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Program Offers Wide Range of Cruise Durations and Ports, from Three-Day Weekend Getaways to Longer Length Adventures to Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii and the Panama Canal MIAMI (Dec. 2, 2019) – Carnival Cruise Line, the world’s largest cruise operator, returned to thePort of San Diego this weekend to launch a winter schedule of three- to 15-day voyages aboard Carnival Miracle, marking the line’s first departure from the port in seven years. The cruise schedule began yesterday with a seven-day sailing to the Mexican Riviera, and features a wide range of durations and destinations, including: · three-day weekend getaways visiting Ensenada Dec. 27, 2019 and Jan. 3, 2020. · five-day voyages departing Dec. 22, 2019, and Jan. 12, 2020, that spend two days in Cabo San Lucas. · a four-day New Year's Baja Mexico cruise featuring Catalina Island and Ensenada departing Dec. 30, 2019. · A six-day cruise featuring two days in Cabo San Lucas and a day-long visit to Ensenada departing Jan. 6, 2020. · Three longer-length Carnival Journeys adventures, including 14- and 15-day Hawaii cruises visiting popular destinations throughout the Aloha State departing Dec. 8, 2019 and Jan. 17, 2020, respectively, along with a 13-day Panama Canal sailing from San Diego to Miami Feb. 1-14, 2020 offering a unique opportunity to transit through the Panama Canal in addition to visiting exotic destinations in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia. Carnival Miracle features many of the line’s signature dining, entertainment and accommodations options, including guest favorites such as the Caribbean-inspired RedFrog Pub and cocktail pharmacy-themed Alchemy Bar, a water park, specialty dining options, a comedy club, and a 14,500-square-foot spa. “We’re delighted to return to the Port of San Diego to offer this diverse schedule of convenient and attractive voyages for our guests,” said Fred Stein, Carnival’s vice president of revenue, deployment and itinerary planning. “The West Coast is an important and fast-growing market for Carnival and these departures from San Diego provide guests a wide array of exciting cruise choices with stops along Baja Mexico, the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii.” “The Port of San Diego is excited for the return of Carnival Cruise Line as part of our homeported cruise business,” said Garry Bonelli, chairman of the board of port commissioners. “We are proud to once again partner with Carnival and we welcome Carnival Miracle to our cruise lineup.” Carnival Miracle will return to San Diego to operate another winter schedule in 2020-21. Carnival Miracle’s San Diego-based schedules are part of the line’s West Coast expansion that also includes its first-ever program from San Francisco to Alaska, Hawaii and Baja Mexico as well as the arrival of Carnival Panorama which kicks off a year-round schedule from Long Beach Dec. 11 – the company’s first new cruise ship in Southern California in 20 years. San Diego is an integral component of Carnival’s ship deployment strategy in which the line positions ships near large U.S. population bases along the East and West Coasts and the Gulf of Mexico. Including San Diego, Carnival sails from 19 North American homeports providing a cost-effective means for guests to get to and from their cruise. It’s estimated that roughly half of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive of a Carnival homeport. To learn more about Carnival Cruise Line, visit Carnival.com. For reservations, contact any travel agent or call 1-800-CARNIVAL. Carnival can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter andYouTube. Hey Park Journey Readers!! By now we're sure you've all heard about the Bolt Coaster that is debuting on the Carnival Mardi Gras in 2020. Well, our friends at The Coaster Guy have put together a group next December to not only spend 7 nights aboard the Mardi Gras cruising the Caribbean, but also to ride the all new Bolt Coaster. We are already registered and wanted to offer you all a chance to register as well. When you register, make sure you indicate that you heard about the cruise through Park Journey (as shown below). We'll have some special treats just for those who join through us.  Click here to register for the Coaster Cruise!! You can see all of the information about the Cruise below. In 2020, Carnival Cruise Line will launch Mardi Gras, the largest ship they have ever built. At 188,000 gross tons, with enough room for over 6,600 passengers, it is the very first ship in their brand new XL-class and the 5th largest cruise ship in the world.  For us coaster enthusiasts, the most exciting thing about this ship is not how big it is, or how many passengers it holds. What we are excited about is what is bolted to the top of it - a roller coaster!! The Mardi Gras will be home to Bolt: The Ultimate Sea Coaster, the first and only roller coaster at sea. The only way to get this coaster credit is to take this cruise!  Come join us on one of the very first sailings of this magnificent ship and spend a week riding a very unique roller coaster while visiting three exotic island locations - Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Turks & Caicos.  If you have never cruised before, absolutely everything is included! For less than a typical hotel room per night, you get your stateroom, all your food, entertainment, and stops in three exotic ports of call for an entire week. Here is what is included: Stateroom Amenities
