Tried Carnival

[KarinaGW]

I will be posting this in both the Carnival and RCCL boards.

 

I sailed on my first Carnival ship (The Fascination) last November. It was a four day Bahamas cruise.

 

Background: I am D+ on RCCL, having sailed on Enchantment, all the Explorer class ships & Liberty. My favorite ships are Enchantment & Liberty for different (and overlapping) reasons. I’ve always thought about giving the Carnival Pride a try since it sails out of Baltimore. I love the look of the ship but its itineraries never really grabbed me.

 

My sister moved to Jacksonville which is Fascination's home port. She figured since it was so handy, she’d give it a try and invited me to come along. What follows are notes I made to myself during the cruise. Anything in parentheses I added while getting ready to post this.

 

Good points:

• Decor, (I love the looks of the interiors of the Carnival ships)
  
• Taste of food (It was never anything all that special kind of food, but it always tasted good)
  
• Buffet drink cart (I love love love the drink cart they push around the buffet (during breakfast, maybe other times, but I loved me my giant mimosas) area.
  
• Drinks, in general (Carnival does a really nice job with drinks)
  
• Cabin & stuff (we were in an Outside cabin and got robes. Bathroom amenities were nice too)
  
• Outside eating options. (Buffet. You had poolside options, aft options. I was often alone with my thoughts on the aft…lovely).
  
• Cute, gimmicky drink cups. (Everyday, there was at least one fun drink cup that they sold a specialty drink in. I bought one in the shape of the Carnival Dolphin tail that does double duty as a bank)
  
• Drink of day discount. (This was kind of cool. You buy a drink of the day on your first day and keep the “glass”. Subsequently, whenever you brought that to get another DoD, you got 75 cents off.)
  
• Deli (okay, this was probably my favorite thing on the ship…they had a deli station in the back of the buffet (there was also a bar station and a pizza station)…OMG pastrami and corned beef on rye to order…and good flavored to boot)
  
• (Daily sushi. Yum)
  

 

Bad points:

• MUSTER (I would be terrified of the ship sinking if I had only attended musters on Fascination. There was no organization. No effort to make people pay attention. Our muster group was just sort of randomly scattered on the pool deck…mostly chit-chatting amongst themselves. I have no idea what their procedures are on that ship. None at all because I couldn’t hear.)
  
• Activities locations. (This goes hand in hand with the final comment below. They’re separate because it REALLY bugged me. Fascination had some gorgeous well-laid out and well-thought out facilities. But, they were so poorly & inappropriately utilized for the activities, it was maddening. I assume this is the fault of the CD & staff, but it might also be partially laid at the feet of the Hotel Director)
  
• training of dining room waitstaff (They were lovely. They were friendly. They were always a little like deer in headlights. Never felt they were entirely well-enough trained and were kind of muddling along. The maître d’ on Fascination sucked eggs.)
  
• Food availability - hours, room service (I just moved and haven’t dug out everything yet so I can’t specify the hours food was available. But, it was awkward and not enough)
  
• Cruise daily info... No staff info. No port maps. No Day at a glance. Wrong, missing & incomplete info
  
• Hours!!! - serenity, the anti-funship. (The adult pool area closed ridiculously early…like 7 or 8 (see moving note above). It just sat there closed and tormenting those of us who wanted to get away from the kids in the evening)
  
• Attitude towards singles, (ESPECIALLY photographers. I am a picture buyer. I spend stupid amounts. Not on Fascination. It was like pulling teeth to even get a photographer to take a picture..and then there was no direction or anything. It was take a single snapshot and get her out of the way. Couples though (of all ages) were fawned over and multi-photoed. I got a similar vibe of (friendly, however) condescension occasionally elsewhere)
  
• Poor utilization of gorgeous facilities. (See above. For example, they would do their trivia on the pool-deck from the 4 sided stage with a mediocre-ish portable sound system, competing with all the people on the pool deck doing pool-deck activities. Meanwhile a beautiful large lounge area with lots of seating was sitting empty. Weird thought processes)
  

 

Same on both RCCL & Carnival

• Personnel friendliness. (Everybody (except the photogs) were very friendly and helpful (Kudos to the nice women in the salon who were very nice when I poked my head in and asked for a quick bang trim..lovely people))
  
• Cleanliness. (Ship was spotless)
  
