happy cruzin

MY CRUISE IS RUINED!!!

 

 

I NOW DEMAND CARNIVAL NOT ONLY GIVE ME HALF OFF MY NEXT CRUISE, BUT THEY GIVE ME THIS CRUISE FOR FREE AS WELL AS UPGRADING ME TO THE OWNER'S SUITE ON THE DREAM!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

*I am joking*

I hear 'ya ;)!!

This whole thing is VERY upsetting. When you book a specific cabin - almost a year out from your sailing - it is because you really want THAT cabin (or balcony in this case).

But, I keep reminding myself that it not just us - there are alot of people who have those cabins booked before my sailing in January. So I figure that they will have to do something pretty quickly....right??!??!?!

I got an email Friday while I was on the Conquest asking if I could help with this issue.

 

A quick glance at the deck plans clearly shows eight aft wrap cabins divided among the Upper Deck, Empress Deck, Verandah Deck and the Vista Deck.

 

However, I emailed a friend of mine, the Director of Public Affairs for Carnival and posed the question.

 

He assured me that there are indeed eight 'aft wrap' cabins on the Dream. He refers to them as 'corner balconies' and Carnival refers to them as 'Premium balconies' as on other ships.

 

I hope this helps put this one to bed.

 

:)

 

Mach

NOPE!! :(

According to this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=21590721&posted=1#post21590721 we are correct to be concerned.

According to this poster they have gotten confirmation from John Heald that the aft wraps are NOT aft wraps afterall :eek:. They are looking to resolve the situation "quickly" - what ever that may mean :o

Well.....John Heald has spoken....according to this thread the deck 8 aft wraps on the Dream are NOT wraps :eek:!! They are looking to "fix" the situation....whatever that means :rolleyes:.

Here is the link to the thread that has his response: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=21590721&posted=1#post21590721

Interesting site!

 

Looking at the specific room details for the Cat 9A corners -- it does call them "wrap-around balcony" cabins - but all 3 decks show the same (generic) figures for each:

 

-----------------------------

6492 9A OSTW 185/75 = 260 sq ft

Beds twin/king / rab: 0

View window and wrap-around balcony

 

Balcony partition connects to: none

Bathroom shower-toilet-sink

Features: flat screen-TV; telephone; 110 AC current; individual climate control; hair dryer; safe; minibar; 3-closets; sofa and coffee table; Balcony features: 2 patio chairs and table

-----------------------------

 

I don't think that the 185 sq ft interior figure is correct, as those cabins - though of different shapes - do tend to be larger than the typical cabin. Also - the 75 sq ft for the balcony is not correct. It's nice that they list EACH individual cabin there, but they are using general figures and portraying them as actual stats for those cabins... :rolleyes:

 

----------------------------------

 

I know that the typical Cat 9A balcony on a Conquest class ship is WELL over 120 sq ft... and here is what is shown for one of those:

 

Cabin 6483 9A OSTW 185/75 sq ft

Beds: twin/king rab:0

View: 2 windows and wrap-around balcony

 

connecting balconies: 6481

TV; telephone; 110 AC current; individual climate control; hair dryer wall safe; minibar; 3-closets; shower;

chair and coffee table

Note: Cabin has twin/king-1 sofabed (9A OST3) on: LI FD

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

Time (and my tape measure) will tell!

 

Tom

Yeah...I noticed the same thing :rolleyes:. They are listing them to be all the same - anyone who has had a 9A wrap knows that each ship - and each deck - is slightly different :o.

You are right.....time - and your tape measure - will get us an answer and I really appreciate your offer. But, I just hope we can get some information - and maybe even to the bottom of the issue - before you even go ;)!!

Just a quick note to say....no news yet! Still waiting to hear back from our CVS - with the cabin details provided by someone on the ship.

As soon as I know anything new - I will post an update.

Has anyone stayed or seen room 8449 on the Freedom? This is a category 9A next to the wrap room on Verandah deck. Unfortunately on the sailing we are wanting to book this is the only 9A available. The balcony is quite large but not sure about the room or potential noise from the stairway next to the room. If anyone has any pictures or info on the room I would appreciate hearing from you.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

mikel1733 at yahoo dot com

That stairway will not be a problem - it is for crew only except for the muster drill.

We had a similar room on the Splendor and we loved it!! The cabin configuration was a little odd - but the balcony more that made up for it :D ;). I doubt that you will be disappointed with that choice!

It's tough to decide what constitutes a "wrap" when the entire aft of the ship is one large arc. Does it need to, at a minimum, include that transition point where it goes from straight (either port or starboard) to a curve - and if so, how much beyond that point ... how many feet of balcony railing?

 

It's not a clear cut issue. Our favorite "aft wraps" (Spirit class ships) on deck 4 have very close to FORTY feet of deck railing - and there is no doubt as to the "wrap" classification.

 

As I have said before, and will again, I was saddened that Carnival did not place some SWEET SUITES on the Dream's aft-corners. At least on ONE deck!

