Mach

I'm jealous of both Jan and Bernadette! Gene Sloan, a gentleman I've had the pleasure of knowing for a number of years and trust completely, visited the ship before her first voyage and had wonderful things to say about the vessel! I'm sure you both will have a brilliant time!!!

I've got to agree with both of you! The earlier I'm on board the earlier my cruise begins even if we're not underway! I love a chance to get familiar with the ship before muster drill and get to know the venues I consider important. Sarge, I wish I could get away with a beach bag but I have a bit more stuff that I have to drag along so I'm stuck with extra carry on junk.

And I respect that completely but that doesn't prevent me from being confused. I am not arguing with you... just stating my opinion as well. Also, my post was not all caps... caps can be used to indicate emphasis.

Let's see if I follow you here... you're supposed to be on an airliner for, say, five hours. They charge you for little things like water or the ability to bring a suitcase with you. Because of circumstances beyond their control or even something UNDER their control your five hour journey takes an entire day... or two... or three. You miss meetings, lose days of vacation and likely lose the cost of at least a portion of that vacation. What do you expect back from the airline? Nothing. On the other hand, for the same price as a five hour flight you board a cruise ship to be served hand and foot, feed very good food three... four times a day or as often as you wish, be entertained, transported and pampered for a week. Mother nature unleashes weather that makes putting into port hazardous to your continued existence and they have to cancel a port or two TO WHICH YOU AGREED WHEN YOU PURCHASED THE CRUISE and you want to be compensated by the cruise line but you let the airline off the hook. Hummmm... still very confused...

I've had a bunch of experiences just like that...our cruise at the end of October started out at $1063/person. We're currently at $761/person!! Now, that's a pretty nice break! With a bit of luck we'll see a little more of a drop that will show up as OBC!!!

I'm of exactly the same opinion as Shari and Michael & Amy. The sampling idea is a great one... from the time I first heard of it that's what I thought. However, it's not a good substitute for a bartender AND you're paying MORE! A Thirsty Frog Red is $5.50 for a 20 ounce glass at the Red Frog Pub (or anywhere else you get it at a bar...) and from the self serve dispenser it's $5.80 for 20 ounces!!!

Here's the picture of Cap't Pazzo with his nametag...

WHOA...Easy Deb!!! The time flew by and surprised me about the November cruise coming! Don't want the time to go too fast before it becomes another cruise memory Cruise memories are some of the best memories! We relish our memories of past cruises and frequently chat about them on our website... We also have a 'cruise wall' with pictures of our favorite voyages and ports. Every time our friends drop by that's one of the first spots they visit... to share in the memories!!!! Looks like a fun wall... Thank you, Janice. It really is a fun wall. In the foreground are our mascots. The bird is Machimo Marino (a friend, Massimo Marino, was Master of the Carnival Conquest for many years...) and the pirate in blue is Captain Pazzo. Pazzo is 'crazy' in Italian! He actually has his own (real) Carnival crewmember name tag!!

Yikes! Mine has gone up, too. I guess it pays to book early! Yep... at least a year in advance for us, too... We very frequently see price reductions! I can tell you, from my client's experience, that the old saw regarding booking at the last minute very seldom works any more...

Keep on cruisin'!!! Platinum can't be that far away and you'll LOVE it!!! I'm bummed I am not getting "grandfathered in" at the end of this year, but I will only be 23 sailing days away ... It won't be long :) Under the 'old' rules a three day is as good as a seven day! It still might happen!!! Keep those good cruisin' thoughts goin'!!!!

WHOA...Easy Deb!!! The time flew by and surprised me about the November cruise coming! Don't want the time to go too fast before it becomes another cruise memory Cruise memories are some of the best memories! We relish our memories of past cruises and frequently chat about them on our website... We also have a 'cruise wall' with pictures of our favorite voyages and ports. Every time our friends drop by that's one of the first spots they visit... to share in the memories!!!!

Keep on cruisin'!!! Platinum can't be that far away and you'll LOVE it!!!

A ship just out of dry dock is always a good thing! I love seeing the upgrades and even simple things like fresh paint and carpet. Ya' just can't beat that 'new ship smell'!!!

Ahhh... one of the best landmarks headed toward a cruise! We had final payment today for our October 27 sailing on the Carnival Magic and we (and the rest of our group...) are THRILLED about!!! Getting close to ANY cruise is a wonderful feeling. We haven't sailed since March so we're suffering pretty hard right now!!! GET ME ON A SHIP!!!!

An excellent choice, to be sure. Every cruise line has its pluses and minuses, fans and detractors, As long as YOU are happy with your choice then that's the cruise line for you. Sadly, there are a couple of cruise lines who make a habit of slandering other lines in order to boost their position in the eyes of their faithful...

