How was the Sailabration?

[xDisconnections]

I heard it was disappointing and underwhelming. I don’t feel like I missed anything by not attending.

[2Shoes2Go]

We were on Pride. Our assessment is that the cruise was a bit more interesting, but not really memorable. Unfortunately, what we will remember most is the horrific debark. Most of it uncontrollable. Alexis; brand new CD, had a bad time of it.
The crew are always giving it their all; we know that! After being on for b2b with the previous cruise, we felt we could have been some where else. 

[TrinaLC]

As others have said, meh.  On the Sunshine unless you had the foresight to be way in the bow (especially on the “secret” bow balconies) you could only see one other ship.  Since we didn’t pay up for this cruise we’re happy to have been a part of it. 
 

One highlight was the cabin door decorations - the loyal plats/diamonds on board went more “all out” than Carnival did!  
 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by TrinaLC

[May1cruiser]

7 hours ago, 2Shoes2Go said:

We were on Pride. Our assessment is that the cruise was a bit more interesting, but not really memorable. Unfortunately, what we will remember most is the horrific debark. Most of it uncontrollable. Alexis; brand new CD, had a bad time of it.
The crew are always giving it their all; we know that! After being on for b2b with the previous cruise, we felt we could have been some where else. 

That debark was brutal. With two sea days, they should have been in a better position for arrival. They knew the weather was going to be a factor, adjust the plan to compensate. 

Agree on the sailabration, just Meh. If we had not paid a premium it would have been fine. Liked the ship and crew overall.

[seannyice81]

I was on Mardi Gras. We had a good time, but it wasn't too much more of any other cruise. One highlight in particular is how much the crew and staff were enjoying it as well. I was standing at the top of the stairs for the water slides to get a good view of the ships and was joined by many employees who were taking pictures, watching the ships, and having a good time. It was awesome to see them smiling and enjoying the moment. It was nice having John Heald on the ship, although he was a fairly rare sight onboard.

We were given free 50th lanyards at embarkation, buttons one night, and some retro options for food/drinks. There was a towel animal with a 50th sticker. You could purchase 50th tumblers for Bottomless Bubbles, and Pixels had a 50th photo book for sale. There were also a number of 50th items in the Fun Shop for purchase.

One downside was how people were behaving when the Fun Shop opened the second day with the anniversary goods. The shop manager was only letting 10 people in per side of the shop which was nice as there were crowds outside. Later when they brought out the shirts though some people were acting ridiculous.

The best part of the cruise was the group of friends I cruised with. Haven't seen many in a long time.

Edited March 19, 2022 by seannyice81

[teacher34]

We were on the Sunshine and I was so excited for this cruise ! We booked way in advance and we’re looking forward to the special things, like the midnight buffet, the fireworks, the special throw back menus and throw back activities, as well as the ship meet up. 
the only special thing that happened was the ship meet up, which was late happening, but very cool to see. We enjoyed watching all six ships meet up and we could hear the horn of one other ship faintly. 
i was very disappointed that no other special things happened. They said the Baked Alaska was a throw back , but we have had that offered on the desert menu several times in the past five years. 
we turned platinum on this cruise and there was nothing special in our cabin to recognize that. I was disappointed about that, too. We will keep cruising with Carnival, but just won’t get too hyped up about anything in the future. 

[matymil]

11 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

That debark was brutal. With two sea days, they should have been in a better position for arrival. They knew the weather was going to be a factor, adjust the plan to compensate. 

Agree on the sailabration, just Meh. If we had not paid a premium it would have been fine. Liked the ship and crew overall.

What was the issue with the debark? Just that they weren't prepared?

[Jasonsterling]

On 3/17/2022 at 12:11 PM, keels81 said:

 

I'm with you -- I can look past the "failure" of the event because the weather, the ship, Cozumel, the crew and Cookie were all so amazing ... it would have been a Top 5 all-time cruise for me even without the Sailabration nonsense, so I think that's what I'm just "meh" about the whole thing -- I got to see all the ships so close to each other and that was good enough for me because the cruise was so amazing, it would be real hard for the Sailabration to take away from the memories I made.

Yeah that's the crazy thing- despite it all it truly ranked as one of my best cruises- LOL but it was all due to the front line heros of the regular everyday employees almost literally rowing that ship from port to port. And they're the reason I sail with Carnival. They did not disappoint. 

