cruisingguy007

I did a birthday cruise with my buddy before covid broke the world and they had plenty of henny pure white, both on board to drink and to purchase, he bought several cases in fact. This was on Panorama. Also met a fella on Inspiration who funded his sailings by buying/selling cases of henny pure white and had been doing it for a while. Never been a only in the Caribbean available thing.

Well, you know what they say about assuming. Posting this as some proof of Carnival sticking to any kind of schedule proves nothing, they don't care what's posted and do whatever they want, leaving everything as "late" means "whenever we want" and I've seen stuff not open on posted times on literally every cruise. Depend on what's posted if you want, just be prepared with alternatives when you actually get on the ships, especially post pandemic, the early random closings have only gotten worse.

On lido, tequila bar closed at like 5:30 pm, Red Frog pub closed at around dinner time aprrox 8pmish, Gotham bar was closed at dinner time and only doing drinks for dinner service (and not open after) and Alchemy/sports bar/red frog pub was around 10. Basically, after dinner, you had atrium mid, casino bar forward and nightclub bar aft and possibly alchemy/sports bar/red frog for a bit if you went to dinner early. After 11 it is nightclub aft or casino forward, with no casino bar, the only one option is nightclub after 11pm.

Nah, Elaine is right, it's the cheapskate lineup, no one would wait until the last day to contest charges. What's the chances of any significant representation of that? It's all the people that smiled in staff faces and enjoyed their services but are lining up to pick their pockets. They really need an algorithm to exclude these folks from the lowest promotional rates on future sailings.

Exactly! And when they first got rid of them on vista ships, many many folks chimed in and testified to similar feelings/thoughts about it being the one place everyone was welcomed, many of those folks were not smokers and even some that didn't drink but liked the social aspects. Of course the anti-nonsmokers said they would "fill the void" but we see how that turned out now with empty casino bars. They killed a great space, my favorite place on the ships in fact and one of the reasons I got hooked on cruising, to placate a bunch of complainers who never showed up or even used the space previously anyway. The folks making these decisions must not actually cruise or understand the customer experience because that all-inclusive super-social space is what a lot of businesses (heck technology companies even) are trying to achieve and Carnival had it and simply tossed it away.

This just reinforces what a great space it was and how popular it was. There is no other "nicer place to hang", it split the party up, smokers are freezing outside in small groups and non-smokers won't go hang-out outside in the smoking sections because they feel strange and it's not happening like the casino bar space was. Carnival eliminated a great space and ruined the most social spot on the ship.

Already plenty of empty slot machines to sit and smoke at if one were inclined. This solves nothing. Just makes the ships less entertaining and evenings more boring. The casino bars were the best place on the ship in the evening when they allowed smoking, I've enjoyed every subsequent cruise much less since they killed the fun. They should have at least recreated the space somewhere else away from the casino so folks could enjoy themselves in the same fashion. One smoking bar isn't too big of a ask for an entire ship and it was a very popular space with smokers and non-smokers alike.

On Spirit class ships like Miracle? Not really, it's a big deal if you are staying in a forward cabin and want a drink later in the evening. Everything closes up and the atrium bar is generally packed and hard to get a drink. Everything on lido closes early and is a ghost town, red frog closes early, sports bar closes early, gothem lounge closes super early, alchemy closes early. Basically, you had three choices in the evening that are open late, casino bar, nightclub bar, and atrium. The casino bar and nightclub bar were the only two late night options as even the atrium shuts down. It's a major change for those who imbibe and like to stay up late. Even more of a problem now that you can't get a bottle to your cabin. Trekking back and forth just got harder. I used the casino bar for all my drinks at night pretty much, I would have to traverse the entire ship each time now, no thanks.

False.

No, you already couldn't smoke at the bar, I was on Miracle not too long ago and there are signs all along the bar that say non smoking area; they prohibit smoking at the bar and the bartenders enforce it. It's about jamming in more machines, period point blank.

Indeed! I don't see this happening in the US but if it does for some reason, hopefully, a refund option will be available for those who don't want to participate in a masked cruise vacation. No wonder they were giving away free AU cruises super hard lol, yeah, no thanks.

That sucks that they keep getting rid of the casino bars, oh well, keeps more money in my pockets. Going to go out of my way to avoid any casinos without casino bars.

