TravelBluebird

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

Good news that the 80 year old is in the way back home.  The rest are on the way to Gambia?

 

Cautionary tale….if your cruise tour operator is cutting your all aboard time too close, insist on them leaving immediately for the tender or port.  The tour operator missed the last tender.  How can they justify that?  

Senegal now, I believe, since due to weather conditions the ship will not make port in Gambia.

Work and a week of travel for my non-profit got in the way (non-cruise life can be so annoying! 😂) but I finally got another video up from this Jubilee cruise! This one is a tour and review of a Carnival Jubilee Ocean Suite.   

1 minute ago, Riles34 said:

Now the question is where will the next two home port? I can't imagine they would go to SOCAL with all the parking issues they currently have. Another in Miami and another in PC? I don't think they will fit under the bridge to get to NYC, but that would be awesome!

Yes, the home port question is also intriguing.  Would love to see some new home ports for the ships, but so many US ports are limited as to what size of ship can fit under a bridge or fit in a certain size of harbor, etc.  

I’m torn on how I feel about this. On the one hand, I LOVE the Excel class ships; they are my absolute favorite. On the other hand, was hoping to see a new design of Carnival ship out by 2028, and also, there are so few ports that the Excel class ships can go to due to size, I’m worried that the ports will become too repetitive.  

6 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

We just got off an Elite and it’s is more fun than just a regular casino offer.  More interaction with the hosts, other players and the drawings do make it enjoyable. 

Yes—it’s like a big casino party! Lots of fun. Hard to describe to someone who hasn’t taken one of the casino event cruises.

1 hour ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

Ultras are never super compelling.  The prizes are the hook.  We’ve taken many casino offers and have never taken an Ultra. 

If it’s a straight financial decision, I think that is true, but I really did enjoy the social aspects of my last Ultra and would like to take another.  However, my current offer has not made me run right out to book one.

21 minutes ago, noshoobie said:

I have a question for more experienced Casino Cruise Offer folks. We cruised on Carnival in September on a Casino match status with our land based casino. Since then we get weekly offers for free interior cabins with free drinks in the casino. Many of the offers have been tempting but the dates are inconvenient for us. Has anyone every reached out to Carnival and say you would like to go on a specific cruise offered but the week before or the week after would be better? Chances are probably slim to none but I just thought I would ask if any has tried this and succeeded. 

Definitely doesn’t work due to casino offers having specific number of rooms blocked for that rate offer (as someone else has pointed out).  I’ve even been on a cruise that later becomes one with an offer, and have not been able to add//change the booking.  It’s not a flexible system. 

I think if you get all the way up to Echo offers (huge $$ in the casino) you can pick whatever date you want to sail.

19 minutes ago, illinoisfive said:

checked a couple of dates with logging into my offers.  A savings of $30-$50 per person on a guaranteed interior cabin versus the price I can get without logging into my offers, even with the freeplay offered is an absolute insult. When the offer says Up to $1250 off I expected more than the tiny amount that they actually gave me. I'll take a pass as others here have said and book my much better current offers.

Yes, I also found the discount for the room not as much as they said it would be from what I can book with the non-casino offer for a balcony room. Very disappointing. I guess the detail is in the “up to” part of the room discount.

6 minutes ago, def0715 said:

I just can’t wrap my head around it, having done one Ultra and two Premiers. That would be a lot of people who’d in theory be spending a lot of time in the casino all at once. I guess they would stagger the drawings? 

Or maybe just combine them? Many of the drawings and special events seem to be the same.

1 minute ago, def0715 said:

Anyone else notice Premier and Ultra offers are available on the same exact sailings? Perplexed. Not sure how they could handle two different sets of people, two sets of drawings, etc, on one sailing. Don’t think I’ve seen this before. I checked three sailings. Premier and Ultra were both available on each.

Wow that’s bizarre!  I’d hate to be a Premier cruiser mixed in with an Ultra.

I really want to take another Ultra but I’m going to have to look really hard for a time//ship I want to take.  Plus the offers are quite a bit more expensive than the last ones I was offered.  

Think I’m going to try to find a date for 2025 as the 2024 dates are quite limited. Possibly one of the Venezia cruises in the Fall as I can get to Manhattan direct from my airport and cruise with my sister from there.

1 hour ago, vandercapellen said:

Got mine. They didn't even include my home port. (Baltimore) Not even a good deal at all, I'll stick with my other offers.

I just received 1 Ultra cruise offer from Baltimore—November 2025. Would be a good one for me because I can drive to the port.  

2 hours ago, audcc77 said:

Hmm. So much for receiving Ultra.  Mine is supposed to arrive today but I see nothing in my email or in my offers.   
 

Not that I will likely get anything worthwhile based on the comments here so far, but I was a little curious.  

You should be able to access the Ultra offers from your regular casino offers page. I didn’t get the Ultra email yet, but I can see the Ultra offer and dates there.

1 hour ago, cynt said:

My DH received the ULTRA offer and we can book today. Unfortunately the dates don't seem to work for us. 

Ah, bummer.  Were lots of dates available, and were any available for 4th quarter this year?

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

My offer was for a free interior.  We are balcony snobs - lol.  I know we can always call to see what the balcony would cost, but truthfully we do better with the other casino offers.  This gives us $200 free play, $200 obc, free drinks for me and a companion only in casino.  My other offers give the same stuff, but DOU all over - just for me though, which I prefer because my dd and dh get DOU in casino for their offers.

Another “balcony snob” all day. I think Carnival knows they can offer me free interiors all day long, but when I book, I’ll pay the extra for a balcony.  I also have better offers, but still would like to book an Ultra towards the end of this year or next year. Fingers crossed on the dates.

