cheermom2four

I have done the same as you and never received an email. I'm assuming its as rainbowflag stated above.  I ended up paying the deposit of the held cruise and finally received an email within a couple minutes confirming my choice.  

23 hours ago, thenexus2k said:

If an cruise ever begged for splurging on the room, an Alaskan cruise is it! I would recommend trying for a vista suite on Deck 4 on the Spirit class ships. The balcony is huge and gives you views on both the rear and the side. 
Had the vista suite on Miracle for an Alaskan cruise, was amazing for what we were able to see. In Icy Straight, we were able to just sit on the balcony with binoculars, and have all the paid tours spot the whales for us, LOL. 

We booked the Vista Suite but unfortunately the only ones available were deck 8 😞 Rule I always follow is staterooms above and below me but unfortunately this time we went against that.  My son and his family and I wanted vista suites on the same deck so we compromised

We just booked Alaskan cruise on Spirit July1-8th, 2025 with our 12 year old and our oldest son and his wife and toddler will be in another cabin on same cruise!  Ive never been to Alaska so Im excited about this cruise.  It was suggested to me a balcony is best if you dont want to try to get to the open deck railings before everyone else.  We both booked the extended/wraparound balconies in the back. 

Im so excited to follow this cruise report as we just booked our 2nd Carnival cruise and chose Alaskan cruise on the Spirit (choice for our time line was either this ship or Luminosa) for July 2025. I cannot wait to read more of your trip!

Thank you so much for such a wonderful review!  We go on MG (first Carnival cruise for us) Sept 2nd and really cant wait now after reading your review. This will also be the largest ship we've ever been on (I think DCL the largest ship is only half the size of this one) and Im up for getting back in shape walking LOL.  

Thank you all who replied!. So glad we can each bring a bottle of wine AND 6 cans of soda 

Ive read Carnival's info on bringing soda (can bring 6 per person).  What if we want to bring wine also.  Is it 1 bottle of wine per person AND 6 cans of soda or just one or the other?  I'm trying to figure out if I could bring two bottles of wine between my husband and I and then he can also have his soda. Thanks!

We are sailing on this ship (first Carnival cruise for us) September so not too much longer to go!  I'm looking forward to following along!

Kim

We are in this exact cabin Sept 2nd cruise!  Thanks for the review as this will be our first Carnival cruise as we've done 4 Disney and 1 Princess but decided to expand our cruising. 

On 7/13/2019 at 5:38 AM, gnome12 said:

I just arrived in Copenhagen and stored my luggage at Hotel Bethel waiting for my room. While it is true that they have an elevator, it doesn’t go to the street level for the entrance. You walk up half a flight of stairs to reception.

 Hi gnome,

Did you like the hotel Bethel?  We are looking to book the "family room" since we have kids with us and it seemed reasonable.  How was the breakfast?

We are totally Palo brunch people over their dinner. The food was great for dinner but we like the MDR experience so we only do Palo brunch. First cruise we had no luck getting reservations until we were on the ship but after that we did at online checkin by just checking daily to see if a slot opened up and it did.

We stayed pre cruise at Aspasios Rambla Cataluyna boutique hotel (there were 6 of us and we loved the location as our hotel was literally around the corner from Casa Batllo) and we just took the aerobus from BCN to Placa de Catalunya and walked 2 blocks to hotel. After cruise we stayed at Amister which is a block from Placa de Cataluyna and then did a return on the aerobus (wouldnt really recommend this place). It was cheaper for 6 of us to just buy R/T aerobus tickets with all our luggage than take 2 separate cabs and we didnt want to hassle with train since we were juggling luggage and a curious 6 yr old.

We also flew from BCN on Sunday 9/17 (flight was at 10:10am) to head home and we had literally no wait to check our luggage and get our tickets printed and then we proceeded to security and it was minimal wait. I've waited a lot longer at our home airport DIA using TSA precheck then here. Passport control after security was only 2 people in front of us so no wait there. We waited a lot longer for our gate for our flight to be posted than we did from start of check in to getting through passport control LOL.

I also fly back the day after our cruise on the 17th and was wondering the same thing. I have tried searching and nothing new has shown since they put the strike on hold after the attacks. I havent seen anything that says 6 hours ahead and not sure what arriving that early will do since I'm not sure you can even drop your check baggage earlier than 4 hours ( I could be wrong as it wont be the first) before flight.