• Sit down breakfast (did it once on Fascination. Handled the same as on RCCL ships. Food was good)
  

 

(Oh, ports, I guess I should mention. I’ve been to the Bahamas enough that I had no real interest in going into Freeport, so I slept in a little and then went into the dock area and wound up spending a couple of hours at a really fun bar called Sparky’s I recommend it. Good music, strong drinks, good food). On Nassau, we went to Atlantis (where I’ve never been). Nice beach, half the restaurants were closed in November, but the food they had at the walk-up concessions stands were good. Not worth (for future me) the money, but glad I did it once. Oh, and, just so you’re aware. It has the finest (as in small) sand I have ever run across and it gets into everything. Body parts, cameras. And I don’t think I ever got it completely showered off for a couple days)

 

All in all, it wasn’t an awful trip by any means...especially as any day cruising is better than not cruising. But, a lot of the attitude got me down. The weird programming, the inattention to detail…none of it ever made me want to try a Carnival cruise again. AND THEN, I got into a conversation with a Carnival cruiser and she begged me not to judge Carnival by my experience on Fascination. She doesn’t even do more than tolerate it. But, she lives locally and does it once a month as a gambling trip. When she wants a real cruise experience she travels south down the coast and travels on other Carnival ships. So, I will look into giving Carnival another shot…probably on Pride since it sails 45 minutes from where I live.

[gelo7]

Thanks, for sharing your thoughts.

[retiredgram]

Thanks for you honest comparison. If you decide to cruise on the Pride, I believe you will enjoy. Happy cruising.

[deborahjo]

Thank you for looking honestly at book. Always look at RCCL before we book.

 

Did you try room service? We find we love this service. No they do not have hot food but it is "free" 24 hours a day. We just pay like a buck to the waiter who delivers it to the cabin. Their BLTs cannot be beat any where.

[Waterloomarc]

Interesting about the muster. I've done the Fascination twice and I agree that it's odd how you're strewn throughout the ship. Both times they were very strict about people not talking and no drinks etc. and we're very long relative to my other carnival cruises. I must confess I was even chastised by one of the staff for checking my cell phone. (I was checking time since it was so bloody long!)

 

What adult pool were you talking about? I haven't been since August and I think she had a dry dock since then. Did they add another pool?

 

I'm jealous of anybody driving distance to a port for any line. I'm hoping ANY line comes back to Mobile.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Frank12]

You should really try one of the larger ships IMHO. Fascination was not one of our favorites.

Your comment about photographers are interesting. Most folks complain that they get their pics taken way too much!

[BenjiRodney]

They give out the port maps at the shopping talks or on the gangway as you are leaving in that port. There should have been a room service menu in the cabin when you got on, it is free and available 24/7.

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

KarinaGW ~ thanks for your comments. I've sailed RCI 4 times & liked them but am giving Carnival a try for the 1st time on Dream next month. Some of the things you said have me really looking forward to my Carnival experience, thanks.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[javamom]

options. I was often alone with my thoughts on the aft…lovely).

• (Daily sushi. Yum)
  

 

Bad points:

• 
  
• Activities locations. (This goes hand in hand with the final comment below. They’re separate because it REALLY bugged me. Fascination had some gorgeous well-laid out and well-thought out facilities. But, they were so poorly & inappropriately utilized for the activities, it was maddening. I assume this is the fault of the CD & staff, but it might also be partially laid at the feet of the Hotel Director)
  

 

The hotel director on Fascination is one of my VERY fav people on earth. I will however give you beneift for your "might also be" and continue reading your review of my fav Carnival ship. :p

 

[chipq]

Thanks for sharing your honest comparison, refreshing.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[firstcruiseever]

i liked your review. Seemed very unbiased, and you just seemed very informative. I like reviews that say what is good and bad. If you only say good, it sounds "cheerleaderish" if you only say bad, you sound like a sourpuss. Bravo!

[Cruisin'Doc]

 

• Food availability - hours, room service (I just moved and haven’t dug out everything yet so I can’t specify the hours food was available. But, it was awkward and not enough)
  
• Cruise daily info... No staff info. No port maps. No Day at a glance. Wrong, missing & incomplete info
  

 

 

I'm glad you were able to experience your first Carnival cruise! :D I also appreciate your great comparison!

