VentureMan_2000

19 minutes ago, Lake Erie Sailor said:

We are also cruising out of San Francisco in August.  We plan to spend a couple of days before the cruise and then have a day after the cruise to sightsee. We were thinking of staying near Fishermans Warf on one end of our cruise and then Chinatown on the other end.  Any suggestions on which area to spend most of our time?

 

Julie 

San Francisco is really a pretty small place... about 8 miles by 8 miles, pretty easy to get around.

I'd stay in the Fisherman's Wharf area both before and after your cruise.  You can take the Cable Cars to China Town, and from China Town, it's an easy walk -- all downhill -- back to Fisherman's Warf.

First...  I would book the Tour of Alcatraz.  It fills up, so you have to book well in advance.  It's a must-see bucket list item.

I've attached a SF walking tour, 2 files, I put together 5 years ago.  Easily done in a day or less.  Walking to China Town would be all up hill, so definitely take a cable car to it.

I strongly suggest visiting the Cable Car Museum -- it closes at 4pm.  It's not just a museum... it's actually the Powerhouse that runs each of the cables, so you get to actually see the cables as they are moving.

China Town:  visit the fortune cookie factory.  Tiny little place, but a fun visit.  Kam Loc  is my favorite restaurant in China Town.  It's located down in a basement area from the street.  It's where the locals eat so you know the food is authentic and inexpensive.  It's not a glamorous place but can be lively as it's very family oriented -- sometimes an argument breaks out between the family.  

Note:  There is a theory that you do not want to go to a Chinese restaurant rated any higher than a 3.5 on yelp.  The low 3.5 rating is usually due to patrons expecting, and not receiving, excellent service.  It's not because of the food.  Non-tourist Chinese restaurants do not bend over backwards for you... you have to assert yourself if you need something.  Kam Loc fits this category.  Great food and prices... okay service.

Ghirardelli Square is fun to visit... right there near the hotels at Fisherman's Wharf.  And if you want a nice dinner out with a view of Bay, I suggest McCormick's right near by.  

Cruise San Francisco Tour.docx San Francisco Walking Tour.pdf

2 hours ago, Kryssa said:

Thank you! YTD would be fine and we can even send someone to the dining room to check us in if needed to avoid having my grandmother make the trip just to have to wait for a table. What we want to avoid is a jam-packed buffet. 

You won't even need to send someone ahead... You can make the dinner reservation request from the comfort of a nice chair on one of the decks via the Carnival "Hub App".  Just link all the cabins together, which will allow a person to make a dinner reservation for any or all linked.  The App tells you when your table is ready - you have to arrive to the MDR within 10 minutes or the reservation is cancelled.

My observation while waiting and watching was:  Weddings first, followed by wheelchairs being pushed by Carnival staff, Diamond, Plats, FTTF, then non-priority starting with A01 boarding.

Spirit Class is great and by far our favorite.  So far on the Spirit Class we have cruised two 7-day Mexican Riviera cruises on the Pride and a 10-day Alaskan cruise on the Miracle.

Coming up, a 11-day Alaskan cruise on the Miracle, a 14-day Panama Canal repositioning cruise on the Miracle, followed by a 9-day Western Caribbean cruise on the Miracle.

4 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

  The guest list is only the parents and siblings of the bride and groom and their spouses.

 

I'd leave it an open invitation since it's just close family.  If they can make it, great.  If not, great just the same.

My wife and I booked a cruise last May 2023... and just let family members know of the cruise we booked -- that they were free to join us on the cruise.  Didn't make it into a "Group" thing where we all had to agree on the cruise date and destination. Nine family members ended up joining us.

We again did the same... booked a cruise for June 2024.  Nine family members ended up joining us for this cruise.

In short, just book the cruise you want... try to pick a reasonable future cruise date that is likely to entice the family wedding invites to consider joining you.  If no one can join, shouldn't be an issue as you're on a cruise.

36 minutes ago, TiredTrucker said:

Anything in particular that was wrong with it?

 

I'm going in March and looking forward to trying the P&A BBQ.

We ate there on our Carnival Glory cruise.  I recommend it.  Wife loved the pulled pork and Slaw. 

We eat a lot of chicken at home, so didn't even bother trying it.  It looked good on other's plates.

I had the beef and Mac.  Beef was a little dry... I should have asked for a fatty piece.  Mac wasn't cheesy enough for me but was fine.  Potato salad was average... not bad, but nothing to brag about.

Can't go wrong with sausage and baked beans.
 

On 12/23/2023 at 6:29 AM, firefly333 said:

I wish the stock would make it back over $20 already. I'm still stuck in the red the last time at over $21. Gotta admit I didnt see such a long shut down like happened. Took a loss at 29. And like a dummy rethought lower. Never catch a falling knife. 

 

I have faith it can get back over 20 .. just waiting. 

Luckily, I got out after a lot of cost averaging during the pandemic.  Even made a dollar per share more than my break-even get-out price ( pure luck price opened higher than my asking ).

Bought 100 shares at $9.40 in April only for the OBC.  OBC on my booked cruises is enough to pay the $940 buy-in, so I'm good to go here forward without worrying about stock price.  Not important since I do not plan to sell, but CCL is up 100% since April.

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

...  as long as Carnival calls the corporate subsidy "gratuities" and allows its removal.

 

 

Do you think this is true of the restaurants you patronize in the US... that you are subsidizing them with your gratuities ?

I don't buy into the severs not making enough money argument... at least not in California.

