Luvsparties

Hi there. We will be on the Preziosa in October. We just changed our reservation from a Fantastica Balcony on deck 12 (12195) to an Aurea Balcony on 13 (13029). Is there a way to see the layout of the cabin. I'm having a devil of a time trying to find any kind of picture or drawing. Is there even any difference in the cabins?

Thanks!

Thanks! We will take the later flight.

I'm on the Preziosa sailing on 10/15/18 out of Barcelona. I neglected to pay attention to the time the Preziosa docks when it returns to Barcelona. I just assumed it was in the early a.m., like the other cruises I've taken but the itinerary shows it docks at noon. That's fine, but I need to book a flight to Amsterdam and I'm unsure how much time to allow as I've never sailed MSC and don't have any experience with the Barcelona airport. I see flights at 3:30 and 6:30. Would it be safe enough to take the 3:30?

Thanks for any guidance you can give!

Thanks for all the input. We opted to stick with the Preziosa. The Spring is just too hectic to be gone for 2 weeks.

Thanks for the input! Here's the itineraries:

The 14-night on Magnifica (embark Southhampton on 04/30):

The 9-night on Preziosa (embark Barcelona) on 10/15:

I'm just torn...If we do decide to go in the spring we are pretty much stuck with that date as I'm sandwiching it between my son's college swim meets, banquet and his graduation. I think I'm overthinking it and should just stay off the internet and go with what I originally had planned...

We are currently booked on a 9 night Med cruise on the Preziosa in October but are considering changing to a 14 night northern Europe cruise on the Magnifica in April because we don't want to wait that long!.

We have never cruised MSC before, but from looking at the specs/reviews I'm wondering if I will be disappointed in the Magnifica? Has anyone been on both? TIA

Got off the Dream on Sunday, March 26. This was our first time on the Dream, 3rd (or4th?) time out of NOLA. After readingsome spotty reviews and taking both first time cruisers and new to Carnival cruisers, I was a little worried. It was completely uncalled for. Not in any order and probably not laid out very well, but here are my thoughts.

We drove down on Friday. We use Macchu Picchu for parking. We drop the car off to him and he takes us back to the hotel and picks us up the morning of the cruise. Good rates, accommodating and he is the nicest guy. (Before we could get in our car to go home, we had to look at hisgardens lol.) We stayed at theIntercontinental on St. Charles (got a great rate at $149 a night) and we were able to walk to everything.

Embarkation was a breeze. We had FTTF and we got to the port about 10ish (maybe 9:45, I can’tremember). Walked right up and checked in and were right up front for the FTTFs. I wanted to get our friends on as early as possible and it worked. We were on, luggage dropped off and eating by11:30.

The Dream had the HUB app for this cruise. We used it all the time.

Overall ship appearance -- it looked great to us. Nice and fresh.

I will say the crew on this ship as a whole, seemed to be the happiest crew I've ever dealt with. Every single person we dealt with was happy and smiling.

We never had to wait for bar service. If it wasn't our dinner bar waiter who saw us during the day it was one of the others we made friends with. No matter where we went we saw one of them and had awesome service. We hung out mostly on Lido buy the Blue Iguana Bar or on Deck 5 by the Alchemy Bar. But even in the shows/comedy club we served immediately.

We were on Deck 2 in 2464. It was a great cabin, oversized with the bathroom in the back across from the bed. Loved the layout and would bookit again in a heartbeat.

Cabins -- Saw the cabin steward when we first got to thecabin, and he showed us the comfort card. I asked for both if he wasn’t too slammed. He said no problem and we had excellentservice, even though we never saw him again. Always had plenty of fresh towels, a spotless room, and towel animals every night.

Chris Matthews, the Flying Scotsman, was the CD. I’m not one that pays very much attention tothe CD, but we really liked him. He is very high energy, seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and boy can he sing.

Evening shows….Could be that we grew up on 70/80s music,so it was targeted at us, but we enjoyed the shows. I know, I know, it’s a Playlist, but we still thought it was very good for what it was.

The comedy shows for the most part were good. I think its Thomas Hardy? We've seen him before and enjoyed all of his shows this trip. Just June was good as well. We've seen Caroline Pickard(?) before and don't really care for her.

Dining…We ate most of our breakfasts and dinners in theMDR, with the exception of one night at the Steakhouse. Our wait staff in the MDR was better than any we’ve ever had--fun, engaging and attentive. Food in the Steakhouse was excellent. Food in the MDR was good. I hadno complaints. I never had anything I didn’t care for. Lunch we ate at the pasta bar, Guys or Blue Iguana. I loved the pasta bar. Guys and Blue Iguana were good as well. My son waiting in the line for Pigand Anchor and he loved it.

