4ready2cruz

Does anyone have any current experience stayingin an alcove on the Silhouette since they increased the Sea Day price to $249? Does it include the enhanced benefits as offered on the Solstice?

Port Days - US$99 per alcove

SeaDays - US$249 per alcove

Freshfruits skewers / fruit popsicles

Allday Room service menu available

Choiceof : Veuve Rose, Grey Goose, or bottle of white wine

Bucketof 6 assorted beers

4Bottles of Evian Ltr

I had purchased a photo package prior to our Christmas 2015 cruise (no CC discount available to us since it was our first Celebrity cruise). It turned out we paid $50 more purchasing in advance because they were offering a special when we boarded. They could not refund us the money but they did offer us extra stuff (photo scrapbook) that was equivalent price wise.

For our upcoming April cruise I did purchase it in advance again, but only because it was on sale, saved about $100. That was a few months ago.

Just off Silhouette last week. $249 is too much. Just MHO.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I agree. $149 I could rationalize but not $249.

I was debating getting another alcove for our second sea day on the Silhouette in April. We booked the first sea day several months and it was $149. Today I checked and the sea day price has increased to $249! Port day was the same ($99). Should've booked both at the same time :-(. This early bird only got half a worm :-D.

We purchased the package for our cruise last Christmas. We were also celebrating my husband's 50th in Oceanliners. The photographers do not come into the specialty restaurants unless they are invited. I just happened to ask, otherwise we would have had not pictures for that night. With our consent, the photographer is able to come to the specialty restaurant just for your table.

We had over 100 prints for our 5 night cruise. She also included pictures of my Mom by herself even though that technically is not part of the package.

Some photographers were very good with an eye for detail. Others were not so great. We posed for almost every backdrop and cheesy pirate picture we could find! Had a blast and did not have to worry about breaking the bank on photos.

We stayed in Constellation cabins 3120, 3126, and 3128 last year. The cabins are very quiet even though they all connected to different rooms. There are also no cabins across the hall, minimal foot traffic. I highly recommend those cabins. Loved the large round window.

Thanks! I have been checking for a couple weeks and they haven't reappeared. Guess I will just keep checking.

I am not able to find the 3 or 5 day dining packages for the April 16 Silhouette sailing. Am I not looking in the right place or is just too early to be looking to book this?

Towels are provided at the cabana but they collect them around 3 so we still brought ours from the ship to use on the way back to the tender.

Cruisin4Becky, this is my first time trying to upload pictures. Hopefully this works.

Also, I did not take a lot of pictures around the ship, at least not on my phone.

Enjoy your trip. Elation may be older but her staff was still top notch. The ship may not have all the 2.0 upgrades but there was still great fun to be had.

Elation July 4th cruise – 7/2 – 7/7/2016

Our family (me (51), DH (50), and 2 DD (15 and 17) sailed on the 5-Day Elation cruise over the July 4th holiday.

We drove down to Jacksonville Friday night before the cruise. We stayed at the Comfort Suites Airport location. This was our second time staying here. Everything was as expected, just a place to lay our heads for the night.

Embarkation

We arrived at Jaxport around 10:30ish on Saturday. We have sailed out of this port once before on the Fascination and embarkation and debarkation was a breeze. This time was not as organized but not horrific either. DH dropped us at the curb with our luggage and went to park the car. It took well over 5 minutes for us to get a porter to take the bags, they just kept walking past us until I actually caught someone’s attention. No biggie since we still had to wait for hubby to return before heading in. Then we headed into the terminal, was directed to a very short check in line, then to a longer line of people taking embarkation photos. We were onboard around 11:30.

Rooms were of course not ready and I did not get FTTF. Fortunately, we didn’t have a lot of carryon so half of us headed to the buffet and I headed to Guest Services before things got crazy. One port of call (and the main reason for our trip) was Half Moon Cay. I had rented us a cabana for the day and wanted to get my pick. I was the first one there and secured Cabana # 10. I had also taken the wonderful advice from people on these boards and gotten several Carnival gift cards to pay for our gratuities and other inevitable incidentals. I also used this to book the cabana pre-cruise. The cabana may seem expensive, but the floats, snorkel gear, snacks, padded loungers, privacy, and shade make it all worth it. I would have loved a villa but there was only 4 of us. If it were winter I may consider it, if only for the hot tub.

Dining

We had early dining and were seated at a table for 12 with 2 other families of 4 each. This was our first time dining like this, we have usually had a private table with just our family. One family disappeared after the first 2 nights. Had some good conversations with the other family. It was their first cruise so we were able to give them some hopefully helpful tips.

Eko, our main server, was FANTASTIC. Very attentive to every detail. This was our first Carnival cruise with Cheers and I was worried we would be waiting for refills. That was never a problem, someone was always available if we needed a refill on wine.

