TNcruising02

I reached platinum  on my cruise last week.   Before my cruise, Carnival sent me an email about the Gold benefits.  I never got an email stating the platinum benefits.  However, the word platinum was on my boarding pass and my luggage tags.   I received a platinum sign & sail card.

10 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

 

We received the below email about 10 days prior to sail date for each of our last 3 cruises booked (August, December, March).

 

https://view.carnivalcruiselineemail.com/?qs=6be782c8a6bba73f575c92091738f77fe393391acffb8287d3efd7da87b0fb84a435491af8bdaef8361b948d78e12ff03f40755b26021cbaa7a33df5f157924a1a2cd69fd56076ddc043efdab02e8ce4

Thanks.  I guess they sent me the Gold letter ahead of time since I was not going to reach platinum until I checked in.  However, the word platinum was on my boarding pass and luggage tags.

2 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

You are probably getting tired of my questions, but do you remember what the platinum meeting time was for those choosing to check their luggage?

I was automatically given zone 4 luggage tags, so I could have had my luggage checked and then waited anywhere for my zone to be called.

When we were waiting to get off of the ship on the last day, one of the crew members said that there will be 1,500 platinum guests on the next cruise.

4 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Do you know if the voucher was an automatic thing or did you have to be at the gathering to get it?  Also, do you know if you could use it at Java Blue for things like milkshakes? Thanks!

The voucher is automatic. We didn't go to the gathering.  My husband got a drink later that night and it was automatically applied.  We didn't use it at the Java Blue, so I am not sure.  But it does seem like they would accept it for any type of drink.

We reached platinum on this cruise and the only information we received about platinum status was the invitation to the gathering.  The email we received before the cruise only listed the information for gold.  The only reason I knew about the other benefits was by reading CC.  I am so thankful for the posts about the $25 casino credit.  My husband and I both went to the casino and had that added to our cards.  We also called room service for the Chocolate delight.

Oh, we did receive luggage tags at the end of the cruise for zone 4 and were given information about where to meet if we wanted to get off of the ship early and carry our luggage ourselves.

7 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Uber has a surge price when there are a lot of ride requests without enough drivers.  I typically try to schedule our ride a couple of days before.  Here is the info from Uber:

 

Surge pricing automatically goes into effect when there are more riders in a given area than available drivers. This encourages more drivers to serve the busy area over time and shifts rider demand, to maintain reliability and restore balance.

I have only used Uber a few times and had no idea you could schedule a ride ahead of time.  Thanks for the information!

1 minute ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

The gelato was fantastic! I also tried the coffee, and my favorite flavor, coconut. .Not as creamy as the super-premium gelatos but still great and nicely done flavors.

 

I didn’t try the shakes from Java; that sounds delicious, but we did have the “Frappuccino” style blended mochas a couple times. We were mostly able to ask them to be less sweet than the norm and they were yum!

The variety of food and drinks on this ship was amazing.  I was able to get really good BLTs at the deli on other ships, but the deli on this ship didn't have them.  However,  I was fine with it after I got the turkey avocado sandwich on a pretzel roll.  It was so good that I had it several times during the cruise.

52 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

 

That's crazy expensive, we live just under 2 miles from Terminal 3 and have never seen it more than $20 - and less to go to one of the Port restaurants near Terminal 1 (Royal). 

 

Yeah, I don't think we'll be going with our adult children next week. 🤣

I was definitely price gouged with Uber.  That was crazy expensive.  I thought the Uber price to get from MCO to my hotel in Cocoa Beach was reasonable though.

If you do go to an adult comedy show with your adult kids, don't sit up front.  Trust me on this. 🤣

1 hour ago, clginal said:

We really enjoyed the comedians that we saw (we saw 4 out of the 6).  I will say, when they warn you to leave if you get easily offended, they mean it...LOL.  I can handle pretty much anything but, was slowly sinking in my seat not to be someone they would pick on.  

We only went to the Punchliner & 1 show at the Mardi Gras Theater.   I totally agree with you about Sin...he was so funny....we enjoyed him for the comedy show introductions & some of the trivia games we played.  He was really funny during one of the "Name that Song" games.  

 

And yes, unfortunately, we found all the ice cream stations, too 🙄

The adult comedy shows got a bit crazy.  They are definitely not for the easily offended and Sin does give the warning before each show.  We never sit up front, especially with the comedians who love to pick on the audience.  We watched the family and adult shows.  As always, some comedians are better than others.  I guess they all stayed the entire duration of the cruise because of covid.  Pre-covid, Carnival used to exchange the comedians at various ports mid cruise.

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Thanks @TNcruising02 for all the great info, especially on the comedy on Mardi Gras! I’m going to direct people from my thread here since we never made it to a comedy show last week!

