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We do five or six cruises a year and have not had any problems with young kids. The reason we don't have those problems is we only sail between the middle of September and late April, while doing our best to avoid Easter and spring break, and don't take cruises of less than seven days. Kids on cruise ships will always be a problem. When you put them into an unfamiliar situation they often do unexpected things. Some pout and whine, some throw fits, some are off the leash for the first time and push to find the boundaries. Nothing Carnival can do will change any of that. Carnival can only address the worst behavior and it would help (but only help - not solve) the problem if they would kick some families off when the behavior is egregious and "on tape." Will a curfew help? A little.

If you pre-purchase internet and decide to cancel the internet before your cruise, but still take the cruise, will you get a refund? We have a number of cruises booked over the next six months but I would only get an internet plan just before cruising if I have a stock trade in play and need to keep tabs on it. If I can cancel and get a refund I'll go ahead and pre-order internet for all our cruises and cancel (probably most of them - I try to avoid having to fool with the market on vacation) just before sail date if I don't need it.

I think that is the way it is supposed to work, but I now always cash out after it did not automatically do it once and the casino host kind of scolded me.

The birth date is one of the questions you have to answer to set up your player bank. You pick your own four number pin.

I don't see that we necessarily disagree. They are penny pinching in order to maximize profits and also want to be the low fare, no frills cruise line to attract customers. That is the Walmart approach.

People joke about Carnival being the Walmart of cruise lines, but perhaps that is their goal. Walmart makes money. So get used to the people of Walmart on your cruise:

No, but I have been reduced to asking for a Gentleman Jack and Pepsi...

PAX on CCL talk sh about CCL 😁

You took that as a serious post????? 🙄🤣🤪

It has attracted these folks to Carnival and the class of cruisers has gone down hill ever since. Carnival is now called the Walmart of cruise lines. It could have all been avoided if they had just kept Coke...

Surprised he would say that. Usually when you talk to a person with the Post Office they say that is terrible, something obviously went wrong, I'll look into it, then forget you were ever there as soon as you start to walk away. The U.S. Postal Service is completely broken.

I agree with lax19 that a Panama Canal transit cruise sounds ideal for you. I also agree that Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao are outstanding, but you won't find them on many itineraries other than a Panama Canal transit or partial transit since they are so far from the U.S. With Caribbean cruises out of Florida it would be easy to take one itinerary, return, and hop on another ship with a different itinerary. B2Bs on the same ship are common but you usually end sailing the same itinerary twice. Our personal sailing season preference is between mid September and mid May when kids and college drunks are in school (nothing against drunks, but college kids don't yet know how to be drunk without being stupid), but watch for college spring break. Unfortunately spring break is different times for different colleges. Many tie in with Easter. I would recommend talking with a Carnival Personal Vacation Planner or a travel agent very familiar with U.S. cruises to find all the options. The Carnival web site is not very good at letting you know all the options and possibilities.

For the most part we also take a vacation from soda - alcoholic drinks only while on a cruise. Unfortunately Bourbon and Coke requires a Coke. Pepsi and Bourbon don't complement each other.

For drinking straight, Pepsi and Coke are equal for me. But a Bourbon and Pepsi or rum and Pepsi just don't make it. Those drinks became popular with Coke because the flavors complement each other. I would be happy if they served Pepsi for straight soda, but made drinks they way drinks were intended to be made.

For us it was - hopefully will be - Christine on the Glory. We did five cruises during the last school year and she was our Steward for four of them. Outstanding!

That's what I have been thinking as I read this thread. We have three sons, now in their 30s, and when they lived at home we kept up with where they were and who they were with. On vacation we kept even closer tabs. It wasn't worry about them creating mischief but worry about mischief finding them. When cell phones first came out my wife had a "bag phone." When the phones got smaller she got a phone for each of our sons. I thought she was nuts and was spoiling them. But I soon learned that she had them on a string through those phones. She knew where they were, when they left, where they were going and who they were with every step of the way. Again, it wasn't a question of making sure they were not creating mischief but that they were safe and had safe plans.

