erikaem86

This is a cool new feature.  It didn't exist 12 months ago when I was on the Sunrise, or at at least I wasn't aware of it.

They should fit in the closet fairly easily.

My family shared the social media package.  For what it's worth, it was pretty poor and slow.  Videos on social media sites like Facebook did not work. Even uploading a picture was difficult.

It shouldn't be a problem at all.  Just take your drinks and do your thing. 

I used the $2 Safari bus with my family (5 of us) to go to Coki beach.  it wasn't a problem and the bus wasn't full so we weren't taking spots for the locals.  It was pretty easy.  We just went to the spot near the cruise port and asked the buses that came by if it was $2.  On the way back, we went back to the spot that dropped us off and waved down busses.  We talked to lots of locals to make sure we were heading in the right direction.  Total cost there and back: $4 pp x 5 = $20 plus.  Used the money we saved for a bucket of beer and some beach chairs and an umbrella.

We went to Carlisle Bay with the intention of doing the Boatyard.  By the time we got there, they said no more boat tours were available because they were full.  I also found the staff/security to be a little unfriendly.  No incident, just not welcoming.  Instead, we just rented some beach chairs and an umbrella and found a guy who would take $60 for 5 of us to do a boat tour.  

You can get on and off the ship as many times as you like.  We left 3 or 4 times and each time we came back we had a bottle of wine (allowing us to circumvent the 1-bottle maximum per passenger limit).

Notifying them is a good idea.  It will let them know you'll be arriving late, but you can also confirm that they have a 24-hour front desk.  Not all hotels have this.  

I also stayed at the Best Western Plus Condado Palm Inn & Suites.  The pool area is nice, and the location is close to the beach and restaurants.  I think it was around a $15 cab ride to/from the cruise port.  Cabs charge $1 per bag so prices will vary depending on how many bags of luggage you have.  We didn't get hooked up from Henry but got a great price on Priceline Name Your Own Price.  Here's a list of known San Juan hotels on Priceline: http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/hotelinventory/priceline/pr/san-juan  

After our cruise, we stayed at El Canario by the Lagoon.  This hotel is in the same general area as the Best Western Palm Inn, but not nearly as nice.  If you are on a tight budget, it will suffice.  I found that rates fluctuated quite a bit.  The night before our cruise, prices were quite expensive but after our cruise, they were very reasonable.

We've done 2 cruises with 5 in a single room.  The configuration is as follows:  2 twin beds that are pressed together to make 1 large king bed, 2 pull down beds that are about 5 feet off the ground, and 1 trundle placed on the floor.

If you don't plan on spending much time in your room, it's not as bad as you might think. We would go to bed early and were up and out of the room early, whereas our kids would come to bed later and sleep in. So it was never really a problem. The only time it got congested was when we were all getting ready for dinner at the same time. However, since we allowed our kids to eat where they wanted, there was only a couple of times when we were all trying to shower and get ready at the same time.

I sailed the Fascination on March 2019, and for comparison purposes, I sailed the Sunrise one year earlier. 

I found the ships to be about the same size.  However, the Fascination seemed much less crowded.  For example, it was easier and quicker to get a table at Your Time dining. Getting into shows or the comedy club was never a problem. 

I liked the vibe on the ship. It's what you would expect on Carnival.  Fun, friendly staff.  Plenty of activities, despite no Dive-in Movies 😞 .  The cruise director on the Fascination was sufficient but unremarkable and unmemorable.  

Dining is not as great on the Fascination as the Sunrise or other ships.  I don't believe it has any specialty restaurants like the Steakhouse, pasta restaurant, or Asian restaurant although it does have the Chef's Table.  Room service seems very quick compared to the Sunrise.  

For us, the cruise was such a great price that we honestly weren't expecting much.  We kept our expectations low and they were far exceeded.  Overall, we had a wonderful time.

Will you have kids or no kids?  I like the Sandals suggestion from another member.  Other ideas:

- Order the Cheers drink package

- Steakhouse or Chef's Table (if you are a foodie)

- Upgrade to a balcony cabin or suite

I've been on 4 cruises and have never booked an excursion through any of the cruise ships I'm on. Maybe I'm cheap, but I find them to be quite expensive. I also enjoy doing the research on what to see and how to get from point A to point B. If you don't want the "hassle" of figuring out logistics on your own, I think an organized excursion makes sense.

For me, the only disadvantage I see is the risk of missing your boat, but that risk can be significantly mitigated by making sure you're leaving extra time to get back to your ship.  But that same risk exists whether you're heading to the airport for a flight, etc.  I usually try to be back on the ship 2 hours before final boarding.  

I've learned to avoid buying some things too early.  I bought snacks for the 3-leg flight to San Juan about 6 weeks before the cruise. During the 6 weeks before the cruise, I got a sweet tooth on a couple of occasions.  Had to go back to Walmart and buy more snacks.  😂

Back in the 90s there was a cruise line called Premier Cruise Line.  Fond memories but sadly I will never cruise on that line again as they went out of business in the early 2000s.