On 2/20/2024 at 11:28 AM, Chet Rhodes said:

We are a group of ten sailing on Celebration this coming May. All of us have YTD and are linked. What are the chances that if all of us want to eat together the same night, that they can accommodate us with a table for ten?

We had a group of 9 on the Jubilee last week. It was absolutely no problem for us (and generally we had a table for 10 with 1 seat unoccupied). BUT we put in our table request for dinner on the app usually early, around 5:30 or 6, and on both Formal nights we had specialty dining reservations. 

25 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Again - my measly 6,000 points is nothing near what I have seen people get in just one day.  I sat next to someone who had 22,000 points by the beginning of the 2nd sea day.  She said she was in the casino all night.  I can't imagine what their budget is for the week!  I have seen people with 80,000 to 110,000 by the last night of the 8 day cruise.  This is the first Ultra I have ever gotten - and it doesn't say what kind of cabin it is. 

Edited 15 minutes ago by pe4all

Ahem, I’ll admit to also peeking at the point totals of my neighbors while playing the slots. That said, 80,000 to 110,000 points on a 7 day cruise? WOW.  They should give you an entire floor of the ship for free if you are spending that much gambling!  (for those who do not gamble, 1 slot point is equal to $2.50 in play, so if you have 110,000 points, that means on just that cruise, the person has put $275,000 through the Carnival casino slot machines. In 8 days! 

4 hours ago, UGACamper said:

I must be in the minority in liking a crowded casino!  Lively atmosphere, machines going off everywhere!  I think it adds to the fun!

 

DH has early access on 19th and I can book 21st - we are hoping to be able to book two rooms on our offer so our niece and nephew can come along!

 

Are Ultra codes bookable more than once?  Elites we can use each code 3 times.

To an extent I agree! I did like the fun of the crowded casino on my last Ultra. I like the party atmosphere, and getting to know some of the other people on the cruise.  On the Premiere on Jubilee, however, I could barely get a machine I liked to play, which was not fun.

My last Ultra offer I could book up to EIGHT Ultra cruises (!) I just checked the email from that one (see below)  Unfortunately couldn’t take advantage at that time.  This time I’m ready! 

6 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Again -  have no idea why I was given an earlier date.

From this thread I think you gamble about double what I gamble, so it makes sense the “bigger” gamblers get to choose dates first. It’s like when I had my store; If I had a special weekend for my customers, there would be a Friday night pre-event for my BEST customers so I could keep them the MOST happy.  😀

12 minutes ago, vandercapellen said:

I got March 21st. I'm not as special, I guess.

I got March 21st as well. But it makes sense to offer their biggest gamblers first crack at the special event cruises—just hope there are some good dates left by the time we can book!

Just now, tradercj said:

Are all prizes and drawings for both people in the room or just one person? Mostly curious about the ULTRA drawing if it would be just me or both of us. Thanks!

ULTRA drawing is only for the person who received the offer.  However, gifts were given to both of us, and we both had lanyards; he was able to attend the welcome party with me as well. Also was told that if my husband gambled 100 points he would be included in the daily drawings. That said, I need to clarify if that is 100 points each day or just at the start of the cruise—he’s not a big gambler, so did not get 100 points each day, and in any event, I never saw his name go by on the “spinner” that selects names for the in-casino drawings and games, although I saw my name go by several times.

Curious—did anyone get access to booking the Carnival Ultra cruises PRIOR to March 19th?

On 3/13/2024 at 9:59 AM, Elaine5715 said:

owns a business, holds the Costco Plus card and paid for their cruise with a Delta Business Reserve card.   

Well that describes me pretty well (I put all my travel on my Delta Business Reserve). Never considered if that would influence the casino offers. I also regularly spend other $$ on the ship for excursions, specialty restaurants, spa etc.

I’m not a huge gambler—my points are mostly at or under the 3,000 range in a cruise. As others have said, just too many other things to do on a ship that I enjoy! However, I DO enjoy gambling, especially late in the evening, and I am in the casino most days of a cruise. My offers tend to be free interiors, plus Premier and Ultra cruises, or choose your own cruise with discounted rates and free play and DOU in casino only.  

This is all very lovely, and more fun and makes it much cheaper to cruise Carnival than on the other large cruise lines, and definitely has helped cement my loyalty to Carnival. Honestly, their casinos are the most fun as well, and the gambling has to be fun for me while I’m earning those points!

2 hours ago, pe4all said:

I also received a "look out" Ultra offer - my first.  My early access start March 19.  Interesting, because I am not a "heavy" gambler - usually get around 6,000 pts on an 8 day cruise (penny slots - never bet near the max) and I have only cruised 1x a year recently.   I am going on a Premier in January.  I never like booking casino offers like that as the casino is so jammed, but that was the date that worked for me in 2025.  I get DOU all over the ship on the Premier - on the Ultra the offer is DOU in casino only for myself and a companion.  I actually like the ability to get a drink anywhere on the ship over just in the casino.  Will be interesting to see what dates are open.

@pe4all That is interesting; my access to book the Ultra doesn’t start until March 21.  I can be an uneven gambler; gamble a ton if its just hubby and me in Caribbean; gamble not as much if with a big group or on a more adventurous itinerary.  

Like you, I’m going on a Premier, mine next February (on Celebration), just because I was going to book that date anyway and it happened to have a Premier offer. Also like you, I hate how jammed the casino is (but trust me, its so much worse when you end up on a Premier or Ultra cruise and you are there on a different offer—then its just jammed and you’re not getting any of the extra fun).

1 hour ago, weezal said:

Ultra prizes are better/higher

@weezal Thank you!  Do you personally prefer Ultra cruises or Elite cruises?