We were a group of 8 that all had Cheers. I did tip the bar waiter the very first night and asked that he check on us during dinner…and he did. He had our preferences waiting for us when we got there and kept us filled. Even when I saw him on deck during the day, if I didn’t want anything he would still bring me a bottle of water. And, yes, hegot another tip at the end.

Crowds/lines…It was a full Spring Break cruise, and there were a lot of people. But we really didn’tencounter any really long lines. My son had trouble finding a deck chair anywhere on the first sea day -- but he waited until 1:00 to start looking. No problems after that. Trivia was sometimes hard toget a seat…not that it mattered, it was too hard lol. We liked the couches on deck 11 across from the dj. Out of the sun, but we could still see what was going on.

Ports…we had no problem getting off the ship at any of theports. We did not have excursions,though, so we waited just a little bit and walked right off or hopped right on a tender. We had a cabana at Mahogany Bay. Best money ever spent. We loved it. I cannot be in the sun, so it was nice to have a place to hang out.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of fun times (weused the app) or the menus, sorry!

Overall it was one of our best cruises and our friends arenow hooked on cruising, and the couple who never cruised Carnival before thoroughlyenjoyed it.

We usually stay at Hyatt/Westin/Intercontinental and I think Carnival is comparable to those. I just finished a 3 week stint at a Westin and will be on the Dream in a few days, so we'll see if I'm right :)

I just read somewhere, March 19. I hope that's correct as I board her then.

I love animals and miss mine terribly when we cruise. If it would work logistically, I wouldn't mind animals on the ships. Would I bring mine? No. We bought a motorhome so we can travel with the pets when we want to.

I've never sailed on the Breeze, but we will be on the Dream cruise March 19. We booked it for the itinerary -- and because it leaves from NOLA. I'd say go with the itinerary you prefer.

Last time we cruised out of NOLA we used Machu Picchu. When we got into town we drove to the lot. They took us back to the hotel and picked us up again the next day to take us to the port and then again after the cruise. I don't remember what we paid, but it was very reasonable rate. It's an outdoor lot, but it is gated. We are using them again when we cruise in March.

What a nice idea! I order personalized cabin door magnets for every cabin in our party. They are about $5 a pop and a fun keepsake. They are flexible and would fit in a tumbler. I also get the magnetic dry erase boards ($1 each at the dollar store). They are fun for leaving notes for each other.

Thank you!

I've tried searching/googling, but I can't find an answer (probably because it's no), but does Cheers work at Mahogany Bay? Thank you.

St. Maarten has one -- circle with St. Maarten engraved on it. It is an actual Pandora charm. Most of the islands have the turtle, sea shell, palm tree, etc. I've picked up those o various islands. HTH

We also have a late flight back and are using a 24 hour luggage place, so we can spend time without dragging our luggage around. I can't remember the name, but if you google 24 hour luggage it will come up.

Here is a better idea IMHO.....

 

Cruise out of Miami....visit Key West for 2 days before your cruise......

That's exactly what I'm doing in February.:D

We are on the Indiana/Michigan line and have driven back from NOLA a couple times and even Miami once. Definitely doable. We planned on driving for our upcoming cruise out of NY, but opted to fly this time instead.

I know the chances are very slim of being in the path of one, but it's the one reason I'm too afraid to do a Transatlantic.

We used Machu Picchu. We dropped the car off, they took us to our hotel and picked us up the next morning to go to the port, then picked us up after the cruise to get the car. I don't remember what we paid as it was a couple of years ago, but it was reasonable. I'd use them again.

We are driving in the day before and are going to stay near Times Square at either the Mayfair or Sheraton (I think). We have stayed in North Bergen, NJ (when we traveled with the kids), which is a less than 10 minute bus ride to Times Square.

If you go to Google maps and plug in the address of the hotel you are looking at and the pier address, you can get a really good idea of how long it will take (via car and walking).

Always a fridge magnet and a ceramic gecko (we have them randomly throughout the house and our friends like to see if they can spot the new one on the walls), and usually a bottle or two of booze we can't get at home (love Sheridans and BBD).

You won't see fall colours here in September but you may see lots of whales, especially int he Bay of Fundy.

That would be awesome. Really looking forward to a change from the Caribbean itineraries.

We had it on the Conquest and purchased it for our upcoming Splendor cruise. For us it is worth it just to be able to drop our carryon bags in the cabin.