It suits us. It's only about a 10 hour drive from home. Stay the nite b4 in Texas City. No angst about getting there. CCL (or at least this ship) likes to turn down the a/c late at nite. Hot water issues one nite, notice that it would be off at 10pm, fixed by 6AM. Not exactly, more like 11AM. Haven't showered in cold water since NAM. Won't do it ever again. We will do this ship a couple of more times, it works for us. They're moving it to FL next year. Since covid, we have lowered our expectations, which seems to work. What once was, isn't so much anymore. Did go the IMAX one evening, and amazingly saw BLACK ADAM. it had JUST come out in the theatres. Stupid movie. But a good couple hours of CGI nonsense. Good movies are rare, since they require good actors. Wish there was a way to know whats playing in advance.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Surprisingly efficient, Galveston has it down pat. As long as all the clerks show up.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
MDRs are mundane as usual. Food just a shade above that. Long gone are table cloths. Latest beancountery is reusing silverware from one course to another. Noisy place. Actually noisier than Jurassic Park. Our Lead waiter was the saviour of the whole thing. Extremely attentive, and we appreciated it. Bartenders back in the HAVANA section are there for a reason. And we appreciated THAT.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Don't bother with them anymore. We cruise to eat, drink, engage with other like minded folks. If crowd-avoidance is a sport, we're world class. ""Our" pool and hots tubs are just fine, wandered over the public ones...well....
Entertainment
Seen stage shows when they were truly production numbers. Seen what they have become on CCL and others.
Children's Programs
No kids.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Every last single person we engaged with was beyond pleasant, and helpful. Clearly glad to be working again, and showed it.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
We were all over the ship, but stayed mostly in or near the stern HAVANA section. Ship was clean, although mysterious "propulsion issues" allegedly caused them to add sea days and cancel a port, not that we particularly cared.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Had this before. Wraparound balcony big enough for ten people, with loungers and chairs. Would have paid more for it. One of the reason we book so early. TV is beyond terrible. fully half of them are there to hype CCL. The others are blecch. You better like old movies. But then we don't cruise to watch TV.
Ship tip
Learn to use the HUB. it can be quirky/balky. If an elevator shows up, get on it, even if its going the wrong way. Nuff said.
Walked off. Be prepared to get up early. Parked across the street in a Port of Galveston building. Opened an account there awhile back. Closest to the ship, and there are always discounts available.
Large corner wraparound balconies are the only reason I go on CCL.
Booked (PIF) B2B for this fall for that very reason - fall colors peeping from a wraparound Woo Hoo! Not so fast, ship change downgraded us to side cabins, still aft but on side. And in different cabins, no less, so we have to change between weeks.
Carnival makes it very difficult to justify sailing on them when there are other, less painful, options.
But, thanks for the review and the update on your slight blunder. :)
Already apologized twice once in here and once in the FORUM for getting this cruise confuzzled with another, and why. If you had scanned down just a few entries you would have seen why. As for the hot water..whatever other failings I might have, I can still tell time.
I loved your review. I am a master at crowd avoidance too! And the beancountery about the utensils is spot on and drove me nuts! Please keep writing reviews!
ALMHOUTEX. Mea culpa. You were right about the itinerary. Per the memo we got from CCL, the cruises affected were 10/15, 10/29, 11/12, 1/21, 2/04, and our next (on CCL) 2/18. Complete with OBC's to compensate. Shows you how much we care about where the ship goes. Especially in the W. Car. Seen the sights, and the junque stores. Jungle impressed me in another life..not anymore. The hot water on the other hand did NOT come on untill almost eleven. Possibly took that long to get it everywhere on board. The two hot tubs back in HAVANA were completely empty took until almost 9 to refill them. Not a big deal. Thanks for correcting me...scheduled to be on her 3x more with some NCLs in amongst them the next two years. Point is, if i cared about those items, we wouldn't sail on her..lots of other choices available.
I was on this cruise. There was neither a missed port nor added sea days. They followed our itinerary as planned. Cozumel day was shorter than usual, only until 3 pm, but it was not skipped. They did turn off the hot water one night for maintenance and the informed us it would be happening. It was turned back on as promised. These things are going to happen when a vessel is in service 24/7/365.
You sound like my kind of guy, straight forward and tell's it like it is. Bet you have not heard this in a few years, but thank you for your service. I was 4f and never went.
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