Bostonjetset

Yes!!! Where’s the gnocchi?!?! Maybe it’s still with the braised short ribs but they don’t list the pasta part on the menu now? I guess I’ll get the Osso Bucco on our August K’dam trip. That’s worth the price alone (esp since I reserved it under the old price). Glad they aren’t nickel and dining with apps and desserts yet like Pinnacle. We enjoyed getting an antipasto plate for the table to share on past cruises in addition to our individual starters.

Is there anything to see during these quick Tracy Arm sailings (K’dam in August) if one is NOT doing an excursion? Just want to know if I should bother to make a point of going out on deck to see anything at Tracy Arm or just relax until we get to Juneau.

Thanks for the reply. I actually took that cruise back in 2013 on the Carnival Legend which is a sister ship to the Pride. I loved Roatan especially. Glad serenity area is still free. Of every lined I’ve sailed, that adults area is most important on Carnival ships.

Honestly the price we paid was on par with anything we’ve paid on HAL on a per diem basis. It was a fair price but not dirt cheap as one often thinks Carnival cruises would be. Of course taxes and port fees make up a large piece of the total costs of a PC cruise regardless of the line. Yea one gets used to the tacky decor after a couple days. It’s just so in your face when you haven’t been on a Carnival ship in years lol. I can also do without the hairy chest contest and sexy leg contests and other poolside shenanigans often found on CCL. At least their adult only Serenity area was free in the past so hopefully that is still the case. Wow that’s crazy about the false man overboard situation!! Were you on a PC partial? Did you enjoy that aspect of the trip?

Thanks everyone for your input. We booked the Carnival Pride for the partial Panama Canal transit. The price was fair and it’s a good itinerary (I’ll go into it known what to expect in regards to the ship itself).

Oh yes the dancing waitstaff. I’ve always cringed at that on past carnival cruises. I’m surprised they still do it after all the other cutbacks I’ve heard about. It won’t ruin my cruise but I certainly can do without it.

Thanks. That’s good to know. I think I can live with that. I’m not an engineering buff or anything so I think I’ll be happy with just seeing the one set of locks especially as they should be the original ones. There is also a stop in Limon CR where I’ve never been to as well as Grand Cayman where we have been.

Great to hear. Thanks! Yes it’s truly awful. Hopefully the dry dock will calm it down a bit. Their new ships are not nearly as garish lol.

Wow that sounds like an amazing itinerary!! Enjoy. If only I was retired lol. The Panorama is a newer ship too so it should have a nicer decor than that old ones. Unique itineraries are a great reason to pick a line one wouldn’t usually pick.

Royal has a 7 night full transit on Rhapsody OTS that also goes to Cartagena. It’s another great itinerary but we would have to fly to Panama as it is Panama City to Colon. Great itinerary but maybe inconvenient and expensive flights (too far out to know that though).

Well that sounds nightmarish. Sorry you had to experience those issues.

I sailed the Legend back in 2013 and we enjoyed our cruise on her as well. Our first cruise ever was in 2008 in Carnival Fascination and as a 25 y/o I thought it was amazing. I’ve also seen some pics of their newest ships and it seems they got the hint and started decorating them in a more tasteful way. Yes the Spirt class is a good size. And they can fit in the old PC locks which is a plus as I’ve never sailed the PC before. Thanks for confirming some of what I expected. I know a lot of the Carnival hate is from perception and not necessarily experience. I’ve had a few great cruises with CCL when I was younger. They just aren’t usually on my radar now as I remember them as loud and having tacky decor; not a deal breaker for a great itinerary but not the first thing I look for either.

It was a round trip from San Diego. Not a repositioning. I think the cruise after is the repo to Alaska.