 

Oh well!

 

Tom

Absolutely...I agree. We have had several "aft wraps" - including that awesome Cat 11 on the Spirit that is your favorite - and they have all been slightly different.

There have been several concerns raised in this thread....but my concern here is related specifically to the 9A's on Deck 8 of the Dream - 8473, even more specifically. From the photos it looks like 8473 is basically an extended aft - with NO larger a balcony that the other extended afts- much less a wrap. Which will be very disappointing since when we booked - and paid for - that cabin oh so many months ago - it was a 9A wrap based on the published deck plans.

So that is what I am trying to clarify.

I got an email Friday while I was on the Conquest asking if I could help with this issue.

 

A quick glance at the deck plans clearly shows eight aft wrap cabins divided among the Upper Deck, Empress Deck, Verandah Deck and the Vista Deck.

 

However, I emailed a friend of mine, the Director of Public Affairs for Carnival and posed the question.

 

He assured me that there are indeed eight 'aft wrap' cabins on the Dream. He refers to them as 'corner balconies' and Carnival refers to them as 'Premium balconies' as on other ships.

 

I hope this helps put this one to bed.

 

:)

 

Mach

Good to hear - and I truly hope that is the case!

But looking at the photos - it still does not look that way - but only for Deck 8 (Verendah) :o. In the photos posted earlier in this thread for Deck 8 you can clearly see the 6 "extended aft" balconies - which matches the published deck plans. Then it looks like there is a cabin and then the balcony with the corner.

We have 8473 booked which is supposed to be a wrap. And according the the deck plans 8473 is next to the "extended afts". So there is the confusion.

The cabin circled in red - in my previous post - is the cabin in question. Is it 8473 :confused: - in which case it is not a wrap or are there more that 6 extended aft balconies on Deck 8 - even though the deck plans show 6 and 8473 is actually the next cabin over :confused: or.....the the whole thing some kind of optical illusion :confused:.

It wouldn't be the first time the deck plans have not matched what was actually there, before we really got into CC we went on a cruise on the Legend, when we booked the cabin we did a 3-way call with our TA and the CCL rep, we picked out 4226, a CAT 11 suite.

 

Of course 5 minutes of searching on here would of told us that that is not the one to go for as there is a stairway that cuts right by the bedroom window AND removes 2/3 of the balcony.

 

Needless to say that we were more than a little shocked to find our balcony missing, a quick phone call to our TA resulted in CCL saying there wasn't a stairways there (so I am blind), however there was a 12 open, but I had to go to the pursers desk to pay them the difference to move.

 

Well I guess in the time that it took me to get from the cabin to the desk it had been sold :(, however the amusing thing to me was, they denied there was a stairway there as well.

 

Well we were ready to walk off the ship, but friends from Europe had flown in to cruise with us, so we were kind of stuck.

 

We woke up to a person looking through the curtains at us (have the picture) and it became a very frequent thing for people to knock on the window as they climbed the stairs, very annoying.

 

I called CCL when we returned, of course there was no stairway in their mind, so I emailed them the pictures and told them to look at their deck plans.

 

This resulted in an offer of a plate of chocolate covered strawberries as compensation, you can take a guess at what I said to that.

 

As I am very much the type of person that just says "F this" and spends his money elsewhere I figured CCL had seen the last of me.

 

However a very nice lady called Anita Dunham-Potter found out about all this somehow, she works for MSNBC, she interviewed my wife and then talked to CCL, funnily enough a much fairer compensation package was offered and accepted, with the condition that the deck plans were changed to show the stairway there.

 

The thing that bugged me then and will bug me about these cabins isn't so much the fact that they are wrong, it's the thought that at some point someone is going to book the cabin who has spent a lot of time saving their hard earned money to take a dream cruise and they end up with something they should never have been sold. More so in the case of the Cat 11's on the Spirit class where there is a huge different in cost between a balcony cabin and a suite.

 

Ok off my soap box now :D

WOW :eek:.....what a history!! No wonder you were checking out those photos with a fine tooth comb.

Well....as promised....when I hear anything back from Mach and/or my CVS I will be sure to let you know.

Nice job Happy Cruzin. Were also waiting to make a wrap booking on the Dream.

Thanks! I just want to get the real answer :rolleyes:.

Don't get me wrong. I will be REALLY bummed if our cabin in not a wrap :(. But I have to keep reminding myself that if the deck plans are not what was actually built then it is a problem at lot bigger than just me :eek:!

Not surprising....but my CVS told me yesterday that all of the wraps are sold out through March. Which could prove to be very interesting. There could be alot of unhappy people.

So......for now.... I am still hoping that our eyes are playing tricks on us :o.

Ok...just got off of the phone with my CVS.

She totally understands our concerns and agrees that if the circled cabin in my photos is in fact 8473 - then we have paid for an aft-wrap balcony that we are not getting :eek:.

