AnchoredInHope

I'm in the same boat...literally. I'm sure it's no big deal, but I definitely do not like that now I am going to be worrying about it in the back of my mind.

Puppies in the Piazza were at 5pm in Skagway. Movies shown throughout the cruise include...Coco, Black Panther, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Paddington 2, Jumanji. Port days were slow on activities. No issues regarding the rudder, what ever the issue was it seemed to be taken care of in Juneau.

If you’re planning on seeing the puppies while the ship is in Skagway plan on getting to the Piazza at least an hour before they bring them out so you can get in line to see the puppies. It’s absolutely crazy, it’ll be standing room only at least an hour before it starts. Been there and done that. If I want to see the puppies go on the excursion that goes up to Emerald Lake that also stops at Caribou crossing trading post. They have puppies there that you can pick up and cuddle.

Thank you both for the helpful information!!!

I have seen helicopter tours with glacier landings, but not sure I've seen ones that specifically highlight ice caves. Although it may be a moot point. I am booked on a paddle and glacier tour through Above and Beyond Alaska and someone asked on their Facebook page about ice caves this year and they responded a few days ago saying currently there are no ice caves, but they are always on the lookout for them forming.

I'm on the Star too, Northbound, and itching to see some Patters!

Are you looking for daily activities? Movies? Currently Star has a great Captain and a good cruise director. Just got off the Star after a week in Alaska. The Captain made multiple announcements for the various wildlife which were spotted.

Do you happen to recall what time in Skagway they had the Puppies in the Piazza? That is the main thing I am trying to figure out from the Patters! Would like to plan excursions around it as much as possible (although I realize things can change)!

We are using Alaska Shore Excursions.

I am wondering if many of these tour companies use Coastal as they are also showing the same (lack of availability) as Coastal. Darn!

I was reading all about the dog sled tour with the extra landing that lands on the lower level of the glacier after you are done dog sledding and got very excited but I checked through Coastal and they are booked up for this tour for the day we will be in port.

Is anyone aware of another company that offers a dog sled tour with the extra landing? We will be in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan for our cruises.

Thank you all for the helpful feedback! I have a lot to be thinking about!

 

What month is your trip?

We will be getting off the ship on June 30. Curious how that plays into all of this!

We will be disembarking the Star Princess in Whittier on a Saturday morning and plan on flying out late on Sunday night (11:59pm). We have not booked this flight yet, so we have the flexibility to fly out of Anchorage or Fairbanks depending on what we decide on doing.

We were planning on doing a one-way car rental and making a trip to Denali but I am getting discouraged perhaps there is not enough time and am wondering whether we should do Kenai Fjords instead. The ice fields at Kenai look awesome but perhaps we will get enough of this type of activity on the cruise and we should go to Denali for the diversity?

If we did go to Denali we would try to get off the ship ASAP Saturday, drive to Denai, maybe do some quick wandering around that late afternoon/evening based on what is accessible by car, and then the next morning do one of the bus trips before leaving for the Fairbanks airport. Is this pushing it? Is the scenery on the way up to Denali worth the longer car ride so that we won't feel like we are "wasting time" driving?

I am trying to pack as much as possible into certain ports as I can. I'm looking for advice as to whether this looks doable with enough cushion time to get back on POA.

Hilo (in port 8-6):

*It seems like there's not enough to do both of these, but ideally I would like to:

-Rent a car

-Do a helicopter tour in the morning booked directly through a company

-Then go to volcano national park and get back with enough time to return the car

Kona (in port 7-5:30)

-Take the trolley or bus to Kahaluu Beach Park, spend maybe 2 hours there

-Then head to Magic Sands for a couple hours, then back to the ship.

*Are both of these places on the trolley or bus line?

*Do they come frequently enough to make going to both beaches possible?

*I know I will also have to take tender time into account

Nawiliwili:

Day 1 (in port 10am, need to be back for ship excursion around 4pm):

-Rent car

-Go to Waimea Canyon

-Possibly go to Spouting Horn this day? not sure whether I'll have more time Day 1 or 2

-Park car at Anchor Cove for the night

-Be back on ship around 4pm

Day 2 (in port until 2pm)

-8 AM surf lesson Poipu Beach

-Possibly Spouting Horn this day but I really don't want to cut it too close since the ship leaves pretty early

-Return car with enough time to be back on board at 1:30

Thank you! Is all aboard typically half an hour before the listed departure time on the itinerary?

Edited: realized Nahwiliwili is not a tender port. However, my question is what is the earliest time you can get off the ship on the second day? Do they let you come and go as you please at all hours?

I don't get it. What is it about? I saw that it was going on in the Fun Times, so I went to the venue, stuck my head in the door to see what it was.

 

All I saw was a large screen, and there were people playing a game on the screen. It was as if the entire audience was sitting there watching Price is Right or Beat the Clock on a big screen TV.

 

To me, this looks like Carnival using its passengers as entertainment again.

 

Am I missing something ? :confused:

I think you've got the gist of it, at least from my understanding. I think they pick people from the audience to compete to play games.

While it may not be entertaining for some people, I like that kind of thing. I think it's funny to watch fellow passengers who really get into it.

