Lee Cruiser

Just now, tytanbri said:

We just got off the Jubilee on March 30th and had two extended balconies (12357 and 12359). They both were really large balconies but only had the two regular chairs and a table on them. We also had the excel suite right next to them (12363). Only the Excel suite had the loungers. 

Did you request a lounger?

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

Looking at the interactive deck plan on Carnival.com, the deck plan just shows two regular sit-up chairs and a small table. No lounger. Probably have to get one of the big corner suites to get a lounger.

It's the same on Mardi Gras and Celebration, but those rooms had a lounger

We are cruising soon on Jubilee in an extended balcony room. Specifically ours is room 10346. My wife said she read that they aren’t allowing lounge chairs on these balconies on Jubilee. This particular post said they went and requested one, but were denied. The picture they shared showed plenty of depth for one.  I know I’ve seen at least one video that did have one. Is this something new?  We booked this room specifically because we’ve had it on Celebration and Mardi Gras with loungers. It’s definitely going to be a downer to have that big balcony with just two regular chairs.

On 3/23/2024 at 9:58 PM, lasvegascruising said:

NOW HEAR THIS...we are due to turn platinum December 2024 which happens to be our 40th anniversary cruise.  If this gets screwed up, we are going to SCREAM.  We were due to turn platinum December 2023 for our 39th anniversary cruise but the Panorama was cancelled.  Please wait until 2025 to make any changes so we can at least have one cruise with priority boarding.

Being platinum really doesn't mean that much now anyway.  They already took away the best part for us in having your rooms ready upon boarding.

27 minutes ago, icft said:

I think they kind of changed it already.

 

They cut down on the labor cost by not delivering your water, pin and nylon bag (in the shape of a fanny pack or makeup bag or whatever the shape of the day) to the room; the value of pin and water might be the same as old, but the nylon bag is cheaper than the pre-covid gifts; the chocolate delights are not what they once were (less quantity and lower quality) and the platinum/diamond party has done away with hors d'oeuvres.

 

None of this is of any real concern because the platinum and diamond benefits never were impressive, with the most valuable items being service items (like priority boarding and laundry etc) but they have whittled down the benefits about as much as possible without officially declaring certain benefits gone.

 

The only thing I feel sure of about concerning any new loyalty program is that it will cost Carnival less than the current program.

You could also add that they changed from having your stateroom ready upon boarding to just being able to drop your bags off.  That's a huge change that they said was because there were too many rooms to have ready upon boarding.  That's one of the things that disappointed us the most with the changes as we would go back to our room after eating and unpack and relax during all the chaos of folks waiting in public areas with tons of luggage everywhere.

20 hours ago, loanshark said:

The Saints wont be playing in the Superdome that Sunday.  Taylor Swift is already booked for the Superdome Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights Oct 25-27.

 

It's possible, but unlikely the Saints will host the Thursday or Monday night games that week.  Most likely, they will have a road game or their bye week that weekend.

Well if that is the case, then I wouldn't look for hotels to go down any.  Taylor Swift will probably bring in more people overnight that the Saints would.  Shocker probably will have to stay further out or pay the higher rates.

8 minutes ago, starstruck05 said:

I don't know specifically if it's the breakaway but yes NCL ported a large ship here and Royal is bringing a bigger class as well. New Orleans can very much support an Excel ship. Boggles my mind people keep come up with made up reasons why it can't. Only issue I see is a capacity (parking/terminal space) problem which is already in the works to be resolved 

What larger ship is Royal bringing and when?  We would love to book a larger one. We are booked on a 7 day Royal out of N.O. in January, but it's one the smallest ones.

4 hours ago, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

My guess is Mardi Gras gets moved to New Orleans and one of the newer ships takes over in PC. Then they put the second one in Miami possibly doing the 6-8 day cruises Horizon is on and then move horizon to pc and put vista in nyc full time. 

Would love to see Mardi Gras in N.O., but can N.O. handle a ship that big?  I thought I read somewhere that they couldn't bring a ship that large there.

One problem you are experiencing is that it is a Saturday night during football season. Most hotels post higher rates until the NFL schedule comes out. Once the Saints schedule is released, rates should go down as long at the Saints are not playing at home that Sunday.  If not, you may want look outside N.O. proper.

This part is a quote from my reply to someone else about N.O. hotels:

The last three years, we've stayed at Drury Inn on Poydras Street.  We love it.  It has an included evening meal, nothing extraordinary, but is good and filling.  The breakfast is really good.  One of the best things we like about it is that it has an attached parking garage.  You can park on the level of your room and go directly in the hotel from there.  Most hotels have valet or off-site parking.  You can watch the price as it typically drops closer to time.  We updated our reservation several times back in January and ended up with a rate around $135.

