sophia37

Love all the information ⚓️

Thank you⚓️

Sailing Bliss on 10/13/18

The SS Lurline had a long and wonderful career. She ended up service in about 1963 as a luxary ship in Australia. Matson Navigation operated the Lurline and her sisters Mariposa and Monterey. We sailed on her about 1959. When my parents went to Hawaii to live in the late 1930s, of course all travel was by ship.

Good Mornig- I have quite a lot of memorabilia from the Lurline. My Grandfather sailed on her in 1941 to Honolulu. I have her menus framed in my dining room. Love reading about her. Thank you

I've only been on Carnival and Norwegian so I can only compare the two. And even at that, I've been on smaller, older Carnival ships vs the Getaway, a pretty new mega-ship. I'll give this a try anyways!

 

Carnival:

* The "Fun" ships - Whether this is accurate or not is very much a matter of opinion. A good example is that at dinner in the MDR (Main Dining Room), the staff sing and dance most nights. I went with my family this past Christmas and to my surprise they all LOVED this and had a great time. But I can definitely see how others might find this tacky. Other examples include hairy chest contests on the pool deck. To be honest, I preferred the parties on Norwegian and found them to be more fun that anything I experienced on Carnival.

* Set dining times - This can be a pro or a con. Technically Carnival offers "anytime" dining but availability is limited. For most cruisers on a Carnival cruise you will have a set time to show up at the dining room or else have to eat at the buffet. If you're a small group of people, you're also likely to be sat with other diners. This is a great way to make friends, or an awful daily experience if you hate the people you're sat with. The set time is also potentially inconvenient for scheduling shows and activities.

*Service - Always with a smile. The staff are (in my experience) great at remembering your names and your preferences. For example, they've always dealt well with my sister's diet restrictions.

*Tacky Decor - The decor is a bit Vegas. I think of it as the "glitz" version of cruising. Norwegian on the other hand, at least on their newer ships, has a bit more contemporary style (i.e. less orange and neon lighting).

 

Norwegian:

*"Freestyle" - This has become more controversial lately because on the mega ships (such as the Escape), especially if you're part of a group, you are required to make reservations ahead of time in order to ensure you'll get to whatever show or restaurant you want to get to. However, it remains that you don't have a set required dining time each night allowing you to schedule shows and dining yourself from night to night based on your needs and interests. You have to balance the lack of lines on smaller ships with the greater amenities that larger ships provide.

*"Nickle and Diming" - There are also literally dozens of bar and restaurant options (some free of charge, some for an added fee). For me, the last cruise I took, I only ate in the complimentary restaurants and was very happy with the food. But it is kind of nice in my opinion to have other options. Some people complain though about these additional options as though they are mandatory and an inconvenience. It's up to you, pay or don't. You'll have a good experience either way in my opinion.

*Activities - The mega ships in particular have tons of things to do: multiple water slides, zip lines, ropes courses... the Vista (Carnival's newest ship) has some fun activities as well, but I haven't been on that ship so can't comment to the same extent.

*Entertainment - The entertainment on the Getaway blew the Carnival entertainment out of the water. Pretty much everything I saw I would happily have paid good money for, but it was free!

*Service - In my experience the staff are all still great, energetic and friendly. However I will admit I didn't see much of my room steward. This didn't bother me at all, and it may have been a freak experience, but some people seem to complain about this.

 

Overall, the food and service are comparable, and the amenities (activities and entertainment) vary depending on the age of the ship. One thing people seem to complain most about with Norwegian's mega-ships is the crowding. As far as I'm concerned these people are crazy. I sailed the Getaway with 4600 people on it (double occupancy capacity is 3900 or so), so it was way higher than average capacity and other than the muster drill (mandatory safety drill, sort of the more inconvenient version of the airplane safety video), I never found it to feel crowded. Overall I enjoy cruising itself more than one particular line and will take whatever cruise itinerary and price suits me before I consider the line.

 

My last piece of advice is to take everything everyone days on these boards with a grain of salt. The advice can be immensely helpful (like knowing that the booking option will show up on your online account about 90 days out from your cruise and you should book asap), but people also complain about petty things (like the fact that Carnival decided to reduce their daily laundry by limiting the number of nights with white table cloth dining - don't even look at the Carnival boards... this happened years ago and people still haven't gotten over it).