No. You can buy anytime after booking. (Listed in excursions I believe)

They were doing that. I just happen to run in to this same fella twice, after I got a few strips of bacon and after I got a scoop of shrimp. I noticed the staff moved the items back off to the side and dude comes and reaches around to pull the trays back and starts piling it on lol. No wonder they do this with some items, some folks are just inconsiderate and uncouth. I could easily eat the whole pan of shrimp myself (big seafood fan) but that is not the right thing to do. I've also watched folks pick out all the meat and seafood from the jambalaya on the last cruise. Maybe they need to switch it up like the two popular buffets in Vegas and have some items dished out in individual servings? Then again, some would probably just take them all anyway. Not sure what the solution is besides letting it ride and just raising prices to match/offset the increased cost. Spread over all the passengers it can't be that much and would probably be less of a headache and PR problem.

Indeed! I quit buying bacon during the pandemic for well over a year because the price was ridiculous. When I found a good price I bought 40+ lbs and started enjoying it again. There is a value I place on it and when the price exceeds that value it looks much better on the shelf than in my cart. I also feel that this situation is overblown, the bacon on Carnival is good but certainly not great, never has been, I much prefer my home method of cooking it and certain brands/cuts. There is still plenty of mediocre bacon on the ships, I just don't see what the big deal is if one can't eat a half tray of mediocre bacon lol; and believe me I've seen folks do just that. On our cruise before last in fact, some slob reached around the sneeze guard and commandeered the tongs and started emptying out the bacon his and his posse's plates. I saw this same uncouth behavior from the same fella with shrimp one night as well. This is why we can't have nice things.

Is the cabin access not ready for anyone? Even those with suites? It's listed as a perk but it sounds like no one is getting it? Hope I'm wrong.

Yes, you can cancel like anything else. Just go into the planner and bring up the order details and there should be a cancel button just the anything else. I've done it before when I forgot to use OBC and needed to cancel and rebook. It may take a few hours before the system clears and you can rebook because the system will still show you have an excursion until it clears but it will eventually (the next day tops).

I'll be partying along for your first leg! The time draws near and I'm starting to get pumped! I just hope they have the football thing figured out for the jumbo screen, going to be a big weekend. 🏈 🍹 🚢

You sure the DJ wasn't singing a popular party song?

I like the two new ships coming in and I'll be sailing on the one out of LBC for sure. The design is clean and bright with a touch of chic everywhere but not pretentious, seems very well done. I'm also not against big ships, it's strictly the floating mall/barracks design. Icon of the seas is huge and I really like that concept and design (legit game changer) and hope others follow suit with more sky, sunshine, sea views, and fresh air open design. I also like connectivity of spaces vs compartmentalization and dead end design.

That is a good point. It's either a quick jaunt to Ensenada, AK, Mex Riv or HA. It would be nice to have a northern port that could do some quick Canada runs but it may be wishful thinking. There is some potential for longer South America runs but I think you're right in that most folks want the shorter cruises of 7 days or under.

This doesn't look like Panorama specifically and this had to have been pre-covid, probably spring break or a holiday cruise and smack dab in the middle of a sea day (probably one of the first) because I've never seen Panorama lido that crowded or that many loungers put out. I've certainly seen it crowded pre-covid but not to that degree. This is not a regular representation of Panorama.

I don't see why not, California has a much bigger population and plenty of residents in surrounding states like AZ and NV that drive in regularly, we even have lots of folks from WA & OR who drive up and down I-5. If Florida can fill ships then there is no reason California couldn't do the same to a lesser degree (with FL being a retiree state). Folks already associate FL with cruising and there needs to be some more outreach/education out west, there are so many people who have never cruised or even really know about cruising. There is a huge untapped customer base out west. I have plenty of friends, family and acquaintances who have never stepped foot on a ship, the few I have introduced have loved it. Sure California does not have the port support that FL does but that is another opportunity as well. Grease some palms and work around the likes of hater Doris Matsui to get some port infrastructure improvements and public outreach. Get folks to try the product and the numbers will swell out west.

It's because of that "hurry up and take ten cruises and be Platinum" rule they had before. Some of these same folks complain about faster to the fun lol. From 30 days to platinum to 75 now, plus bumps from platinum to diamond before and it's no wonder there are so many. It's diluted and should be based on days sailed only.

Yeah it's strange this is still happening, on our last Carnival cruise they basically usher you to your muster station upon boarding, it's as easy as can be and there is no excuse for folks not doing it. That said, there were still folks that didn't ever go to muster and they did some announcement at the end of the procedure and then we took off. I don't really see how they can make it any easier than it is now, it's even on the stateroom tv as well. Some passengers are just knuckleheads and refuse to go with the program but I'm not sure returning to the old way would solve it as there were always passengers who didn't show up then too.