So I’m considering a partial Panama Canal transit for April 2024 now that my Zaandam cruise was canceled. My mom has wanted to do a PC cruise for years and DH has very little interest so figured it would make a good mother/son trip. However, DH and I already have other trips planned for 2024 and so a full transit is not in the cards. A shorter partial would be best due to work scheduling. HAL only has Rotterdam at 12 nights (so not that much shorter than a full transit and with new locks) and Princess doesn’t have anything in the spring. Carnival has an 8 day round trip from Tampa on the Pride which is one of their older ships that still uses the old locks. I love the idea of an 8 night PC partial and REALLY love the idea of sailing through the old locks. However, it’s been almost ten years since I’ve sailed with Carnival and their “inside of a pinball machine” decor is cringy to me. The trips we’ve taken with them were enjoyable enough but I’m more of an HAL/Cunard/Princess vibe kinda guy. However, itinerary is paramount for me (and of course price matters to a degree as well) so I’m seriously considering as no other mainstream line offers anything similar. Have any of you fellow HAL-lovers sailed with Carnival recently? If so, was it enjoyable enough for the right itinerary?

Omg I feel stupid haha. Yes 2024. The title is correct but I typed 2023 in the body of the post. Sorry about that.

Got notified today that HAL cancelled our CA Coastal on the Zaandam for 4/13/2023. It seems only that week was canceled and it’s far out so I assume a charter? They did offer to move us at the same price to a 6 day coastal on K’dam but it doesn’t go to SF so we’ll likely just cancel. Strange that Monterey is still listed on the replacement cruise though.

I’m younger as well (40) at least by HAL standards and they are easily my favorite line even though we sail others. The Rotterdam was one of the prettiest ships we’ve sailed in a while. We like Princess ships too but they are a little TOO similar to each other to the point you can’t really tell which is which from the interiors. The Pinnacle ships still have the HAL feeling to me with the wonderful crew and elegant touches. They are just bigger and MUCH brighter inside. That said, I loved the Veendam as well when I sailed her. I think Zuiderdam is one of the uglier HAL ships but we had a great Baltic itinerary on her so I didn’t care.

Totally agree. Also, even as HAL’s largest ships, the Pinnacle ships are still considerably smaller than other lines’ newer ships.

You can definitely see glaciers from the ship. Most, it not all, Alaska itineraries will include a scenic cruising day at a glacier area (Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, etc) and the views are stunning right from the deck of the ship. HAL usually opens the bow to passengers during said day as well so you’ll be able to enjoy that. I wouldn’t count on seeing much impressive wildlife from the ship though. As others stated it’s mostly a “right place, right time” scenario and even then you aren’t that close. We saw whales from the Westerdam back in 2016 once and they were pretty far out. Close enough to see what they were but not enough to be a remarkable experience. We did see a lot of seals during the Glacier Bay day though. In port there is enough to do without overly expensive excursions, esp on a first trip. I’m going for the second time to Alaska in August and will be booking a couple of excursions this time but only the Yukon train one is particularly costly. You can certainly have a great trip to Alaska without the $600+ helicopter and flight excursions though so don’t worry about that if those are out of you price (or mobility) range.

We’ve booked the Loch Ness cruise excursion! Thanks for your help.

Glacier Bay is, IMO, important especially if it’s your first visit rot Alaska. It’s really stunning and an almost guaranteed glacier day. Princess and Holland America Line have long been seen as the leaders in Alaska so those are what I’d look at first after choosing your itinerary.

The $1 deposit promoted me to book a Cali Costal cruise that I may not have been in a rush to book if I had to lay out several hundreds of dollars. Nothing to really loose if something changes between now and April 2024. That’s over a year away so see no need to let a business hold a chunk of my money for that long even if the final cost is the same.

Honestly I don’t disagree. Though cities like Copenhagen will almost always cost more than more high-traffic cities like London or Paris. We have a cruise in April from Amsterdam and the flights from Boston were insane. I used flight ease and got my ticket for $870 in coach. Same flight directly from Delta was $1200 so HAL definitely saved me money. IcelandAir would have been about $150 cheaper than anything though flightease but I’d rather a nonstop flight if the difference is less than $200. And DH had Delta miles so only my ticket had to be paid for by flying Delta.

I would love a return to Cuba as well. I went twice on NCL and would go again in a heartbeat.

Good luck. I referred two other couples (all new to HAL) to our Scotland cruise in April and got nothing. Booked through PCC and she said I would have had to enter their info online and they would need to book through an emailed link or something complicated. They just booked through my PCC after I booked so everything could be linked together. She couldn’t add it and I didn’t want to jump through hoops for $50 but it is a little sucky that they make it so complicated.