CatgirlNC

I am just finding out about this today.  I had heard about Inspiration, but just found out about Fantasy.   

Goodbye, Cats Lounge.  You were my favorite thing on any cruise ship ever.  😿

...that I should grab a porter as soon as I have all my luggage - because the porters have their own customs lines and it's worth the $10 to fly through the chaos called disembarkation!

Yes! I just learned this one at Port Canaveral. I was with my husband, plus my parents and aunt & uncle were there. A porter came over, and the rest of our party waved him off, but I said “Yes please!” for mine & my husband’s bags because we did have a lot of stuff. I didn’t even realize if you use a porter you go through a different customs line. Actually, there was no line...I ended up almost walking right past it because I was looking for a line to get in, but instead we walked right up to the desk. Then we got outside and had gotten separated from the rest of our group, and we hadn’t even said our goodbyes to each other. (we were all taking different shuttles from that point). I looked and looked, and had almost given up, when I finally saw the rest of them coming out of the terminal, and I was like “wow, we really got through quickly!”

FLICK is the only show ever that I "wanted" to see twice, let alone three times.

 

I agree that the other shows are not really entertaining at all ... Flick is the first one that has some really cool effects (they do some things with a circle of fans and scarves, it's so cool to watch!)

 

If you see "FLICK" offered on your ship, ITS A MUST SEE!!!!!!!

I did enjoy Flick, and you’re right- the scarves and fans effects were really neat. However I found the character “Flick” himself to be creepy and emo. I would have liked it a lot better without him in it.

And everyone raved about “America Rocks” but I found it a bit corny. The only good thing about it was that it does use real musicians, the rock band who played around the ship. And the part where the brass section raises up out of the floor was pretty cool, as well.

A nice gift would be a wallet-sized portrait of a US President such as Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln.

No way could I eat green eggs.

There are other things on the menu, like pancakes or a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Hi, Skipper! I see you are from CT. I went to Camp Maria Pratt back in the 80's.

Are people with active Roll Calls (here on the CC forums) still also planning their own unofficial meet-ups in addition to waiting to see when Carnival will schedule one? If I had a really fun Roll Call group, I might want to just go ahead and plan our own on the first sea day to make sure we can do it at a time that is convenient for most people, and early in the cruise, for reasons already listed by others. Then the official Carnival one could be a bonus meet & greet, and maybe even more fun, since many of the attendees would already have gotten a chance to know each other at the first meet-up. And for those who couldn’t make it to the official one (or didn’t see it listed in the Fun Times, or whatever), they wouldn’t have totally missed out on the chance to meet their Roll Call group.

Thanks for the review! I’m going on the Magic next February, same ports, and I’m really looking forward to it. I might have to try Barrachina’s when we stop in San Juan. On our cruise last month that also stopped at San Juan, we did the Bacardi tour, which was fun, but then we just went straight back to the ship for lunch and didn’t try any local restaurants.

We were with friends and still had a good time. After awhile, we just laughed about all the glitches and Bermuda was beautiful which made the cruise worthwhile.

We were on the Divina the week after you and had some similar experiences as far as the service. Our favorite story was this:

In the Black Crab, first night at dinner, several people at the table ordered amaretto, which is listed on the dessert menu as an after-dinner drink, along with limoncello, Sambuca, etc. We were told that amaretto wasn’t available- something about all the amaretto having been delivered to the DiSaronno bar by the pool on Deck 15. Okay, fine, it was the first night, they needed time to get everything moved around to where it needed to be. Night two, amaretto ordered, and again, told there wasn’t any. We gave up for a couple of nights, and then night 6 tried again- success! Amaretto arrived, served on ice in a rocks glass. Finally, the last night, amaretto ordered- this time it arrived in champagne flutes! No ice, not even for the person who specially requested it on ice. We all just laughed and drank the amaretto- what else would we do? I wish we’d had one more night, just to see how it would have been served- in a beer stein? A coffee mug?

I have NO idea why in the world RCI cannot have "normal" TV like I had on Carnival at Christmas. Not thrilled with Carnival, but got a suite for free so we went. They had regular tv just like I have at home onboard. Now I know RCI is capable of that, but even the CBS programs that you usually get weren't there. What's up with that? Did RCI break their partnership with CBS? Why not just plain normal TV? If Carnival can do it, surely Royal can too.

I agree. I know that the TV in your room is usually considered a pretty pointless thing to talk about on here, but I have sailed both Carnival and RC, I do prefer having regular TV channels. On our last cruise (Carnival), there were a couple of nights where we were just tired and didn't feel like going out and doing anything after dinner. We stayed in and watched TV, so it was nice to have our usual shows to watch, especially since that week was the series finale of Parks & Recreation, so we got to see it when it aired instead of waiting until we got home.

