Cruise life

Oops, just saw you already booked. Sunshine for the ports!

Breeze for the ship!

Looks like that rule has changed. No sodas/water/etc. allowed on board at ports of call.

 

 

 

Ports of Call

 

All alcohol purchased in ports of call will be returned on the morning of debarkation. Non-alcoholic beverages are not permitted onboard and such items will be confiscated and discarded and no compensation will be provided.

thank you

Since this would be your first cruise, I think you would be thrilled with a Fantasy class ship. We are partial to Fascination out of Jacksonville, but we do have the Sunshine booked out of Charleston next May. We have heard the parking and boarding process in Charleston is pretty screwed up due to garages being a distance from the terminal, being ferried back and forth by shuttles, etc. Charleston is supposed to be in the process of building a newer terminal, hopefully with improved parking. That said, I'm not sure it's worth driving to JAX just because of the parking and terminal issues. I can't say anything about the Fantasy, other than I am on here a lot with almost 20 cruises down and have heard great things about the Fantasy ship. You won't miss the upgrades you haven't experienced. The Fantasy ships are super easy to navigate and you get a "homey" feel on them due to their smaller size.

Yes, the Bahamas is cooler, sometimes cold, in November, but usually the temps don't drop till January. It could be hot in November...you just take a chance there isn't a cold front that week. You could always do day passes at resorts that have heated pools on your port days.

As far as tips, if you don't prepay, they will automatically be added to your sign and sail card sometime during the cruise- I think they notify you in writing that they will be added on the 3rd day or something like that. You can remove them, but please don't...enough has been said on this topic. You can tip extra for really good service at any time, and many people do, usually on the last day.

We are looking forward to showing our kids the gala buffet and the baked Alaska.

The Cheers program is the cause of any drunken behavior. The only reason to try to stop bringing alcohol onboard is to make more money. Our success rate has been 100% in bringing alcohol onboard. I do not see anything changing that would affect this success. We have also never had a problem refilling at the ports.

I did read the whole thread, but I do want to clarify the refilling comment since we have never attempted to bring anything on board in ports other than embarkation ports.

The allowed limits are good at each and every port? I can buy a bottle of wine at each port and carry it on (and 12 cans of soda or water)?

I'm sure there is plenty of disorderly behavior by those buying as they go, as well as by those buying Cheers.

We were ported on the Fascination over at the other pier, but there was a ship by Mallory Square- it did not block the sunset. We had a late departure time as well, 10pm I think.

While food prices soar...

Panama and Costa Rica were two that were listed, although I know they have done cruises to them in the past, just nothing on a regular basis. They also listed two in Colombia - Cartegena and can't remember the other one.

I think the other one was Santa Marta

Someone wrote on here that they were on the ship unpacking and then they announced the cruise was cancelled.... You may not find out til the last minute! Cruise insurance would have been great in that case, which I am sure is the extreme.

I picked Bermuda, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Nassau (for greater access to Atlantis) and St. Lucia for overnights. I love this idea and hope to see more overnights soon. We got a beachfront hotel in Maui and stayed the night for our 25th- it was one of our better "excursions'!

we always do the steakhouse the first night (free bottle of wine). i recommend it. its worth the $35pp for the food you get!!

 

 

 

and as to why someone would pay extra $20 for the steakhouse menu in the regular MDR....because the MDR steaks arent that great (IMO)

Unfortunately, I agree with this. The reason we love the steakhouse is more for the service than the steaks.

How True! Some of what I would call just plain ole tacky is considered art by others....oh well.

It is the thought that counts; if I, or my children, design a decoration using materials we have on hand and it conveys a loving message to a family member, what business is it of anyone else's? ITA with this- of course my design is not going to please everyone. It's not supposed to. It's for my family and was designed with love for them, not anyone else.

I know people that claim to get what they call bounce back offers after a cruise where they played in the casino quite a bit. Like free offers or almost free. As far as I know, that is the only real deal going around right now....

I love the second the alarm sounds after muster to excuse everyone. I feel like that is the exact second my vacation starts.