She and her Supervisor have contacted the ship to ask for photos and specific dimensions for 8473 of the balcony and the cabin. They also have elevated the concern to the next level of Supervisors for clarification as well.

So....now we wait for a response from the Supervisors and the ship. When I hear anything else - I will let you know.

Thanks for that, ok so lets figure this out, the cabin in the middle, from the middle with the lights on, with a door window window and the divider cutting through the right hand window in the picture, is that the 9A or is the next cabin over the 9A ?

That seems to be the $10,000.00 question.

From what I read on John's Blog a few weeks ago -- he was going to be taking video of many different cabins - including aft cabins, when he was aboard. I can only assume he did that, and at this point is holding out (or I should say Carnival is holding out). Although there were a lot of great (still) shots by Radu, there was not much in the way of video. John in the Lobby, John in the Casino walking outside and back in, and then his Catwalk (TEASE).

 

I appreciate all that he did relay back to us -- but for some reason I was expecting (ok- hoping for) more video. :confused:

 

As far as comparing the balconies of deck 6,7, and 8 aft corners. That was very tough over a year ago when the deck plans were released. I could not really decide - thus we booked ALL THREE (though over different sailings ;)). When you look at the plans, the first thing which stood out to me was the number of Cat 8 cabins between the corners. There are 6 on deck 6 and 8 - though there are 8 on deck 7. That tends to throw everything off, at least in an apples to apples comparison. They all appear to have pros and cons. Time will tell!

 

I (STILL) think that they should have taken the corners on at least one deck and made some KILLER suites. I mean... throw TWO in there at least! :rolleyes:

 

Tom

My thoughts exactly. I know the Dream is bigger and a different configuration - over all than any other ship. But I too was surprised to see how many extended aft cabins there were!

We had the same issues that you did - over a year ago when we booked. It was tough to look at the plans - trying to determine which 9A-wrap would be "best" - since there was nothing to go on except the published deck plans. We finally settled on 8473 - nearer the Lido and not all that different in the balcony configuration to the others and maybe even a little more cabin space, according to the published deck plans. Since you will have stayed in all of them we will be anxiously awaiting your comparisons. You certainly have never steered us wrong before ;)!!

I really hope that the concern here is some sort of optical illusion and that what looks like a balcony divider is really something else :cool:. Maybe John will post some photos and videos that will answer the question.

Check out the deck plans' date=' looks like a large wrap to me.

Luv's Crisin'[/quote']

 

We all agree that the deck plans show the wraps. The question is the deck plans compared to the actual photos.

In an effort to get an answer to all of this I forwarded our concerns - with the attached marked photos to Host Mach and asked if he knew anyone at Carnival who could answer our questions.

In photo #1 I identified the 6 aft extended balcony cabins that are shown on the deck plans with a yellow rectangle and the cabin with the partition in question with the red circle. Photo #2 shows the same cabin - on the other side, just for reference.

Mach is currently on the Crazies cruise but responded saying that I should let anyone who is concerned know that he will ask John tomorrow - or Monday - after they are back on shore.

If I hear anything else - I will let you know!

Not sure if these will help. But they are posted on Carnival's facebook page.

Wow... For the price I'm paying to get a Suite, that looks rediculous. That balcony looks smaller than the ones on the Balcony Stateroom. And the price difference was up towards $1000... It's too late to switch rooms, since the cruise is so close and all of the suites are sold out... but there has to be something I can do.

 

THANK YOU FOR THE QUICK RESONSES!!!

But the room is HUGE. We saw our "neighbors" cabin - during a CC cabin crawl. I was shocked how big the cabin was - so it would be great for some who wants alot of space but does not really care about the balcony.

Not for me...mind you...but it was a nice cabin!

I don't have any pictures but I did stay in 4237 in Feb on the Miracle. There is a stairwell there used by the crew. The one thing I didn't like about the cabin is the door below (directly underneath 4235) used by the crew to go outside and smoke slams shut a lot.

 

Now, that didn't prevent me from booking the same cabin in April on the Spirit. But that is because of the huge balcony and being directly aft. I don't think I would want 4226 or 4235 unless it was a free upgrade. The slamming wasn't going on all hours, in other words it wasn't waking me up at 2am. But during the day it is slamming all the time.

We loved 4237 - but did notice the same thing. From about 3 - through the dinner seatings there are lots on staff in and out that door :eek:!!

We wore ours all day - on the Triumph - the last time Pittsburgh was in the Super Bowl.

We did not go to the dining room that night - because the game was on :eek:!! But they made a day of it with trivia and drink specials during the day and they had "finger foods" and drink specials during the game.

We watched with 2500 of our newest friends ;)...it was a hoot!! :D

Such great pictures!! Can't resist adding one to the group from our Triumph 06 cruise.

Ahhhhh...nothing quite like those aft balconies :D ;)

.

 

Is that what you were looking for? Let me know.

How about the Wild Mushroom Soup? DS would be very surprised if I could make it for him. He had the soup as a starter and then asked for a 2nd bowl for dessert :eek: !