I fear you are correct. Due to something like 15% of passengers the average passenger these days is greatly rougher, less mannered, and less considerate than in days past. But the greatest change is pre vs. post covid. We are hoping that is due to the very cheap prices Carnival has offered to fill the ships and they will raise prices and things will reverse.

Your reviews are the best Greg, done they way reviews should be done. You just report on things - kind of a Dragnet "just the facts, mam" without being cold but without preaching or whining. Your experiences on this trip fall in line with our Carnival experiences since reopening though you seem to have encountered more negatives all on one cruise. We have encountered the inexplicable blocked doors making you walk your legs off to get where you want to be, the herds of cattle blocking the dining room with all the attention given to those without an assigned table, the inexplicable closed Serenity, the half hour wait at a specialty restaurant, etc. But this cruise seems to have had a greater accumulation of such things than usual. May your next cruise be better.

You would think so. But it seems the kids in their group spent a lot of time away from their parents unsupervised.

I was NOT slobbering! And her butt cheeks WERE covered (with pantyhose - I checked to make sure).

Pepsi does have much stronger nautical credentials: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pepsi-briefly-became-the-6th-largest-military-in-the-world-2018-7?op=1 But I prefer mixed drinks with Coke.

I think they just assumed you knew what was being discussed and you were talking about the same thing as everyone else.

I once actually suggested to Carnival that they produce a show that would be a cross between The Love Boat and Fawlty Towers. That was the result of a cruise in 2016 on the Triumph. So many things went wrong that it ended up being one of our more enjoyable cruises because it was so bad it was funny. Here's a few snips from my letter to them with the first being the Ice Bucket incident and the second the Bedside Table incident with many others left out because it would take pages: Ice Bucket: …End of day one and start of day two, after having visited guest services, we wanted some ice water. Then we noticed there was no ice bucket in the room. I called the room steward number and as usual was told to call someone else; in this case room service. So I call room service and ask for an ice bucket and ice. A few minutes later my wife answers the door and finds a young man from room service bearing a ziploc bag of ice. She said we had asked for a bucket also. The young man said they were very busy and were out of buckets… …Also on day four we decided to ice down and drink the bottle of sparkling wine the Player's Club had delivered to our room. We tried to use the metal ice bucket but the bottle was almost as big around as the bucket. That wasn't going to work. The note that came with the bottle said to get a bucket and ice from your room steward or room service. We knew the response if we called the room steward number would be to call room service. So I called room service and explained that the Player's Club had sent wine to our room and we needed a bucket big enough to ice it down and ice. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I answered to find a young man... with a ziploc bag of ice. Of course I asked about the bucket and he explained that they were very busy and didn't have any buckets… …Late on day five the dining room experience convinced us we had to try for a bucket and ice for the bottle of wine again or risk never drinking it as we were at our customs limit for alcohol and couldn't take it home. A little before midnight I again called room service and explained we had this bottle of wine and needed a big bucket and ice to ice it down. Our plan was to ice it overnight and then my wife (the wine drinker of the family) could drink it throughout the next day. A few minutes after the call I answered the door and found a young man, with a ziploc bag of ice. Now, I am not proud of the following couple of minutes. It was kind of like an interaction between Basil Fawlty and Manuel, but not long afterward we had a big bucket full of ice. Bedside Table: On day four as we were leaving the room we again ran into the steward so we asked him to come in and asked why there were no bedside tables. He said there was a bedside table. We asked where while pointing to the empty sides of the bed. He pointed to the kneehole of the counter on the opposite wall. What we had assumed was one of those room refrigerator bars that you dare not open on penalty of paying ten dollars for a Coke was actually a bedside table. So we asked why it wasn't beside the bed. He explained that if it were beside the bed he could not make the bed.

I don't know when they started, but I have one in my hand right now from our July 2001 cruise on the Inspiration.

For those sailing out of Galveston note that Texas has, unless things have changed post covid, a "stupid tax." When we debarked they had a table in the walkway where you were supposed to stop and pay Texas tax on any cigarettes or booze you were bringing in. Texas, unlike U.S. customs and Boarder Patrol, has no special authority to stop and search you at a port of entry. The result is that only the stupid pay the tax. The informed just walk on by.