TechDiva

I've never gotten a free airplane upgrade and I travel quite a bit. Always had to pay for it. With hotels, I've had to use my points, which essentially aren't free, to get an upgrade. So, I must be doing something wrong. At the end of the day, it still doesn't matter to me what it's called. So, to those that were offered an upgrade for a reasonable cost, congrats! I've taken advantage of quite a few those myself.

Yes, it is an upgrade but there are some people that just consistently feel the need to jump in and admonish everyone for not using the word "upsell." It's not like it really matters 🤷‍♀️

It appears that you can. The original post is a little misleading in that it should have mentioned that this is only for the brunch in the dining room. You can still get a custom omelette on lido.

That calculator should probably ask what a person thinks they would average per day. I may drink more one day, nothing the next, etc. Anyhow, my significant other and I did a test about 3 cruises ago where we bought whatever drink we wanted, when we wanted, without buying the package. Ended up spending about the cost of the package for 1 person for the both of us, for a 7 day cruise. But, I do have to mention that we don't drink specialty coffees, milkshakes, sodas, etc. (not at home or on vacation). We mostly drink water, so we purchase a pack to be delivered to the room. If we want something other than water, the free drinks work for us and the coffee in the buffet is ok for the 1 cup we may have in the morning. So, the package would not work for us. I will add that we just recently went on Margaritaville at Sea (had an absolute blast). They have a package where you can purchase 10 drinks for $99. We actually purchased the premium package for $149 that lets you get premium alcohol. For a 3 day cruise (or realistically, 1 1/2 days), that was perfect for the 2 of us. They allow you to share that package and purchase 2 drinks at once. Carnival should really consider implementing something similar, even if it's just a 10 drink package that can't be shared. I would purchase that in a heartbeat.

I'm cruising Carnival at the end of the month and was just looking into excursions. Check this: https://www.shoreexcursioneer.com/amber-cove I do believe that they have the excursion that you're asking about. I have used this site before for excursions and haven't had any issues.

I cruise on the Celebration next month, with 2 connecting larger balcony cabins booked. I've gotten several upgrade offers via email (for extremely low upgrade rates, the lowest was $26 per cabin) but haven't accepted any (nor have I declined them on the website). I booked the cruise in maybe July of last year and paid a great rate, so I'm sure that if I took the upgrade offer that they could sell my cabins at a much larger price. I probably won't take any of the offers because I want the 2 rooms to be connected (or side by side) and don't want to lose the balcony cabins that we have.

No, those are not going to be within walking distance. Those are going north from the port towards the lighthouse. The island was not hard to drive around. It helped that they drive on the same side as we do in the US. I think that the most traffic that we encountered was in Oranjestead, which is the downtown area near the port. Probably the biggest annoyance for me was all of the roundabouts. I hate those things here and it seemed like every 1/2 - 1 mile we encountered one, as if they decided that those were easier to install than traffic lights (as we encountered very few of those). It was our first time there and we really enjoyed ourselves. Definitely have to go back on a land vacation.

I thought I was going crazy when the topics all of a sudden changed. And, yes, it is VERY weird because they are 2 different topics. I was going to add my fantasy itinerary but now it wouldn't make any sense 🤷‍♀️

I was just in Aruba last week (9/21) through Royal Caribbean. We rented a jeep from Budget car rental. We wanted to rent a vehicle from a global car rental place that we could trust versus one of the ones right at the pier. I talked to someone at Budget about a week beforehand and they told us to walk to the Renaissance Resort (not even a mile outside of port) and let the bellhop know that we needed to get to Budget. They hailed a cab for us and it was maybe 3 miles away. Getting and returning the vehicle were very easy. When we returned the vehicle, one of the employees drove us directly to the port. It was a little pricier but worth the peace of mind.

I'm going on the Allure this weekend and someone in our Faces group mentioned that the theme for each night is on the app, always listed at 5PM. If it hadn't been for that, I would have never known which night was which either. So, it's possible that it was listed in the app for your sailing but you just missed it (which I would have as well).

