Thinking of trying a Carnival cruise again.....

[PaperSniper4]

Our last was not too pleasant (Carnival Dream five years ago) because there seems to be a really rowdy and rude gang everywhere we went.....very disruptive to other passengers. However, Carnival sails from NOLA which is our preferred departure port because we can drive there. So we'll maybe give the Carnival Liberty a try next May <2024>.

 

Couple of questions for those who have sailed on her lately....or maybe on any Carnival ship:

 

1. I thought I read somewhere here that the "cabin service" menus that we hang on the door at night are not longer available? Surely that's incorrect? We use them for coffee and croissants only, not for anything heavier.

 

2. We're considering a Ocean Suite for this cruise. Any comments pro or con other than it costs more? We've had only Aft View or Deluxe Balcony cabins on Carnival in the last 10 years or so, but we generally get a Concierge Cabin on Celebrity, a Spa Balcony Cabin on NCL, or Spacious Balcony Cabin on RCI. The OS on the Liberty looks very nice, although perhaps a bit dated. It's also LARGE!

 

3. We're old folks, so most of the "fun stuff" on ships doesn't interest us very much. We enjoy reading in our cabin and on the balcony drinking coffee in the morning and something stronger in the evening. I recall the "shows" on Carnival were pretty good on our last cruise, and we generally go to them. We cruise 90% of the time for the cabin, balcony, no cooking/cleaning, and watching the water go by. On  the typical itinerary from NOLA we often don't get off the ship; been to those ports many, many times. Can anyone make any recommendations for folks our age as how this ship compares to the RCI and NCL cruises in my signature?

 

 Doug

 

[mz-s]

Yes the breakfast hangers are gone, you have to call in your order each morning. the continental breakfast delivery is still free, at least as of today.

[PaperSniper4]

9 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Yes the breakfast hangers are gone, you have to call in your order each morning. the continental breakfast delivery is still free, at least as of today.

Thanks. The breakfast hangers would be missed a lot by us. We are very regular in our wake up time, and we arise early, so on other cruise lines we always mark down the earliest time on the hangers; often writing in a time 10 minutes earlier. We rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes, which is nice. So on Carnival we'd need to call for coffee; and probably wait a long time....that's a big negative for us, although we are probably the exception. My sister never uses the hangers, but calls cabin service instead.

 

 Doug

[EngIceDave]

The breakfast order door hangers is likely one of the things I miss most.

[modernscarlett]

18 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Thanks. The breakfast hangers would be missed a lot by us. We are very regular in our wake up time, and we arise early, so on other cruise lines we always mark down the earliest time on the hangers; often writing in a time 10 minutes earlier. We rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes, which is nice. So on Carnival we'd need to call for coffee; and probably wait a long time....that's a big negative for us, although we are probably the exception. My sister never uses the hangers, but calls cabin service instead.

 

 Doug

We called the night before and ordered breakfast room service with a planned time. It was really simple and well executed.

[mz-s]

8 minutes ago, modernscarlett said:

We called the night before and ordered breakfast room service with a planned time. It was really simple and well executed.

 

I doubt that still works. I was told I would have to call in the morning, and this was on a few different cruises. 

[modernscarlett]

Just now, mz-s said:

 

I doubt that still works. I was told I would have to call in the morning, and this was on a few different cruises. 

We were on the Celebration in April, called room service the night before and gave them our order.

[hard_eight]

Don't do it, there's no tablecloths and there's no pillow mints!!

 

Just kidding, do it, have fun. A vacation is what you make it.

[PaperSniper4]

4 hours ago, modernscarlett said:

We called the night before and ordered breakfast room service with a planned time. It was really simple and well executed.

As long as it was on time that would be okay with us I suppose, but we'd miss the process of hanging out that card. Weird how some things remind us of cruising!

 

 Doug

[Drazil65]

On the MG this past December we called the night before (right before bedtime) and ordered coffee and pastries/bagels for early morning as well.  Did not have any issues getting it and it was actually 10 mins earlier than the time I requested (which was fine with us).  

[mz-s]

I do hope they've allowed us to call in to schedule delivery of breakfast again.

 

When the hang tags first went away they allowed it. Then they stopped, you had to call in the morning. At least that was my experience when I tried on a few cruises - they told me to call back in the morning. If they've allowed scheduling it again that would be good.