These days you can usually DVR things or find them online to watch later, so it's not so much the point of "missing your shows" anymore, but if you are in your room and want some downtime (or, if you are sick and get "quarantined" there for 24 hours- yes, it happened to me) it's good to be able to watch your regular tv shows.

We have brought CAH on a couple of cruises. The first time was an all-adult charter cruise, and we had mentioned it on our Roll Call (and a couple of other places online where people from our group were chatting), so had a list of people who wanted to play. We got a group of about 8-10 people together and had a blast.

Then on our next cruise, a standard Carnival Cruise, we brought them again, but didn’t ask anyone in advance. Then at our Roll Call meetup there was one other couple who seemed like they would be into it, so we asked them, and they said they love CAH, and meant to bring their own cards, but forgot to pack them. The only problem was finding a place to play where people wouldn’t overhear us and be offended. We ended up playing in our room, which was fine for just 4 of us. (On the charter cruise, it wasn’t an issue because card room was always empty so we just used that, but on the Carnival cruise, there were people in there)

Bring it and see what happens! Also, another tip- if you end up playing in a smaller group (4 people), it makes it fun to use the “Rando Cardissian” variation described in the official rules. When the 3 players give their white cards to the judge, also include one extra random white card. That way the judge has 4 choices instead of just 3. Additionally, we made it into a drinking game- whenever the random card won, everyone had to drink! Sometimes it was crazy how good the random answers were.

That sailing had a pretty decent-sized Roll Call here on Cruise Critic. Of course I have no idea if any of these people are still active on the boards, but it wouldn't hurt to post. If any of them have the thread set to receive email notifications, they'll see your request. Many people keep their old Fun Times. I have almost all of mine from every cruise I've ever taken, except for the very last one, I think I accidentally threw them away when I was packing. :(

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1572811

Good luck!

Very nice. We have never done a LS cruise but would love to some day. What ship and dates?

All of these cruises are chartered and are sold through various travel agencies that specialize in this sort of thing. And we’re not supposed to link to them on Cruise Critic, but if you read through this thread it should give you enough keywords to be able to Google them on your own. There are several options coming up in 2015 and 2016.

This thread is from 3 years ago.

 

But it's still relevant. The Game of Thrones Season 5 finale is coming up in 2 weeks, and most cruise lines don’t get HBO, so there are probably several people in the same boat- so to speak. ;)

And I know it’s considered bad form around here to admit that when you’re cruising you miss watching your normal tv shows or that you {gasp} watch them while you’re on a cruise, but I can completely relate. Yes, if I booked a cruise the night of the GoT finale (not to mention Silicon Valley and Veep), I’d probably be kicking myself as well.

We were on a cruise in February when Parks & Recreation had its series finale. But that cruise was on Carnival, which has a better selection of channels- they actually carry the major networks, so we ended up watching the last Parks & Rec (on NBC) in our room, and not having to use our back-up plan of watching it on OnDemand when we got home. (we were unable to DVR it due to a freak issue with TWC before we left for the cruise, but that’s a whole other story).

Do non-LS couples attend these type of event or would they feel out of place/uncomfortable (nudity, obviously, is not an issue).

Do you like parties? Do you like not having kids around? Do you like dressing up in costumes for theme nights (Mardi Gras, Pirates, etc)? Do you like having different options for shore excursions such as maybe a clothing-optional catamaran ride, or a nude beach? Do you like talking to new people? If you say yes to any of these questions, you would enjoy an adults-only LS cruise, whether or not you’re actually in the LS. These kinds of cruises are really fun, whether you consider yourself part of the LS or not. The people are so friendly and you’ll meet so many more fellow passengers than you do on a regular cruise. As far as the actual LS activities, there is absolutely no pressure to participate in those. They are there if you want to see what they’re all about. If not there’s still plenty of other stuff to do- dancing, karaoke, games, shows, casino, etc.

What I say to anyone who asks this question is try one. If you don’t enjoy it, well, then you gave it a shot and it wasn’t for you. But if you like it, that’s even better.

I'm looking at Nov 2016 on the Silhouette. They ask for a deposit, which is normal, but I cannot find cancellation info anywhere on the website of Bliss. What is their cancellation policy, if one exists? This cruise is more than a year away and a lot can happen between now and then. I emailed the company but I did not yet get a response.

On their website, click on the link that says "General Information." It lists the payment schedule and cancellation policy.

We usually do decorate our doors. We put up a dry-erase board, and some little paper flowers and fish I made. I use the Scotch removable mounting squares. They easily peel right off the door (as well as the decorations, so you can continue to use them on other cruises).

