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Thank you. What was the price?

Hi: We will be on the Seaside in Sept. I am reading @APDMOM's excellent review from 2019. Does Seaside still use the wristbands? Our only prior experience with MSC is a short 3-night Divina cruise last year and no one mentioned wristbands, but I know that Divina is an older ship. Thank you.

Thank you!

Hi: We have booked a 10-night cruise in Sept. on the Seaside with the Easy Plus Drinks Package included. On our last MSC cruise (3-night), we upgraded to the Premium Package on board. The price for the upgrade if I do it now is $200/person; seems a no-brainer to upgrade for $20/day per person. Does anyone know if it's cheaper if I wait to upgrade while onboard? For our 3-night cruise, they did not offer upgrades ahead of the sailing so we had no choice but to do the upgrade onboard. Thank you.

Thank you.

Do you know the brand of champagne they served? Was it brut (i.e., not sweet)? Thank you.

We did a 3 night cruise on MSC in September. We had no problem upgrading our drinks package once onboard. We also booked with the drinks, Wi-Fi included. We could book specialty dining once onboard. We had no idea what to expect and just thought, “ it’s for 3 nights—how bad could it be?” Ended up loving it and booked a longer, 10 night cruise while onboard. We did the Fantastica package. The food was amazing. We did a dinner at the steakhouse and the seafood tower rivaled the best steakhouse on land. I think MSC has the best pizza at sea. The drinks package works on the private island too. Staff were outstanding, we had no complaints. Did the status match prior to sailing. Platinum on Carnival got us gold on MSC. I have not been on Carnival since 2013 and have no plans to return. We love MSC. Also like Celebrity and NCL.

I just hope they don’t do away with Howl at the Moon. We did a TA on Epic in 2019 and loved Howl at the Moon. The Beatles cover band was also good. I would hate to see them go.

Enjoyed the review. One question: what is the appeal of the Big Chicken? The egg didn’t look like an egg at all. Does it taste like a Chick Fil A chicken biscuit? I’m surprised to see so many rave over fast food chicken. On the other hand, all varieties of the loaded fries looked delicious! Welcome home and enjoy the holidays!

And this is why we have not sailed Carnival in a while. I always felt like they skimped on the food. Ugg, just when I was thinking maybe to give them another go…

Are you in Terminal C. That’s our new terminal. My daughter just flew out of it and loved it. They have Wine Bar George and Chef Art’s Homecoming from Disney Springs.

Looks delicious!! Hard to see the mushrooms for the cheese!

Thanks for a great review. We have not sailed Carnival since 2013 and I really thought it was not for us anymore, after trying NCL and MSC. Your review is the first one that has really made me think that we might want to try one of the newer Carnival ships. That Havana coffee and bar area looks really cool. Now, if Carnival would just go all inclusive with the drinks package included in the fare… Thanks also for your work as a teacher. I gave middle school teaching a go, but did not last! I now do HR at a university, lol. Teachers and nurses are the true heroes of our society! Enjoy the NYE cruise. We are on Celebrity Summit out of Miami (a new line for us), returning NYE. Someday we will do NYE at sea. It’s my birthday, so a double celebration.

What is this? Looks interesting!

Did you feel safe leaving your luggage at the cigar shop? And, does the apt. Seem to be in a safe area? Loved the tour of Little Havana. I’m a FL native but my Miami visits have only included South Beach and Brickell. Don’t know what your dinner plans are but I work with some Cuban people who say that Versailles Restaurant is one of the best in Miami.

Can you share the website this is from? Love the comparison!

Enjoying your trip report. So sorry to hear of the issue with the tour. Can you please speak as to the overall condition of the ship? We love TA cruises and Tampa is quite close to our home in Orlando, however I was a bit hesitant to book the Constellation due to the age of the ship. Thank you.