[kelkel2]

So as others have said the door hanger is gone, but we didn’t use it or order room service this last cruise for breakfast so I cannot comment on ordering ahead. 
The ocean suite is larger, but service with it is the same. It does come with priority check in, boarding, and debarking. We really enjoyed our ocean suite on the Mardi Gras. 
I’ve been on the liberty years ago. There’s plenty of quiet reading places and I still think there’s plenty to do for everyone. 

[PaperSniper4]

Thanks for the replies. We have not sailed much on Carnival lately. We do enjoy the slightly larger "mini-suite" cabins, and book them on Princess, Celebrity, and NCL. If we book the Liberty this will be our first OS on Carnival. We already have booked a slightly larger "spacious ocean view balcony" cabin on RCI for late 2024. That's only about our 6th cruise on RCI. We've had ocean views and balconies on RCI before. As we age, the cabin becomes more important to us since we tend to spend more time there than experience the "fun stuff" on the rest of the ship.

 

 Doug

[Butterbean1000]

On 5/17/2023 at 1:03 PM, EngIceDave said:

The breakfast order door hangers is likely one of the things I miss most.

Oh man, I hate to hear they are gone.  We used to use the coffee delivery as our wake up call.  

[scoobysnacks70]

I haven't ever used the breakfast room service but it seems like doing it the night before would streamline the delivery because then they could plan each deck...You would still have the random orders called in that morning but then you could just add them to carts as they came in.

[AllgoodOnTheRoad]

Try the Celebration. The experience is a step above most Carnival ships now. 

[Lee Cruiser]

On 5/17/2023 at 11:16 AM, PaperSniper4 said:

We're old folks, so most of the "fun stuff" on ships doesn't interest us very much. We enjoy reading in our cabin and on the balcony drinking coffee in the morning and something stronger in the evening. I recall the "shows" on Carnival were pretty good on our last cruise, and we generally go to them. We cruise 90% of the time for the cabin, balcony, no cooking/cleaning, and watching the water go by.

We are also ones that spend a lot of time on our balcony just relaxing.  If you can do something besides N.O., I would recommend going on Mardi Gras, Celebration, or the soon to be out Jubilee.  They have much better shows.  They also have extended balcony cabins mid-ship that are great.  We have three cruises booked right now on these ships.  The extended balcony cabins are cheaper than suites and are great if you spend a lot of time there.  You can stay in the shade and out of the rain at all times on these.  You also get a lounger on them.

[PaperSniper4]

17 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

We are also ones that spend a lot of time on our balcony just relaxing.  If you can do something besides N.O., I would recommend going on Mardi Gras, Celebration, or the soon to be out Jubilee.  They have much better shows.  They also have extended balcony cabins mid-ship that are great.  We have three cruises booked right now on these ships.  The extended balcony cabins are cheaper than suites and are great if you spend a lot of time there.  You can stay in the shade and out of the rain at all times on these.  You also get a lounger on them.

No thanks. If we're going from a port other than NOLA it would likely be on one of our more preferred lines like Celebrity, HAL or Princess. I know there is a lot that folks like about Carnival, but it's not in our top five cruise lines.

 

 Doug

[Lee Cruiser]

28 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

No thanks. If we're going from a port other than NOLA it would likely be on one of our more preferred lines like Celebrity, HAL or Princess. I know there is a lot that folks like about Carnival, but it's not in our top five cruise lines.

 

 Doug

Then you probably will want to stick with those.  Carnival cruises out of N.O. probably won't be enjoyable for you.

[PaperSniper4]

15 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Then you probably will want to stick with those.  Carnival cruises out of N.O. probably won't be enjoyable for you.

Thanks for your comments, Lee. There's a very good chance you are right. We've sailed on NCL from NOLA many times and they were fine. The last one in March 2022 was better than fine. But I don't know how NCL compares to Carnival, at least in today's market. The Carnival ship itself is very nice, and the OS cabin we're considering is very nice. That's why we're considering trying a Carnival cruise. Carnival has an edge for us since they sail year round from NOLA where RCI and NCL are "part timers". We'd like to cruise 2-3 times a year, not back to back; and we do not care to fly anymore. Driving is fine, we take two days to do the 400 mile trip down to NOLA and one to return home. It's enjoyable. I'd be ecstatic if Princess put a ship in NOLA! 😎

 

Doug