 

On 3/18/2022 at 11:01 PM, matymil said:

I know John Heald likes to poke fun at CC but if you booked this months ago at an up charge and thought you were getting way more than you actually got i may bring it to someones attention.

When I filled out my survey I made a point to mention it, a couple of times, lol but in the end I really don't think they care overly much. John Heald's half hearted apology on Facebook really speaks to the overall corporate take. How often do they have this sort of event? That's the only thing the dissent from this cruise would impact, another event based cruise which just isn't that often. So they'll shrug it off and honestly I'm pretty much over it, I was pretty much over it on the ship. I can't wait to get back on board and sail again. That said, I do understand others being disappointed though I think ultimately they'll get over it to.

[seannyice81]

7 hours ago, matymil said:

What was the issue with the debark? Just that they weren't prepared?

I can't speak for Tampa, but Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral was really bad. All the Suites/Diamonds/Platinums that had priority debark led to a bit of a traffic jam. On top of it, we started slightly later. Probably one of the worst debarks I've seen in a while and we were even first off with the suites. The weather didn't factor so much for us at port, but the airport was a whole other story.

[May1cruiser]

1 hour ago, seannyice81 said:

I can't speak for Tampa, but Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral was really bad. All the Suites/Diamonds/Platinums that had priority debark led to a bit of a traffic jam. On top of it, we started slightly later. Probably one of the worst debarks I've seen in a while and we were even first off with the suites. The weather didn't factor so much for us at port, but the airport was a whole other story.

Tampa -Pride, We had one extra sea day due to cancelling Grand Cayman. Two sea days and returning home easy, then day 2 we had some bumpy seas for about 21 hours, so we slowed. Then were told we would be 90 minutes late to return due to Marine traffic.

Once we finally arrived, there were some issues with gangway. Also suite-platinum were waiting in dinning room, at some point someone gave greenlight and a lot of people left, which was an error. Should have been self debark only. Those with checked luggage also got off, but luggage not ready. 

It also appeared the next cruise was not told to wait an hour or two and everyone was arriving while we were trying to leave. the parking lot is also under construction. Two crowds competing for the same real estate with a lot of emotions from both. 

[pjhootch]

1 hour ago, May1cruiser said:

Tampa -Pride, We had one extra sea day due to cancelling Grand Cayman. Two sea days and returning home easy, then day 2 we had some bumpy seas for about 21 hours, so we slowed. Then were told we would be 90 minutes late to return due to Marine traffic.

Once we finally arrived, there were some issues with gangway. Also suite-platinum were waiting in dinning room, at some point someone gave greenlight and a lot of people left, which was an error. Should have been self debark only. Those with checked luggage also got off, but luggage not ready. 

It also appeared the next cruise was not told to wait an hour or two and everyone was arriving while we were trying to leave. the parking lot is also under construction. Two crowds competing for the same real estate with a lot of emotions from both. 

 

And those of us that waited patiently for our luggage zone to be called- got off the ship only to find that the pre-purchased "excursion" transfer from port to Tampa Airport was MIA.  All of them.    When we exited the port we were directed to stand/wait in a driveway of a parking lot.  Since no buses arrived there was a huge line/mob of passengers, luggage snaking around in the parking lot and driveway, wondering what to do.  People missed their morning flights.  People were in danger of missing their afternoon flights.  We were allowed off the ship near 10:30 a.m. in zone 3- after all the self debark and Diamond Platinum.  We had a 2:30 flight so I still wasn't concerned.  Then we waited in the parking lot until after 12:30 for a bus to arrive to take us to the airport.  So we made our flight on time but by the time we got to the gate it was almost time to board. Whew.  There were people in line with us at noon that had 1 p.m. flights and they couldn't get an uber in to the port in time because of the back up with the arriving passengers.  It was a S*&* Show.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

It's difficult enough getting "kicked off" the ship (debarkation morning, lol) - but to add these additional challenges can really test your patience. No fun... not the way a vacation should end...  😞 

 

Tom

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, seannyice81 said:

I can't speak for Tampa, but Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral was really bad. All the Suites/Diamonds/Platinums that had priority debark led to a bit of a traffic jam. On top of it, we started slightly later. Probably one of the worst debarks I've seen in a while and we were even first off with the suites. The weather didn't factor so much for us at port, but the airport was a whole other story.

Well, that was about 40% of the ship. And there is always a significant portion of the remainder that ignore simple instructions and make things even worse.