 

I wanted to point out a couple of things, since they may be overlooked on a first cruise.

 

• Food - while the dining rooms have limited times, as does Lido buffet (too little imo, really, but I guess I understand, lol), the Grill (if Fascination still has it) is open from 12-6, the Deli is open 11-11, Pizza is 24 hours per day, and room service is 24 hours per day. They changed the room service menu, however, so that no longer is it found in the hotel-style 'book' they use to have. Rather, it's just a one page sheet that is VERY easily overlooked. My first cruise after the change over, I called the room steward asking for it! LOL
  
• As said, port maps are found at the shopping talks, as you exit the gangway, or at the desk of the cruise specialist.
  
• Day at a glance - this is preforated section on your Fun Times - if this is what you mean! :)
  

I hope you have many more great cruises aboard BOTH cruise lines! :D

[pirate4me2]

If you do decide to try Pride, you will love her. The layout is so easy to navigate and we found all the staff to be willing to go out of their way to make our vacation wonderful. They hooked us on cruising. I am jealous that you wre within driving distance to the Pride's homeport!

[9876]

I agree with what the others have said....I do not like sailing the older Carnival ships so I do my best to avoid them and have managed to do so. I know what you mean about weird hours on the buffet, I have been caught with that also but I do enjoy the room service from Carnival and it is complimentary 24 hours.

[kingoftheicedragons]

I enjoyed reading your opinions of Carnival. I will say that while there are some things I would disagree with you on, you presented your opinion of what you liked and disliked in a very thoughtful manner. It's refreshing to see someone be honest with that instead of just trying to bash Carnival.

[jaxstiles]

Personnel friendliness. (Everybody (except the photogs) were very friendly and helpful (Kudos to the nice women in the salon who were very nice when I poked my head in and asked for a quick bang trim..lovely people))

Cleanliness. (Ship was spotless)

Sit down breakfast (did it once on Fascination. Handled the same as on RCCL ships. Food was good)

 

Thanks for sharing!

[skittl1321]

Excellent comparision. Thank you for laying it out so clearly.

 

No Day at a glance

 

This surprised me, as every cruise I've been on has had a perforated fold that you can tear out, and it has the entire days schedule on it.

 

 

 

Can you elaborate your complaints about room service? I adore Carnival room service, available 24 hours a day. Although on Triumph I was never able to get it, because the call was never answered- that pissed me off. (So maybe you had a similar experience?)

[tricky_tink]

I love the Glory. Western is great for action based things to do. Lots of culture and sightseeing. Eastern is for beaches and lots tropical settings. I'm going eastern this week but I also never do less than 7 day cruises as I was told by an asst. cd we would do well to avoid those. So we do!

[KarinaGW]

Interesting about the muster. I've done the Fascination twice and I agree that it's odd how you're strewn throughout the ship. Both times they were very strict about people not talking and no drinks etc. and we're very long relative to my other carnival cruises. I must confess I was even chastised by one of the staff for checking my cell phone. (I was checking time since it was so bloody long!)

 

What adult pool were you talking about? I haven't been since August and I think she had a dry dock since then. Did they add another pool?

 

I'm jealous of anybody driving distance to a port for any line. I'm hoping ANY line comes back to Mobile.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oops. Meant the hot tubs in the adult area...the whole section of which was shut down really early.

 

To elaborate further (or actually not to), I wrote all those notes down in my phone as they occurred to me. I had been planning on being unpacked by now, but a lot of stuff is still in boxes including most of my cruise stuff, including all my Carnival stuff. (Well, except for my Dolphin Fin bank and my shot glasses). I'm going to have to go tear my boxes apart now...it's going to make me crazy because I don't want to just throw negativity out there with no back up. I have a memory like a seive sometimes.

[Anjanu]

The Fascination is my favorite ship. She does have her faults but nothing that would make me not want to sail on her. I liked reading your comparison review and one day hope to sail RCCL.

[LovesAllTravel]

I will be posting this in both the Carnival and RCCL boards.

 

I sailed on my first Carnival ship (The Fascination) last November. It was a four day Bahamas cruise.

 

Background: I am D+ on RCCL, having sailed on Enchantment, all the Explorer class ships & Liberty. My favorite ships are Enchantment & Liberty for different (and overlapping) reasons. I’ve always thought about giving the Carnival Pride a try since it sails out of Baltimore. I love the look of the ship but its itineraries never really grabbed me.

