nc762shooter

Governor's Beach had great snorkeling you can get to right off the beach, if you have your own snorkeling equipment it makes for a budget friendly and chill day, plus way less crowded than the beach right at the port and Margaritaville. 

Absolutely get it now, it's not going to get any cheaper and if you end up not wanting it later you can cancel and get your money back up until a day or so before you cruise.

Not that I want them removed but the menu still has several Fantasy class ships that are sadly no more.

The general consensus being that tipping an extra dollar makes you stand out enough to get better service seems to indicate it is not all that common, otherwise you would be blending in with the majority and not notice a difference.

1 hour ago, Butterbean1000 said:

It does make sense, thank you.  I'm sure we'll be constantly texting with my son to try to coordinate things.

If you really want to play it safe you could always show up in disguise!😁

According to one of the drink package calculators, beer prices average about $8. That can give you a rough idea until someone else can provide concrete numbers.

25 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Maybe it’s a small cliff which will make you late but not injured. 

Or it was a cliff overlooking the port and was just a shortcut!

20 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

That is a fairly creative way at looking at it.  

My prepaid gratuity from buying Cheers being split among the staff, I'm technically tipping some bartenders that may never actually make me a drink. I'd say the Cheers prepaid gratuities even out fairly well and isn't something to worry about.

I will almost always tip extra on a drink that requires more time/effort to prepare than say just a neat pour of whiskey or a rum and coke or being handed a bottle of beer. I don't feel bad about not always tipping extra on something that takes less than 10 seconds to prepare.

Check each port on tripadvisor, it should have a fairly comprehensive list of things to do along with ratings and reviews. Some ports also have official websites that would also have activities listed and hopefully those would all be reputable operators. Otherwise I don't know of any one site that would list available excursions similar to how the cruise lines do.

12 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Was the Yelp review by a J.W. Booth?

Yes, he said the play he saw was "mindblowing!"

21 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

"Do not believe everything people post on the internet".

 

       ~  Abraham Lincoln, 1935.

I believe he said this in response to a yelp review that a visit to Ford's Theatre was a must not miss experience.

7 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

 

I've brought this up in the past - the actual policy wording only indicates a limit under Cheers.  

 

This probably hasn't been confirmed anywhere though because if someone is exceeding 15 drinks in a day and paying as they go along, that is just bad budgeting lol.

Indeed, that's definitely a win for the cruise line if someone is going to drink that much and not take advantage of Cheers lol. Carnival isn't the morality police looking to decree how much booze you can or cannot consume as long as you aren't endangering yourself or others, but they are most definitely interested in making money hence why it makes sense to put a limit on Cheers and doesn't make sense to limit pay as you go customers.

I would say a mix of the 2nd and 3rd options. I don't think tipping extra is as prevalent as a lot of the posts here would have you believe. Cheers gratuities are totaled up from everyone that buys the program and divided among the bar staff, so if I have a server or bartender who I particularly like every now and then I add an extra dollar or two just as an extra thank you.

59 minutes ago, CruisinTrkrs3 said:

Not to mention the obvious 😏 But op also just joined CC THURSDAY, apparently to post this nonsense. Mayhaps for attention or sympathy... I'm not buying this baloney. Especially waiting Allthese months afterwards. Ridiculous...

But the trolling on both sides is quite entertaining! Rumor has it the infamous backpack is now being spotted in other threads...

35 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

So, let me see if I have this right. OP waits five months from when the bag was left behind in the cabin, then comes here to see if we can help find it?...

Oh ye of little faith in the power of these message boards🤣

On 4/27/2024 at 11:13 AM, Elaine5715 said:

And, yet there is a steady stream of people walking through the halls.  B2B people (especially vloggers) use the time and open doors to video fancy staterooms.

Not to mention that someone who is fine with taking things that don't belong to them probably isn't going to be terribly bothered about being somewhere they shouldn't anyway...

13 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I have seen it quoted but it might have changed. Yes, they can cut people off when they deem fit but having a limit makes it harder for people to argue when they are cut off and that is what I always figured why they had a limit outside of Cheers (and having one for Cheers does prevent damage to the bottom line, as you note). 

It could very well be they bring up that number actual policy or not if someone is arguing and becoming a problem, but in the instances I've seen where someone needed to be cut off it was well before they hit that many Cheers or not. And getting loud and arguing certainly does not help your case that you should be served another drink at all, drunk or not😉! With one particular guest who clearly shouldn't but was insistent he still be served another whiskey and coke, the bartender ended up pretending to make him one and he just wound up with a glass of coke and stumbled away happy LOL🤣

9 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

It is my understanding that the 15 day limit applies to all individual alcohol sales (but as you mention there are some things that don't count against that number). 