[HappySails4U]

On 3/16/2022 at 6:12 PM, Rudyard said:

 

Cookie's awesome! I've sailed with him on my last two cruises and will miss him in December. I was on Breeze the week before you and he hosted a fantastic Mardis Gras party on the Lido. 

Love Cookie  !!   He was so much fun on the Magic and we hope to sail with him again soon !!  

 

[seannyice81]

6 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

Tampa -Pride, We had one extra sea day due to cancelling Grand Cayman. Two sea days and returning home easy, then day 2 we had some bumpy seas for about 21 hours, so we slowed. Then were told we would be 90 minutes late to return due to Marine traffic.

Once we finally arrived, there were some issues with gangway. Also suite-platinum were waiting in dinning room, at some point someone gave greenlight and a lot of people left, which was an error. Should have been self debark only. Those with checked luggage also got off, but luggage not ready. 

It also appeared the next cruise was not told to wait an hour or two and everyone was arriving while we were trying to leave. the parking lot is also under construction. Two crowds competing for the same real estate with a lot of emotions from both. 

Ooof, that's awful. I'd take our debark over that any day.

 

3 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

It's difficult enough getting "kicked off" the ship (debarkation morning, lol) - but to add these additional challenges can really test your patience. No fun... not the way a vacation should end...  😞 

 

Tom

I was really losing my patience as were many others. This doesn't bode well for Celebration or Jubilee, and we weren't nearly as bad as Tampa.
 

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Well, that was about 40% of the ship. And there is always a significant portion of the remainder that ignore simple instructions and make things even worse.

We had an emormous amount of Diamonds/Platinums along with many suite pax so it might be higher than that number.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, seannyice81 said:

 

I was really losing my patience as were many others. This doesn't bode well for Celebration or Jubilee, and we weren't nearly as bad as Tampa.

 

 

 

The Sailabration cruises, especially Mardi Gras, weren't close to a normal mix of passengers.

 

1 hour ago, seannyice81 said:

 

 

We had an emormous amount of Diamonds/Platinums along with many suite pax so it might be higher than that number.

Something like 1500 Plats and 500 Diamonds. No telling how many self-debarks before checked luggage peeps would be called. That Carnival made the cruise an Elite gamblers cruise didn't help.

 

There were about 5200 total.

[matymil]

On 3/20/2022 at 11:14 AM, seannyice81 said:

I can't speak for Tampa, but Mardi Gras in Port Canaveral was really bad. All the Suites/Diamonds/Platinums that had priority debark led to a bit of a traffic jam. On top of it, we started slightly later. Probably one of the worst debarks I've seen in a while and we were even first off with the suites. The weather didn't factor so much for us at port, but the airport was a whole other story.

I was getting on the Liberty from Port Carnival like a day or two before you guys got on. I know the Liberty is a different story but i had probably the smoothest embark and debark ive ever had.

[matymil]

On 3/20/2022 at 2:37 PM, pjhootch said:

 

And those of us that waited patiently for our luggage zone to be called- got off the ship only to find that the pre-purchased "excursion" transfer from port to Tampa Airport was MIA.  All of them.    When we exited the port we were directed to stand/wait in a driveway of a parking lot.  Since no buses arrived there was a huge line/mob of passengers, luggage snaking around in the parking lot and driveway, wondering what to do.  People missed their morning flights.  People were in danger of missing their afternoon flights.  We were allowed off the ship near 10:30 a.m. in zone 3- after all the self debark and Diamond Platinum.  We had a 2:30 flight so I still wasn't concerned.  Then we waited in the parking lot until after 12:30 for a bus to arrive to take us to the airport.  So we made our flight on time but by the time we got to the gate it was almost time to board. Whew.  There were people in line with us at noon that had 1 p.m. flights and they couldn't get an uber in to the port in time because of the back up with the arriving passengers.  It was a S*&* Show.  

Omg thats horrible. Was there any explanation on what happened to the transfers? I get stuff happens but literally the only reason i ever get the Carnival transfer over 3rd parties is for the reliability because it sure isnt for the value.

[2wheelin]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:14 PM, BlerkOne said:

 

The Sailabration cruises, especially Mardi Gras, weren't close to a normal mix of passengers.

 

Something like 1500 Plats and 500 Diamonds. No telling how many self-debarks before checked luggage peeps would be called. That Carnival made the cruise an Elite gamblers cruise didn't help.

 

There were about 5200 total.

My most recent two cruises and one before covid all called several luggage tags before most of the self assist were called. They were mixing them all together. I assume as soon as they get the first bags out, they start calling them.