Don't you have assigned boarding times? If so can you disregard them and board early?

On the night before our cruise ended, I got a print out of our charges. Everything looked ok.

Then I checked my credit card charges and noticed I was charged a higher amount by Carnival than my bill.

When I eventually got a copy of my revised bill (via email), I noticed I had been charged an extra $88 for 4 towels that weren't returned.

These charges were in error. We returned all our towels that we used, so I called up Carnival to explain that I didn't lose or steal 4 towels. They were cooperative. I am happy to report that they were quite willing to reverse the charges. Problem solved.

That said, it would have been very easy for me to miss the extra charges if I wasn't so diligent (normally I'm not). I don't know if this happens often, but it happened to me.

I got off the Sunshine on Mar 24. I didn't tip the bartender extra, just the auto 15%. I did, however, frequently tip staff who weren't in positions that prominently got tipped, like the guy shining the chrome on deck or the people who hand out towels. They were so grateful. I know they're supposed to pool their tips but I don't know how much that actually happens. My guess is that the bartenders do quite well and pocket a lot of the cash tips they get. No way to back that... but it felt good tipping those not in the limelight.

The free bottle of wine is cheap house wine. Other bottles are half price their jacked up price. We got duped by the half price wine and would not do it again. In fact, we didn't even enjoy the steakhouse. Carnival does not do steak well. All my steaks -- whether in Fahrenheit or MDR were overcooked and rather bland. Ordered medium steak that arrived well done.

Just got off the Sunshine. The Serenity area is nice. Looks just like the photos. Nice, chill vibe. The pool is small and people really just lounge on the edge. Only problem: the pool and hot tub are on different levels. So if you're on the pool deck but want to have a hot tub, you need to hike up the stairs to the upper level. Not a major issue.

i understand that each person can carry up to 12 cans of coke type products in their carry on. I also understand that each person over 21 can carry a bottle of wine.

 

1. Can a person over 21 take the 12 cokes AND a bottle of wine in their carry on?

2. If 4 people are together and each has one 12 pack of cokes, can the packs be combined into one suitcase and then carried on by one of the group? Or does each 12 pack have to be carried on by one individual? Does that make sense?

3. I'm guessing that a person can carry a 12 pack of cokes as their carry on or does it have to be in some sort of bag?

 

On the Dream in a week...

Just got off Carnival Sunshine. There were 5 of us. We brought 3 dozen cans of pop, all in 1 carry on, not a problem. The other adult carried the 2 bottles of wine, no problem. Our pop was in 1 carry on, but we saw other people carrying a 12-pack outside of a carryon -- no bag or nothing.

As a side note, we also packed 12 cans of pop in 3 suitcases (4 in each x 3). One of the bags was checked and the pop taken out. The other 8 cans made it through. We weren't trying to sneak pop on the ship (we had 5 people and only brought 3 dozen). Just forgot that they had to be in the carry on.

NCL notified customers ahead of time right? Like the time I booked a hotel in Vegas and they told me the pool was closed?

A 25% discount on a future cruise would not be sufficient, in my opinion. Maybe a 25% refund, but no way would I book a future cruise with them. I just cruised carnival and will stick with them. I know they're low quality cruises, but they are fair and honest.

Thank you for the menu. I may have to re-think my potential Cheers purchase (I was assuming I'd be doing 2 drinks @ $9, 2 @10 and 2@11), but looks like $8.75 is about the max for the drinks I like.

We are not doing the Cheers program but I'm kind of thinking we should have. This is what we did instead:

- we bought 2 bottles of hard alcohol (1 litre of rum, 1 litre of vodka) from the fun shops

- we will bring our own mixer onto the ship

- we will bring our own wine onto the ship

All in, we are at around $200 so far. On top of that, I figure we will have 2 or 3 bar drinks per person per day or 40 bar drinks in total for our 8 night cruise. If we assume $8 per drink (hubby drinks beer), that's an additional $320. In total, booze for us will cost $520. That is for 2 people for an 8 night cruise. That works out to around $32 per person per day for alcohol.

When you consider Cheers is only an extra $20 per person per day, it wouldn't take much to get your money's worth and then some.

Very lucky. We received an email asking us to upgrade but by the time I responded, the offer was gone.

We are spending 1 night in Vancouver before our Alaskan cruise... couple of questions...

1) do cabs/uber take credit cards?

2) do most hotels have a place in them where we can convert $$- last time I travelled international, it was Shanghai, and they had this...

3) they don’t take USD anywhere in Vancouver, right?

 

 

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1. Uber is not in Vancouver, but cabs will take credit cards.

2. Most places will take USD but you'll lose 5 to 10%. For example, they may give you $1.20CAD instead of the proper exchange rate of $1.27CAD for $1USD. Change will be given in CAD.

3. Pretty much everywhere will take USD except vending machines, busses, etc.

Honestly, Vancouver is RIGHT no the US border. Very different from Shanghai. In fact, when you're there, you will feel like you're in any other pacific northwest city like Seattle or Portland.