Hmmm, the liquor and beverage policy makes no mention of a limit on sales other than they have the right to request ID or refuse sales at any time. The only place I see 15 mentioned is in the section about Cheers. Having a limit of 15 drinks on Cheers makes sense because it limits the damage you can do to their bottom line😂. They don't need to have a numerical limit on individual purchases since they can stop serving you at any time they deem fit, as long as you aren't being a problem they would love for you to keep spending money at the bar! 😁

1 hour ago, thesmiths said:

Does a double count as 2 drinks with cheers?

 

Doing cheers for the first time and my wife doesn't drink.

Its an 11 day cruise (10 days of cheers actually from NY) so I figured based on the spreadsheet It's a break even with Gator aides, bottles a water nice coffee and milkshakes.

 

Paying with the AMEX $150.00 kickback and AARP discounts I felt it was worth it.  

 

Officially you cannot order a double as stated before. It is possible they will pour heavy for you especially once they get to know you a bit. Many times they would keep pouring from the bottle into the glass as they dumped the jigger in. From my experience if you are always friendly, patient and polite and not heavily intoxicated, the likelihood of this happening is high 😁.

Although rare, if you have developed a rapport with a certain bartender you may find one who will make you an actual double by charging your Cheers account when you order, remembering your folio #, and entering the second drink after the 5 minutes have passed. I've only had this happen a few times, always times late at night and the bar was not very busy. A couple times I was planning to order 2 scotches waiting the five minutes in between to have with a cigar, when I told the bartender this he said he would go ahead and do a double pour for me and would enter the second scotch in after the 5 minute interval and not to worry about the wait. The other times were similar, late and not busy, was planning to order my last two Cheers drinks to take back to my balcony, and those bartenders did the same thing. 

It is important to note I did not and would not ask them to do this because I'm they aren't supposed to do this. It seems it was very situational and a judgement call on the bartender's part, when I ordered the 1st drink I told them I wanting to order a 2nd one after the 5 minutes passed so I could take them with me to my balcony or up to the cigar smoking area. Each of those times they told me not to worry about it, they would take care of it.  

On 4/27/2024 at 2:35 PM, sparks1093 said:

All well and good but all passengers are subject to the 15 alcoholic drink limit so it shouldn't matter.

15 alcoholic drinks per day is all that is "prepaid for" through the Cheers program. You can purchase additional alcoholic drinks at cost that will not count against your Cheers tally as long as you do so before hitting your 15 drink Cheers limit, for example a bottle of wine at dinner or as a round of drinks. If you don't have Cheers there is no limit on the number of alcoholic drinks you can buy. Whether or not you are served is at the discretion of the server or bartender irrespective of how many drinks you have had, if you are visibly intoxicated or behaving poorly you will not be served whether you are on drink 2 or 20, Cheers or not.

I'm sure they've run the numbers and figured out we only need 1 customer out of X to actually purchase for the shops to be profitable, the fact that the shops are still onboard tells me the cruise line and the shop owners must be making money from this arrangement. Plus the presence of "high-end" brands adds to what a fair number of cruisers perceive to be a "luxury" experience. Not everyone lives in an area or has travelled to places that routinely provide the level of service and amenities you find on even a cheap cruise and just the presence of these shops and brands just adds to the wow factor. I'm sure the psychology behind this especially if coupled with a few drinks and the lack of easy internet access for research has led to more than a few impulse buys. It'll be interesting to see how effective this marketing tactic is going forward with the prevalence of usable and affordable internet onboard. 

14 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

This had struck me as a very dangerous move.  Bringing refugees on board one at a time, using life boats to ferry them to the mother ship, seems far more sensible.  Who knows what weapons might be hidden away in the foundering boat, ready to be used to attack the rescue ship?

 

I'm glad there seem to have been no adverse consequences.  

 

I was also surprised to see the rescue being performed in that manner, seems much riskier for all involved than sending out one of the ship's boats. 

13 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Excuse me but the source of my LRC bacon is none of the casino's business! 😉

 

Unrelated question and asking for a friend. Can you use Rum Runners with cooked bacon or is it best to do uncooked only? If uncooked, can you cook bacon on a hair straightener?

Next thing you know port security will have in addition to drug/bomb sniffing dogs, bacon sniffing dogs... or as I like to call them, regular dogs 🤣

2 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

You may be new here, there has been a horrific bacon shortage aboard Carnival ships for like 3 years now.

Haven't cruised since before the pandemic so there is that... but in fairness a bacon shortage is a worthy complaint, up there with the removal of the topless decks. 😂

Agreed, the tequila won't overly matter if they are using a premade mix except to help you get more bang for your buck on Cheers. 😁