 

My sister moved to Jacksonville which is Fascination's home port. She figured since it was so handy, she’d give it a try and invited me to come along. What follows are notes I made to myself during the cruise. Anything in parentheses I added while getting ready to post this.

 

Good points:

• Decor, (I love the looks of the interiors of the Carnival ships)
  
• Taste of food (It was never anything all that special kind of food, but it always tasted good)
  
• Buffet drink cart (I love love love the drink cart they push around the buffet (during breakfast, maybe other times, but I loved me my giant mimosas) area.
  
• Drinks, in general (Carnival does a really nice job with drinks)
  
• Cabin & stuff (we were in an Outside cabin and got robes. Bathroom amenities were nice too)
  
• Outside eating options. (Buffet. You had poolside options, aft options. I was often alone with my thoughts on the aft…lovely).
  
• Cute, gimmicky drink cups. (Everyday, there was at least one fun drink cup that they sold a specialty drink in. I bought one in the shape of the Carnival Dolphin tail that does double duty as a bank)
  
• Drink of day discount. (This was kind of cool. You buy a drink of the day on your first day and keep the “glass”. Subsequently, whenever you brought that to get another DoD, you got 75 cents off.)
  
• Deli (okay, this was probably my favorite thing on the ship…they had a deli station in the back of the buffet (there was also a bar station and a pizza station)…OMG pastrami and corned beef on rye to order…and good flavored to boot)
  
• (Daily sushi. Yum)
  

 

Bad points:

• MUSTER (I would be terrified of the ship sinking if I had only attended musters on Fascination. There was no organization. No effort to make people pay attention. Our muster group was just sort of randomly scattered on the pool deck…mostly chit-chatting amongst themselves. I have no idea what their procedures are on that ship. None at all because I couldn’t hear.)
  
• Activities locations. (This goes hand in hand with the final comment below. They’re separate because it REALLY bugged me. Fascination had some gorgeous well-laid out and well-thought out facilities. But, they were so poorly & inappropriately utilized for the activities, it was maddening. I assume this is the fault of the CD & staff, but it might also be partially laid at the feet of the Hotel Director)
  
• training of dining room waitstaff (They were lovely. They were friendly. They were always a little like deer in headlights. Never felt they were entirely well-enough trained and were kind of muddling along. The maître d’ on Fascination sucked eggs.)
  
• Food availability - hours, room service (I just moved and haven’t dug out everything yet so I can’t specify the hours food was available. But, it was awkward and not enough)
  
• Cruise daily info... No staff info. No port maps. No Day at a glance. Wrong, missing & incomplete info
  
• Hours!!! - serenity, the anti-funship. (The adult pool area closed ridiculously early…like 7 or 8 (see moving note above). It just sat there closed and tormenting those of us who wanted to get away from the kids in the evening)
  
• Attitude towards singles, (ESPECIALLY photographers. I am a picture buyer. I spend stupid amounts. Not on Fascination. It was like pulling teeth to even get a photographer to take a picture..and then there was no direction or anything. It was take a single snapshot and get her out of the way. Couples though (of all ages) were fawned over and multi-photoed. I got a similar vibe of (friendly, however) condescension occasionally elsewhere)
  
• Poor utilization of gorgeous facilities. (See above. For example, they would do their trivia on the pool-deck from the 4 sided stage with a mediocre-ish portable sound system, competing with all the people on the pool deck doing pool-deck activities. Meanwhile a beautiful large lounge area with lots of seating was sitting empty. Weird thought processes)
  

 

Same on both RCCL & Carnival

• Personnel friendliness. (Everybody (except the photogs) were very friendly and helpful (Kudos to the nice women in the salon who were very nice when I poked my head in and asked for a quick bang trim..lovely people))
  
• Cleanliness. (Ship was spotless)
  
• Sit down breakfast (did it once on Fascination. Handled the same as on RCCL ships. Food was good)
  

 

