CCRUZER

We were on the 4/1 to 4/11 Equinox caribbean cruise. I agree with you totally with the exception of the entertainment. We found it very lacking, but then it's all subjective isn't it. We will indeed sail with Celebrity again and would not hesitate to sail on the Equinox again either.

Huh, this topic really caught my eye. We recently came off a 10 day caribbean cruise on the Equinox. We were in a deck 6 balcony which is above the entertainment deck. Right below us were specialty restaurants and a bar. We had a constant banging noise in our cabin for the whole 10 days. We had supervisors listen and verified that there was indeed a problem. One day they had the ceiling removed to inspect but to no avail. It was then determined that the noise was coming from deck 5 below, but the source was never located and the noise never ceased. I have to admit that they did try to fix things for us and finally did offer us some fcc. Even with some loss of sleep during our 10 day adventure, we did enjoy our cruise and will be sailing with Celebrity again.

I got my survey at 4:30 this afternoon. Even though we haven't yet taken a Celebrity cruise (taking our first in April), I am at the Classic level via the December webinar's 50 power up points.

12 hours ago, Gabrielle R. said:

Waxy’s Irish pub on 17th in Ft. Lauderdale  great Irish food corn beef & Cannage is outstanding!  and Kelly’s Landing in Ft. Lauderdale New England food. Love their clam chowder and fresh fish choices 

Yup, we always go to Kelly's Landing when in Ft. Lauderdale.Gotta have my lobstah roll and the wife likes her clams. We'll have to try Waxy's before our April cruise this year.

55 minutes ago, antmaril said:

We stayed at The Riverside Hotel two weeks ago.  The hotel is lovely.  I would stay there again and can highly recommend.  

What category room were you in. I'm currently booked for two nights in a standard room which I believe is in the old section. Do I need to upgrade to a room in the newer section?

15 hours ago, FOPMan said:

Federal Highway and Broward is one of the busiest intersections in Fort Lauderdale. I would be extremely careful on the west side of Federal between Broward and the tunnel. Crossing Federal at Broward isn't exactly a fun experience, either.

 

Once you reach the tunnel coming back from CVS, you can relax quite a bit.

 

CVS sells a limited selection of wines. You can always order delivery (or curbside pickup) from Total Beverage @ 17th Street or Walgreens.

 

The Publix south of the river is just that- south of the river. You would need to cross a bridge to get to it. The bridge at Andrews Avenue is probably the most pedestrian-friendly. My father's business predated the Publix in the same location., so I'm pretty familiar with the georgraphy.

Thanks...since we'll be going to the 17th street area to eat at Kelly's Landing (always a must when we go to FLL) I'll give Total Beverage a try.

How about a walkable  place near Riverside to buy my two bottles of wine pre cruise?

1 hour ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

If I don't get my points, I'm not booking any more cruises with Celebrity.

Ditto!!😎

3 hours ago, KKB said:

Not on our Carnival cruise...it was 2 weeks to Hawaii.

Now, spring break, Celebrity ship full of FSU students...yep, plenty of early (and constant) intoxication.

 

Our Carnival bartenders said the key to Carnival is longer cruises as the short ones tend to be booze cruises.

We too did a Carnival Miracle 14 day Hawaii cruise back in February with no complaints. But, the wife and I both decided that 4 sea days each way was too much for us.

11 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Celebrity pre pandemic had several cruises that were very close to perfect.

 

We have not sailed Carnival as their cruisers were overly intoxicated before boarding…

 

All of them? Kids included? What, were they giving breathelizers? A friend wants to know in case he/she decides to try Carnival.

1 hour ago, ISABELLA said:

You are allowed 2 bottles per room.

Thanks, but I have to have my Reisling

2 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Moscato was not available by glass - bottle only. If I knew that, I would have brought my own on board. 

Good to know...it's my wife's favorite too. We will be bring one on board for her, but I doubt she can make it last 10 days.

Celebrity is currently offering a one bag special and a three bag special. How much laundry can you fit in one bag?

4 hours ago, Lena11033 said:

Sorry if I missed another topic but earlier today my planner didn't have discounts and now my excursions are showing up to 50% off, drink packages are 45% off and wifi showing 50% off

Thanks for the heads up...I just booked two excursions for my April 10 day caribbean cruise, one at 50% off and one at 40% off and saved 244 bucks. That's my kind of savings, enough to pay for another excursion.

