StephPS79

If we only visit once, I'll for sure get the ribeye. It's consistently one of the best steaks I've gotten. If we go for a second visit, I'll probably get the lobster. That's just too much steak in one week lol! I always get the stuffed mushrooms (too bad for you!), usually get onion rings. The mashed potatoes are usually really good. The mac and cheese is hit or miss. It was excellent on Glory, sub-par on Celebration. I usually don't have room for dessert, but the cheesecake is really good! We usually ask for it to go though, and it sits in the room for the rest of the cruise lol.

We were in extended aft balcony 14529 in February this year. Absolutely no complaints. A lot of people don't like the aft balconies because it can get hot in the afternoon sun. It does. But we don't often spend much time on the balcony during the afternoon. The room stayed relatively cool still. I liked the view down to Summer Landing pool. Yes, it can be a far walk to certain things, but also an easy trip to other things. We went down to Summer Landing all the time, which was just an elevator trip down. The Tides pool and bar was just an elevator ride up, or just 2 decks if we wanted to skip the elevator. I really actually like the location. It was quiet, not many people walking back there.

It's very mixed, as evident by the repeated posts on John Heald's other forum. I, myself, prefer to be recognized and called by name. I mean, they aren't out there using my full government name, and they aren't out there spreading my confessions to a ship full of people, so I think it's still pretty anonymous and I'm okay with it. If my room steward doesn't say "Hello, ********* when I pass by, I feel a little slighted. Some people really get to know the crew, it's part of their experience. In a few rare instances, crew has recognized us from a past cruise. I don't know, it just feels friendly. Or maybe they have a blacklist of bad passengers, who knows! (I don't think this is the case.)

Not sure there is anything that prevents you from going to the MDR?

Lol, well that's a good understanding. I can say I mock book cruises almost weekly and no one has ever contacted me. There have been some times when I've had a few issues that I've contacted the Casino department (accidentally cancelled a cruise - whoops!), so sometimes it be nice to have someone to contact directly. Maybe the next one I'll give the PVP a test spin.

Previously, this is what was on our email offers. And currently: so I don't know that is entirely accurate. Seems like something changed.

So...we've been cruising with Carnival since 2018 and I've always booked through the website and never requested a PVP. I noticed on today's offer email that I now have a PVP assigned. Both my wife and I have the same PVP on our emails, I'd assume because I always link our reservations. I do prefer to book my own offers, usually casino offers, but it might be nice to have someone to reach out to. But as I understand it, they don't get commission unless they submit the booking. I guess I'm not concerned, just curious if this is becoming standard.

It’s not a fable, but also not the norm and more of an exception. They don’t have to be the same offer either. I did the verify offer thing once and the response I got back had me with one offer and my partner with another, and stated which benefits we received. It doesn’t always seem to happen this way, so I’m not sure what I did in that booking, but was pleasantly surprised to see. But in general, there is no “combining” of offers.

I've sailed on the Magic twice. While I can say it's not my favorite ship, I definitely would say on the Magic again. 100% if it were a free offer. I had no complaints about the food, it was on par with the food I had on any other Carnival ship. The first time I kind of hated the layout of the ship, but the second time I started to come around to it and actually enjoyed it. While I love a good Joe Farcus ship, I don't particularly care for the color scheme or decor on the Magic. The green and brown doesn't do it for me. And all those light fixtures...oof. The ship had some signs of wear, but that isn't something I'm bothered by. Crew was great. No complaints.

We've been to Grand Turk twice and did the Home Sweet Home excursion both times! We love that one. Such a perfect day both times!

So sorry to hear of your father's passing. My mom passed away last year on 5/3. We had her services on 5/11, with a previously scheduled cruise leaving 5/14 (no plans for her to attend - but coincidentally that was her birthday...). I tend to be the one who joins the sailing groups on the "other" social media platform. While on the cruise, I realized there was someone in the group and on our sailing with the same name as my mom! It was such a surreal experience. Not trying to hijack the thread, but thought I'd share. I had some guilt going on a cruise right after my mother's passing, but it helped me feel like my mom was letting me know it was okay to enjoy myself.

Whew, not too late to the party! V. excited for this one, I'll be on constant refresh for the next few weeks! This will help fill the gap to June 2nd, our next cruise. @TxTeach79 always coming in clutch!

For some reason, people seem to think it is changing the process for charging taxes and port fees. It's not. It's just changing where and how prices are displayed. Literally nothing else changes.

Literally the only change is where the taxes and port fees are displayed. Now they will be on the first advertised price screen instead of the last final booking price screen. The process of paying port fees and taxes isn't changing.

Why? The only thing that is changing is the first displayed per person price will include taxes and port fees. Literally nothing else is changing except the first advertised price. The final booking amount is still the final booking amount, the process isn’t changing. Now you just see the final price at an earlier point.