jsglow

She's getting the exact same treatment Pride got last year. Most notable was the removal of the lower level of the night club replaced by Chef's Table and some ADA cabins, the retrofit of the sports bar, the replacement of the library with a new retail venue, the removal of the casino bar replacing it with more machines and the addition of a lido big screen similar to what Pride already had. In the cabins, I believe all balconies had their door/window unit retrofitted. Then there was standard stuff like carpet/paint and maybe some modest cabin upgrades like bedside lighting. I sailed Pride both shortly before and after dry dock. I thought she cleaned up quite nicely.

It is certainly possible but there may be a charge involved. You would need to call Carnival. Do note that it is easy to re-alter sleeping arrangements once onboard but what you're talking about is the 'official' swapping of two individuals so as to take advantage of Cheers rules.

My recollection is that JH said he'll visit her in Dover.

Given your plan, perfectly reasonable. Follow these rules: 1) VERY first flight of the day. I don't care if it's wheels up at 6a. 2) Non stop, if possible. Direct at very minimum. 3) Cab to the pier from either LGA or EWR. You may also want to look into whether Carnival will be running a bus. That puts New York traffic responsibility squarely on their shoulders.

Call Carnival and ask for a PVP.

My recollection is that our taxi from near Madison Square Garden up to the terminal was at least $30. I think we had paid about $65 to get from LGA down to the hotel the night before. We did it the way we did because I believe we paid about $175 for a reasonably nice hotel; an absolute bargain by Manhattan standards. Here's what you simply need to understand. It's New York and it's expensive. There's no two ways around it unless you're prepared to lug your luggage on the subway.

Glad you took the upgrade! Let me add the following thoughts, especially for others in the same situation regarding young children. And let me preface by saying we are anything but 'balcony only' people. We would likely never choose a balc for an Alaskan cruise, for example, given the price differential and the way we utilize it as a couple. Simply not worth it to us. There are those that have a different opinion. More power to them. But it gives the reader some perspective on how we value different cabins and where our bias lies. So in your example of sailing with a 7 year old balcony utility goes WAY up. The balcony provides a 'quiet space' away from your sleeping child; both for morning coffee and for an evening bottle of wine. That's so valuable when traveling with children allowing mom and dad to readily enjoy the cruise while at the same time keeping an eye on their child/children. As they get older, we're also very much in favor of the 'across the hall interior' when both adults and teenage kids value a bit of privacy. Our kids shared an adjacent room during their HS years as I recall.

She's actually one of my favorites in the Carnival fleet. I'm so glad that I have enough experience with the entire line that I don't need to read reviews. I invariably know more than they do.

Booking yourself is fine but as @Jamman54 said, Carnival has to manually 'link' them. That requires a call to 1-800. Another good tip is to stop by Guest Services early during cruise #1 and re-confirm that's what their onboard records show. Enjoy.

Pyrotechnics on a ship at sea. What could go wrong with that? 🫣

We find them to be a great economic value. Yes, there's thruster noise in the morning on port days and yes there are times when you can hear the wake on the bow of the ship. I must say that I do like the fact that the hallway is usually quite quiet. I've never had kids running the hall that I can recall. It's like living on a dead end street; only 'locals'.

Alaska ~ Princess or HAL, they 'own' the market, have incredible lodges for the land tour portion and have grandfathered access to Glacier Bay NP. Europe ~ at a minimum, I would certainly either Embark/Disembark in Europe, only using the TA leg as an end-cap on a B2B.

#1137 is under the Piazza Cafe, simply a seating area where they often do trivia in the daytime. At night it's dead silent. Never heard a peep. I hope you find a cabin you are happy with.

No, 45 days. 😆 And I've personally been in 1137 directly across the hall. No problem.

We're huge Deck #1 fans having been there for all of our 45 days aboard Pride in Europe and on Journeys. They are fantastic for port intensive itineraries. No, you don't know what's directly below you but that's never been a problem for us in an Oceanview. We do pay attention to what's adjacent and above and make sure we're not under the casino. Typically we've been starboard forward and it's been great. Enjoy.

You're making the right call @Eli_6. The only folks who should be in those west Asian waters are sailors with big guns. Enjoy your Sydney/Singapore run. Is that Splendor going for dry dock?

Easy and correct choice going with Firenze. And that's coming from a guy who likes Radiance and the 4 night Catalina?Ensenada run.

In Terminal F I don't even know where the General Waiting area is. The Priority lounge is completely separate and very nice. The other thing that I liked was they made the Dia/Plat/Suites announcement seemingly ONLY in that area. One goes up a separate escalator and boards the ship without even seeing anyone else. Quite nice actually.

United State v. UK. Different rules for all countries.

Probably 80% of our excursions are arranged privately. Websites already mentioned are great resources. In our experience, it's a better option and is often less expensive. What we don't do is show up at the port and randomly pick out one from some hawker holding a sign. Ports of Call sections on this board provide great suggestions.

I've read through the FB comments and most of them seem to be pretty spot on. Seems to me that with this JH inquiry and the previous 'world cruise' tease that Carnival has something in mind as they eventually expand on their existing fleet. I think they're thinking about how to best deploy some of their older vessels when every port already has a Conquest, Dream and even Vista Class boat running their 3/4 or 4/5/5 'vacation' routes. Heck, we've speculated that Mardi Gras becomes a perfect Celebration Key weekender boat from Miami once the next Excel comes online. I, for one, would love it if a Sunshine/Spirit did a full winter of Journeys. Do something like this beginning on a Wednesday in late January (heck, we're all retired): -14 night Eastern/Southern from MIA -14 night Western/Central Am./S. Am. from MIA -14 night repo to Galveston -14 night Eastern from Galveston -14 night Panama Canal from Galveston to Long Beach -14 night Hawaii - Alaska? Honestly, it's kinda how they do Europe each summer. You can always tweak the actual days but the point still stands. Perhaps in '27 when the new Excel arrives? We'd be IN for some of it. I think others would be too.

So I'm going to bump this up as e-visas for the Carnival Panorama in October are now entering the timeframe window. No info from Carnival as of yet. Still plenty of time.

There are 5 Spirits in total and now with 27 total ships back in the fleet Carnival has all it's bases covered. The Tampa Spirit class is typically a 6 month boat with her relocating to Europe for the summer, so that's #1. Baltimore accounts for #2. Luminosa typically does the Alaskan 6th month run coupled with Australia: #3. A second Spirit (#4) has recently split between Alaska and Mobile, but Firenze is perfectly suited for the Alaskan portion providing many additional berths and a protected Lido freeing up the Mobile boat to 'fill in' during Long Beach summers, if necessary. Plus, that 5th Spirit has been doing Long Beach full time running the 5/5/4 schedule (plus some Hawaii) that now belongs to Firenze during high season so she's available to 'roam' as all the low bridges are accounted for. Now Carnival can do a few things with #5, maybe a bit different every year. - Winter 'world traveler' - Winter multiple Journeys from Mia/Galveston - Winter San Juan - Summer Tampa (if demand justifies) - Summer Long Beach OR Alaska (now two available boats covering what one did historically) - Summer 2nd Europe (again, if demand justifies) Other thoughts on assignments?

Yep. And gamblers are notorious liars. Those people actually pay premiums, even if some convince themselves they don't. Carnival doesn't do that to lose money. Promise.

Remember @wardwhitty, that's per person. So if both you and your traveling companion are Plat you can both take advantage so it really amounts to 10 bags in that case. Plenty. We find that we do laundry every 3rd day or so and are never stuffing the bag to make it happen. Usually back the next morning but be forewarned that it might certainly be 2 days on a Journeys cruise as so many will qualify.