Ports of Call - Nassau / Half Moon Cay with Cabana

We stayed onboard for Nassau. Been there done that. It was great having the ship to ourselves. The weather was great. It was also July 4th which also happens to be my good friend’s birthday. I had gotten an international plan for my phone which meant we were able to call her once we got to Nassau. Calls at sea are a different rate plan, I think something like $1.79 per minute vs a $40 flat rate for the entire month if calling from a foreign country. Not a whole lot going on onboard to indicate the Fourth of July (at least not much that we were interested in). There was a HUGE American flag hanging in the atrium (that was awesome!), various red, white and blue drink specials but nothing else that I can think of. It may have been different if we were at sea that day.

I think they should rename Half Moon to Paradise Cay. This was our second time here and I was very much looking forward to our day here. As I mentioned, we rented a cabana for this visit and after reading all the reviews had decided on # 10. We were told to come to the theatre at 8 and then were led to the first tender to the island. Arriving at the island with no one else there was awesome. We walked down the beach towards our cabana. It’s a little bit of a hike but not too bad if you walk along the water line as opposed to in the soft sand. Our Welcome sign was already written in which was a nice touch. The cabana included float mats and snorkel gear. The mats were already there and the snorkels came a little later along with the snacks and drinks. The cabana location was great, not too far from the food, not too crowded by people. The pictures we took look like we were the only ones on the island!

Beverage Package

My husband and I had the Cheers package, our first time doing this. It seemed like a lot of money and I am not sure I would do it again even though we did get our money’s worth. I don’t think I would have drank as much if I did not have the package. For example, dinner would consist of 2 glasses of wine and an after dinner cordial followed by a trip to the martini bar prior to going to a show or the comedy club. A specialty coffee in the morning, a couple fruity beverages by the pool and a couple glasses of wine with lunch would more or less round out my day. We never found any drink that cost the $50 max. What did start to add up were the extra tips (usually a $1 per drink) we would add to our tab. But for that small price we got superb service, especially in the dining room. I was wondering how it would work being that everything was more or less covered, but I think tipping the drink servers extra kept them definitely coming back.

Cabin

We had cabins E125 and E121 (oceanview Empress category 6E). This was our first time on a deck this high up. All our recent Carnival cruises were on the Riviera deck (once by choice, others were guarantee assignments). LOVED this location! May have a difficult time choosing a lower deck in the future. This cabin is located midship and is very central to everything. The Atrium bar, guest services and the excursions desk are all right down the hall. Take the stairs in the other direction and 2 flights down to get to dinner. Very convenient.

I was a little nervous since we were right below the main dining room but at the very front corner of it (possibly back corner of the galley). We heard no noise ever, so I worried for nothing. Others had mentioned the big box in the corner, it is not in either room anymore.

The cabin is a little dated. The bathroom is all pink tile and looks like it came out of the 60’s. Bed was comfy. Storage was adequate, the usual 3 closets, shelves and 4 small drawers.

Our cabin steward (sorry cannot remember his name) took very good care of us. We had both morning and evening service. We were not asked which we wanted, he just did both.

Entertainment

Loved Epic Rock! This was our second time seeing it and it still had us dancing in our seats and embarrassing our kids! Was not crazy about Divas. Walked out on one comedian, thought the other one was hilarious. The theatre and comedy clubs were always packed so get there early if possible.

The Ship

The ship is well maintained and the crew was constantly doing repairs. One door from the buffet to the aft outside seating appeared to be broken and was closed for the entire cruise. This was actually good for us. Some probably thought it was closed but we would just go out the other doors and head for those aft tables. It was never crowded. Great view of the wake.

The Serenity deck was right below. We walked through once. Being at the back of the ship, there is no air circulation and it just was not very inviting.

We spent most of our pool time at the little known aft pool. Yes, it is small but was not crowded before noon. There is one small pool that you need to climb into and also 2 hot tubs. Need to watch out for soot since the funnel is right there, which makes it a little noisy but not unbearable.

There is also a basketball half court and a volleyball net.

Debarkation

I mentioned that in the past debarkation was a breeze. Not so this time. We were one of the earlier zones after self assist (#9 I think). By the time we left, the line to get into the terminal building was very long. We had to stand outside (fortunately it was shaded but very hot) for about a half hour. What we did notice was that there were people online who did not follow debarkation instructions (i.e. we saw several with zones 16 and 24 on line ahead of us). Once inside the terminal, the line stretched to the customs desks. Once that was done, finding our luggage and a porter was relatively painless.

Then, sadly, our cruise vacation was over.

