cruisingguy007

It can be the same as the USA in a beach town or tourist spot. Why go all the way to Mexico to pay San Diego prices for food/drinks? Some of the 5-star resorts are really really nice but even those are often over priced, you could rent a place in Mazatlan for a month for what it costs for a two-three days at some places in Cabo.

Cracks me up even more when the sniffle crew looking for free shyt and telling on themselves, end up in a inside or ocean view and then want to rage about the inhumanity when they got what they asked for lol. I saw on another sub thread where they were encouraging folks to bring tests and to test on the second to last day of the cruise (wink wink), symptoms or not, hoping to put the cruise line on the hook if they popped positive. Now they are indignant about the cruise lines saying they won't cover any extra costs any longer and telling passengers to buy insurance. Well duh, I'm pretty sure they are well aware of the those abusing the system. It's insane what's going on and how some of these folks are behaving, as if they are trying to win the covid lottery and get free shyt for catching covid and telling on themselves. I hope the lines stick with it, these folks shouldn't be rewarded with free balconies, cruise credit, free movies, free room service, free internet etc, no wonder they are testing and hoping they "get lucky" lol. Save the balconies for the truly sick folks and keep the sniffle crew in insides, the problem may work itself out naturally. 😉

Maybe it's just me but this is one of the reasons I love Carnival. 😁 These are things I dislike about Carnival but it certainly keeps it interesting and entertaining. Certainly not boring. 😄 Completely unacceptable/ghetto. 🤨 Enjoyed your honest review, sounds like you made the most of it and rolled with the punches. Thanks for taking the time to drop a review. It's appreciated.

To be perfectly honest, you probably really don't want to know the answer. Theoretical isn't the same as practicality.

It seems like it would behoove the cruise lines to improve the internet viability, especially with a lot of folks doing work from home. I'm sure plenty of families would cruise over summer and other non-school times if they had a reliable connection and VPN access. Maybe it's cost prohibitive? I know a lot of resorts and AI's have deals for this type of arrangement. Some of the Caribbean islands too, with two month visas and deals.

I was on late January 2020 as well, pretty sure I got covid on that trip before it was even being talked about. I had a fantastic cruise but started getting sick on the way home and the next day thought I was going to die as I could barely breathe. Couldn't move or get out of bed for a few days and then got better rapidly. It was crazy. We had some foreign nationals on board too I found out. Wife had a cough for about 8 weeks that Dr's were stumped over, tossed a bunch of drugs that didn't work. Once all the drama/news broke, my wife and I both looked at each other with big eyes and had an ah-hah moment. We finally got back on her a few weeks ago after having our other cruise cancelled. She's a great ship and we got two more planned next year, one on the anniversary of the first trip in Jan 2020. Hopefully, it ends much better though lol.

I drank a bit much in Vegas one night and we went downstairs to Wicked Spoon and I ate some frog legs as kind of a drunken dare, it did taste like chicken mostly, but I have a strong aversion to frogs (youth, long story) in general and though it was an experience, I won't do that again lol. I still get a little queasy thinking about it. It's a mental thing. 🤢

Amazing innit? Ironically, a lot of people stay on in Mazatlan because they scuured from some old heresy tales and only get off in Cabo and PV. If I'm staying on, it's Cabo I'm skipping, hate tender ports and the food/drink prices are gougey in Cabo since it's a tourist mecca, in fact, it has one of the largest amounts of flights from CA, people go there for the weekend even. Mazatlan is a gem.

No, no cup.

Review! Review! Review! 😄

Preposterous! Switch back to Celebrity? Impossible, I was told that Celebrities and Princesses would never, ever, ever sail on a Walmart ship, neigh, a Carnival ship. That's what you get for trying cruise with us low-lives. 😁 J/K, real talk, sorry this happened to you, sounds unfair and I would be peeved too. Hope you have a great cruise in spite of this setback.

LOl, I was thinking that was a terrible comparison myself. Maggiano's Little Italy = Olive Garden in my eyes and I'd eat at Red Lobster over Bonefish grill, in fact, I can get 40%-50% off Bonefish Grill all day/everyday from a gift card arbitrage site I frequently buy from (if that says anything). They (the two lines) don't really compare, one is like a AARP convention and the other a baseball game (crowd wise). Princess is probably closer to Celebrity as far as mass market lines. They have a closer crowd, endless boring seminars and such and no night life, basically sleepy cruises. RCI is more in line with Carnival.

