jgawne

I am just curious why no one has mentioned Berkely, or TravelGuard, two of the biggest companies, and who are the insurer offered by many of the cruise and river cruise lines and travel agents.

The former Pride of Hawaii was renamed and is now the Norwegian Jade.

On our first cruise we didn't know anything and were seated with two couples from New York that we had absolutely nothing in common with. Didn't know we could have asked for another table. Since then, on over 80 cruises, we always request and get a table for 2, at late dining. We enjoy the time together. One of the first things we do when we go aboard is check our table assignment, and if it isn't a table for 2, we immediately see the Maitre de to get it change. Our only exception is at when we are traveling with a conference group, and then we do sit with others.

does not look good for our oct 4th visit on the miracle...no word from carnival ..any updated pier pics???..if the tender dock is still a mess it would be obvious that will bypass that port.

JGB

Carnival is insisting on calling Cabo next Mon and Tues, Oct 6/7 and I just heard from ShoreTrips that the excursion I tried to book is not possible yet as the vendors are not ready for excursions. Great. And there is a 100% chance of precipitation Mon and 80% Tues. They are not bypassing it. They are bring some pallets of relief supplies request by local authorities.

From AMResorts today: We are extremely pleased to confirm that all remaining guests have left Los Cabos.

As a reminder regarding hotel status: Based on initial reports with respect to clean-up time necessary, we have extended the reopening date of Zoëtry Casa del Mar, Secrets Puerto Los Cabos, Secrets Marquis and Dreams Los Cabos to October 15th.

The pictures make me sad, so much devastation in such a beautiful place :(. We sail on 10/4 and I can't imagine them keeping the same itinerary but according to the response I got on John Healds FB page, there are no changes at this time.

We, too, are scheduled to be aboard the Oct 4 sailing of Carnival Miracle. I can't see it as likely we will have a port call in Cabo. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see us anchor to offload relief supplies. I would like to go to Mazatlan instead, and add an overnight in Puerto Vallarta. The Secrets resorts we were going to visit during the Oct 5/6 port call won't even be open they said until weeks later than our scheduled port call. I'm not interested in visiting Cabo right now.

Celebrity is our favorite, and we just sailed Summit in December...in an aft facing extended balcony in concierge class. We love that itinerary. Holland America has some of the largest regular cabins but it attracts a much older demographic, and doesn't sail from San Juan.

Frankly, I find RCCL food to be very mediocre, and they charge for room service after midnight. And we have had some of our best meals and shows on Carnival. We leave next week on our 80th cruise, so I have some sense of perspective.

And some of the non-cruiseline shore excursion companies offer absolute guarantees that they will get you back, or get you to the next port at their expense....and they've never had to do it. They are smaller groups and often lower prices, having cut the cruise line commission out of the price.

Opinions are like noses: we all have one and they are all different.

I've cruised 64 times, 15 of them on Carnival. I've had some of the best meals and seen some of the best shows on Carnival.

My only complaint is that they used to have a combo playing dance music in the steak houses and they have done away with it. It really made it a supper club. You could even just go up and use the bar and dance.

Carnival's philosophy is to attract the 1st time cruiser. If you cruise often, find a line that limits smoking to only 2 locations on the ship, like Oceania or Azamara. Norwegian Epic has 21 places to eat and 14 are free. Etc.

The price of cruising has held relatively steady for 10 years. They have to make up the revenue some way, and they do it by focusing on onboard revenue: drinks, casino, shops, specialty restaurants, etc. Don't know why I'd pay for bottled water when the water made onboard is better and pure than the bottled water, and it's free.