Good point, Howard. I highlighted the exact same thing regarding the failed health inspection you remarked about. There's a MASSIVE difference between a mechanical failure and an intentional effort to hid evidence of outright inexcusable abuses of regulations designed to assure minimum standards the keep passengers and crew from food related illness. I do have to say that Carnival has shown great responsibility and leadership in the area of ensuring passenger comfort in the event of failure of propulsion or power generation system. They're investing $300,000,000 in fleet wide upgrades to these systems that will assure power and air conditioning to all cabins and power the galley should something untoward occur. If you look at which shipbuilders have been involved in the construction of Carnival ships they're the same organizations that build for other lines. It doesn't require a huge leap of logic to assume that the propulsion and power generation systems are much the same from cruise line to cruise line, meaning that other lines are likely targets for the same issues that have impacted Carnival in the recent past. As I mentioned previously, it's not a matter of if it will happen but WHEN it will happen.

We cruise in the fall every year... from very late August to early November and we've never been disappointed and have encountered some great deals and price reductions! Of course, this is the peak of hurricane season but in all of my cruises I've only missed two ports because of the weather... oddly enough both were on one cruise. You really can't beat this time frame... the temps in the Caribbean are dropping a bit, the prices are dropping a bunch, the ships aren't as crowded and the vast majority of destinations are still available. The point regarding re-positioning cruise is an excellent one. I've seen 16 day transatlantic sailings that are under $40/per/day and you just can't beat that!

Pardon me Howard if I seem to be reading into your post, but if your referring to the Carnival Triumph with your remark of "incompetence" related to the failed sailing she had, I would like you to watch this video posted on YouTube from a passenger that sailed the Triumph when she failed. PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL NOTE AT THE 4:09 TIME WHERE THE POSITIVE RESPONSE FROM CARNIVAL EMPLOYEES BEGIN AND AT 5:50 WHERE THE POSTER IDENTIFIES THE ACTIONS OF THE TRIUMPH CREW. We sailed on the Triumph a few years prior to that incident and she was and IS a beautiful vessel. It is an unfortunate happening but from all indications (reports and posts), the crew did the best they could with the resources they had to work with. Again, excuse me if I mis-read your post, but the video is worth watching..... Thank you, Sarge... I sailed on the Triumph two weeks before the incident and she was lovely with a fabulous crew. Jen was actually the stand in CD on the Conquest when she got stuck at sea because of Hurricane Ike so she's no stranger to adverse situations. A very good friend of mine was on the Triumph for the problematic cruise and he had nothing but praise for the staff and crew. What was seen on the various news channels and news shows was extraordinarily rare if not vastly blown out of proportion. Regardless of the cruise line in question the first duty of the staff and crew is to the safety and comfort of the guest and what we saw in the video you posted is an excellent example of that. Once again, my thanks. - Mach

That's pretty close to how Carnival handled the situation with the Triumph except that Carnival also gave each passenger $500 cash and paid for all of their housing and transportation needs... Seems like Celebrity took a lesson from someone else...

Roger that, Sarge!! In fact, throw me in that brier pit! I LOVE sea days and I'd take a few additional days bobbing about sea if something went wrong. I know that the cruise line would take good care of us ensure that we're entertained and fed! I remember when the Conquest couldn't come home to Galveston because of Hurricane Ike. They got an additional 5 days on a perfectly functional ship before making port in NOLA and being transported and housed by the cruise line. Man! That sounds like a dream to me!!!

Excellent point... makes me wonder about complications resulting from such wide flung operations. I know that the industry is about 50 years old but despite that is it mature enough to handle a truly global reach?

I'll keep watching but if you recall the incident aboard the Grandeur of the Seas (the fire...) there was much less wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of the media than there was regarding the Triumph. If you consider that last year there were 14,700,000 cruise line passengers world wide and then look at the approximately 3000 people effected by the problem on the Triumph (truly impacted... not inconvenienced as in a cancelled sailing...) your chances of encountering a similar situation looks like it's less than .02%... that's pretty good odds your cruise will be trouble free!

Wow... 5 new ships by 2018? Makes one wonder if the capacity can be met by demand or will the capacity drive down the price point of a cruise on these ships markedly. Is RCCL considering retiring some of their older fleet? If the answer is yes an additional newbuild or two would make sense. If not... I hope they have a real good crystal ball in their HQ...

This should be interesting... will the media beat up on Celebrity the way they bashed Carnival? There wasn't a peep in the media about this... http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/US-Warship-Suffers-Generator-Problems-at-Sea-2013-07-22/ Ships are simply machines... nothing more. EVERY machine will break. When I was flying with the Air Force we memorized, word for word, procedures to follow in the event of various mechanical and system failures... and these are some of the most technically advanced machines in the world! The procedures I referenced were called 'Bold Face Emergency Procedures' and if you could not spit them out verbatim at ANY time you were grounded... end of story. Why? Because we KNEW the machine was going to fail at some point... it was never a question of 'will it?'... it was a question of 'When will it?' If a billion dollar jet is EXPECTED to fail why should anyone be stunned when an engine shuts down on a cruise ship? - getting off my soap box now -

Isn't it amazing? The simple ability to visit my balcony any time I want and glory in the sea Most balconies are a little on the small side but... as we've heard in the past... size doesn't matter! Just being there is the answer!!!