Food and Drink
Onboard Activities - Day & Night
Much like a theme park, the Mardi Gras will be made up of six distinct themed zones, with each area uniquely inspired to create a different atmosphere. This allows you to create your own personalized vacation, as you roam from zone to zone, each with different dining, drinking, entertainment, recreation, and relaxation options. The six zones are: Grand Central Your cruise will start in the main atrium, which is called Grand Central. The first thing you will notice are the high ceilings, giving you a peek at the fun happening on the three decks immediately above you. There will be lots of natural light streaming in from the floor to ceiling windows, providing you with amazing ocean views. It is here you can enjoy a nice cup of coffee while enjoying live music from the stage, or grabbing a handcrafted cocktail before a show.  The French Quarter As the name implies, this zone is inspired by none other than New Orleans itself. The French Quarter is lined with bars and eateries worthy of their namesake, serving up everything from small plates to classic Hurricane cocktails straight from the bayou. There is also a hot jazz club, as well as funky little shops to explore.  Summer Landing This zone is considered the greatest chill spot at sea! This is where you will find Guy's Pig & Anchor Smokehouse and Brewhouse, with freshly smoked favorites designed by celebrity chef Guy Fieri. You can wash all that smoked meat goodness down with Parched Pig beers, which are brewed right onboard with a resident brewmaster. Of course, this is all available just mere feet from a swimming pool and hot tub. La Piazza This zone is home to the 24-hour Pizzeria del Capitano, with pizzas made to order using imported Italian flour and fresh mozzarella cheese. It will also house the specialty Italian restaurant Cucina del Capitano, as well as a new Mediterranean spot specializing in seafood. Look for roaming musicians that will enhance your time spent in this zone.  Lido If you have ever sailed on a Carnival ship before, you should be familiar with the Lido deck. This is where a lot of outdoor fun happens. Wrapped around the pool, you'll find Guy's Burger Joint, the Seafood Shack, and the BlueIguana Cantina taco spot, which also serves amazing breakfast burritos! At night, grab some soft-serve from Swirls and pull up a lounge chair to watch the evening's Dive-In Movie on the giant TV screen.  The Ultimate Playground Last, but certainly not least, is The Ultimate Playground. This zone has something for everyone. First and foremost is Bolt: Ultimate Sea Coaster, the first and only roller coaster at sea. There is also the largest WaterWorks water park that Carnival has ever built, with three huge spiraling slides. SportSquare has a full mini golf course, an elevated ropes course, a full basketball court, and more. That should be enough to get your blood pumping! Here are some additional artist renderings of what different parts of the ship will look like Bolt: Ultimate Sea Coaster The Bolt roller coaster is an industry first! Never before has anyone ever been so bold as to attach a roller coaster to the top of a cruise ship. Leave it to a Carnival Fun Ship to do what we've been dreaming about for years! This coaster is located at the highest point of the ship, giving you 360 degree ocean views as you circle the iconic red, white, and blue Carnival whale tail funnel. Unlike traditional roller coasters, this one is not powered by gravity, as there is no lift hill. Instead, it's electric powered, so you launch out of the station, and you control how fast (or slow) you go on the track. Here are some stats:
Cruising 101 For those of you who have never cruised before, I would like to explain a few basics. First and foremost, cruising is a lot of fun!! This is not your grandfather's cruise. Think of it as a nice hotel room, situated inside a small city of entertainment, that moves from country to country as you sleep. Every day you wake up, there's something new to see and do. You will have the entire day to explore the city and/or country, having fun and creating new memories. For those days at sea, there is a ton of things to do on the ship. In fact, you will likely not even get to do or experience everything that you want just because there is so much there. Between the shows, bars, entertainers, sports, restaurants...you will never get bored. I promise! As I mentioned above, absolutely everything you need for the week is included in your base cruise fare; room, meals, entertainment, etc. Just like a hotel, your room will be made up daily, and you'll never go hungry. However, sodas and alcoholic drinks are not included. You can either pay for them as you go, or you can buy a drink package, either soda or alcoholic. They're basically unlimited, all-you-can-drink options that make drinking onboard much easier, and a whole lot less expensive. If you think you might drink more than five drinks a day, then a drink package will save you a ton of money. Ask me for details. Shore excursions are another cruise add-on that are very popular. Every port of call has different vendors that provide local adventures you can go on, for a fee. Depending on the location, you can ride horses on the beach, go wine tasting in the valley, sail around the island on a catamaran, go