@KmomChicago, I have enjoyed reading your trip reports, so wanted to chime in. We are a couple who turn 60 (gasp!) this year. We are platinum on Carnival, but reached a point where we were just bored with the same ole, same ole of Carnival. We took a break from cruising for several years and then did a transatlantic cruise on NCL in 2019, with the drinks package included (NCL does make you pay gratuities on the drinks package). Since then, when looking at cruises, I make a spreadsheet to factor in the drinks package, daily gratuities, any other up-front charges, such as gratuities charged on restaurant packages, and internet packages (often included on some lines) and compare the costs. In our experience, lines with an included drinks package are better economically than booking Carnival and adding in a drinks package. So, that was another motivator for us to change cruise lines. We love the Howl at the Moon piano bar on NCL and when choosing a NCL ship to sail on, that definitely plays a factor in our decision. So much more fun and more audience interaction than the standard piano bar on Carnival. I also prefer the buffets on NCL, now to be fair, I have not sailed Carnival since 2013, but from the trip reports I’ve read and photos/menus I’ve seen, I don’t see a whole lot that is appealing about Carnival’s food. We also enjoy the 24-hour sit-down restaurant that is on NCL (either O’Sheehan’s or The Local, depending on the ship). We also enjoy NCL’s specialty restaurants. We did the steakhouse and Chef’s Table on Carnival many times, but again, were underwhelmed. We are big theater fans, so the Broadway shows on NCL are also a big plus for us. We saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert on our transatlantic cruise and loved it. NCL was our preferred cruise line (and we had other cruises booked on NCL until COVID cancelled them) until we tried MSC (Divina) this past September. Again, we chose a rate with an included drinks package and internet and economically, it made more sense for us. The crew on MSC was what really impressed us. Everyone was so kind and went out of their way to be helpful. We often felt that on Carnival, the crew was just going through the motions (calling you by name because they had been told to), and it felt really forced and empty. We thought the food in the MDR was by far the best on MSC and the steakhouse dinner that we had was excellent. The buffet on MSC was comparable to NCL in terms of selection and quality. It’s an Italian line, so they really excel with pizza and pastries. I tend to eat keto, so I appreciate a good cheese and meat selection and both NCL and MSC provide that. We did miss the NCL Howl at the Moon piano bar on MSC, but there was plenty of live entertainment onboard to keep us busy. We also missed the Broadway shows that NCL does, and the magician that was featured one night in the main show did not appeal to us in the least (we did not attend the show, because magic is not our thing, so cannot really comment), but we found plenty to keep us busy in the evenings on MSC. One night they did a 70s/80s party with entertainers dressed as The Village People and there was plenty of live musical entertainment on board. We loved the balcony cabin on MSC (just a regular Fantastica balcony) and although we missed having a coffee pot, as NCL provides in balcony cabins, we felt that MSC’s balcony was more spacious. The shower has a feature where the glass/plastic surrounding the shower actually pops out when you are taking a shower, but folds in other times, to save space. Ingenius! The private island of MSC was also beautiful. It’s not a water park type place, but has beautiful beaches and your drinks/internet package works on the island. And, you do not tender to get to the island, you just step off the ship and you are there! I enjoy some reviewers on the Carnival boards for the destination information (most notably @Saint Greg), so I do read Carnival reviews and the more I read, the more I am sure that Carnival is no longer for us. We are not huge drinkers, but like to enjoy a drink on vacay without worrying about the cost. The fact that Carnival feels the need to limit the number of drinks offered on their beverage package is a bit concerning, as if they feel the passengers cannot self-regulate. Now when we sailed Carnival, we did not see any rowdy or out of control behavior amongst the passengers, but we were also likely to be in our cabins by midnight at the latest. The fact that Carnival no longer services the room 2x a day and removed tablecloths from the MDR and other budget cuts (charging for peanut butter and jelly ordered from room service-my son loved those when he was a child!!) makes us unlikely to sail Carnival again. And, the spreadsheet tells the story; when comparing costs with lines with an included drinks package, gratuity, etc., Carnival usually is more expensive for our dates. We have an upcoming cruise booked on Celebrity (again, with an all included fare of premium drinks package, gratuities, and internet) to celebrate turning 60 this year. We are traveling with my 90 year old mother and kids (twins aged 27) and Celebrity had the time frame and itinerary that worked for my young adult children. I would have booked MSC or NCL in a minute, but my children can only take a certain amount of time off from work, so Celebrity had the shorter cruise that worked for our dates over the Christmas break (I work at a university). This will be our first time on Celebrity. We have also sailed Princess (which was a one and done for us), HAL (did twice, not for us, as nightlife is non-existent) and Disney (great when the kids were young), but for this stage in our life, MSC and NCL are our picks. Whichever cruise line you choose, enjoy. That’s the entire point!! Do what works for you!

We have booked a handicapped cabin Thank you.

Thanks @MamaFej!

Can we push the wheelchair? There will be 4 of us traveling, so having someone to push the wheelchair is not an issue. Thank you.

Thank you. I have printed off the Special Needs form and will submit that ahead of our cruise.

That is good to know! Thanks!

Hi: This is our first time on Celebrity and our first time traveling with a guest in a wheelchair. We are booked in a concierge accessible cabin on Summit departing Dec. 27, 2022. My question is about embarkation. Is it like an airline, where those with special needs embark first? We are traveling with my 90 year old mother and she has her own wheelchair, so we are not renting one at the port (Miami is our port of departure). I just wondered if we were able to embark first, ahead of the crowds, or do we wait until our zone is called? Thank you.