One of the saddest parts of the cruise is taking down all my door decorations. That means the cruise really is coming to an end.

I never knew there were so many door-decoration haters out there. I can understand not wanting to do it on your own door, but I had no idea people are out there walking past my little fishies and rolling their eyes and thinking “eww, how tacky.”

Don't give them ideas or they'll start and charge more if you don't disembark, because you will use more facilities, eat more food, make more staff work etc:eek::eek::eek:

Not to mention, the ports themselves could start charging a “passenger no-show” fee! For each passenger who doesn’t get off the ship, that’s one less person in port spending money at bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, jewelry stores, etc. I think if that ever became reality, we’d see a LOT of people in Nassau and Freeport (among other places) going down to the gangway, “dinging” out, walking off the ship and turning right back around and getting back on, just to make it look like they got off the ship.

The drink coupon not only has to be used on the last day but a cavorting to the chart on carnival website after 5pm...maybe they are hoping people forget

That sounds about right. By 5PM on the last day of the cruise (I know JH’s post says “last sea day,” but for most/many itineraries, those are the same), people’s attention tends to turn to packing, getting ready to disembark, and as someone else mentioned, getting a good night’s sleep for those who have a long day of travel home the next morning. Although, I will say the best drink I had on my last cruise was at the Alchemy Bar the very last night. We put our suitcases out and took one last walk around the ship, stopping for a leisurely drink before heading back to the room. Now would that drink have been as leisurely and the bartenders as pleasant had it been full of Gold members trying to redeem a coupon that’s only good during a very limited window of time that also includes dinner and packing? Probably not.

Well, now I’m glad I got super drunk at the past guest party on Pride in February since it will most likely be my last one. I like Carnival, but I enjoy cruising a variety of cruiselines, so I don’t foresee ever achieving platinum status (and even if I do….it would take so long that by time, platinum probably won’t mean anything either).

In the end, it doesn’t really affect me too much. I don’t cruise Carnival that often, and the reason I do cruise with them is because of a family member who is a super-Carnival cheerleader type and all that, and since they’re already Platinum, it won’t affect them. We’re trying to talk them into trying HAL to go to Alaska sometime, but it’s hard to even get them to look at another cruiseline at this point, because they don’t want to lose their “perks.” And as long as Carnival keeps making those perks seem more and more exclusive (by taking them away from the lower levels), it’s going to make the Platinums and Diamonds cling on to them even more.

Hmm....interesting! My significant other's birthday is November 11, and Charleston is our closest cruise port. I wish it was more than just a 2-day CTN, though. Still, could be a fun b-day weekend getaway. I'll definitely keep it in mind.

On the Pride a few weeks ago, on embarkation day there was a Seuss at Sea table set up in the atrium where you could look at the menu and make reservations.

I'm looking for a cheaper way too! Lol .I am a solo cruiser so I am always looking for a deal. I called around and so far they all say can only book through the actual company that is sponsoring.

That’s usually how it works for themed cruises. The company who puts it together has chartered out either the full ship, or a large block of rooms (I’m not sure which one the 80’s cruise is), and then you’re booking through this company, not the cruiseline itself or any other travel company who isn’t directly affiliated with the organizers. If the organizer does allow affiliates to sell it, they typically ensure that everyone is selling at the same rates.

We just disembarked the Pride last week and we suffered through SEVEN nights of this nonsense. While the waitstaff were 'getting ready' for their performance, the Maitre d' inflicted his uneven singing voice on us. ALL SEVEN NIGHTS!

I was just on the Pride, and my mother absolutely HATED the singing Maitre’D. It was more entertaining to watch her sitting there making faces than to listen to him sing.

As for the show, I could take it or leave it. I don’t mind it as long as I’ve gotten my dessert. I hate when you’re still waiting to order or get your dessert, and then you have to wait while the waiters dance. But I wouldn’t miss it if it goes away. I have gone on plenty of cruises with no show in the MDR, and had just as good a time.

These look great, and I would LOVE the Throwback Sea Day! Unfortunately I’m not making any new cruise plans for 2016, and the 10-day itineraries can be tough for time off/scheduling purposes, but I hope these are a success and they continue offering them, because it’s definitely something I would consider in the future.

I have also don't understand the whole order a separate side dish but them some of the items are described with a side already.

That part isn't new. There were already sides listed on the Everyday part of the menu, under the main entrees. I think they're just extra options that people can request with their meals. The night I ordered the chicken breast, I was craving white rice, so I ordered that from the sides menu. It came in addition to the side (potatoes, I think) that was already plated on the dish as part of the chicken meal.