VentureMan_2000

You will be charged sales tax on any cocktail purchased.  Whether you purchase CHEERS or not does not affect whether you will be charged sales tax.

Sales Tax rate for Long Beach is 10.25%.  

Sales Tax rate for Catalina Island is 10%.  

45 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I'm sure the Dairy Industry will be glad to know that all of the "Got Milk" commercials failed. 🤣

Favorite "Got Milk" commercial...   The Steer's pick-up line to the Cow... "You work out... ? "  🤣

7 minutes ago, thesmiths said:

Where do these numbers come from?

 

Was posted 5 hours ago on a B2B cruise forum... it was a 4-day cruise.  CD's provide this info in their presentations.  

My first cruise, there were 1,200 people on board... 800 of them newlyweds, info provided by the CD.  That ship was rock'n...

Flight duration is 20 hours to 22 hours, and air fare price is $2,000 to $3,000.  I think sale and saver fares are non-refundable.

That's a long flight...

2 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Not exactly.  I don't waste my time at the P/D party on the Mardi Gras. My supporting information is that they know exactly how many guests are coming to the Diamond Only events and they plan accordingly.  There aren't one White Card with two Reds, two Golds and their Blue card friends trying to find a place to sit.  

Explain further...  

Seconds ago I read a post of someone cruising on the Miracle.  Below is the passenger breakdown.  In this example, would they only allow the 28 Diamonds to enter the guest party ?  Or are you saying that a Diamond may also bring along two Reds, two Golds and their Blue card friends that are allowed into the guest party ?

Just trying to understand what you have observed/experienced.
 

17 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Totally disagree, and I can prove it if you want.  

An example would be sufficient.  I am curious.

Only allow Diamond and Platinum... no plus 1's.  It's the abuse of Plus 1's that is a big part of the issue with Guest party.  How do you enforce who is actually a plus 1.

Perhaps the guest party would be smaller if plus 1's weren't allowed to tag along -- in that maybe fewer folks would attend if the plus 1's couldn't attend. 

I would drop the FTTF.  You will have Platinum status for this cruise, so FTTF is not needed.

But I have some commentary regarding FTTF:

For $190, I don't see the benefit relative to the expense.  In the past, FTTF allowed you into your cabins early, but not anymore... only luggage drop-off is allowed now before 1:30pm.  And "Priority" has seemed to lose some of its meaning and benefits due to the abundance of "Priority" passengers.
 

Here is what the program includes:
 
Priority Check-in (during your arrival appointment).  The actual boarding will save you 15 minutes.
 
Stateroom Access:  Once on board, you will be able to drop off your bags in your stateroom until your room is ready. 
 
Express Luggage:   Very debatable -- It's very common for "Priority" passengers to receive their luggage way after the blue, red, gold passengers.
  

Guest Services:  I honestly never understand wanting this ahead of the cruise taking place -- do folks have an expectation to use this often ?  Is it worth $190 to save 15 minutes ?
 

Dining Reservations:  Priority Main Dining Room and Specialty Restaurant reservations (excluding Your Time Dining) could be useful.
 
Priority Water Shuttle Boarding:  Definitely useful if it's important that you want to get off the ship early.  The only stop requiring a tender is Half Moon Cay.
 

1 hour ago, thesmiths said:

Thank you, We cruise from 5/6 to 5/17

Counting embarkation day the 11th day would be a full sea day?

05/06                                     Depart (FTTF) 

05/07                                     Sea Day                               

 05/08                                     Sea Day                                                               

 05/09                                     Sea Day

 05/10     09:00 – 18:00     St Thomas

 05/11     07:00 – 16:00     San Juan                             

 05/12     09:00 - 18:00      Amber Cove

 05/13     07:00 – 14:00     Grand Turk    

05/14     09:30-17:30         Half Moon Cay                                                 

 05/15                                     Sea Day

 05/16                                     Sea Day

 05/17                                     New York

                               

We have 64 VIFP points.

 

Thank you.

 

 

There's an easy way to tell...

Log onto your Carnival account and print your luggage tags.  They will have "Priority" printed on the tags.  

I'm in the same situation where I turn Platinum on 2nd to last day of a cruise... and my luggage tags for this cruise says "Priority".

16 hours ago, rlloyd3 said:

Those saying it takes 8+ drinks to break even either aren't doing the math correctly, aren't accounting for the wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks covered, or perhaps a bit of both,

 

At $12/drink (which is a rounded average across various sorts of alcoholic drinks: the average cost for beer alone would be lower, wine and frozen drinks are in that ballpark, and cocktails higher) you'd need to average 6 drinks/day/person though that only takes into account alcohol.
...
 

5 drinks to break even at $12 a drink for cruises 6 days or longer. 

6 drinks to break even at $12 a drink for cruises less than 6 days. 

19 minutes ago, csoud68 said:

Smooth as silk...already in line...these people have it down to a science..

