LostPuppy

The "I have an inside cabin and a balcony would be a waste for me as I'm never there"

"I love my balcony and spend all my time on it"

debate are perfect examples of a self-fulfilling prophecy / post-purchase rationalization. (e.g. of course my choice is rational and correct, I made it!)

We will be cruising next March and just starting to do some research, I understood it that you had to do a People to People excursion through Carnival or an authorized tour company. While doing my research I came across a thread on Trip Advisor that if you check the box Support For The Cuban People you can go and shop and tour on your own, anyone got any experience, knowledge of this.

 

Any other info, advice would be great.

USA law may have changed but once you are on shore in Cuba you can do as you like!

Read recent posts on the Cuba board. They are not outdated!

I agree with Riff, no one cares what you do once you get past customs. We went in Sept, and just walked off the ship. Found some guys in a '53 Olds and had a fun, private tour of Havana that may or not have included rum, fish empanadas, and cigars....

We've done a couple of CCL Alaska cruises. Pretty much what one would expect. The biggest difference I noticed was packing jeans; that seemed odd...

I''m always surprised how many people here complain about gifts....

We did one roll call, and based on that experience I will not do any more.

I made a mistake of telling the host at sail-away we had a Vista Suite and she insisted we include it on the cabin crawl. We declined and were harassed to the point she followed us to our cabin once, then showed up later with the cabin crawl entourage. We said "No" and shut the door in her face.

There are some strange people on this board.....

Given your circumstances, I almost guarantee the Maitre d' will accommodate you & your parents.

first of all from your Carnival rep statement, get a new rep immediately. As far as a aft balcony, I thought they were all larger than standard balconies. We would never sail without a balcony and the aft is very special, 180 degree views

ALL balconies have a 180° view with the exception of Vista Suites (270° view) and some Captain's Suites (I'd guess they're about 320°)....

I'd like to see the rewards program based on dollars spent (e.g. we've always have a balcony cabin, gamble & drink a lot, why should those non-gambling, teetotalers with interiors get the same benefits?, IT's NOT FAIR!....).

The reality is once I hit Platinum with the free laundry, I felt I had "arrived" and lost interest in rewards and how they're calculated.....

There is no requirement to have GS "link" your bookings. In fact, there really isn't such a thing. Yes, they can put a note in your computer record, but it's not a "link" to the next booking.....

Sometime during the cruise Guest Services runs a report that produces a list of current guests that are booked for the next week. THAT'S IT! (anybody who knows half-a-wit about SQL could write up such a report in two minutes)....

What is true in Cozumel and elsewhere, is that you can't independently book an excursion vendor if that vendor has contracted with Carnival for Carnival sponsored tours.

 

In order to minimize paybacks through the Carnival excursion price guarantee, Carnival requires their tours to handle only guests who have paid through Carnival.

 

Mr Snacho's and Nachi Cocum are totally independent from Carnival, therefore it is okay to reserve with them if they have spots open and you are on a Carnival (or any other cruiseline) ship.

Ha! We were in St Kitts once and took an "independent" tour for a very reasonable price ($15?). The vendor asked us not to mention how much we paid to the other guests.

Got to the open-air bus and it was full of people on a Carnival sponsored excursion.

I've had several aft-wraps and recommend getting a plastic ice bucket from a bar to dump water on the aft portion of the deck (well, the whole deck if you have just have an aft-extended), as it gets so hot you cannot walk on it barefoot.

So with checked luggage, do I have to print prior to getting there or can they print at check in?

 

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One doesn't have to print them at all. If one shows up at the terminal without luggage tags you just tell the porter your ship & cabin number. They will affix a tag to your luggage and it will be routed to your cabin with all the others. Done this a few times, never had a problem.

On the other hand, pre-printed tags are nice and only need to be fastened per the instructions.

Very close to booking this cruise for April, 2019. We would prefer to fly home from Seattle. Does anyone know if Carnival has a transfer from Canada place to the Seattle airport?

No idea about CCL's transfers from Vancouver, but here are several bus companies that provide shuttle service from Canada Place to the SEATAC airport for around $60. That is always a an option.

