Brooklyn Boy

This is not just a one sailing event. My wife and I are booked on the Breeze sailing from Port Canaveral onJan 11, 2020. We just received an e-mail from Carnival informing us that our Antigua stop has been deleted, and a stop in Tortola has been added. They also made adjustments to times and port visits. Not upset at all as this is still a 14 day Caribbean cruise.

If you describe yourself as a coffee snob you will probably not like the regular coffee. On the other hand the coffee served in the extra cost coffee bar is really good.

However, if you had the pleasure of serving in the Army in the 1950's, one sip of the regular coffee will instantly take you back to your youth. If what is left of my memory is correct, we either drank it or used it to remove rust from our trucks.

Are there coasters or bar napkins to absorb the condensation from cold beverages?

Unfortunately, no. My wife and I really did not miss the tablecloth. The problem is the very smooth finish that has been applied to the table tops. The condensation from the water carafe and glasses just pools up on the table, making it a bit of a mess.

Tampa airport is only a 20 minute cab ride from the pier. Could be little longer if you are arriving on a work day. During the winter we do have a morning fog problem in the bay area. If the fog is very heavy in the channel, ships have been held until the approach under the Skyway bridge is clear. Does not happen too often, but is something you should be aware of.

My wife and I have been cruising since 1972, and the bathrooms have always had walk in showers. We are now considering a cruise on the Rotterdam in an ocean view cabin. This would be our first HAL cruise.

We see that all rooms on the ship have a bathtub. Does anyone have any information on the height of the tub? How high a step would it be to climb into it.

Thanks in advance for any info you could provide.

One other thing to keep in mind Snow!!!. As a proud Brooklyn born native (still waiting for the Dodgers to return to where the universe meant them to be) I have to admit that snow removal is not our finest activity. In the midwest 4 inches of snow is a pain in the neck. In NY, 4 inches turns the roads into a parking lot.

Bone head play by X. With the latest polls showing an almost dead heat, this political statement by a business will offend about half of the people in the US that are watching the debate.

However there is a silver lining here. If enough of the offended people cancel and/or refuse to book X, Lisa will be forced to lower the rates to fill the ships. What a great gift to those of us who do not care which of the two clowns win.

Sorry about the stockholders

I know, I know. It is amazing that the X web site has been so bad for so long. When one sees how easy it is to use the NCL or Carnival sites, you just have to shake your head. I find it best to avoid the site as much as possible and use the Captains Club desk whenever I can. These people really know their business!

I don't know if you have sailed celebrity before. If not, please do not judge the line by their keystone kops site. As bad as their web is, that is how good the onboard service is. IMHO X is the best of the mass market lines.

My wife and I were on the Silhouette in an obstructed view balcony. Per captains club, 2D is 50 percent obstructed, 2C is 30 percent obstructed. We were in a 2C and it was great. The lifeboat only came up to the bottom level of the balcony, so while you could not look down to the water, we had an unobstructed view out. From what I saw of the 2D's, I think the 2C's are a better deal.

If you are a Captains Club member, X will give you a free upgrade from 2D to 2C.

Don't get too excited until you have spoken to Celebrity. I received the same type of e-mail from "X" regarding our next three upcoming cruises. After calling Captains Club I was told that the messages meant we had been cleared on our wait list for early seating dining, and X was cancelling our anytime dining status.

Are you on wait list for anything?

I know, I know, X should stop using grade school students to operate their web site, communications department

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions. They were a great help to us, and we feel a lot more informed about how and where to spend our one day in Amsterdam.

My wife and I will be arriving in Amsterdam on the Celebrity Silhouette on May 02, 2016. Our flight out of AMS departs May 03 at 9:25 AM.

We are looking for suggestions for a moderate price hotel for the night. Is it better to stay close to the airport and not see much of Amsterdam, or is it OK to stay in the city and still be able to get to the airport 2 to 3 hours before departure.

Since the ship docks at 6:00AM on May 02, is it possible to take a city tour that will return to an airport hotel. The problem I see with this is the fact we will have all our bags with us from a 22 day cruise. Unless anyone knows of tours that would depart from, and return to the airport hotel.

Sorry for so many questions, but this is our first trip to AMS.

We are only staying in AMS for one night because of availability of frequent flyer air miles.

We are grateful for any advice you can provide.

My wife and I were on the Aug 29/Sep 5 sailing on the Valor and had a great time. While it is not the newest ship in the fleet, it is in great shape.

The Valor is one of the few ships Carnival has that still carries a live band in the main showroom. The shows were so good they reminded us of the old days.

While food is very subjective, we found the meals in the MDR very good. The menu is varied, and if you order something you do not like the waiter will be happy to bring you a different meal.

The food in the Lido buffet was typical cafeteria (some good, some not so) It was also very crowded, at times difficult to find a table.

When we booked this trip we did so because schools here in FL were back in session. We forget that schools up north were still on vacation. A big oops on our part. There were many, many mostly unsupervised kids running around at all hours. This could be one of the reasons the Lido was so crowded.

When you consider the value you get with Carnival I feel we got more than our money's worth, and would not hesitate to sail on the Valor again. But next time I will be a little more careful about checking school schedules.

This is one of the lamest excuses ever to pass off as entertainment. If your idea of fun is to sit around watching children play parlor games, you will probably like it.

My wife and I went once, never again. There was an almost non stop line of passengers walking out of the theater in the middle of this "entertainment"

JMHO

We leave on the carnival splendor in just one week yay!

