients because he will be spending that time taking care of his children, his house, and all of his business/legal affairs when his wife goes on vacation alone! I don't think you and I will ever see eye-to-eye on insurance. For over a decade before I had two kids in two years, I both sued and represented insurance companies. In my experience, the money spent on a policy like what you are talking about combined with the trouble of getting the insurance to actually pay in the event of something going wrong is NOT worth it. Insurance companies are in the business of not paying. That's how they make money. The policies are structured to benefit them and not the insured. I carry insurance on things that would cause me financial ruin should a covered event occur (like loss of my home, health insurance, medical malpractice, etc.) and it be worth it to fight them to get them to pay. (Had it happen with Hurricane Harvey and had to fight them for 9 months for a completely legitimate claim.) In my case, I apparently booked refundable airline tickets. I don't recall doing this, but I called British Airways and they said I will be refunded minus a small fee if I cancel...I probably did that because Carnival already has done this to me multiple times before including the canceled Mardi Gras TA, canceled Vista in summer 2019 (with only 2 weeks notice), and multiple canceled Europe cruises in 2020 and 2021. However, I completely "get" people not booking refundable airline tickets when you are talking about tickets as expensive as they are to Europe. It doesn't mean they are cheap. The difference between a refundable vs non-refundable ticket is sometimes double the cost. For some people, that may be the difference between them being able to afford a once-in-a-lifetime Europe vacation and not affording one at all. Also, might I add, that Carnival does provide for some coverage for cancelled flights when they cancel a cruise. I think everyone on this thread understands that things happen...like Covid or when a ship breaks down. All I want or expect is for Carnival to tell us when they plan on canceling a cruise as soon as they know so I can make alternative arrangements. I don't expect them to pay for anything. Just to tell me when they know. In the past, they haven't done that. In the past they have in fact actively said "Oh no, the cruise is going forward" even when they pretty much undoubtedly knew that it wasn't in order to get those 90 day final payments...i.e. when Carnival didn't cancel Europe 2021 even after RCCL, NCL and other cruise lines had canceled and the writing was on the wall. Hopefully, that isn't what they are doing with May 28th. I have more faith it is not what they are doing after what BlerkOne pointed out.

First, the cruise insurance isn't going to cover airfare. Second, even if you purchased refundable airfare or get insurance for your airfare, you still have a lot of things that insurance doesn't cover. In my example, I have the fact that my husband is a physician with his own practice. He has to arrange (and pay for) alternative coverage by another physician in his specialty (which isn't easy to find) in order for us to go to Europe for 2.5-3 weeks. Basically, he has to pay a locums doctor to come in. He has a nurse practitioner that covers him for shorter trips, but going overseas like this is an entirely different situation. So, those dates for us are set in stone. Similarly, when I was practicing law, I had to file vacation letters with the court many months in advance to ensure my cases weren't put on the trial docket for those periods. Those can't be changed because your trials are set by not only your list, but the list of the opposing parties. In multi-party litigation, there may be 10+ letters that are considered. And I am sure many other cruisers have similar situations that are not covered by insurance. So, yes, I expect Carnival to as soon as they know a cruise will not be proceeding, to let us know. ESPECIALLY for a 12-day Europe cruise when they know most their cruisers are from the U.S. This isn't a 4 day booze cruise from Galveston where 90 percent of the cruisers drive to it.

Cajucan. In East Texas there is a chain eatery called Tia Juanitas that is Mexican+Cajun combined and it is really good. Boudin quesadillas are quite amazing.

Sorry, I hijacked it to talk about my fear that they were canceling the May 28th sailing on the Pride. Everyone can go back to talking about what they hope will be changed with the dry dock...however, based on the length of time it is going to be in dry dock if it does sail on May 28th, I doubt we can expect much more than some refreshed paint.

No, I was looking at the wrong year. False alarm.

No, I was not looking at that website. Thanks for posting. Now this website adds even more mystery because the Pride is on that website departing on the 29th when it is supposed to depart on the 28th (right? I am now so confused I don't even know anymore), but the Venezia isn't on it at all...and the Venezia is supposed to depart on the 29th. What the heck? I give up. Edit: Oh never mind. I was looking at 2022. No one listen to anything I say. I can't tell my head from my **s today.

Completely unrelated, but this website shows where all the ships are and man there are a lot of ships in the world: https://www.shiplocation.com/marine-traffic

Aaah! So everything actually may be okay, then. It may be that because the cruise is no longer showing up on Carnival's website, the third party websites have removed it from their schedule assuming that it is cancelled...even though that may not be the case. And the "official" port websites appear to only publish their schedules about 2-3 months out.

Darn it. The "official" Port of Barcelona port schedule is still blank for May 2023.

Off to try to find the official port schedule...

Also, I think they also have to leave some cabins open for Covid quarantine rooms. Not sure if they are still doing this or not, but they were back in July last time I cruised.

On some sailings, though, those 3rd and 4th actually go for more. This is usually sailings where you have a lot of kids. I experienced this personally on a Christmas sailing in 2019. It was cheaper to book 2 rooms rather than a 3 person room. However, we had 2 adults, 1 kid. But sometimes, in the case of babies or toddlers and 1 adult, you can't put them in a room by themselves. So, if you hypothetically have a Mom cruising by herself with two very young kids, you have to have a three person room...particularly, if one next door or directly across the hall isn't available. Carnival has certain rules based on ages of kids about where/how you can book them. I don't know them all, but (for example), my kids can be booked directly across the hall in an inside room or next door in an inside room now, but not in a balcony by themselves and not anywhere else. But they are 8 and 10 now. Kids over a certain age can be booked like 5 doors away; and then over age 18 but under 21 can be booked anywhere but still have to have a "guardian" (i.e. someone over 25 who is responsible for them) on board.

I got good news on my flights! British airways said if I do have to cancel, I get all of my money and miles back minus a small fee...like $80 per person so $320 total. That's minor compared to the cost and miles we spent. They said I simply have to cancel 24 hours in advance. Obviously, I am not canceling the tix now, but relieved they are so flexible and I won't be out much money *IF* it does cancel. My husband is still off that time, though, so we will be taking some sort of vacation somewhere even if it cancels...

I hope you are correct. However, why is the Pride not showing up on the port schedules for this sailing? When the Venezia is showing in some of those same ports a day later and the Pride is showing up on port schedules for later sailings?

Also, I just learned that apparently a ship may still have rooms open but it can be at "passenger" capacity if enough people are booked in 3- and 4-person rooms. In that case, it will disappear off the website.

Great idea!

Another thing I thought about: I was looking at the Jubilee TA about a month or two ago. The Jubilee sailing was off the website. I called and they said it was sold out. No way was that ship (with a 5,000+ capacity) on an 18-day TA to Galveston with a dozen sea days sold out a year in advance. I don't buy it. Celebration TA wasn't even sold out at the time and they were offering almost free cruises. Sure enough, they canceled the Jubilee TA.

You can get off the ship faster...sometimes, that is a big benefit.