We did the Hawaii > Vancouver re-positioning last year, and spent three nights in Vancouver after the cruise. We then took the city's marvelous transit/rail system to YVR for $4.00 per person.

Enjoy your cruise!

On our last B2B we got four of the ceramic tumblers, My spouse kept one. The other three were placed next to the trash. Just not a big fan of trinkets,

We did a B2B and on turn-around day we took a look at some of the nicer cabins including the Captains Suite?.

Also took a picture from the deck above Lido (Sky?) of the spouse standing in the middle of Lido deck without another person in sight;.

Finally, we had a 10 minute chat with the CD sitting in the Atrium Bar while she was going over some paperwork during "quiet time"....

The water isn't all that nice. e.g. it's like smooth like a millpond with no waves/circulation, warm & tepid too. I'm guessing this is by design ( e.g. keep the cruise passengers safe from waves, drop-offs, rip currents),

While safe, it doesn't match my vision of a Caribbean island beach, but then the beer is cold....

AFA renting anything there, I wouldn't. Sitting in a breeze/view blocking cabana seems at odds with the beach experience. There are plenty of free loungers in the shade of the numerous trees there.

Just an FYI, the bathroom amenities were never provided by Carnival.

Tops optional decks.

AARP sells the gift cards at a 10% discount. You do not have to be a member of AARP, you just have to sign up on their website and do a few “quizzes” (you don’t even have to answer the questions correctly, you will get points just for taking the quiz, even if you don’t get any of the answers correct). They have the gift cards in $100 and $500 denominations and you need 1000 points for each $100 in gift cards that you wish to purchase. The points are very easy to get. You even get 50 points per day just for logging onto the site. I’ve also gotten gift cards from eBay at 15% off, which was a real bonus ($85 for a $100 gift card), but I’ve only seen that offer twice so far. I keep checking eBay for that offer but haven’t seen it again. The best way to find out if the eBay gift cards are available is to check on this forum. Some nice poster usually lets the forum know that eBay has the cards available (but with eBay you have to be quick, as there are only a certain number of gift cards available and they go fast. Also there is a limit of 3 gift cards per person/transaction).

I've been intrigued by the idea of going thru the AARP site to obtain 15% off gift cards. Thank you for the information, but reading your review of how it works makes me realize it's not for me.

I'm hazarding a guess that getting the 1000 "points" for one card probably takes at least three hours(?) over the course of a week which comes out to $5 per hour. I've got better things to do with my time (and I'm retired). No thanks.

We did one cruise immediately after DD and there were maybe a dozen or two workers still aboard finishing up some cabins and a portion of the elevator area on that deck. It was pretty noisy and a minor inconvenience when in the area. We met some people that whose cabin was right next to the area and they were not happy. I think they got 20% off their cruise or something like that.

As for us, we got some free drink tickets.....

I've been to HMC once where someone had a scooter. The person had to walk with some assistance, maybe 15' from the side of the ship, across the ramp, then down 5/6 steps to the seating area. The scooter was rolled/manhandled by some crew members onto the tender where it was secured on the boarding/transfer deck.

Alas, I did not see the arrangements at HMC for this person's arrival...

Finally, the ship-to-tender and the tender-to-ship transfer occasionally requires timing a quick hop to coincide with the ever-present swells. While crew members are very helpful with lending assistance, it does require a bit of physical dexterity.

Good luck!

The idea that "you will be denied boarding if you're not aboard 90 minute prior to sailing" is a bunch of BS. I've shown up with less than an hour to spare and had no problems all.

Why do people continue to promote this lie?

What's this thread have to do with Carnival? Shouldn't it be in a different forum?

In all honesty, has anybody ever seen anyone throw a straw overboard? They can call it saving the sea turtles but I think it's saving Carnival money.

I've seen it.

They only have, what, 13 or so of the smaller cabanas and a few of the larger ones. They sell out so fast and are easy money makers. Someone even said they added a few more in the past few years but if 1 boat is in, that's what, 3,000 people, 2 boats close to 6,000 people with say 24 cabanas?

They should charge more.

Just like an apartment complex, if you have a waiting list, the rent is too low. Continue raising rents till you get a 5% vacancy rate.