 

We had the same situation at our hotel, the Cocoa Beach Courtyard Marriott and the Uber, where we couldn’t take the hotel shuttle because our appointment time was also 10 to 10:30 and the shuttle started later. So we Uber-ed; although our Uber was only $19, it took forever to get to us so we barely made the 10:30 time and we called the Uber at 9:45-ish.

 

And  the ice cream locations! Daughter knew where all the free ice cream locations on the ship. I tried hard NOT to because I didn’t want to know 😂

Your detailed thread on the cruise is awesome!  

I guess when it comes to using Uber, maybe 9:19 isn't the best time.  It sounds like a half hour made a huge difference in price.

The funny thing about the ice cream stations is that we didn't realize they had one next to Guy's Burgers until the last full day of our cruise.  We walked to the back of the ship all cruise long.  I know it's not the best ice cream in the world, but we get it every time we cruise.  The gelato in the buffet area was so good though.  I had the coffee flavor.  Also, I had a frozen Irish Cream shake from Java that was so good.  I went back for another one the next day, but they said they were out of vanilla ice cream.

4 minutes ago, cruises42 said:

Thanks, that is awful price gouging! We were planning on using Uber. Now I'm hoping our hotel has a shuttle.

Our hotel, Homewood Suites, did have a shuttle.  However, their earliest time was 11:00 or 11:30 and our appointment time was 10:00 to 10:30.  I didn't want to get stuck going through an early/late line.  Next time I may see if I can reserve a cab or something.  Or maybe I was just gouged and that's not typical.  Maybe I should have tried Lyft.  It was strange because cheap prices came up until I tried to select them.

1 hour ago, cruises42 said:

Wow, that Uber to the port was expensive! Do you know why?

It was crazy expensive.  When I first put in the address of the port for an Uber, a cheaper rate came up.  But when I selected it, it said it was no longer available.  Then the higher rate came up.  I really had no choice.  I had already called a taxi company and they were booked until noon, so I just sucked it up.  I don't know if this is the typical charge or if it was some type of surge charge.  Maybe someone else who has used Uber to go from a Cocoa Beach hotel to the port can post what they paid.
 

Ice cream, for those who care (haha) was on deck 17 near Guy's Burgers.  There was also ice cream at the back of the ship outside of the buffet and at the back of the ship on deck 8.

On some of the ships on the deck above the Lido there are outlet doors on both sides of the cabin section to the lounge areas. Not on this ship.  Our cabin was on deck 16, so no big deal.  But for those on deck 17, they had to go to the stairs/elevator section to get out.

VIFP Diamond and Platinum Gathering was Friday at 4:00 pm in the theater.  The invitation stated that everyone would receive one complimentary glass of wine.  Also, everyone would have one voucher for a beverage of our choice, which will be added to our folio and can be redeemed with our Sign & Sail card at any bar starting one hour before the event.

We had to call room service to order our free Chocolate Delight.

As for boarding the ship, we had a 10:00 to 10:30 appointment time.  We arrived at 9:30 am and went upstairs.  Upstairs, there is a priority line and then several different lines for the various appointment times.  They announced that anyone with priority on their boarding pass could go through the priority line.

There was a waiting area for suites, but platinums just waited in the general area.  They began boarding at 10:45 am.  We were able to drop our luggage off at our room.  Then we went to our muster station, which for us was in the casino, and they scanned our passes and asked if we knew how to use a life jacket.  The entire process was so quick!!

Now here is some random info.  I cruised with only my husband, so the transportation was for two people.

Uber at 5:00 pm on Thursday from MCO to a hotel at Cocoa Beach (Homewood Suites) - $69.96 plus tip 
Uber at at 9:19 am on Saturday morning from the hotel to the port (about 2 miles) - $37.75 plus tip

Here was my morning.  We reached Platinum this cruise and chose to carry our bags off of the ship ourselves.  We received a letter in our cabin stating to meet in the theater at 7:30.  From past experience, we knew we should arrive earlier.  We arrived at 6:25 am and there were already people in line.  They had everyone line up their luggage and sit, in order, in the theater.

7:15 am - We were escorted off of the ship and wound our way through the terminal 
7:25 am - We went to the "passport" line and didn't have to show our passport, it was facial recognition
7:30 am - boarded the shuttle
7:50 am - Shuttle left for the airport
8:50 am - Got off of the shuttle at the airport. We had to wait until all of the baggage was unloaded
9:20 am - Finally arrived at my gate.  We had TSA precheck and carry on luggage only

The reason my husband and I choose Carnival the majority of the time is because Carnival does the best when it comes to comedy shows.  Now we see that Mardi Gras is the best of the best.

They announced that there were 60 comedy shows during our sailing.  Since the comedians do repeat shows, that means there were about 30 different shows to watch.  We watched as many as five in one night.  There were six comedians.  The majority of the family shows were in the Limelight Lounge and all of the adult shows were in the Punchliner Comedy Club.  There were some late night shows in the theater.