I'm participating in Royal Up for the first time for my upcoming Sept. cruise. I bid on a Jr. suite with the minimum bid. How often and when do you modify your bid as I think I might want to increase my bid to make it more attractive.

19 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

Maybe I can explain it to you.

"Los Angeles" is a VERY BIG place.  And when I say "Los Angeles", it's not just the political entity within the city limits--which is actually just a fraction of the population and land area.  It's over a hundred different cities and towns, many surrounding the city, manyt others looking like giant cut-outs within the city  So, we are talking about the entire megalopolis most think of as Los Angeles...which encompasses not only the city of LA (population of around 4 million) but the entire population of Los Angeles County (10 million) plus most of the adjacent counties of Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura.  The estimated total population of Greater Los Angeles is around 20 million people...

 

And, unlike most other major cities, Los Angeles is built "out", not "up"...There are areas with tall buildings, but most of the city is more "suburban" than "urban"...it is spread out over a large area.  Making it an even larger area is that it is sprawled out over several mountain ranges, through canyons and passes and then, again, spreading out to fill several adjacent valleys.

 

Then, to complicate things, for various historical, cultural and economic reasons, traffic patterns seem almost random and illogical.

 

So what you have is a massive land area with complicated road and highway patterns that could cause the need to take SEVERAL HOURS to get from one side of the city to the other.  I live toward the northwestern side of the metropolitan area...and, if I want to travel to, say South Orange County or to the eastern end of the "Inland Empire", I need to expect as much as a three hour drive time each way.  Just getting to San Pedro, for me, on a typical weekend morning, I am looking at at least an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.  Next Friday, I have a cruise out of San Pedro and I may be looking at two hours plus since it's Friday morning...

 

That said, San Pedro/Long Beach area--near the port--is nice for a one night pre-cruise when one has no interest in visiting LA tourist sights--but it is 30-40 miles from most tourist sights.  If you have several days and want to sightsee, the harbor area may not make logistic sense.

 

Many areas of Los Angeles, I would rule out for tourists because they are either logistically unrealistic or merely undesirable.  So, when looking for "where to stay", you almost have to have a checklist:  1)  What do you really want to see and do?  2)  Will you have a car?  3) What is your budget?  etc.

 

Assuming many visitors don't want to rent a car--and deal with traffic, unfamiliar streets and neighborhoods and high gas prices and parking rates--Then it comes down to where can you stay that is close to tourist sights with convenient transportation options (tour companies, HOHO bus, Uber/Lyft availability) and lots to see and do within close walking distance with plentiful local tourist attractions, restaurants, nightlife, popular strolling areas, safe environment, best weather, etc.

 

...and Santa Monica ticks ALL of the boxes.  All major tour companies pick up from Santa Monica hotels.  The HOHO bus uses it as a main hub.  The Third Street Promenade, Santa Monia Pier and Palisades Park are MAJOR pedestrian areas with tourists AND locals heading there 24/7 for restaurants/entertainment/nightlife.  It is right by one of the most beautiful beaches with outstanding year-round weather.  It is one of the nicer areas of LA.  It is a very short ride to neighboring Venice Beach--whose Boardwalk is a MAJOR attraction.  It is a short Uber ride to the Getty Villa and Getty Center museums, to Beverly Hills with Rodeo Drive, to Westwood Village and the beautiful campus of UCLA, to Sony Studios in Culver City and to many more attractions.  It is easy to take a tour (or even do it yourself by Uber or even public transportation) to go see sights in Hollywood, Universal or Downtown.

 

It is my top recommendation as to where to stay as a tourist.

 

Of course, some tourists have more limited agendas--like Disney (Stay in Anaheim)...or movie and TV studios (maybe Hollywood or Universal).  There are some alternative areas to consider (West Hollywood or Marina Del Rey/Venice Beach for example...and some out of the way places for those who only want to relax and don't need to be near tourist spots...

 

But, for tourists who want to see a lot and have things to do day and night and won't have a car, Santa Monica is just a VERY GOOD place to be.  OTOH, hotes can be a pit pricey...But, this is LA--decent hotels in decent areas are generally pricey.  If you find a bargain somewhere, really question it.  There are many cheap hotels...and they are largely cheap for very good reasons... 

We are flying in two days before our cruise and I'm considering Torrance. Looking at hotels near the Del Amo Mall (for the wife) and still near enough to the beach.  Good idea? Or do you still feel that Santa Monica is the better option?