golfing, scuba diving, zip lining through the jungle, or any number of fun things in that area. Ask me for details. The staterooms we have chosen for this group are some of the nicest cabins on the ship. They are on a high floor, for great visibility, and are mostly located mid-ship, so you are never that far from your room. They also have private balconies, so you can sit outside in total privacy and watch the world float by. While in port, you may even have a beautiful view of the island or surrounding area. If you'd like to spring for something even nicer, or perhaps bigger, we can certainly arrange that for whatever the nominal price difference is. If you'd like to try and save a little money, we can also downgrade your room for an ocean view or inside cabin. Talk to me if you think you might like something different. The base price for this cruise that we have locked in with Carnival is $964/person, based on double occupancy, not including port fees and taxes. This means that you need to commit to two people in each cabin to get this price. If you're a solo traveler, there is a 200% supplement charge, which is a fancy way of saying that you'll basically be paying double for the privilege of having the cabin to yourself. Each cabin will either have one king size bed, or two twins, based on your preference during booking. The port fees and taxes are just that. They are fees that Carnival gets charged every time they dock in a foreign port. They take that cost and split it up amongst the passengers, so everybody pays their fair share. This amount varies on every cruise, based on the ports you call on, and how many of them there are. For this cruise, it's $127.52/person and there's no getting out of it. Therefore, when you look at the total cost for this cruise, it comes to $1,091.52/person. We only have a limited number of cabins guaranteed at this rate. Once they are gone, we can still book you into the group, but the cost will be based on whatever the prevailing rate is that day. Bottom line is - book soon to guarantee the best price. This cruise comes out to be just under $156/person per day for the entire week. You can barely find a decent hotel room for that, not to mention all the food you care to eat, entertainment, transportation between multiple countries, all on a brand new ship. And, don't forget that you will also get a brand new coaster credit that all of your friends will be jealous of! It really is a tremendous value for a wonderful vacation! You also do not need to pay for the entire cruise right away. Since we do not sail until December 2020, you have almost two whole years to save for it. All you need to pay now is a small deposit to lock in a cabin on the ship. For a nominal deposit of $250/person, you not only guarantee your spot on the ship, but you also get to pick out your exact cabin. The sooner you sign up, the better cabin selection there is to choose from. The rest of the money isn't due until Sep 21, 2020. You can wait and pay it all at once, or you can make smaller payments along the way. However you want to do it. You can also rest assured that everything is 100% refundable up until that same date, Sep 21, 2020. Two years is a long ways away and we never know what the future holds for us. If something comes up and you can't make the trip, you can rest assured that you can get your money back up until Sep 21, 2020. Even after that date, you can still get a refund, but there will be penalties involved. The closer to the cruise date you cancel, the more severe the penalties are. I will go over all the dates with you when you book. One expense that people don't often warn new cruisers about is the gratuities. The cruise lines charge all guests a flat gratuity per person, per day, for the duration of the cruise. This covers the tips for all the various people that will wait on you throughout each day, such as your cabin steward, bartenders, and restaurant wait staff. For Carnival, this is currently set at $13.99/day, or $97.93/person for the entire week ($15.99/person for suites). This can either be prepaid before the cruise, or it will be added to your onboard account that must be settled before you depart. If you choose not to pre-pay it, you will have the opportunity to discuss it with Guest Services at the end of your cruise if you are dissatisfied for any reason. They will do their best to make it right with you. The gratuities are the only mandatory expense that is not included in your cruise fare. I mention it here because I never want anyone getting to the end of a cruise that I arranged and get blindsided with an unexpected expense. In Closing This is going to be an amazing cruise! A brand new ship, a new roller coaster, three amazing islands...how could it not be? All that is missing right now is you! I will be personally escorting this group, so I really hope to see you there! Be sure to click on the Cruise Information tab above to see more specifics about the ship and where we will be going. If you already know you want to go for sure, click on the Register tab above and fill out the form. It won't collect any credit card information, but it will alert me to call you and we can walk through the details. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me (310.424.5591). -Kurt Dahlin Grab all your coaster friends and join us on this amazing adventure!! Related Videos:
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