pcrum

Looking forward to your port information, especially Santorini. It's on our list!! Wishing you a wonderful trip. The weather looks great for you!

Was the ship offering excursions to Alhambra from Malaga?

Can you get an EU passport as well as your American one? Would make traveling easier.

It’s so easy to get a bus tour to go up the mountain or take the cable car. The monkeys are not to be missed. They are a riot. I could have watched them all day. I’d skip the caves, but the monkeys are so fun!

I am hoping Venezia is different from regular Carnival cruises. If it is, it just might bring us back to Carnival after a 10 year hiatus. We turned platinum just as we discovered we preferred other lines.

Our trip was in May, 2019. We disembarked the NCL Epic and got the tour from the port and then it dropped us off at our hotel. Our tour was to Montserrat and then to Park Guell. We would have loved to do a cava tour, but it was not an option when we booked. What did you think of the tour? We were not impressed with that co. We also used them during this same trip in Seville and also were disappointed. Both of our tour guides seem disinterested and rushed us through everything. I was surprised, as I had read many good reviews of this company.

Did you do Montserrat on your own or with a tour? We did it with Spain for a Day tour co., but would like to try it on our own next time, as we felt rushed on the tour. Your photos are gorgeous.

Love the hat!! I’m right there with you, as I’ve had far too many basal cell skin cancers removed! Love the glasses too!

The room is such an improvement over other Carnival ships! Love the mural. The balcony seems larger too.

I don’t usually consider myself to be a sentimental person, but I got goosebumps looking at your photos of the wall with the names of those who died in the Vietnam War. Such a sacrifice!!

Aww, such a lovely photo. Wishing you two a wonderful vacay! You’ve come through the luggage debacle. Only good times ahead!!

For me, there is just one choice in Barcelona: seafood paella and manchego cheese. It’s a steal in Spain, but very pricey in USA. And Rioja wine!

HAL should serve those beers. They gave the t-shirts about their “Dam” ships.

Sometimes the front desk will have adapters you can borrow. We were able to borrow one in Barcelona for our 2 night stay. edited: looks like I quoted the wrong post. This was about adapters to charge your devices.

You are not missing anything with Ticket to Paradise. With such a good cast, I was surprised at how bad the film was!

Hark, are those tablecloths I see? Hoping that Venezia is different enough from other Carnival ships to entice us back. Have not sailed on Carnival since 2013; we literally turned platinum and decided we preferred other lines. Would love to see the return of tablecloths and a kabosh on dancing waiters. As I said to my daughter, “I don’t need to see how low the Carnival waiters can go during ‘Low, Low, Low.” Don’t know if they even do that anymore…. She was ok with the dancing waiters but has left Carnival for other reasons having to do with food allergies. Looking forward to your take on the ports. We did many of the same ports during a TA on NCL Epic. Gibraltar was my fave, although we had to take an excursion from Malaga to get there. So nice that you get to do both!! The monkeys are so fun; I could have watched them all day! Wishing you a wonderful trip. Enjoy Hamilton; it’s truly amazing! I will be in NYC in July, first time since 2015, so will enjoy that part of your report too!,

You had me at cats.

Such an entertaining review. I’m also following Sid’s live review and it seems drink prices might have increased since January. We are definitely curious about Virgin. My only hesitation is no drinks package. Will follow your Med review on VV also. Thanks again.

That dinner did not look appetizing in the least except for the lamb chop. How did it all taste? Was the salmon smoked?

Geez, that $600 bar tab offer will go pretty quickly with those drink prices. I wish VV had a beverage package.

Really enjoyed your take on Celebrity. My DD, aged 27, and I did Summit the end of last year. This was our first Celebrity sailing. My daughter has a gluten allergy and Celebrity was very accommodating. In the MDR, during dinner, they went over the next night’s menu with her so they could make substitutions for items she wanted to order that contained gluten. She was also given gluten free bread each night. This Easter, my daughter and her boyfriend sailed on Carnival Paradise and she indicated they were not nearly as accommodating. Her boyfriend is allergic to garlic, which is used in so many dishes, but Carnival would not substitute side dishes cooked with garlic for other sides without garlic. My DD grew up on Carnival cruises, but said after the last experience, she is done. She had a girls cruise booked with friends on Carnival, but after her last experience, they changed to a land trip. I have not been on Carnival since 2013. Once the kids graduated high school, we did other types of vacations and never got back on Carnival. We turned platinum and then stopped sailing them. For me, the big draw to Celebrity, MSC, and NCL is the included beverage package. We would love to try Virgin, but my DH likes the good scotches and I like the real champagne, so we are not sure how far a $600 bar tab will go. We were looking at the Virgin TA in 4/24, but for a 2 week sailing, we figured $600 might get us 2 drinks each per day. I’m pretty sure we had your same cruise director. We really enjoyed her. I loved the Zumba classes!! Our sailing also had the Abba singalong which we loved. For us, the food was ok. We did the steakhouse one night and enjoyed it. There were always gluten free desserts in the buffet, which my DD appreciated. I did find the buffet pizza really lacking in toppings. And the late night buffet offerings were very scarce! We had an aft balcony and being concierge class, we could order a full breakfast to be delivered, which was lovely to enjoy on the balcony. Would love to try the retreat, but not sure the extra cost is worth it for us. Concierge class was just right and we loved the helipad sail away from Miami. I guess it’s a crap shoot as to who gets invited, but Celebrity is smart to invite first time cruisers with their line, because it made a great first impression for me! I’m off to read your VV review now. Am following Sid’s review too. I hope to try them someday, just for the hammock. We live in Orlando so with the Brightline train starting service, we hope to do more sailings from Miami. Maybe a short VV cruise is in order to see if it’s our thing. Thanks again for a great review!

We were invited to this on our Summit sailing and loved it. Do you know how they choose whom to invite? We were in a concierge class cabin, so figured that’s how we received an invitation. Maybe they know you are doing a review?

Can I just say how impressed I am with your work ethic! Thinking I need to use you as my travel agent!! I have not had the best luck with others I’ve used! Loving the review. We did our first Celebrity cruise on Summit last year and fell in love with the M class ship!!

Thank you. I just have an air fryer without the pressure cooker feature.