Interesting, didn't know that. I guess that makes sense considering we had a large church here in the Sacramento area that went viral for offering these to any/everyone. Made the news headlines for a week or so and was a top story with lots of interviews and fanfare, people came flying in from all over the country, it was very lucrative for him lol.

Cruise fare is minimal sometimes, getting port fees/taxes returned, a single cabin at a great price and no hassle is what you're missing. 😄

The best deals are the closer in stuff (this month/next), Australian and European cruises, some real bargains there. A lot of the rest is 5 days or less. This did cause me to check out miracle since I did find a cruise that works for me next year and I watched a walk through and that ship looks pretty nifty to me. Definitely want to sail on her now, so much character and looks awesome.

This type of stuff will ensure they sew up any leeway. Technically a great idea but poor in spirit, they will shut the no-show down if folks abuse it and double-dip. Probably better to not broadcast this type of angle. Pretty genius though, I'll give you that! 😁

Agree, unless you owe the IRS money, then they are efficient as hell, they turn gangster real quick and will get that money no matter what. Ask me how I know. 😏

This is why pre-cruise testing should end IMO. Scan old test, change dates, reprint = negative covid test. I'm sure there is lots of this going on, especially since testing can be expensive but would probably still happen even if it were free because folks want to sail and may be asymptomatic or have very minor symptoms. It's theater at this point.

Let the mom/friend know ASAP and find another friend who is vaccinated to sub in.

It's the way the passport scheme is set up in the USA that causes delays. It's supposed to be self funded here, most other countries don't treat it that way and it's a function of government, rather than a contract based agreement that is self-funded. It's outdated and should be fixed. It should be considered a function of government and funded as such. Look how long it took many of us to get passports? The process is broken and underfunded.

What you're saying makes total sense (from a passenger perspective) but isn't the best course of action fiscally speaking. Think of a cruise ship like a limousine, a niche limousine at that, like a super stretch lifted Jeep limo with huge wheels. Sounds great if you're a limo company, it could totally get sales but if you just have it parked, it's not worth more than the sum of it's parts because only another limo company would buy it/maintain it because it's an impractical vehicle for normal folks for business (beyond a limo company)/commute/go shopping/visit grandma etc. Cruise ships are the same, nearly worthless beyond scrap value, or if lucky, resale/reuse, and every other company is hurting right now so good luck getting them to take on more debt, they probably want to sell some ships themselves. A ship in service can use projections (based on bookings and past performance) for the books to increase their value on paper and make the books look better. This can get you more favorable terms, additional loans/investments and increase stock price. Inventories (in this case ships) are the biggest company assets and inventory valuations can make a HUGE difference on the balance ledger. That's only one valuation, there are many that are affected by operational continuum that all help with totality of enterprise value. Non-op ships are bad for the books. The lines need every break they can get right now.

Don't be so quick. My grandparents (God rest theirs souls) used to stock Swanson like mad (mostly ice cream though). The Swanson man was there every week and she could still cook well. 😄

Good point and I agree, though some cutbacks are also acceptable right now and make sense also. Paring down menus can save a lot of waste, some higher priced items that they would normally be able to offset may now not make the best fiscal sense, in that they need to get the books balanced and service debt. Not to mention the uncouth who try and take an entire pan of bacon or shrimp (I seen that) and can't be civilized/considerate. Considering a lot of folks are sailing on deeply discounted fares, it shouldn't surprise anyone. The larger and more diverse the menus, the more provisioning costs come into play and more staff is needed to prepare/plate/serve. Doing more with less makes a lot of sense right now. Most of us are doing that in everyday life as well. I'm skipping a lot of higher priced items I used to buy and parlaying/substituting cheaper goods in as well. It is what it is and I'm very happy that cruising is back.

Uh-oh, like the kids eh? You get the double-beep, vibration and the red box..lol. Pretty sure things have changed in many ports now, only a handful that still have heavy restrictions.

^^^^^For a "free" cruise (no fare, only grats, taxes, port fees, gas and parking), I'd eat at the buffet the whole cruise lol. Get me on the ship and let the good times roll!