Years ago on another cruise line I saw a British comedian named Lenny Windsor. He use to write for Benny Hill and was very funny.

I have a November Carnival cruise to Bermuda out of Baltimore that I booked when my  Hawaii cruise got covid canceled form the second time. Hopefully, this one will sail. At any rate, I have already booked a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Barbados for next April. It's been two years now since our last cruise and we're more than ready for some sea,sun and sand.

36 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Sounds like a TA policy and not a CCL policy.

I agree,  I just canceled an April 2021 cruise that was booked originally with fcc from an April 2020 cruise that was covid canceled by Carnival. I just booked a November 2021 cruise using the April fcc and also kept my $600 obc from my original 2020 cancellation. This,by the way, was done through my TA, not through a Carnival pcp.

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

It can be a bit more rainy in January and February, but people from the mainland misinterpret that. Rarely is rain a problem in Hawaii...it usually comes and goes pretty quickly, and is pretty warm during and after. I got pretty soaked playing golf on February 29...a heavy 20 or 25 minute shower. But an hour later I was totally dry. It similarly rained pretty hard for 30 or 40 minutes the next day, but hardly affected anything going on.  Those were the only two periods of rain in a 12 day stay.

 

The forecast for Mar 1 was not very good for our whale watching trip...windy, rainy, rough seas. But other than the rain I mentioned, it was dry all day (this was in the Lahaina/Ka'anapali area). It was windy at times. Our 7:30 whale watch was canceled, as were all the whale watching trips, out of an abundance of caution. But, other than the 30 or 40 minutes of rain, it probably would have been ok.

 

As mentioned here frequently, the first two days out of the West Coast, and the last two going back, will be cooler, and the seas potentially rougher.

CruiserBruce,  Thanks for the info!

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Depends on how you define "bed (best, I am sure) or "less".

 

It is slightly warmer (5 or so degrees) in summer months, and can be more humid, particularly in September and into October. September and early October are generally a bit less busy. I don't think Hawaii gets hurricanes beyond December...the eastern Pacific (which is where Hawaii's hurricanes develop) hurricane season is July to early December.

 

Whale season, which is VERY popular and cool, particularly on Maui, is December-early April. Definitely very hgh on our interests.

 

We have been to Hawaii over 30 times (never on a cruise), were just there a week ago for 12 days, and in all but 2 months of the year...July and August. There has NEVER been a bad time to be in Hawaii...unless, I guess, if a hurricane lands on you.

If our April 10th Hawaii cruise gets canceled, which seems very likely, I'm considering the Jan. 9th Miracle 15 day Hawaii cruise out of San Diego. It looks like January is a bit more rainy than other months. What's your past experience, if any, with the weather in January?

I booked my excursions for my upcoming Hawaiian cruise with Carnival. I booked them on Black Friday at a 10% discount and booked them with a Carnival credit card which gave me another 10% discount. It save me $180 and made the price better than I could have gotten from local tour groups.

2 hours ago, shof515 said:

 

i wonder what kind of journey cruises carnival will be doing next year, hopefully the schedule comes out soon

In  your first posting on this forum. you listed a carnival address in blue. I clicked it on and on the very bottom of the page is a listing that will take you to future journeys cruises for the next couple of years.I've looked it over and am hoping I can find one that the wife and I will enjoy.

9 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

 

 

 

Price is for one cabin with 2 occupants, balcony, Cat 8E.  Retail price is $251.50 per day without including any OBC and rebates.  Include them and the price is $190.61 per day.   

I originally booked for the cruise at a cost of $270.50 a day for a balcony, Cat 8C., but watched for price drops and asked Carnival for the lower price and category upgrade -- a couple times -- when the priced did drop.  This shaved $300 off the original fare -- including the category upgrade, it's more than $300 saved.  
 

Oh, Ok... When I factor in my $325 obc it brings down my per day to $257 & that's for a cat. 8D. Still sounds like I need to be talking to "your" TA.

7 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Yup... my journeys cruise is the least expensive of the 5 cruises I have booked.  Alaska costs the most per day.

Alaska                   10-day, $280.30 per day
Hawaii Journeys 16-day, $190.61 per day
Mex/Calif Coast    6-day, $226.52 per day
West  Carib B2B    7-day, $194.97 per day 

Is that per person a day? Reason I ask, my upcoming 10 day HI Journeys cruise comes out to $144.75 per person per day ($289.50 per day) for a balcony, which I feel is pretty darn good.