In California, they eliminated the two-tier pay of restaurant workers decades ago.  They get paid minimum wage regardless of TIPs.  Minimum wage in California is $15.50 per hour.

So, when we go out, we sit at the table for 2.0 hours and our bill is generally $120 or more before taxes.  I normally tip 18%, or $22 for this $120 tab.  So, in 2 hours, our server made $26.50 per hour... but for only one table.  Let's say they have 6 tables to serve, and others' tabs are half mine, but they are only at the table for half the time, or 1-hour.  So, the server is making ( Let's do the math... I like doing the math ) $11 per hour, per table, plus California's $15.50 per hour.  That's $81.50 per hour.

How is that a bad wage... even with hearing over and over the same old bad jokes and smiling at the customers until your cheeks hurt ?
 

The scouting programs in the US has put into place background checks, leader education, 2-person leadership requirements, and more... yet problems still arise.  Predators can be pretty clever.

There is no foolproof panacea for this.

Omelets:  I prefer to stand in line for a fresh made omelet in front of me... made to order, on Lido.

Otherwise, MDR -- two eggs to order, toast, a meat choice, hash-brownettes... and coffee.

There seems to be an awful lot of angst for some people regarding tipping.  Seems those are the people that reduce or eliminate their tips on board... and sometimes through what appears to be a wall of mirrors that they think masks this.

On 12/2/2023 at 7:17 PM, VentureMan_2000 said:

Can't help but wonder about your disposition.  Quite a list of complaints.  

9 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

OP is entitled to her opinion but some of these complaints come off as petty, especially for someone who's cruised enough and should understand that no cruise experience comes off 100% perfect.

 

An everything-but-the-kitchen-sink complaint with every little trivial issue makes the poster look unreasonable and the complaint uncredible.  

Yup... was trying to convey the same in far fewer words.

I like doing the math...

$28.08 / $96 = 29.25% for Stateroom Steward

$45.36 / $96 = 47.25% for Team Dining Services
 
$22.56 / $96 = 23.50% for Alternate Services

1 hour ago, Rdclfamily said:

We have mostly dined in a restaurant like Bonsai sushi where we paid for our meal and tipped accordingly.  We have paid tips on countless drinks.  We paid gratuity on things like fresh juice.  We have only eaten in the main dining room for breakfast and even then, it was just the two of us most of the time.  

Drinks have gratuities of 18$ automatically added... you do not need to pay more.

I know the steak house price include gratuities -- you do not need to TIP more.  Assuming the same for any paid restaurants.

You can see the above breakdown that gratuities include eating on the Lido/buffet (team dining services).

Tipping beyond the suggested $16 per person, per day, is not suggested or required.   

15 minutes ago, IndyKid said:

Because this thread popped up on my Google feed. I don't have "status" with any particular cruise line, so I look for certain regions I might like to cruise at and then look at individual lines.

 

I've researched several cruise lines, looked at pros and cons for each, compared prices, etc. It appears that Carnival appeals to a younger, rowdier crowd- drunken brawls, weed smoking, etc. are not my cup of tea. I'll leave it for the millennials and Gen-Xers....

I'm sure each of the generations applauds your generalities about them.

May I know your age ?  

Perhaps the cruise code doesn't work because they actually mean cruises between Dec 3 and Dec 31, 2023.

1 hour ago, IndyKid said:

Sounds like Carnival attracts the stoner crowd, another reason to avoid it...

And you post on this forum... why ?

I don't understand how people managed to cruise pre-internet -- savages...  🤣

I find their promotion confusing...

Sounds like only for cruises from Dec 3 thru Dec 31...


"Coupon cannot be combined with other offers and only applies to new orders placed online prior to sailing 11/24/2023 -11/29/2023 for sailings 12/3/2023 - 12/31/2023. See additional details below"

23 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

 

We're the opposite, especially this time of the year. Between now and Christmas, many restaurants have some sort of bonus gift card (buy $50 get $10 free or something along those lines). We eat out at least 2-3 times a week so we'll buy a BUNCH of gift cards from restaurants we like, and then use them throughout the year. 

Makes sense...

We eat out 1 - 2 times a month.  But as I said, I don't mind a $100 gift card for a local restaurant we might purchase at a discount at Costco or Sam's.  They tend to be a 20% - 25% discount.

The Elephant in the room is why are any of you allowing Stockperks to connect to your money...   😲

What is HMC ?

How about chairs and lounges... are those free ?  Are there plenty of them ?

Can you bring your own beach chair ?

Gift cards make me uncomfortable for the reasons mentioned.  I don't mind a $100 gift card for a local restaurant we might purchase at a discount at Costco or Sam's... But it does make me anxious until it's used.  Will the restaurant go out of business before we get a chance to use it, etc.

 

22 hours ago, Furudanuki said:

I originally posted this in the New Cruisers category, and they suggested that someone in this group would be the most likely to know.

 

My question is: how early that morning can we drop our checked luggage off at the terminal? I'd like to plan on arriving at the terminal about an hour before the appointment time to give us a time cushion just in case a last-second problem comes up.
 

We did exactly that this past September... we arrived at 9:00am for a 10:00 check-in.  I'd say that was a perfect time to arrive.  There were porters there to take your bags, and was not very crowded. We were instructed to form a line off to the side of the turnaround near the vendor kiosks. Everyone wait patiently in line and eventually started calling for the 10:00 folks who are priority folks- Diamonds, Platinum, FTTF... then everyone else by their checking time.

Went very smooth.  Once checked in, you took a seat, and waited to be called by your category A01, and, etc.