Each comedy show has a title, so if you see a comedy show with a certain title and two showtimes for it, that's a repeat show.  Here is an example of a lineup one night:

Limelight Lounge, 7 Mid
5:30 pm & 9:45 pm - Joe Marlotti - "International Waters" (PG)
7:45 pm & 8:45 pm - Akeem - "Souvenir Impossible" (PG)

The Punchliner Comedy Club, 6 Fwd
7:00 pm & 10:00 pm - Akeem - "Whip Your Kids" (R-18+)
8:00 pm & 9:00 pm - Joe Marlotti - "The High Seas" (R-18+)

Mardi Gras Theater (7, Fwd)
11:00 pm - both comedians, one at a time

The hosts for both the family and adult shows were great.  The adult show host's name is Sin and he is absolutely hilarious.  We really enjoyed the comedy shows and so many other things about the Mardi Gras.  I will also post some random info FYI.
 

I just looked at the Carnival Hub app for my cruise and all of the camps for kids over age two show open hours today. 

Just now, OhioScubaGirl said:

Thank you so much for sharing what is actually happening on board. We don’t want to wear masks all the time on a cruise either.
 

Do you have young kids? I’m curious about the kids club. 

We don’t have young kids so I don’t know anything about the kids clubs. There are very few kids on this cruise.  Maybe someone cruising with kids right now will be able to help.

We are on the Mardi Gras now and of the areas we have been to after the 1st, people who want to wear masks are wearing them and those who don’t want to wear them are not.

These areas include all of the walkways inside of the ship, the comedy show areas, the theater, and even the elevators. At this point, if someone is so concerned about getting Covid by breathing the same air as an unmasked, vaccinated, and recently negative Covid testing person, cruising might not be for them at this time.

My husband and I have already decided that if strict mask mandates are brought back, we will not cruise during that time. The first few days of this cruise and constantly wearing masks really took away from our enjoyment. Now it’s great though. It feels just like old times.

On 2/27/2022 at 9:29 AM, Joebucks said:

Pretty jealous. 2 weeks on the Mardi Gras sounds pretty good right now!

 

That amount of comedy shows is mind-blowing. It is a huge disappointment that the venues continue to be so small. However, if comedy is almost always going on, maybe that is a better solve. I can't imagine wanting to go to more than a quarter of the shows.

We are on the ship now.  They announced that there will be a total of 6 comedians and 60 shows.  So I guess that makes 10 shows each.  For the first night, all of the shows were in the Punchliner Comedy room.  This room holds 300 people, but seems small for the number of people on the ship.

After night one, they hold the PG shows in the Limelight Lounge and the adult shows stay in the Punchiliner.  The Limelight Lounge is also very small for the passengers that the ship holds.  Same with the piano bar area.  As long as you show up early to stand in line, you can get a seat.  They had an 11 pm show in the theater with two comedians, one at a time.

They require masks at the comedy shows and ask that everyone wear one.  If you have a drink, they ask you to mask up between sips.  This is the most ridiculous thing ever, but I realize it's not Carnival's fault.

Just now, TravelBluebird said:

 Hope to see you as I go by!

I am wearing a pink mask and my luggage is pink. My husband is wearing a black and grey shirt with black luggage and we are literally right next to the suite entrance wishing we were in a suite! Haha

Just now, TravelBluebird said:

We are still waiting for the Uber—here Is a photo of me—if you are on this cruise please stop by and say hello! 

Hi! We are not in a suite but sitting right outside the entry way to the suite waiting area. 

3 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

So our Uber is taking forever—really 25 minutes but she was doing a drop-off at port—and we are going to be late for our boarding time.  Does anyone know if we can skip the “early/late line because we are in a suite?

 

response:

there is a special line for suites once you get upstairs. It’s to the left. We are platinum and they let us in this line too. No wait to check in.

 

We just finished checking in at Port Canaveral for our cruise. Even though we had everything loaded on to VeriFLY, they said it was just in the testing stages and wanted to look at all of our paperwork. So for our cruise it saved no time.

7 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

I'm looking forward to hearing how embarkation goes for all of you.  In December we had 10:00 check-in but our friends had 11:30.  We had our driver pick us up at 11:00 so our friends were a bit early but there weren't any crowds of people waiting outside, so they were allowed to go right in the terminal when we arrived.  We all stepped onto the ship at 11:35.  This time, we have 10:00 check-in and our son & DIL have 11:00 so we're planning to leave the condo at 10:30 and hope for a similar result. 

We have a 10:00 to 10:30 check in and arrived at 9:30 by Uber. That wasn’t intentional, I just didn’t realize how quick the service would be. Since we are platinum this cruise they let us skip the long line for 10:00 people and we got to enter with the suites.

Even though we have everything loaded to VeriFLY they wanted to confirm with our paper copies.they said they are still in the test stages.