Hi Stephanie/John: A couple of weeks ago, I noted some CruiseCritic members will be on the 11/11 “Spirit”. If at all possible, I’d truly appreciate a “Meet/Greet”. Possibly the late morning of the first “Fun Day at Sea”.

Also, you noted Stuart Dunn will be our CD. If he could have him autograph a photo of the ship with something wishing us “good luck”. I’ll make copies.

My address:
Jim LeQuesne
9810 Reseda #319
Northridge, CA 91324

E-mail: jleq@yahoo.com

Thank you…

Thanks to you and Boris again for the detailed answer to my question about the coed sauna on the Carnival Dream. Your past guest tally spawned a new pondering, now, which I hope you can answer.

On the Carnival Glory this past May, the past guest party (and captain’s party for that matter) was held in one of the aft lounges on the ship…or I should say, THREE of the aft lounges of the ship. The main lounge was so packed with past guests, you probably couldn’t squeeze one more body through the door with a plunger and a sledgehammer. (The woman who complained about the costumes in “Ticket To Ride” surely would have had a apoplectic fit over the large number of bums pressed tightly against the glass front wall of the lounge!)

Anyway, the crewmembers were very quick-thinking and directed the overflow of guests to the 2 adjacent lounges, but both of these lounges also filled to capacity in a relatively short time. The crew tried hard to keep up with the guests in the overflow lounges, but of course no one in those 2 lounges could see or hear anything going on in the main lounge.

So at the risk of sounding like a big whiner, I just have to ask – why is the past guest reception not held in the main showroom? It seems that venue can accommodate the increasingly growing number of past guests, and also avoid the fire safety issues that arise from overcrowded lounges.

My girlfriends and I will be on the Carnival Spirit-Sept 15-28, 2009,Vancouver, B.C.-Hawaii. We are reviewing the excursions and one we would very much like to do is the “Pearl Harbor/City and Shopping w/Airport Transfer” on debarkation day-September 28. When looking at the excursion on-line it states we have to buy on board and does not give a price. We are trying to budget and would very much like to know the price so we know how much to bring… Also I was wondering how soon to the cruise do they assign cabins. As of today we still have a “TBA” in the cabin section of our reservation. Do they wait close to the sailing date so if upgrades are possible that is the time they do them. thanks for your time.
~millie

The “BEST” Carnival Vacation

The Carnival Addiction
(I know after our first cruise I was an addict!)LOL

The Carnival Royale
(As in Royal Treatment)

The Carnival DeStressor

The Carnival Chicken of the Seas (LOL!)

The Carnival DeValued Dollar Stretcher
(Naw sounds too French)

The Carnival Life Enhancor

The Carnival Joy Spreader

The Carnival Caribbean Skies

Sorry!
You get the idea
James & Nancy
The Cruzin2some

While I enjoy all of your blogs, I especially love reading the ship-board anecdotes!

About the electronic documents: I was nervous about them at first (because I was worried about the durability of paper luggage tags), but we’ve yet to lose even one after three cruises using them. Having said that, I will make a point of using Linda (Mom of DJ)’s idea to reinforce them with packing tape.

Here’s a suggestion: Could you have the tech-types PLEASE make it so you can electronically add in the guest name, cabin number and contact (phone number (perhaps a cell phone #) so I don’t have to do this by hand for all of the tags we use for each cruise? It seems that it should be easy to set it up so that this information is transferred from the on-line check-in system (which has to be completed before electronic documents are provided). It would also have the added benefit of greater security and efficiency, as the information would be much more legible than many of the hand-written tags I’ve seen on others’ bags. Just a thought…

Also, please tell me that you were mistaken that Carnival is now primarily using Pier 21 @ Ft. Lauderdale. While the building is larger than pier 19, the traffic flow is MISERABLE there. On our return from our last cruise, the conflicting orders of various law enforcement personnel caused me to drive around for approximately 20 minutes before I could pick up my family, who were waiting curbside in the sweltering area designated by pierside and law enforcement personnel.

Finally, thanks for the recent updates from Bubba and Heidi.

Best to you, Heidi and Kye,
Rick H.

As another Georgia gal here, all I can say about dear drunk gal, Bless her heart, its not her fault her Mama didn’t raise her right, a proper southern lady wouldn’t be caught dead acting like a fool. Shame, Shame on her!

Thank you so much — and to “Bubba” Roberts as well — for answering our question regarding which side of the ship offered the best views in Alaska. Not only did you take the time to ask Chris the question, but he took the time to answer.

You two are just a couple of the reasons that we, and others, keep coming back to Carnival. You truly are family…well, maybe better than family. I’m not sure family members would take the time to actually answer my question!

Thanks again!
Patty and Rich Byrd