CruisinCarps

[i 'lost" my OBC once too. CC folks told me to let Carnival know it was a mistake, don't lose OBC for booking onboard. I called back and it was recredited. CALL!/QUOTE]

 

I lost the OBC because we cancelled that one cruise (that we booked while onboard) and moved it to a different date. (It is considered canceling and then booking a new cruise to Carnival.)

OP...this board is usually very helpful.... So please continue to come back for advice and sharing your experiences - good or bad. I have found lots of helpful info on here. Just have to try* to ignore the holier than thou people. ;)

You might get it as soon as later today.

Are you headed out on the Magic? If so, join our FB page! :D

I am amazed that people even think about packing this early. I leave Sunday and will pack Sunday morning before my noon flight.

 

To answer OP's question IMO you have too much stuff especially the first aid kit, and the binoculars, I assume that the GPS lis in your car and not going on the ship.

I respectfully disagree. I keep a small first aid kit I the front of my suitcase (gonna switch it to carry on this time). It is not much bugger than just a band aid box....anti septic and bandages. I have brought it with me every trip we've been on... Last cruise, before the trip even started, my husband was packing our rental car and he cut his hand pretty good ona metal piece in the back part of the trunk. You never know when you need it!

Lastly, we saw a whale breaching on our first cruise and dolphins on our second...bring the binoculars unless you have super strong camera zoom. :D

Honestly, at first, I was thinking "what's the big deal?". I mean if was just embarkation is it really anyone's cabin yet? They obviously don't even have their things in the cabin yet if the door is open for just anyone to walk in otherwise the door would have been closed.

 

But, on further thought. A lot of passengers have pre ordered things placed in their cabins by this time...documents from Carnival..gifts from family members/friends.. gifts from TAs or from Carnival. So, yeah you're right it is a bad idea to be walking into cabins that are not yours just to check things out.

I agree! Now this makes me wonder about our missing excursion tickets! We had to call them and tell them and hey said that we'd already claimed them. (Different cruise line... They had placed our excursion tix on our table...and one set was missing.)

I don't think anyone should be going in there without permission and certainly shouldn't be letting little kids in there. Cabin crawl obviously is okay...otherwise..no. STay out!

You're welcome! And thank your husband for his service as well! Have a great cruise!

Just this week, my husband had to go on a business trip, well for the military it is as close as it gets.... Anyways, El Paso to Va was supposed to be leaving here at 9am arriving at 3pm... Nope-flight delayed, then they didn't have a flight attendant...them no pilot! Ended up having to stay the night in Houston. 6am at the airport next day...didn't get to VA until almost 4pm! On the way back? Bird strike on the first plane out! Arrival home in El Paso went from 7pm originally to finally getting home at 1am!

No way would I fly in same day!

We booked while onboard...and were told it was not an early saver, etc etc. Imagine my dismay when we were charged $50 per person to move our cruise. :-( I tried to fight it, but the lady wouldn't budge. (Of course, we lost our on board credit too.)

Anyways, so today I am getting my binder ready for our upcoming cruise (I carry all important info, documents, etc in one binder.) And lo and behold, i sww my previous notes I had taken while we were booking and the man who booked our cruise told me there would be NO CHANGE FEE! I remember now even asking about this because, with my husband being active duty, we have an especially hard time booking trips in advance.

So since I am sure they won't take my notes as proof, I give up. Out $400! I know darn well next time I won't believe what the onboard booking person says and just know exactly the cruise we want to book onboard and get all the facts myself before hand.

OP- I am glad you got someone willing to listen!:)

Not sure. I would definitely call and ask them. I imagine you have to show some sort of form/card to show disability. (For instance, my husband is active duty...so we don't qualify just by showing up with his ID card...) So I imagine there is some DD form you have to show.

Remember, that is not for Galveston Park N Cruise (a private company), it is for the "official" port parking:

http://www.portofgalveston.com/index.aspx?NID=92

We did the Altun Ha ruins in Belize and felt safe (excursion through Carnival). Not realy romantic, but cool if you are a history buff.

Thank you! :)

Research is indeed a good thing. For example, if you did even a minimal amount of research you would have seen that the OP is new to Cruise Critic making many of your points moot. Aside from that, isn't that what these boards are for? It seems to me the perfect place to ask a question such as this. Your post seems unnecessarily harsh and is exactly the type of response that causes so many threads to dissolve into discord instead of constructive assistance.

I agree 100%. :)

Thanks TexasMunk!

Others going on our same excursion were told to be down by the doors by 6:30 am...but they also have FTTF.

So we are going to be there at 6am.:)

As I understand it, GC is on same as ship time. (We sail out of Galveston.) But I always check about a hundred times that my watch matches the ship time too..;)

The tour operator responded to my email- they said they found 7:45 meet time was enough time for people to arrive, but they also don't know if those people had priority tendering or not. Guess we will find out! We are bringing our own snorkel equipment anyways so if we have to, find our own place to go.

You don't mention when you are cruising but you should look into FTTF. That would solve your problem. Even if it is sold out now, it could open back up. I suggest emailing the shore excursion desk and asking if FTTF for your particular sailing will open back up. I did this on Wednesday for my June 15 Dream cruise (after suggested to me on these boards) and received an email the next day saying that FTTF would open up in five minutes and I was able to snag one!

I think I read that thread and I emailed them ASAP from that link someone posted. :D I haven't received a reply back from them.

We are sailing out May 11th... so I was surprised some even came available yesterday. Someone posted it on our FB page and they were snatched up before I was even home to try to look. I mean, I look probably 5 times or more a day and the ONE afternoon I am not home...:rolleyes:

I still will keep trying and still hope for a tender out in time. I have decided to tell the kids there is a chance we won't make it and just will have to do something else.