 

However I have a question.

 

Are you allowed to carry on your full sized suitcase? We do have faster to the fun so know we will have access to the cabin right away, can we bypass the use of a porter and just bring out suitcase with us so we know it makes it to the cabin safe and sound and we have no delay in waiting for it?

 

Has anyone done this, would carnival give a fuss over it? I know I can bring on a small carry on bag. We will be cruising with one large suitcase and one small carry on size for two people.

As long as your luggage can fit through an airport sized scanner, no one can stop you from carrying it on the ship yourself. One thing you might want to keep in mind is that unlike airports, cruise terminals usually have long, angled ramps, and escalators that you will have to navigate to get to the ship. If you should run into a problem handling your large piece of luggage you will be kind of on your own since porters (actually members of the longshoremens union) will not be available to assist you

Been awhile since we cruised Carnival ... have they got a new marketing strategy that involves no promotions? NCL, Celeb, and Royal all have good promotions with lots of perks such as free grats, bev cards, and OBC's, but all CCL has offered for many months now is a very small OBC.

Since Carnival ships almost always sail full there is no need for CCL to offer endless promos. CCL offers an attractive product at a competitive price. This is all the incentive I need to continue sailing with them.

We have anytime dining for a cruise with a 10 month old. How long is your average dinner in the MDR? I'd guess 75-90 minutes? Will they speed things up at request? It may be better if we are in and out in 45-60 minutes with a young child.

I think it depends upon the ship. My wife and I have used anytime dining for years, and with one exception, it has worked out great. We tend to arrive around 6:00 PM, and are usually finished between 7:00 and 7:30. The only problem we ever had was on the Splendor. On a 7 night cruise, still showing up around 6:00 PM, it never took less than 2 hours. On the worst night it took three hours from the time we sat down just to have the entree delivered.

BROOKLYN BOY -

 

I got your back pisan.

Fellow brooklynite. Of course it depends on what part?

Williamsburg.

Will not return until that greatest crime committed against the good people of the city is corrected and the Dodgers return to where the universe meant them to be.

Besides, you just can't get the same pizza in FL. Something to do with the water.

I could not agree more. Last January my wife and I booked NCL Star 29 day Europe/Transatlantic cruise departing Copenhagen Sept 14, 2016. Since that time there have been almost weekly changes. We did not let it bother us since it was just nickel and dime stuff.

However, last week we found out, on these boards, that NCL had cancelled this cruise. This is hardly nickel and dime. Days later we received an e-mail from NCL informing us of the cancellation. No alternative was offered to us except a $50 OBC ,per stateroom, if we booked another NCL cruise at their current rate.

We are actually not outraged about the cancellation because we understand things in the travel industry happen. What really bothers us is the fact NCL did not inform us about this until after sites like CC reported it. On top of that the fact NCL did not even bother to offer any alternative (other than that vast $50 OBC) really made us wonder about NCL's commitment to their passengers.

This was going to be our first experience with NCL. Now that we know how they conduct their business it will be our last.

It has been several years since a stateroom steward introduced him or herself on embarkation day. I think they are too busy hauling luggage. I have no problem with the card idea, I just think it would work better if the cards were left on the desk, and they could then be picked up when the room is made up on the first night.

On every cruise I have booked with my PVP, he always asks me to provide him with a PIN number, which he attaches to the booking. This way, if I ever have an issue while my PVP is unavailable I will be able to talk to anyone else, and by using my PIN the new person can access my booking.

I have never had to use this system, but it is nice to know it is available.

My wife and I sailed on the Splendor in Sept on a New England, Canada cruise.

The ship is in excellent shape. Don't worry about all the pink, you kinda get used to it after a couple of days.

The meals are typical Carnival fare, for the most part ranging from very good to excellent.

We only had one problem, and it was a major one. We always choose Your time dining, and on all our past Carnival cruise this has been great. Not so on this ship.

For one thing the part of the MDR they use for YTD is absolutely crowded. I am assuming that as YTD becomes more popular, they must keep adding tables. The tables are so close together that the waiters had a hard time going back and forth. Many times the trays they were carrying were above the passengers heads. Even worse than the crowding was the time involved. I don't know if it was because of the overcrowded MDR, or crew cutbacks, but it always took at least two and a half hours to serve a three course meal. On the worst night it took three hours just to get to the entree.

This experience was totally different from all our other Carnival cruises. Will we cruise Carnival again? you bet, we love that company and will sail with them in a heartbeat!

Will we cruise on the Splendor again? Never!!!!

Tampa Intl Airport is very close to Tampa Port. Non rush hour should take approx 20 to 25 mins. Cab fare should be about 25 dollars.

You might want to try Royal Caribbean. IMHO the decor is a lot nicer, and there is a lot more live music. On the down side similar cabins on RCI are smaller. The big difference I have found is the pricing. RCI prices seem to be approx 20 to 25 percent higher than CCL. It is a matter of personal taste and finances as to wheather or not RCI is worth the extra cost.

I agree. I love Carnival, and understand they can not treat their guests with the same consideration that Celebrity does on this issue. Given the large price gap between these two lines, Carnival has to squeeze every cent possible from their customers.

The only way I can fight this issue is to refuse to buy any photos on the ship. I will not make an issue out of it, but if I am asked why I will respond that I hate being held in a stockpen like line. Hopefully, someone from Carnival reads these posts and will move the photo station away from the crowded gangway. But if that reduces the photo sales it will never happen