Although I was a bit disappointed to learn the Breeze didn't have a Broadway show like the NCL ship I went on last, the Hasbro game show seems more appealing to me than the other entertainment Carnival offers. Guess I will see in a few days if I like it or not!

Good to hear it still exists! It sounds like it would be enjoyable to watch.

I've read a few older reviews that talk about it, but haven't seen anything recently.

Do they still have it on the Breeze?

There may already be a thread about this, and if there is - I'm sorry!

Just a heads up for all you deal hunters out there, you can potentially earn 10% cashback right now for buying Carnival gift cards on Amazon.

If you have the Chase Freedom credit card you can earn 10% cashback on Amazon.com from now until 12/31.

You need to activate this separately from the normal activation every quarter, and can do so by going to the Ultimate Rewards page on Chase's website.

I know a lot of people have been hoping for Carnival's Black Friday gift card sale, but this is a great option too!

 

Hmm, I have never noticed an accent in those areas. I do notice that once you go down toward the southern part of Ohio (like toward Ironton) everyone down there talks with a slang like they live in the south in Alabama. LOL

I went to school in Athens and I can definitely vouch for this. There were times the townies had such thick accents I had a hard time understanding them!

The pool towels...oh lordy lordy where do I begin. Ok, we had 4 in our room. They were used daily x6 days. I can guarantee you that out of those 24+ towels (including 4 towel each x6 days in Kendra's room) we maybe had a total of 5 towels that DID NOT have a yellow stain on them. They were nasty looking. I don't know what this yellowish stain is, but if odds are that we had them, everyone else on the ship did too. They seriously need to do away with them and start all over!!!

 

 

 

 

I think those stains are most likely from sunscreen. Still, it seems they should probably replace them - but at least it's not anything too gross!

We got it when we paid in full. But it looked like certain excursions. Not that you had to buy them all, but that you'd only get 20% the ones on the list. We blew past it, since it's just Ensenada and we have a routine there :)

Thanks! This makes sense. Hopefully I'll be able to snag one of the applicable excursions at final payment - I've only been to one of the three ports before, so I'm pretty open to a variety of excursions!

I thought that the excursion discount box was a "bundle" of the three most "popular excursions over 3 different ports. In order to get the discount you had to choose what CCL picked as the bundle.

 

I blew past that real quick.

Hmm...it might be that you have to use the ones they picked out. Maybe that's why the other two didn't work. Maybe my Jamaica excursion happened to be the one they had picked. Not sure, because I didn't pay that much attention.

I only booked one though and it did take the 20 percent off. So you don't need to take the whole bundle if that's true.

I'm wondering when Carnival decides to give you the pop up with the excursion discount.

For those who don't know what I'm referring to, I just paid the second half of my deposit (I had originally booked in February under a 50% off deposit rate, but used Early Saver to get $50 OBC today, so I owed the rest of the deposit). After I submitted my payment, a box popped up saying if you buy excursions now, you get 20 percent off. I originally paid my deposit over the phone with my PVP, and she never mentioned a discount for booking excursions then.

I was able to book an excursion with the discount for one port, but I edited my excursions for the other port too many times I guess because it stopped showing the discount for the second port.

I'm wondering if when I make my final payment, will this box come up again? Anyone have any experience with this?

Wow, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. Some of your complaints are very valid! Especially the massage - I would also be very upset about that happening. My feet hurt just thinking about it!

I also think the crew should have been more proactive about helping. Yes, it's important to notify Carnival about any special needs, but it sounds like you hadn't planned on being on crutches, and thus may not have had that on your radar. I think if someone is visibly struggling, a crew member should probably offer to help, but it's sort of a fine line, since they may not wish to offend you.

I'm always amazed how when people have valid complaints, the excuse is always "Well, it's a cruise salon, (or whatever else) what did you expect?" Personally, I feel that while it is probably wise to have lower expectations, I don't think we should just excuse bad service. How will anything ever be improved if the shortcomings are not acknowledged?

Just booked "Paradise" for Sept. 28th, which included a $50 OBC for being former Military. That OBC appears just above the total amount, in a small box, on the last page of the booking procedure. I think May is Military Appreciation Month, and all bookings made this month, by former, or current Military folks get an OBC! ;)

 

"SKY"

Thanks! This was really helpful! Now I know where to be looking. I wish all of their promotions would use the calendar format like the military promotion does. It makes it so much easier to see which sailings include it!

It's only on select sailings. If you don't see it doing a mock booking, then it's not being offered.

 

If you click on the offer, then click search cruises, everything under it should come up.

I guess my question is where does it show up while doing the mock booking? After I clicked search, I tried clicking on a few of the cruises that came up, but I don't see it listing OBC anywhere. Just want to make sure I'm looking where I should be.

For the current Memorial Weekend sale that includes up to $50 OBC, how do you find which ones have OBC? I tried several different combinations of searches after clicking on the link, but I'm not seeing anything. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place? :confused: Where would it show up if it includes OBC? Can someone give me an example of a cruise that includes OBC with this sale so I could see what it would show up as?