RoadTravelled

@Kendall James-Vargas I tend to agree with you. The idea behind this is sound, it's just the execution that I think needs some re-evaluation. As you can see by the pics you included, the light really lights up that couch area. I can't imagine how trying to sleep there would be affected by this light.

@Kendall James-Vargas We have been on Viking river cruises before and are getting ready for another one in September. As far as I know, CCL doesn't do river cruises but I could be wrong. Maybe one of the sister lines? Anyway, as to cost, it's really an apples & oranges kind of thing. Yes, when you get a quote it does look expensive in comparison. But, the thing you have to remember is that it is all-inclusive, unlike CCL which is basically an unbundled package — a build-a-cruise kind of thing. So, on Viking for example on our next trip, the price quoted included the airfare round-trip to Europe; shuttle service from the airport to the boat and hotels (if doing pre- or post-cruise stays) and back to the airport; excursions in every port; high-speed Wi-Fi while traveling on the boat; all dining options (no upcharges); wine, beer, and soft-drinks at lunch & dinner; 24-hour specialty coffees, teas & bottled water; dedicated Viking staff at the airports and hotels to guide you at each step; and much more. If you add all of those things into a ocean-view cabin on CCL as an example, especially if you are traveling to Europe by plane, then in reality it is very similar in cost. And, you have the added benefit of a small ship atmosphere with less than 200 people and the staff attention that goes with that. I find it is a good value all-in-all. Of course it can't beat those insane deals that @euroguy gets on CCL! LOL

@3Sisters Apparently this is a new feature that they are slowly adding to all of the cabins fleetwide on Carnival ships. John Heald, brand ambassador, posted a video a couple of days ago of how it works. It's designed to help people get to the bathroom safely at night. The white light is underneath the wardrobe closets across from the bathroom in kind of a track it seems. There is a sensor that triggers when you get out of bed to light the floor in that little hallway. It goes off automatically after about a minute. It is fairly bright as many people have noted and as I see from the video. And, there have already been a ton of people complaining about it, especially since apparently there is no way to turn it off. There's also the problem of when you have a 3rd person sleeping on the couch. Every time they turn over the sensor goes off. The easiest work-around I've seen posted so far is to put a band-aid over the sensor itself. It is located on the light at floor level under the closet. It looks like a red button. I'm not sure this was thought through all of the way.

@Stanley Per my post earlier, you can bring your own onboard with you if you wish. So, if you want to pick up a gallon at Walmart you can, you just have to lug it onboard with all of your equipment and carry-on luggage. You don't have to pay for it with Carnival. But, it would seem to me much better to pre-order this for about $5.00 total and have it in your stateroom waiting for you rather than having to carry it onboard. I don't see that as any inconvenience at all. You can also just purchase it once onboard, subject to availability. That's the issue here. Remember ships are finite spaces. They only have so much room. They can't carry every single possible product and in the quantities that a pax might want. They have to be judicious in their use of space. So, either bring it onboard yourself or pre-purchase and you should be good. Either way, it's cheap. Part of cruising is planning ahead and knowing the rules no matter what cruise line you are on.

@Cruising Caribbean Carnival Corporation is making great progress in this effort as well, including a recent announcement about now "plugging in" at Port Miami with Carnival Conquest.

@euroguy We fly to Amsterdam to catch the boat. It's actually a river cruise on the Rhine that ends in Basel, Switzerland. We stay some extra days there and then fly home.

@Kendall James-Vargas Thanks for the update on the brawl. Such a sad statement about the lack of civility writ large these days. Glad to see that they got fined and are now banned from Carnival in the future. I wonder if Carnival shares that info with their other brands owned by CCL as well to prevent them from sailing those also. There really should be an industry wide "no cruise" list much like the "no fly" list TSA uses. They were fortunate that they didn't do this earlier in the 5-day cruise as that might have meant they would have been put off the ship in Mexico or Honduras to fend for themselves. Would have been a just punishment for sure.

@euroguy We've been lucky so far in our fly program. But, we've only used it for international flights. I think that's where you get the biggest savings. Flights to Europe are just stupid expensive these days. As you mentioned, domestic flights are much easier to manipulate and get deals. We've also been able, to some extent, change what they originally book us on for better times. But, you are right, it's a bit restrictive otherwise. We have another Europe one coming up in late September/ early October that all of the connecting seems to work great. This is not a CCL cruise so it also includes the shuttle service from the airport to the boat both ways — a nice benefit. So, fingers crossed!