(Oh, ports, I guess I should mention. I’ve been to the Bahamas enough that I had no real interest in going into Freeport, so I slept in a little and then went into the dock area and wound up spending a couple of hours at a really fun bar called Sparky’s I recommend it. Good music, strong drinks, good food). On Nassau, we went to Atlantis (where I’ve never been). Nice beach, half the restaurants were closed in November, but the food they had at the walk-up concessions stands were good. Not worth (for future me) the money, but glad I did it once. Oh, and, just so you’re aware. It has the finest (as in small) sand I have ever run across and it gets into everything. Body parts, cameras. And I don’t think I ever got it completely showered off for a couple days)

 

All in all, it wasn’t an awful trip by any means...especially as any day cruising is better than not cruising. But, a lot of the attitude got me down. The weird programming, the inattention to detail…none of it ever made me want to try a Carnival cruise again. AND THEN, I got into a conversation with a Carnival cruiser and she begged me not to judge Carnival by my experience on Fascination. She doesn’t even do more than tolerate it. But, she lives locally and does it once a month as a gambling trip. When she wants a real cruise experience she travels south down the coast and travels on other Carnival ships. So, I will look into giving Carnival another shot…probably on Pride since it sails 45 minutes from where I live.

 

I, too, have sailed on both Carnival and RCI -- just returned today from my 11th cruise on Carnival on the Carnival Ecstasy (4-night Bahamas out of Port Canaveral). I appreciate your comments and agree with your observations, I've experienced some of them as well. I think RCI's ships do a better job of dispersing crowds -- I've never felt crowded on an RCI ship, but the layouts on Carnival ships seem to contribute to a crowded feeling.

 

That being said, I don't think you should judge a Carnival cruise from your one and only 4-nighter. Those short-leg trips are for the quick get-aways, and attract a more "booze-cruise" crowd. The 7+ day cruises have a different vibe to them IMO and the crew seem to go out of their way to ensure you have a wonderful vacation.

[KarinaGW]

I, too, have sailed on both Carnival and RCI -- just returned today from my 11th cruise on Carnival on the Carnival Ecstasy (4-night Bahamas out of Port Canaveral). I appreciate your comments and agree with your observations, I've experienced some of them as well. I think RCI's ships do a better job of dispersing crowds -- I've never felt crowded on an RCI ship, but the layouts on Carnival ships seem to contribute to a crowded feeling.

 

That being said, I don't think you should judge a Carnival cruise from your one and only 4-nighter. Those short-leg trips are for the quick get-aways, and attract a more "booze-cruise" crowd. The 7+ day cruises have a different vibe to them IMO and the crew seem to go out of their way to ensure you have a wonderful vacation.

 

I totally agree...ultimately. Because I do love the ships and a lot of the day to day stuff was lovely.

 

Most of the negatives I ran across felt like they were more endemic of a corporate attitude....not so much the people on board.

 

Poor space planning...def a ship issue, but does corporate not give any guidance? Since most of the staff experiences multiple ships, the fact that they haven't figured some stuff out means they're not paying attention.

 

Photographer attitude...not a Carnival thing per se. The photogs are an independent company. But, they represent Carnival, they should be stomped on.

 

And, I'm sorry, but that Muster "drill" terrified the bejeebers out of me.

 

And, to be perfectly fair, the logistics in producing those daily newsletters on whatever cruise line must be maddening. More power to them. Everyone just needs to check their cutting and pasting.

 

I hate short cruises. You're barely on & used to the new (if applicable) ship and you're off again. But, this was a freebie for me so I wasn't gonna say no. I rarely take anything shorter than 9 days.

[KarinaGW]

Oooh. Ooh. I remember now.

 

The "No" in front of the day at a Glance was a legacy from something else I had started to write. Yes, I understand (see above) that these things are a bear to produce and the turnaround time is terrifying. BUT, there was so much missing between the main newsletter (blanked on what the Carnival version is called...sorry) and the day at a glance (in both directions. Things would be mentioned in one and not the other), much more so than I've noticed in RCCL's Daily Compass (although, believe you me, they ain't innocent of it either...just not to the same extent as I noticed *on this cruise*...there way have been copy-editor gremlins at work).

[gusandgidgetsmom]

I appreciate your review. I agree with many points but had a different experience on our b2b Fascination trip last October. My husband and I both remarked how Carnival was really cracking down and making muster better. People would start to talk and they called them out for it. They explained in the very beginning (on each of the muster drills) that they would not tolerate inattention to what was being said and demonstrated- and they didn't. Drinks were not allowed at the muster station which really bothered some.