So, how long did everything in my timeline actually take ?  Said another way, What time did the Uber arrive to pick you up, and what time were you finally settled in enough for check-in ?   

Hanging out is not a big deal, but you may not be hanging out as long as you think -- 3 minutes to board the Uber, a 7-minute ride, 2 minutes to get out of the Uber, an extra 5-10 minutes for your Uber to get to a drop-off area at the port, 2-5 minutes to hand off your bags to porters and 2-5 trying to figure out where to go. 

You are looking at the long end of 32 minutes.  If the Uber is on time, then only a 30-minute wait.  Sometimes, check-in is 30 minutes or more ahead of schedule. 

This memo amuses me.  On my Alaska cruise last June, there were so many priority Platinum and Diamond that the Gold peons' check-in line was waaaaaayyyyy shorter than folks waiting in the Priority line.  We zipped right up to a check-in desk while the Priority line just slugged along.  😄

 

Use this calculator to decide:

Drink Package Calculator - Cruise Spotlight

... deleted

Casino tour was very cool. 

Golf Cart rentals was also a lot of fun.  Reserve and pay in advance of the cruise - $120 for 2-hours, cart can carry 4 people.  2-hours is plenty of time.  The Island is small.  We selected this company as it's right near the tenders, snf no issues with them providing a refund if you cancel:

Golf Cart Rentals | Catalina Island Golf Cart

Note:  The web site comes up as not secure, but when you click on the "Book Now" button, the payment site is a secure connection.

I'm bringing a newspaper that I can wad up and shake at the kids...   🤣

Can I receive Shareholder OBC for multiple cabins that I booked and paid for ?

If I book and pay for 4 cabins, let's say for a 7-day cruise, can I receive the $100 Shareholder OBC for each of the bookings ?

Toying with the idea of paying for my kids and spouses to come along. 

Panorama Deck 6 Aft - Purple

Miracle Deck 6 Aft - Red

13 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I hope this answers your questions to your satisfaction. 

 

Yes... Thank you.

18 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Evening update:

 

Because I'm a gambling fool and a glutton for punishment, I took another run at the same machine. I tried out betting all three available spots starting at $3 per. They got up to $10 based on some progression that's too silly and complicated to mention. The long and the short of it is I won $86.20 with it and gained another 60 points. Here's a hand where I got two blackjacks. It would have been even sweeter had they paid 3:2.

 

 

I did a little of this and that before retreating to my cleaned cabin. Thanks Hery.

 

 

By now I was getting a little hungry. I initially tried to order room service from the app, but for some reason it wouldn't take. So I ordered it the old fashioned way - on the telephone. 

 

Someone in this thread or elsewhere noted that the chicken tenders were really good, so I had that. I added a brownie. 

 

The good news is that the delivery took about 20 minutes and was delivered with plates, covers, napkins, and silverware. And the tenders came with some solid curly fries. The description didn't note this and they probably should have. 

 

The bad news was the rest of the order. The chicken tenders were all right. I would have preferred real fried chicken to this, but that was not available. The brownie was big and good, but not really $5 worth of good, IMHO. It's unlikely I'll order it again. 

 

This order cost me $13 including the included gratuities. 

 

I took a power nap and woke up to much calmer conditions at sea, which continue as of now. 

 

I also woke up to Tyler's announcement. He said that debarking options were available now, and so they were. The Dream is one of the ships that are trialing a program where you choose your disembarkation options through the app. I did this, and after pressing some buttons, this is what it came up for me:

 

 

BTW, it's interesting that they expect us to get back to Galveston at 6 AM, rather than 8 as was on the original itinerary. 

 

I grabbed an 8 AM shuttle to the airport (IAH) from the shore excursions desk. I tried booking it in the app, but it gave me some nonsense about not having the funds for it. The desk had a little trouble too. Their computer was glitchy and slow. But we got it done, and that's the most important thing.

 

BTW, United still has not yielded to reality and put up a travel waiver for their Max-9 flights beyond the 24th. It's a moot issue for me now, since I changed it a couple of days ago. 

 

Please report on your Carnival Shuttle Ride from the port to IAH.  I have purchased the 8:00am shuttle to IAH for my cruise in October.  I'd like to know what to expect.

i.e., What time did you board the shuttle ?

How long were you waiting on the shuttle before it left for the airport ? 

What time did your 8:00am shuttle actually leave ?

How long was the ride ?

Did the shuttle encounter any noticeable delays due to traffic/construction ? 

What terminals do they drop you off at ?

On 1/17/2024 at 3:55 PM, torringtonwyo said:

 is uber the best way to get to hotel from airport for 4 of us and luggage 

Yes.  UberXL.  Can be a tight fit for 4 depending on size and number of luggage, and the size of the SUV that picks you up.

The largest table I've seen is for 11-people.

You have to wait in line.  Folks are getting soda, juice, snack etc. along with their coffee.  Usually, only two people working... one making the coffee and the other taking orders and prepping.