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You probably wouldn't be happy with Carnival if you've been on Celebrity and the upper end lines. We found that there were always places where you could find peace and quiet. We also enjoyed the balcony. For us, it was fine and we're looking forward to the Sept cruise when the majority of kiddies will be in school (great that they at least had an adults only aft pool).

I wrote a pleasant letter and mailed it off this morning. Will let you know if they bother responding. Thanks for the suggestion!

I figured it was worth sharing as there seems to be alot of bashing of the cruise lines.

On our April cruise one of our large bags appeared at our cabin the first day with a wheel broken off, making it unusable. I filled out a claim at the guest relations desk. Since I bought my insurance elsewhere and luggage damage wasn't covered I didn't expect Celebrity to do anything. I wouldn't have filed a claim in the first place except that it was a new bag. Anyway, to my surprise, I received a check today from Celebrity for the replacement cost. Celebrity gets high marks from me for that one! :smiley:

Good idea.....I'll get a letter written tonight.

Our thought exactly! :wink:

It is too bad Celebrity can't do better. When I cancelled the Oct Connie cruise and they asked why, I told them it was because they didn't offer much of anything for military discounts. I mean, come on!......$100 off "select" cruises!....jeez! Otherwise I think we would have stuck exclusively with Celebrity.

We just got home yesterday from 8 days on the Legend. It was our 4th cruise this year....1st 3 were on Celebrity Zenith and Constellation. I was rather nervous about the whole Carnival "fun ship" thing but we got such a great price that we decided we had to try Carnival (my husband is retired military so we got a balcony cabin for $500 off per person!....only $649 pp!) The drive from VT to the NYC port was easy and traffic wasn't too bad. Being the country bumpkins we are we were nervous about big city driving. Embarkation in Bayonne is such a breeze that this one seemed rather disorganized but we were still on the ship by 12:30. We had a great time....the 1st whole sea day was rain and then the weather was great after that. I'd planned to leave my balcony door open every night but it was quite warm and humid so we weren't able to do that after the 1st night out. I was expecting the ship to be too over-run with kids since school is out for the year. We found that there were always plenty of quieter areas to get away from the kids. Also the Legend has an aft pool & hot tub that are adults only so that was great! I thought the ship was really pretty....a little over the top in some areas but we don't go on cruises for the decor. Our room was 175 sq ft plus 40 sq ft balcony. Nice room with usual amenities, stocked fridge that we just kept locked. The cabin stewards were very good! It was fun coming back to the room in the evening to see what new towel "animal" they'd made for us. The balcony had resin furniture....a chair, a reclining chair and a small table. There was a basket of amenities in the bathroom...razors, floss, mouthwash, aspirin, paperback, etc. I actually like the food in the Truffles dining room better than on Celebrity. We usually left either just before or just after dessert so we didn't get to see the singing/dancing waiters. For the most part we enjoyed the food on the Lido deck....buffets were ok (not as elaborate as Celebrity), 24 hour pizza and ice cream were fun for late snacks, desserts weren't very good so that helped me to not gain quite as much weight this cruise Room service food came quickly but forget about trying to call in an order around midnight!.......I was on hold for 20 minutes one night and just gave up trying another night. We hung a card on our door in the evening for a continental breakfast of coffee and danish (much better than Celebrity's) to be eaten on the balcony most mornings. The shows were ok....nothing special but entertaining. There was a very good band in Satchmo's Lounge so we went there most evenings to dance. The main difference we found between Carnival and Celebrity was the level of service and the friendliness of staff. On Carnival there just don't seem to be enough table clearers on the Lido deck....dirty dishes would sometimes stay on the outside tables for hours. Likewise spills aren't cleaned off the floors right away. There are very few bar waiters roaming the areas, which is a good thing if you don't drink but not so good if you do :shocked: All Celebrity employees seem super friendly and cheerful....not so on Carnival. The exception is in the dining room, but again that seems understaffed. We wondered if the difference in attitude was because the tips were automatic or if they just weren't trained to the degree that Celebrity trains the staff. Maybe they were just overworked because they were understaffed.... The casino was fun...but took way too much of my money! We didn't get off in San Juan because we'd just gone there a few months ago. St. Thomas was gorgeous and we went to Saphire Beach by cab (abt $9 pp each way). We took along a snack size box of cheerios to crumblre in the water to attract the fish and it worked well...my DH had dozens of them swimming around him. In Tortola we just walked off the ship to the flea market area, where you could get some great deals on t-shirts, etc. We carried our own luggage off so debarking was a snap....I'll always do it that way from now on! A word about the elevators.....much faster than Celebrity's and we never had to wait for more than a few seconds for one. On my last Zenith cruise it seemed like we spent hours of every day just waiting for elevators! Overall we had a great time and would not hesitate to sail on Carnival again. Since we expected it to be such a major step down from Celebrity, we were pleasantly surprised. We've decided to book another Carnival cruise in Sept....don't know why Celebrity can't offer better military discounts!

Anyone been to Saphire Beach?....it's supposed to be nice....

Best shopping? Best beach? As you can tell, we don't plan ahead :wink:

Psssst...............already passed on the news that CruiseCarzies are the greatest! :wink:

I loved the Zenith, mainly because you kept running into people you'd met. The mega liners just seem to impersonal to me......

I also agree with Joey

Thanks so much........Cruise Crazies are the greatest! :smiley:

Thank you....I just sent a PM to Hamster92256......

Think we'll try that way....thanks, lisa63!

Thanks....I'd tried that for directions but it came up with bizarre directions down from Albany, NY. I was hoping that someone who had actually done the drive could tell me how they drove down......

Hope a NY city cruiser can help with some directions. We'll be coming down from Albany, NY and we're looking for the easiest way to the port. A little nervous about the drive through the city and any help would sure be appreciated!

Just said to my husband, "Just think, this is the last Wednesday we WON'T be on a cruise".....cruiseCrazy, I guess!

Hope they have a fantastic cruise! :grin:

Can't wait to hear all about your wonderful cruise when you return!

Wow, Mebert.....you just have a few days left til your cruise and then I see you're going on the Legend in Aug. Hope you have a great cruise on the Mercury! :cool:

Can't wait to see your reviews on the new Crown Princess!

I'm afraid I got spoiled by Celebrity but I plan to enjoy this cruise to the utmost! I will post a review when we get back.... Congrats to all the others getting down to single digits! :smiley:

:grin: and it might be time to start packing!