 

Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you for this!

Thank you so much!!! Such great ideas! Now I'm excited to do more planning:)

I am going to book my flight home from Miami at 7pm. Can anyone give me any advice on what to do to kill the time? I am not going to stay an extra night. I did do a search to try not to ask this question because I assume it's been asked a thousand times, but couldn't find anything. Thank you so much.

Thank you for the review! My husband and I live in San Diego, and are taking this cruise March 19th. We loved Jack's Shack when we were in Grand Turks . Are the 2 dogs still there? Topher and a black dog that loves to lay under our chair

Thank you for posting this. I love it!!!

:DLove the review! We cruise on the 6th of July. We are flying into FLL from San Diego. We are having Jiffy Jeff pick us up form the airport. We are landing kinda late on the 4th of July. Im hoping that we have a fast trip to our hotel. Flying from California is a long trip. Im gonna need a vacation;) (and a hamburger)

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. Loved all the information. Looking forward to hanging at the Alchemy:cool:

Has anyone waited until the very last minute to get back on the ship?

What if I sit in my cabana until they say "all hands on deck!":D(that makes me laugh) Will that work? Will I still have to wait in line?

I thought I read somewhere that if you eat at the Steakhouse on the first night, you get a free bottle of wine. Any truth? I hope so:rolleyes:

Thank you.

No response on the Carnival board? That is by far the best and most appropriate place for your question.

 

If it is available for booking, it is the time for booking. Rarely have ever heard of "too soon" to book.

THIS IS NOT A HMC QUESTION, BUT I AM HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING IT ANSWERED ON THE OTHER POSTS. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW SOON IS TOO SOON TO RESERVE THE CHEFS TABLE? (didn't realize caps was on)

:dbrilliant!

you might want to take a little cash for the small straw market....

 

When we go back in november, i am taking some ziploc or cheap containers for food, that way i can just fill them up and put them in my beach bag to go back to our cabana...it was not fun wrestling with plates in the sand

:rolleyes:How early can you book this? :rolleyes:

I was able to book my cabana from home as well as choose the specific cabanan I wanted. I think it was for a limited time that you were able to do that because the day after mine was all set I saw that Carnival was no longer accepting requests via Email. We are headed there the 23rd. Will be my first crusie and I can not wait. I will keep an eye out for the horseback excursion for you if you like. :)

:DThanks:D

mazatlan

I've posted about the horseback riding. I can't look for the thread now (shhh, I'm at work).

 

You'll just have to go back and search. There are threads about it.

 

I did it at HMC after 3 times in GT, then did it again on my next stop at GT because I enjoyed it more. GT is more expensive and the price has gone up since my last ride.

 

It's better at GT, imho, but still fun at HMC. There just isn't much to see at HMC while GT pretty much gives you an island tour getting up to the north tip of the island, and you ride around up to the lighthouse.

Hum...I like what you're dish-in up. I was thinking about doing the horseback ride in GT. I do want to have a beach massage and go to Jack's Shack. I love eating and drinking 500 beers on the beach. We did that in Mazitlan at a place called Victor's and loved our day. Maybe I will do it both places :cool:What's a girl to do with so many hard decisions:D(just kidding about both places)

I think they are priced differently for HAL vs Carnival. HAL is selling cabanas at.... Are you sitting down?.... 399.99 for up to 4 people!!!!!!

:oThat's a lot of Pina Colada's. My cabana was 229.99. I'll just say $130.00.:p

:rolleyes:Good Evening fellow cruisers

This may seem like a silly question to some of you, but how do I find this John fellows blog? I am pretty new to this site. I am not going on my cruise until July 2013. Do you think it is too soon to book the Chef's table? I loved the pictures and the information on this thread. Just beautiful! thank you for taking the time to post them.:)

:DNever mind. Signed, Sealed, Delivered. IT'S MINE. Looking so forward to my cruise:D

Now what do you guys think about the horsebacking riding excursion?

How much do they cost?:rolleyes:

Good Morning,

I read about 200 of the first posts about the cabanas. I then realized that they were posted in 2009. I have been trying to find some more current answers to my questions. Can you now rent cabanas from home? How much do they cost now. I think the last thing I read was $225. But that was on page 5. I am not sailing until July 2013. I think my husband and I want to rent a cabana and do the horseback riding excursion:D