@Cruising Caribbean You are absolutely correct. It's getting harder and harder to find those really great deals. I think I need to take up gambling in the casino so I can get those fabulous deals that @euroguy always gets! LOL And, you are right as well that flight costs added in can really be significant, especially getting to Europe! Using the programs from the cruise lines that include airfare though has saved us thousands as they get really great bulk discounts. And, our upcoming cruise they even threw in the flight (economy class) for "free." Of course, we know nothing is really free, but that still put the overall cost of the cruise to a "reasonable" level and we had the added benefit of the cruise controlling the air and transfers. So, if anything went sideways, they would work to make sure we got on the boat.

@3Sisters Please note that the excursions in question in this article were NOT CCL run or booked. The guests booked a 3rd party company to do the excursions. It was that 3rd party company that is now refusing to give refunds. So, CCL did not have any obligation to refund any money as they didn't get any money in the first place. This just points out one of the hazards of not booking excursions with CCL. Those were indeed refunded when the port was missed as is standard protocol.

@Cruising Caribbean The International Maritime Organization (IMO), which regulates the shipping industry, explicitly states this requirement in its International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea: “A master of a ship at sea, which is in a position to be able to provide assistance on receiving a signal from any source that persons are in distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance.” Ship crew have a legal and moral obligation to help distressed seafarers. The duty to respond to persons in need of assistance at sea is based on the moral obligation to save human life. It is not about PR, costs, or small inconveniences of people on a cruise vacation due to any delays that may occur. It's simple human decency. Cruise ships do this all of the time, as they should.

@Tootie @3Sisters As I understand it, the reason CCL does not allow unpackaged food (e.g. homemade, freshly made at retail stores, etc.) to come onboard is one of health considerations. Apparently there were instances of such items being brought and distributed to members of the crew by guests in the past. And, for whatever reason, it made crew members ill (spoiled items, contaminated in error, non-agreeable ingredients, etc.). So, CCL now does not allow anything except pre-packaged items. They can not afford to have crew members sick for many obvious reasons. I bring Ghirardelli chocolate squares that are packaged in individual packets to hand out to crew as a thank you. They are a great size (about 2 bites worth) and are excellent quality. The crew loves them (and of course I have to have some on the trip as well each night...LOL). You can buy them all over the place so easily available. I've never had any issue with bringing them onboard. I just make sure I don't open the bag of them prior to boarding. A bag of about 15 individually wrapped squares or so will only cost you around $6. So well worth it.

Yes, we go up and grab a quick breakfast in the buffet. As I remember, you only have to be out of the cabin by 8:30am. So, after breakfast, we come back to the cabin, finish packing, and then head out. Easy!

@3Sisters @euroguy My roller-board maybe better characterized as "medium" perhaps? It is about 21" tall and expands to about 9" deep. Like you, in the end it usually ways around 40 lbs. as I stuff it as full as I can get it. And, the backpack is also jammed full including my extra pair of shoes and even my laptop. So, it weighs quite a bit but still fits on top of the roller-board. When boarding, I do check the roller-board with the port crew and have it delivered to the room. I only carry the backpack on the ship. Since we are Platinum, we can drop the backpack in the cabin, even before they are officially ready, and then immediately leave so the stewards can finish their work. That makes it easy to get on with stuff on the ship without having to drag luggage around. We've pretty much given up on worrying about suits and tux wear. We just bring a nice collared dress shirt and nice sweater or vest to wear over it with dress pants. That's the dressiest that we get. I pick clothes that can be mixed and matched and wear them multiple times, especially jeans and shorts. If we are expecting cold weather, I wear my coat on the plane rather than packing it. Since we get free laundry now, the longer voyages can do with less as we just have the basics cleaned mid-trip (socks, t-shirts, and underwear). During the night we air out everything (leave the closet doors open). We still try to dress appropriately and feel clean, I just don't obsess over it like I used to (I would never wear anything twice in years past for instance). Yes, if you self-assist, you are the first off the ship. And, we've never had a problem with doing that. In fact, it makes it really easy because there is usually no line (everyone else is waiting for their group to get called). And, as noted above, we are off the ship and in the taxi in less that 10 minutes or so. The only clog we usually have is getting an elevator. As you probably know, the crew locks down the mid-ship elevators to move luggage which restricts availability. But, getting ahead of the crowd is key, so we do the self-assist and will do so as long as we are able to that physically.

@3Sisters Yes, self-assist means you take all of your luggage off yourself. Click here for more details on "Option 1." I've slowly (and somewhat reluctantly...LOL) learned how to pack MUCH lighter than I used to do. So, I'm down to a backpack and small roller-board suitcase even for 14-day cruises. It's very easy to carry off as I put the backpack on top of the roller-board next to the handle and just go. We are off in minutes and in the ride-share car to the airport.