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We might need more details to be helpful, but generally yes. Each itinerary has it's own rates, offers, etc. Depending on what you initially booked, you'll be on the hook for any fare difference and potentially cancellation penalty if Carnival chooses to consider it that way.

Sounds like y'all had a great time. How did you find the condition of the ship and the overall size? I'm hoping to get a chance to go on the Elation while she's still in service to experience small(er) ship cruising.

I've only seen Pizza open late night, and sometimes the Sandwich shop. I wish they would have done some sort of late night Breakfast or some sort of buffet style on my cruise with two sea days. Would have been something different to do.

Tonight I was listening to a podcast and the hosts were talking about cruise lines. One of them mentioned that the Carnival Dream used to be based out of New Orleans, which got me wondering about what other (large and small) ships have had their homes moved after a long stint at a specific home port? Also, which ships would you like to see relocated (from and to) to and what type of itinerary would you want to Carnival sail? For me, I really enjoyed the Dream and would love to see it based in NYC. I'm a tad disappointed Carnival is doing "Carnival Italian style" out of NYC for branding reasons (among other things). I'd love to see some Carnival journeys out of NYC- up to Montreal or down to PR.

If you've got one night and are a bit adventurous, you should shuttle in from Hobby (there are a lot of good options for this- we used Galveston Limo) and stay near the tourist area on the island. It's super walkable, has great food and things to do and experience to start your vacation. That way, too, you're also close to the port (the port area is two blocks from the touristy downtown area) for the next day whenever you decide to go over.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Carnival-Legend-551 https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:3349/mmsi:311001094/imo:9224726/vessel:CARNIVAL_LEGEND Seems like six hours ago she was underway according to the data I can find- that's not to say she didn't have some sort of temporary outage. I looked on twitter, too, to see if anyone had posted and didn't find anything.

That's a weird way to contribute to an online discussion board where we all post what we think 🤔

My point isn't about you sailing Carnival. It's about literally everyone else and the happenings around the port and the business sense it would make. Not to mention, RCL paraded their biggest, newest ship into Miami just this year, Carnival needs to do something to counter that.

I'm sure they are 🙂

Why not? Royal now has Oasis, Freedom and Icon classes going out of Miami. Celebrity (RCL Group) has their Edge Class ships out of Miami. Virgin has their newest ships out of Miami. All of their competitors have stepped up their product offerings out of Miami. It'd make a whole lot of sense to compete in the visual sense to the thousands of people going out of Miami who might look at the older carnival ships passing by and make a judgement about Carnival before considering their newest product. Miami is where cruise ships go to be shown off, Carnival would do well to follow.

RCL is doing this very same thing at Miami- it'd be smart for Carnival to do it as well. Miami is clearly a cash cow for the cruise industry, and its on trend to put the best, flashiest and newest ships there for everyone to see and enjoy. I'd be surprised if Carnival didn't end up with two or more Excel ships there.

This is the most unhinged thing I've seen on this website, ever, and I need to know everything about it. If your husband "found out" enough to get kicked off the ship, he doesn't deserve anything back. Full stop.

Depends on which order the last cruise went on. If they did Mazatlan/PV last, they might be in at 9am. If they did Cabo last, they might be in a bit early. If you do arrive early and get off the ship, I'd recommend getting an uber XL or above- a lot of drivers know that folks need transportation from the port and aren't willing to accept standard Uber rides. Shuttle services also might monitor for the arrival time if you find the right one.

I'm surprised that you're not considering leaving Royal. I'm often a solo cruiser and found a post-covid 4 night cruise on Freedom for $326 for an oceanview room at the front of the ship. Fast forward to the exact same cruise a year later and its nearly $750. Royal isn't trying to cater to the solo cruise market, and there's a certain weekend cruiser who built his channel on Royal as a solo cruiser who also has had to change his model because RCL has been getting so expensive for solo cruisers. I've been cruising on Carnival since my first Royal cruise- and even though I still try to go for Royal and price it out, they just aren't doing enough to earn my business over their competitors (price wise).

I'll not repeat what others have said, but instead focus on what to do once you arrive. LGA is nice in that there's a free bus service that'll connect you to the subway system (which is always best IMHO) to get you anywhere you might want to go. I'd suggest riding the subway in to midtown and staying somewhere close by whatever sights you might want to see and then the day-of taking an uber to the terminal. JFK has the airtran, but the ride is longer and costs money. The downside as well is that it transfers at Jamaica Station which is a longer ride inbound as well. Alternatively, you could always book a nearby hotel with airport shuttle. From there, day of, uber/lyft/taxi to the cruise terminal.

We sailed on the Dream in December of 23 and had a great time! There was always plenty going on yet plenty of space to find quiet nooks around the ship to relax. We did the steakhouse and really enjoyed it and our cove balcony was a really neat experience. Not sure why it's getting bad reviews- the Dream was easily my best Carnival experience so far.

I'll echo what others have said- The real value of FTTF comes when you have tender ports. Without a tender port, the value is greatly diminished. That, and the Elation is a smaller ship. It's possible that folks don't feel the need to purchase given the smaller crowds (compared to other sailings on larger ships).

There are plenty of Coves forward of the Galley that you might consider choosing if you're concerned about noise. We had a Cove on the Dream just barely under the Galley and heard zero noise throughout our trip, so it really depends on where your cabin is as to what you'll experience. The more I think about it though, the more I remember the sound of the ship moving and waves outside over anything else (which was a huge plus IMHO).

Sounds like you boarded a Royal ship expecting a HAL experience. You were bound to be let down.

Thank you again for taking us along, and for the many details throughout. I plan trips a lot like you- every detail known and planned for with some flexibility built in so we have a good time. I will echo that your experience with debarkation at Long Beach is the norm, not the exception, which is really a shame for such a neat port to sail out of. Uber drivers don't want to go there, traffic regularly backs up and the parking garage setup isn't really ideal for picking up and dropping off at the same time if the ship gets delayed for whatever reason. I had the same experience with Uber and Lyft and ended up jumping on a bus through Carnival to the airport.

To be clear- I didn't give this answer as a ringing endorsement of the practice and I find people who do this to just kind of not get the overall process or point. I was just answering OP's original question simply as they asked.

I"M SO EXCITED to be following along. Thank you for posting your journey 😄

When it's all part of the same group, it's more likely to be similar than different.

I was just thinking that I saw a tiktok of the guy getting escorted off. I'll have to try to find it and link it.

Yes. You can go to guest service sat anytime and change/modify/add/remove to your hearts desire, as with on any other line.