I was actually able to get into the Royal Up system. The weird thing is that even though I am the primary person on the booking, I wasn't able to get in until I used my boyfriend's last name (I only decided to try it on a whim).

My cruise is in less than 30 days and I get this message ☹️

We loved the Red Frog pub when we cruised on the Breeze and Magic! I cruised on Horizon in June (which doesn't have the pub) and I really did miss it.

You can just put your phone on silent mode/do not disturb and/or airplane mode to prevent getting the notifications. Buying an extra device when most phones have the ability to silence the outside world seems like a bit much.

So, what has been done for his birthday? I understand siblings being jealous of one another, thinking that the other sibling is being favored over them. I have 16 (almost 17) and 24 year old sons. The last couple of years have favored my oldest son because of his being in college and playing basketball, etc. He just graduated from college in May and we went on a cruise to celebrate it (among other things). It may not seem fair but the youngest son has had to just deal with everything. Now, the youngest is going into his senior year of high school and everyone knows that this year will be his year. The focus is now on him and he will have a cruise celebrating both his high school graduation and birthday next year. While we as parents do need to make sure that each child is celebrated when it is warranted, the children need to understand that there will be times when it's not about them and they need to suck it up.

Maybe it's because you're going into Miami. I repriced our flights going into Miami and it was a little higher. Here's a screenshot of the flights that we would take in September (if we fly). We're going on Allure, so we would fly into FLL (and only the adults are going this time 🙂 ) We're considering driving so I don't have to worry about how much luggage I bring 😉

That's a lot! What seats are you selecting? We (4 people) flew from ATL via Delta to FLL in June for about $350 each, round trip. But, that's for main cabin seats (not basic). I just really don't want to take that long drive either. We're cruising again in September and I haven't decided yet whether we're flying or driving but I just priced Delta for our dates and seats are $268 each.

I just want to make a slight correction to this. Carnival's website is a little confusing but only unvaccinated guests are required to have a PCR test. Vaccinated guests can take an antigen test, whether it's at a pharmacy/doctor/etc. or through one of the proctored home tests. The above quoted section is under a section titled "Unvaccinated Guests (Updated 6/22/22)". Also, I know this for sure because I've taken 2 Carnival cruises since the restart, the latest being last month.

I meant the person that said that the original poster was being inconsistent and making jokes about it.

The poster is confusing embarkation and debarkation, not realizing that debarkation day is the day that you leave the ship.

I've been on Ecstacy, Breeze and Magic and just came off the Horizon. The Ecstacy had me not wanting to ever cruise again (this was 2015). Breeze and Magic totally changed my mind and made me realize that I needed to be on a larger ship with more options. I absolutely loved the Breeze but now I think that the Horizon may have taken it's place. Glad to hear that your family enjoyed the Breeze!

I've used them for every cruise we've taken just because it's been easier to get appointments and from what I've seen online, they don't cancel appointments very often (versus CVS doing it way too often).

I know that you're asking about the home tests but I just cruised earlier this month and we (4 of us) all were tested at Walgreens. I didn't have any issues scheduling the tests. Just another option, if it is available to you.

I just got off the Horizon this past Saturday (June 11) and I've heard the same complaint on the FB group page about the ship being hot but I did not notice this. And, given that I am a 50+ "fluffy" woman starting to experience "the change," this is something that I definitely would have noticed since I am hot all the time. We were in an 8th floor aft balcony room and the room tended to be on the cool side, especially at night. I'm not saying that everyone else's observations are not valid, I just find it interesting. But, I also didn't experience the kids "terrorizing" the ship or the adult fights, either. Hmm, maybe I just imagined that I was on the Horizon last week 😂

I was on this sailing and didn't see the incident being referenced but it has been discussed on the FB group page. Someone posted a short video of the incident but since it's dark (and from far away) you can't really tell what is going on except that there is a lot of yelling and cursing.