The last three years, we've stayed at Drury Inn on Poydras Street.  We love it.  It has an included evening meal, nothing extraordinary, but is good and filling.  The breakfast is really good.  One of the best things we like about it is that it has an attached parking garage.  You can park on the level of your room and go directly in the hotel from there.  Most hotels have valet or off-site parking.  You can watch the price as it typically drops closer to time.  We updated our reservation several times back in January and ended up with a rate around $135.

2 hours ago, PlanoTim said:

I’m probably weird -- well, no “probably” about it 😋 – but I like that orange/mango (or whatever it is) drink that they have at the Lido breakfast.  I don’t like the powdered OJ dink they have there, though.

I’ll have to try one of the mixed ones. The orange cocktail on Vista tasted like the old Tang. It must be a Galveston thing because I like the orange juice at other ports.

For those who have sailed on Jubilee.  Is the orange juice real orange juice or the nasty orange cocktail like they had on Vista out of Galveston?  Yes, I know this is a petty question, but orange juice is something I drink every day.  Thanks!

1 minute ago, tha sista said:

No. We did visit the shop on multiple occasions and I think they need to restock their stuffies after the kids were there but no ice cream. 

Thanks

14 minutes ago, tha sista said:

if there are any specific questions feel free to ask. 

Since they moved Cherry on Top, does it still have the ice cream shop with mix-ins?

My wife and I don't drink and we've been on 23 Carnival cruises. Always have a good time.  I noticed you are considering a four day cruise.  I will say that the least favorite cruise was the one four day cruise.  It was a Thursday-Monday weekend wrap around cruise out of New Orleans that many did treat as one long weekend party.  Wouldn't do another four day, but have enjoyed the other cruises.

42 minutes ago, abby1257 said:

was your cruise on the celebration out of Miami?

Yes, it was Carnival Celebration out of Miami.

Copied from my reply to another post:

Back in September we cruised on Celebration.  We are platinum, so we have priority debarkation.  We were outside and waiting on our Lyft at 7:45.  We were through security at FLL and at our gate by 8:45 for our 11 am flight.

We are cruising on Magic this September and we have a 10:15 flight out of FLL on Southwest.  However, we will definitely have a backup plan in case there are unforeseen circumstances.  We will book another flight with a refundable fare on a different airline.  Wouldn't recommend booking a flight this early without a backup plan.

Just found a different form than the one I've used for years.  Going to try it to see what happens.

https://www.carnival.com/forms/price-protection

Has anyone had recent experience in submitting price protection forms?  I've submitted a price protection request for a September cruise twice and haven't had a response either time.  Yes, it was an early saver fare and yes, the new fare was cheaper with the same onboard credit and deposit.  Is Carnival still honoring their price protection policy?

On 2/16/2024 at 10:04 PM, ScubaDuck said:

if you all have iPhones, then you SHOULD be able to chat with each other via iMessage as long as you are connected to the same ship wifi you use for the Hub app (airplane mode ON). Didnt believe it myself before our cruise last year, but it worked like a charm!

Didn't work for us on our January Valor cruise.

30 minutes ago, mz-s said:

What I do is I fund my S&S account with a credit card, and at some point before the end of the cruise I visit guest services or a kiosk and pay off my balance with the gift card(s). That way I only use the amount I need from the cards.

That’s what I do if I’m going to use a gift card 

Typically you can make changes to your current cruise or change cruises before the final payment due date.  According to policy you will be charged a $50 per person to do so.

They have a gathering for just those who are platinum and diamond members, usually on the last sea day.  They do offer drinks.  On the Excel class ships, they just offer one drink if I remember correctly and then add one drink voucher to your sign and sail card.  We rarely go as we don't drink, so it's never been a big deal to us.

On 1/17/2024 at 9:48 PM, cruisinpips said:

Leaving on my 24th Carnival cruise in 23 days, I have never once used this “perk”, as a matter of fact I have never been to brunch now that I think about it. Really pretty useless to most I would say. I doubt if there is a 25% redemtion rate on these, so I am sure thats why Carnival sticks with it….

My wife and I just completed cruise 24 and have only used that perk once or twice. One of those was at Cucina for lunch one sea day when my wife ordered a soda.  We didn't even know until later that the bar staff had given her the soda as her free drink. Another time after that we asked about getting a soda for lunch and was told that we could only get that in the dining room, so I guess it just depends on the ship and who you ask.  We liked the gold perk much better because we could use it at the coffee bar for a milk shake or other specialty drink.  We don't drink alcohol, so the party means nothing to us.  We rarely go to that either.