icft

We have mostly stopped sailing Carnival EXCEPT for Journeys cruises. The biggest difference, and it is huge, is the clientele. The passengers are older, more polite and considerate, and more experienced cruisers who take things in stride. There are few kids, including college kids. For us this is a big plus. If you prefer a booze cruise it is a detriment. As for smokers... Yes a greater percent of older folks smoke. But if you don't smoke just stay away from the places you already stay away from because of smoke. As for reduced perks... Priority boarding, including tenders, is the only thing we noticed though I suspect if guaranteed dining times and reservations matters to you that may also be affected. But we have always gotten Your Time Dining and haven't had any problems. There usually are more scooters and folks generally walk slower. The Diamond Captain's event is usually broken into two events such as half scheduled for a lunch one day and the other half the next day. There are usually some unusual activities offered like dancing classes. We absolutely love the Journeys cruises.

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.

Yep! But it kind of feels like eavesdropping on a old married couple...

Gee... A strange situation involving odd denomination credit left over from "peace of mind COVID booking" transferred through family and in 24 hours NCL had it all squared away. I wouldn't sail with them again either. 🙄

The experts might want to refer to this CPB site: https://cbpcomplaints.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-332?language=en_US I can carry a million dollar check made out to a person or entity and not endorsed and the CBP doesn't care. In particular the part that says: 31 CFR § 1010.100 (dd) defines “monetary instrument” as: Currency Traveler’s checks in any form All negotiable instruments (including personal checks, business checks, official bank checks, cashier’s checks, third-party checks, promissory notes, and money orders) that are either, in bearer form, endorsed without restriction, made out to a fictitious payee, or otherwise in such form that title passes upon delivery Incomplete instruments (including personal checks, business checks, official bank checks, cashiers’ checks, third-party checks, promissory notes, and money orders) signed but with the payee’s name omitted securities or stock in bearer form or otherwise, in such form that title passes thereto upon delivery. The following do not fall within the definition of “monetary instrument”: Warehouse receipts and bills of lading Monetary instruments that are made payable to a named person, but are not endorsed or which bear restrictive endorsements Credit cards and prepaid cards Virtual currencies including (a coin CC won't allow to be mentioned)

We've done Premiere, Ultra and Elite cruises in the past, but generally ignore those offers these days because we like to actually play in the casino before 11pm. Cruises full of casino enthusiasts taking up every machine and table don't work for us. Plus we get other casino offers for non Premiere, Ultra or Elite cruises that are better deals if you don't take the Ultra big gift or the Elite room beverage and free parking into account, and we get to play in the casino during the day.

We've done forty two Carnival cruises and in January took our first NCL cruise. We are early in the process of basically switching to NCL as our primary cruise line. Chances are you will have a great time on your Carnival cruise. Compared with the one NCL cruise we have taken on the Breakaway you will probably find food to be worse on Carnival and comedy to be far, far better on Carnival. Another big difference is that NCL seems to have lots of entertainment options that are in dinky little rooms, thus the need to book before the cruise. On Carnival we can Feel Free and decide on the spur of the moment what we want to do rather than need a social secretary to keep up with our schedule and hurry us along to our next appointment. But outside of comedy the entertainment is better on NCL, if you can get in. On Carnival you will generally have two comedians the first half of a 7 day cruise and a different two comedians the second half. One of the things they have started doing is having the two comedians do back-to-back shows in the main auditorium near the end of that pair's time on the ship. So you have a long adult comedy show in a huge auditorium that can fit all who want to come. Carnival really does have great comedy between the individual comedian shows each day in the Punchliner club and the two big shows. The main reason we are moving on from Carnival is that it has never recovered from covid. Food quality (quality of the ingredients) is very low. And a biggie for us is that just after covid Carnival made a big pitch to be the cheapest and has attracted some unsavory clientele who, even after their covid cash is gone, still pop up more often than we are comfortable with. Combine that with Carnival not enforcing its rules against antisocial behavior and we feel less safe than we like on Carnival.

Will the casino give you a check instead of cash? The $10,000 is for cash and you can carry a million dollar check with no problem. Just curious because we will soon be going on a longer cruise and are wiring front money so we don't have to worry about the state or local cops pulling a civil forfeiture on the way to the port or CBP seizing it at the boarding terminal. Gotta worry more about the government stealing your money than you do about crooks (other crooks).

That's not a comparison I would make. I want to enjoy my cruise...