Sounds like you have a dilemma. If I were you I would talk to the tour operator first. Then look into purchasing Faster to the Fun to get on the first tender out.

I have been watching for FTTF...it hasn't been available except for one very short amount of time yesterday. As soon as I heard they were available, I went onto the Carnival site, but they were already all gone again. Still hoping it will become available again. I haven't been lucky enough to get any on our cruises yet.

We were in Grand Cayman a few weeks ago on the Dream. We had a tour booked NOT WITH CARNIVAL and was off the ship VERY EARLY, by 7:30am. We got right on the tender, and there were only about 10 people on it.

Yay!! So glad to hear that! You give me hope! :D:D

What time did you go downstairs to wait?

Excursions booked through Carnival will also be given priority tendering.

 

Even if you are there at 6:30 AM, don't plan to be off the ship until after 8 AM.

Yep, I know that- and mentioned it in my first post. ;)

I am not expecting anyone to step aside for us or give us special treatment or anything. I just want to know if we are supposed to get tender tickets the night before. I am reading conflicting things on here. Some say yes, some say no... Some say they just walked down there and waited by the door and walked off with everyone else. I am hoping most people are sleeping in or getting breakfast when we are trying to get off the ship...:D

I have contacted the tour company, explained to them the situation, and am awaiting a reply. :)

We booked a snorkel trip that includes Stingray City as well as Starfish Point and another separate reef to snorkel. It includes lunch, drinks, even photos for only $50 a person! Carnival doesn't even come close to that offer. (Carnival's trip is shorter and only to Stingray city and the reef, neither lunch or photos are included and is $70 a person.)

I don't know if they will leave us. I will have the tour operators number in my cell phone if we are sitting on the ship still and can't get off because of priority tenders. That way, if it appears we are running late and the FTTF, Platinum/Diamond people are already off (and possibly going on the same tour), we won't hold up the fun for them.:( (I know several other families from our shp are going on the same exact excursion, but as I understand, they were able to get FTTF.)

I figure there will be other excursion companies at the end of the pier if ours is gone, I just don't like hopping on one I have never heard of, not researched, etc... (And I assume that if we are left behind we can no longer book a Carnival excursion once we're off the ship...or we would have to tender back, go to their excursion desk and hope there is a spot left.)

Hello all!

We have an excursion booked (not through Carnival) for our Grand Cayman stop (Acquarius Sea Tours). *Carnival does not offer this same trip or we'd just go through them.

Anyways, they only had two times available- First thing (7:45am) and a later morning/afternoon one. Since the later one (with a 4 hour excursion not including travel time) is cutting it too close to time to re-board, we chose the earliest one available.

I have read conflicting statements saying we need to get a tender ticket the night before. Also being told that since the FTTF, Platinum/Diamond, and Carnival excurions all have priority that I shouldn't bother and just cancel our excursion that we are sooooo looking forward to. I don't want to continue getting the kids' hopes up about this particular excursion if it even isn't gonna happen (not weather related). We had a dolphin snorkel booked last year for Honduras that weather cancelled and we were sooo sad about that.

So- do we have to get tickets to tender off in the morning or not? We plan on being down at the doors first thing in the morning (no later than 6:30am) to try to get one of the first tenders. However, I am being told I will be wasting our time and don't even bother trying to make that excursion. (Why would the tour operator even book us then if it wasn't even possible? We haven't paid anything- just have a reservation.)

What have been your experiences? Did you have to get tender tickets the night before to get off the ship in the morning?

Thank you!

Exactly. These boards are here to help people out.

Thanks everybody for your replies! :-) We have a super early excursion booked for GC which should leave plenty of time to try them there.:D

Have you price comparisoned between car rental and shuttle? We found it was just as much, if not more for the shuttle than then car rental. (We are renting a car for nine days.)

I would google which beach related excursions are available with each itinerary.

I can tell you we have been on the Belize/Honduras/Cozumel one.... Now we are snorkeling family, so next time we are doing the great barrier reef there, Mahogany Bay is a beautiful, clean area for relaxing. You don't have to pay extra for chairs, beach access, et pc as that area was built just for the cruises. :-) Cozumel also has some very lovely beaches. Check out Nochi Cocom, Isla Pasion, as well as others.

We are about to do the other cruise you mentioned. :-) We are doing Chankanaab for a day in Cozumel. Great snorkeling there and a lovely quiet place to just chill, but it is also a park with dolphins and other things to see/do.

We are headed out May 11th (yay!!) on the Magic... second WC itinerary, this time to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Montego Bay. I have always wanted to try conch fritters, but haven't come across them anywhere yet. (Lots of Mexican fare, nachos, etc though...We live in El Paso-we have so much of that here, I am surprised we haven't started pooping triangles...;-).

Anyways, any place y'all know of that you can recommend? We are doing Chankanaab (Cozumel), snorkel trip in GC (but plenty of time for port after), and probably Drs Cave beach and Margaritaville in MB.

Thanks!:D

Sometimes you can find a sweet spot for flights, but holidays will always be higher.

For instance, I am constantly watching El Paso to Houston flights. I found the sweet spot for those flights is 5 to 6 weeks out for non holiday flights, booking on a Tuesday late night or early morning Wednesday. Never booking (as in making the booking, not actual flight days) on a weekend.

We cruised over Thanksgiving last year and same flights cost us $400 more than flying next month (flying out Saturday, returning Monday following week). I booked those flights about 8 weeks out. If you fly SW like we do, and get their

Wanna Get Away fares, and find it cheaper at some point, you can call, rebook and have that extra $ credited for future flights.

Also, SW, Jet Blue, etc won't often show up on Priceline, Expedia, etc...you have to go online and check them out. I watch SW constantly...I mean all the time for price drops. :cool: