Calnev1

As you all know, AARP offers many discounted gift cards other than cruise line cards. I just noticed that AARP is now selling Instacart gift cards. My daughter and her husband work long hours, and they use Instacart a lot, so i am getting these cards for them. Also, oddly, there is now a discounted gift card for a place called "San Luis Resort." Never heard of it, so I Googled it. Apparently, it is on Galveston Island. Perhaps a place to stay before or after your Carnival cruise out of Galveston?

The resale value of that ticket is probably way more than $5!!

Or more than three times. My wife and I currently have five future "free" cruises booked, four balcony cruises and one oceanview. Unfortunately for Carnival, I won't be spending nearly as much in the casino as in the past because Carnival has significantly altered the casino game that I like.

Yeah, It takes awhile to adjust when they don't let us smoke weed on the ship . . . ., Oh wait. d*amn you autocorrect!

+1

I will move up to diamond on my next cruise. Are these diamond galley tours (or other special diamond tours) offered on many carnival cruises? How are you notified of availability?

Yup, we may have to fly over to Europe before taking the Glory back in the Spring of 2024. However, in 2025 the Majestic Princess TA cruises into Barcelona exactly two weeks before the Spirit leaves Barcelona for the States. So we will likely book the Majestic. Also, we booked the Panorama transpac from Singapore to LA in the fall of 2024 (same as you??), and I wanted desperately to find a transpac in the other direction that made sense but couldn't find one, so will likely cancel the Panoram transpac. I mean, the flights to Europe are tiring, but the flights to eastern Asia are really long and uncomfortable.

Yes, beating jet lag is now the number one reason we prefer transatlantic cruises. We currently have two TAs booked, one in the spring of 2024 on the Glory, and the other in the spring of 2025 on the Spirit. In both cases, the ships are going "the wrong way," meaning they are crossing the Atlantic East to West (i.e., from Europe) when most cruise ships are headed West to East (i.e., from the USA to Europe). As our cruise dates approach, we plan to find and book an additional TA that will take us to Europe and thus we avoid jet lag (and those lousy overnight flights) both coming and going. Yay!

@Haljo1935 Very much enjoying your review! Particularly like the photos of the Teppanyaki, my favorite specialty restaurant. I didn't know it was $5 cheaper at lunch, we will do that on our next cruise.

I just checked the AARP Rewards website. The $500 Carnival egift cards are back!! Only gone from the site for just a few days.

The Teppanyaki is our favorite specialty restaurant. Its not so much the food (which is of course good), but the cheesy entertainment provided by the chefs from "South Philly." I was telling my wife how I missed the pyrotechnics that the land-based Japanese steakhouses employed . . . and then to my surprise the South Philly chef on the Panorama proceeded to create a pillar of fire on his cooking surface. (For those of you who don't know, some Carnival ships now have "sealed" Teppanyaki restaurants that allow them to employ open flames . . . and that was not always the case aboard ship).

My wife cooks pretty much every dish Carnival offers better than Carnival does. If I used your standard for meal selection onboard I would starve to death! 😁

We were on the Panorama a few months ago. Could not book the Teppanyaki before boarding, but were able to get a reservation after boarding. We had to go to the earliest seating though.

It is highly likely that the $500 Carnival GCs will be back soon. I noted that the $500 Princess and HAL gift cards are still there, so that is reassuring. I was going to buy $700 in Carnival GCs this morning, really don't want to do all of that in multiples of $100.