The first segment of our around-the-world trip was a 22-night cruise on the Carnival Luminosa, plus one day preceding the cruise. So this is basically a cruise review.
The Carnival Luminosa
We have now lived on this ship on two separate journeys that combined for 52 nights. We know the ship well. It is a good ship. We love the Ocean Plaza venue with its large dance floor and the casino, while not kind to us, is well laid out. The theater is nice. The only issues we have with the ship is the layout of the serving stations on the Lido deck – we have to walk a long way to see what is being served. The ship also needs a laundromat.
Highlights:
- The band. As in the previous cruise, the dance band (called “Beauty and the Beat” on this cruise) was terrific. Good musicians, great vocals.
- The shows. The entertainment was generally good and the full-cast shows in the theater were exceptionally good.
- The watermelon art. Both Marlene and I loved the wonderfully watermelon carvings that adorned the buffet area every day.
Lowlights:
- The price of internet. I get a day of internet occasionally – 4 times in 22 nights on this cruise. It was priced at $22 per day on the last cruise but was raised to $30 per day on this cruise. Seemed like price gouging.
- The need to insert the room key to play a slot machine. This is a new requirement. Carnival claims that it is to “make sure we get full points credit.” But there was widespread suspicion that our gaming activity was being tracked and slot behavior may have been altered based on our individual gaming behaviors.