I think you will find that most of those lights are from production platforms. You are likely coming in via the Mississippi Southwest Pass and the platforms are like fleas on a cat around there.

Prices vary a lot based on ship, sailing date, itinerary, state of the cruising market, etc. So don't take this one sampling of the cost comparison too seriously. Check NCL and others in addition to Carnival when planning a cruise. Also, as you gain experience you will find things that matter to you other than price that you had not previously considered. For example, we prefer the small ships where you actually feel like you are at sea. On the new, large ships you might as well be in the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix (where you can sleep, eat and attend a convention for a week without ever leaving the hotel). Carnival seems to have more small ships. With us, the boorish clientele Carnival has attracted since covid, and Carnival's unwillingness to enforce rules against antisocial behavior, has us willing to pay more for NCL which is now our main cruise line. But we miss the smaller ships and will occasionally take a Carnival cruise (especially Journeys cruises that have older, civilized, clientele). It is all a matter of trade-offs; personal preferences, price etc.

Reminds me of our last time there in January. After the cruise, at the garage, I decided to make things easier for my wife and pulled both her suitcase and her wheeled carry on from the shuttle to the garage. When we got in the elevator it was a bit crowded and I had to put my suitcase to the side a bit. When I got off I just took her wheeled carry on. One in the hand and backpack on my back felt normal. Got to the car and said "where's my suitcase?" Rush back to elevator and pushed the button. Folks (different folks) on there said "we've been waiting for you" and had a good laugh.

We were on the Breakaway in January and found the internet to be quite bad in our cabin (deck 9 forward balcony) but pretty good in the public areas. Starlink can be blazing fast but it is for naught if the ship's Wi-Fi, that gets the signal to and from Starlink, is slow or doesn't cover where you are.

You have some nice pictures there!

You are now on island time...

We don't make the rules, Carnival does. So you can take one path under the rules and pay full price or you can take another path under the rules and save $600. Reminds me of a famous tax case that is a bedrock of tax law. The famed Justice Learned Hand (love the name) wrote, “There is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible… To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.” Most don't know the meaning of cant, so as a point of information only as to what he was saying, Webster's definition: the expression or repetition of conventional or trite opinions or sentiments especially : the insincere use of pious words.

That's one of Carnival's slogans. But we give that title to the hamburgers at American Diner on NCL, especially post-covid. That's just us; different folks have different preferences...

Pre-covid we loved them. Post covid, not so much. We've been on 14 Carnival cruises post covid and you never know what you will get. The fries are always different than pre-covid and greatly vary cruise to cruise; like they keep trying different brands and different seasonings to put on them. The meat is sometimes fatty, sometimes lean, sometimes seasoned and sometimes not. So, Guy's is not always good and not always bad in our opinion. It's the luck of the draw. Good Luck!

We've sailed 39 times on Carnival out of New Orleans, parking in the terminal (not on the roof so as to avoid hail damage), and have never had or seen or heard of (other than someone in this thread) a problem with cars broken into. We think it is the safest option. When we sail NCL we go with Fulton because the NCL whale lot, which any crook would hit before the logistically challenging terminal, is just an open lot like cruise terminals in other cities have.

We park at the port when sailing Carnival and Fulton when sailing NCL. Both are good with the convenience of not having to even take your own luggage out of your trunk plus very little walking that comes with parking in the terminal for Carnival somewhat offset by higher prices for parking in the terminal. And for those who don't know, parking AT the terminal for Carnival means parking IN the terminal building.

Other than the unfortunate death I take this as a good sign. It's about time Carnival clamped down on antisocial behavior.

Blarko ... All I did was add a at the bottom. I swear it is not the way it sounds...

Having extracted this part of the post from the rest of it, I can now say: .😁😆😅🤣😂.

Last December we saw a record, for us, number of folks taken off the cruise. It was a fourteen day Journeys cruise so unsurprisingly an older crowd. But this seemed to be an older than normal Journeys cruise. I'm 70 and I was probably the average age. So lots of folks over 70. Every time we hit port there were at least a couple of ambulances waiting. The thing is, old women find cruises romantic but the old guy's hearts can't take the exertion... I'll keep booking lots of cruises for DW and I though. Kind of like picking how you go...

I agree, but I don't think it is possible with Americans. It looks to me, and I could well be wrong, that what you described is what NCL tried to do. They basically say "here's the price all tips included" but the tipping culture is so ingrained in Americans that many just have to add a tip. If NCL upped their drink and dining service charges to 50% and tripled their onboard service charge some would still feel the need to cash tip.