One of the worst muster drills I ever experienced was many years ago (22 actually) on an RCCl ship. So many drunk obnoxious people that I wanted to throttle a bunch of them. It was before the canned drills on the ships and each station had someone demonstating and talking. The crew had to keep stopping to call those people out and finally they gave up and talked over them and their whistles!

We probably had some if not the best experiences we have had in over 25 years of cruising in the dining room. Very attentive, quick and knowledgable. I even wrote a letter of commendation about them.

The Maitre D however looked like Lurch from Adams family or that other monster show and he was always harping on the staff. He was downright creepy. The buffet was so very typical Carnival--not so good.

I am sorry they did not meet your expectations. I do know that I do not like 4 day cruises and that there is a world of difference in 4 vs 5, which seems silly to me but that has been my observation. We noramlly cruise at least 7 but prefer longer.We b2b'd on 5 day cruises on the Fascination.

[cruzinlisa]

I will be posting this in both the Carnival and RCCL boards.

 

 

 

Bad points:

• MUSTER (I would be terrified of the ship sinking if I had only attended musters on Fascination. There was no organization. No effort to make people pay attention. Our muster group was just sort of randomly scattered on the pool deck…mostly chit-chatting amongst themselves. I have no idea what their procedures are on that ship. None at all because I couldn’t hear.)
  
• Activities locations. (This goes hand in hand with the final comment below. They’re separate because it REALLY bugged me. Fascination had some gorgeous well-laid out and well-thought out facilities. But, they were so poorly & inappropriately utilized for the activities, it was maddening. I assume this is the fault of the CD & staff, but it might also be partially laid at the feet of the Hotel Director)
  
• training of dining room waitstaff (They were lovely. They were friendly. They were always a little like deer in headlights. Never felt they were entirely well-enough trained and were kind of muddling along. The maître d’ on Fascination sucked eggs.)
  
• Food availability - hours, room service (I just moved and haven’t dug out everything yet so I can’t specify the hours food was available. But, it was awkward and not enough)
  
• Cruise daily info... No staff info. No port maps. No Day at a glance. Wrong, missing & incomplete info
  
• Hours!!! - serenity, the anti-funship. (The adult pool area closed ridiculously early…like 7 or 8 (see moving note above). It just sat there closed and tormenting those of us who wanted to get away from the kids in the evening)
  
• Attitude towards singles, (ESPECIALLY photographers. I am a picture buyer. I spend stupid amounts. Not on Fascination. It was like pulling teeth to even get a photographer to take a picture..and then there was no direction or anything. It was take a single snapshot and get her out of the way. Couples though (of all ages) were fawned over and multi-photoed. I got a similar vibe of (friendly, however) condescension occasionally elsewhere)
  
• Poor utilization of gorgeous facilities. (See above. For example, they would do their trivia on the pool-deck from the 4 sided stage with a mediocre-ish portable sound system, competing with all the people on the pool deck doing pool-deck activities. Meanwhile a beautiful large lounge area with lots of seating was sitting empty. Weird thought processes)
  

 

I am glad to hear your honest comments. I have not been on RCI, I want to for my next cruise but we will see if its in the cards.

 

A couple of thoughts about your comments: You sailed on one of the older ships in the fleet on a short cruise. I agree with others that you will probably have a different experience if you try a longer cruise on a newer ship.

 

As far as the MUSTER, I have not had an experience like yours in any of my cruises (just 3 so far). Maybe you just had a bad group of passengers and inattentive staff. The ones I have been to have been fairly professional and boring. And we had to go to the muster station which is sort of an enclosed hallway, almost like a stairwell. Last cruise was our DD's first, so I was paying extremely close attention to the instructions and would have noticed if people were not being quiet.

 

As far as the food selection- they have room service and pizza 24/7, as well as a grill with burgers, hotdogs, etc. (atleast on most ships) that is open pretty late. I also heard the deli is open fairly late. I know the options after 10 p.m. are more limited, but there are some things to hold you over.

 

Under-utilized spaces/poor layout- I tend to agree with you there. I suspect that Carnival is trying to address this with the Sunshine (a refurbished ship that will be the "newest") with more multi-purpose venues. I don't know how it will work out. Personally, I would prefer better and more efficient uses of space than a huge MEGA ship. ( I say this but I definitely want to try Allure or Oasis one of these days!)