We were on Elation in July and the basketball court and a volleyball court is on the deck above the Lido (behind the funnel). There is also a small pool there as well as 2 hot tubs. I think this is the area that eventually became the Waterpark on ships with the 2.0 upgrades. Elation doesn't have a waterpark.

I have a cruise booked and am also sailing with a minor. Our Order History shows that we both will get a Beverage package. She will just have a non-alcoholic package.

The newer oceanview cabins by the conference rooms are definitely great. Centrally located and very quiet. There are no interior cabins across the hall so foot traffic is minimal. We stayed in cabins 3122, 3126, and 3128. All were connecting cabins, but not to each other. We saw our neighbors only once, and never heard them.

We sailed Sunshine in March of last year and I too was a little concerned about all the negative reviews I read before hand. However, it prepared me for what I knew was coming. Sunshine would not be my first choice, but if she were my only choice I would sail her again in a heartbeat.

I found the OPs comment about the giggling cruise director hilarious! Our CD was Wee Jimmy. Over a year later, the mere mention of his "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning! Top o' the morning to ya!" Still brings back fond memories even though it did get annoying every morning for 7 days straight!

Thanks for your review. We are on the Elation the first week of July. What was the reason for missing HMC? The early storms have me a little worried that we could also miss this port. HMC is one of the main reasons for booking this itinerary and I know I will be disappointed, probably whine a little, wine a lot, then eventually get over it.

This post should be a sticky at the top of the page!!! F is the only one that I have tried.

 

Thanks for the excellent advice.

We have never had a Cheers package on any of our cruises and always tipped over and above when presented with the bill to sign. Most noticeable in the MDR is that the bar staff and the shot guy IMMEDIATELY would find their way to our table! The bartenders were definitely more attentive.

We will have Cheers on our upcoming cruise, do they still present you with a check to sign and add the extra tip or should we carry singles to tip?

We are also sailing over July 4th and this is what I found on the Carnival website:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1394/kw/holidays

Independence Day/4th of July

When: July 4

Come celebrate the red, white and blue with us today! We aren’t just talking about Carnival… we are talking about the good ol’ USA! We are having a party in honor of Independence Day, with music, line dancing, drink specials, an all American buffet and much more.

4th of July evening deck party

Contests

Ice cream eating contest

Sports competitions

Mixology-special red, white & blue drink edition

4th of July specialty drinks and bucket of beer promotions

American trivia/President’s trivia

Line Dancing class

We were on board last year on July 4th, no fireworks...

But there was a designated time for a short celebration in the

atrium, with a balloon drop that was fun. There was also a deck party on Lido

that was alot of fun. Streamers exploded over everyone, fun music, dancing, etc...

 

Didn't miss the fireworks too much...we were on a cruise!

 

Andrew

Thanks for the info! Will make sure to check our Fun Times for special activities.

Does anyone know if Carnival does anything special onboard for the July 4th holiday? I am guessing no fireworks.

Just looking for a little clarification on taking the tender to HMC. We will be on the Carnival Elation in July and I was not planning on getting FTTF. We already have a cabana booked. Do we get priority tender because of purchasing this excursion? Some other reviews seem to indicate that we get to be on the first couple tenders. I want to maximize our time on HMC but don't feel like paying an additional $120 to do so (we have 2 OV cabins so no suite perks either) .

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I know they have a martini tasting. You get 4 small martinis for 17 pp. I think there are 6 or 8 flavors to pick from. Sorry about the earlier post about Margaritas, darn autocorrect lol.

My husband and I did the martini tasting on the Fascination. We got all 8 flavors then each picked the one we liked the most for a full size drink. Even though they are small, they are about 1/2 a regular martini, hence I essentially drank 3 martinis before dinner. Needless to say, I did not make it to dinner that night :D.

The other great thing is that they give you the recipes to make these on your own. We now have a fully stocked and functioning martini bar at home!

Our girls will also be 15 and 17 on our next cruise this July (also on Elation). They have always had their own room. We book 2 cabins with 1 adult and 1 child then we switch when we board. Our cabins are usually in very close proximity (within 3 cabins) or adjoining. We have never had a problem. I have heard that you can get additional room keys so the two that switch are able to access their rooms (I do not think these keys have charging privileges). We have never done that though so I am not speaking from experience.

Our girls are very well behaved, never had any issues.

this was a different agent than the one I spoke with last night. She says that they try to match to the "best available rate" and that is what came up. I explained that I had already done a mock booking online and that the price difference was only $5 per person for 1 of my booked cabins using the WofF #2 offer. I have 2 cabins booked but the first one had a VIFP offer that already had the $50 obc. I did not press for further explanation. I did ask for an updated invoice showing the new base price per cabin.

I think it probably would have been easier booking directly through Carnival.

Called back first thing, waited on hold for half an hour but I got my $50 OBC for an extra $10. Yeah!:)