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It's worth checking for Youtube videos as well; lots of people post videos to their Youtube accounts of ships and cabins.

The only cabin we were ever escorted to was the Fascination Owner suite, and it's a good thing because we would never have found it otherwise.

We don't use a pop-up hamper; we put our dirty clothes in a plastic bag in one of the suitcases under the bed every night. Unpack everything the first afternoon so you aren't looking for anything later. Try to get into the habit of putting everything in the same place each night.

I have been reading this because we have 3 sons; two are approaching their teen years quickly. It's one thing to teach kids Good Touch Bad Touch and another to warn them about aggression and violence. While wanting to teach our boys about pedophiles, we don't want to make them so afraid they won't shower alone or use a non-family bathroom. I have more than once made sure my kids were ok in a male bathroom by opening the door and yelling inside to them. Bathrooms and spa areas are targets and, other than making the areas adult-only, I don't see the risk to our children ending. I have a huge problem with boys over 6 or 7 not being allowed to use the bathroom with their mother in places that don't have a family bathroom (or daughters with their dads), which is much of the free world. We had an incident in a McDonald's once where an obviously severely incapacitated man entered the men's room after our son did...you can bet we were all over that. Young boys and girls are not strong enough to defend themselves - or able to discern risk quickly enough- once they realize what is happening and that's obviously why they are targeted; we need to do more to protect them. I am teaching my boys to scream, kick, and run, but this won't help them in remote areas when they are overpowered. Hope this 15 yr old gets immediate therapy to understand he was a victim and not responsible in any way. I can't say what I wish upon the offender. Violence is not the answer to unmet sexual needs. This guy could have relieved himself in the shower; he is a criminal to act upon a minor if this is true. And the worst part is I don't believe in rehab for this type of criminal...what a waste of a life. I hope he realizes his error and asks forgiveness- but it's too late for me to ever trust him again in any capacity. So sorry to hear about this crime.

We do not give our teen son charging privileges. He takes his own cash to the guest services desk & adds it to his own S&S card. If he does not use it all, then at the end of the cruise, he goes back & gets the cash off of it.

This is an excellent idea; our kids think money grows on trees. I will have them do jobs to earn cash for the arcade so they can decide if they want to put it on their cards to use at the arcade or for sodas (which we don't normally authorize), or to take into port for souvenirs. In the past, we have put a large chunk on their cards up front and they spent it in one day. Last time, we put $25 on a couple of different days. If we are with them, we will use our cards. It's a hassle to go to Guest Services each time you want to add money on the child's card, but with children it may be an ideal time to do some financial education with them. The machines will simply deny them once they run out of funds.

We always pay our cards in full every month. We do have our next two cruise deposits on one of those cash advance offers, but we are paying every month since we paid full 1/2 amount deposits on both cruises. We love our Amex card; paid for airfare for 4 cross-country two years in a row so we could budget Hawaii and Alaska better. We would never use a debit card due to the risk of identity fraud or theft, which did happen to us once in Key West- learned our lesson the hard way even though the bank worked with us after we filed a police report.

We only book online anymore. Did have to change a cruise a couple years ago but did so well in advance of departure and CCL worked with us- called the 800 number and moved to a different (later) departure date.

Use a CC; the lines are ridiculous to settle one's account on board on the last night/morning.

The Seuss breakfast is the last sea day and they have two time offerings (at least they did when we booked). They do ask you to reserve in advance; they decorate all the tables. Love the Seuss ice sculpture when you walk in the MDR!

Totally personal preference. When we cruised DCL many years ago, they shuttled us in the morning and we sat for hours in their terminal until boarding. It's only an hour drive so do what you prefer. We have begun enjoying port areas before boarding and not trying to be first to the ship. I'm not saying stay in Orlando til noon, but you could take a dip in the pool, have a leisurely breakfast, and make it to PC in plenty of time with a rental leaving at 11 am check-out. Just monitor driving conditions first thing in the morning and change plans or routes if there is bad weather or significant delays already occurring.