I just did this at our 90 day check=in point. We have ajoining rooms and one is listed under my husband and the other under me (both silver). two oldest kids in my cabin are newbies. I had my daughter (oldest) sign on the same time I did under my husband's account at midnight EST and only one of us at a time were able to "trigger" the check-in link to show up as the excursion/activities link was the only one that would. I booked some random thing and then the link for both cabins to check in showed up and my daughter logged back in and we both checked in at the same time in order to get PATs together as that was our main goal. We also were able to book excursions (well palo and meet and greets and an excursion) for all of us under one reservation (our names all showed up when booked something and you just checkmark which people wanted to book). Only one of us could book from now on if the other is in the other reservation (it locks you out as I had a pop up warning the other reservation could not log in while i was in it).

are you going this summer or in 2018?

 

if this summer, you might want to check on the measles vaccinations of your twins...

there is an ongoing measles epidemic in europe..

 

our health ministry (i live in israel) issued a directive that anyone headed for europe should make sure they have been vaccinated for measles, either in the past or before they travel...

 

They went even further - since kids here get their first measles vaccine as infants and their second in first grade, the health ministry directed that all traveling children between the ages of 1 and 6 should have their second measles vaccine advanced - to be vaccinated free of charge before their trip overseas.

 

so something to consider...

 

we're traveling overseas in august, so the two toddlers will be vaccinated next week (once they get over their colds) and the 6 adults have all had our measles antibodies checked (since none of us were sure if we'd been vaccinated or not)...

 

unfortunately, all the articles about it here are in hebrew...

here's one from last month, when the health ministry put out the advisory to travelers:

http://healthy.walla.co.il/item/3065269

.

and here's an article from yesterday, about how all the people about to travel are flooding the vaccination centers to be vaccinated against measles before their summer trips...

the most important paragraph in the article is about how children under the age of 5 are at high risk if they contract measles...

and that a child is only immunized if he/she has had a series of two vaccinations

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4971556,00.html

.

Oh, I'm glad I read this today as we go Sept 6th and have a 5 year old that hasnt had her 2nd Measles shot (here in Colorado its between 4 - 6 years of age they get final measle vaccine). Guess I will mention it to her pediatrician at her physical next month to make sure she's good to go.

I would most definitely have one, as the different name will be a red flag..

 

I give out these. Notarized is best if possible..

 

http://www.globetrektravel.com/minortravelforms.pdf - Minor Travel Consent.pdf

Thank you Loonbeam!! I will print and have my ex fill it out and have it notarized. Do I need one for airlines (going to BCN), one for cruise, and then one for the airlines we are using coming back into the US or will I be able to hang onto the one by just showing whomever asks?

Not to scare you but I've been asked for the consent form almost every time I've traveled internationally. These have been at airport or train passport controls though.

So should I look up a consent form online for our international flights for our cruise in Sept? Im traveling with all my kids dh but my son (17 yrs old) has a different last name as Im remarried. He obviously has a passport or we wouldnt be traveling overseas but wondering even if I am his mom how would we prove it since I have a different last name.

As for being asked on closed loop cruises out of PC, my son and my daughter (dd from current marriage) were asked by customs who my hubby and I were. Glad my daughter didnt say anything goofy just because thats who she is.

Thanks Enric and London. I am also hiring a private driver to get my family of 6 to and from the hotel/port and was wondering the same thing. I figured they already charged 79 € each way so I guess I will just round up to 80 € and call it good. I like to follow what is custom in the area I'm in.

We are going on our 3rd DCL cruise this Sept on the Magic and we have a 5 year old and a 16 year old who loved cruising on DCL. 16 year old we hardly saw as he made some awesome friends on the cruises. But next year (even though we still have a young enough child that thoroughly enjoys disney) we are bailing and cruising on NCL for the intinerary and price over in Northern Europe. Hopefully someday we can cruise DCL again but with the prices, I want to cruise often so we will be going for the itinerary vs the ship within reason that is

Hey! wonder if we are on the same cruise! Sept 9th?? We are a family of 6 so we had to find a hotel that could handle all 6 of us without having to rent a bunch of rooms. We ended up at Aspasios Rambla Catalunya suites which is more like an apartment type hotel with a kitchen. We arrive a couple days before the cruise and wanted something more central. This one is right around the corner of Casa Batllo so the HOHO and public transportation are really close.

We plan on taking the aerobus to our hotel and then hired a private driver to the port and then back to the hotel for one night after the cruise. A taxi is reasonable too so depending on how many people you have, maybe look into that? Most hotels will call for a taxi and I've read on the boards here its fairly reasonable. We just have 6 people with lots of luggage so a tax wouldnt work for us.

Im also used to planning cruises out of Port Canaveral so this is a lot more planning for me.

I like the different views and reasons for visiting Nice or MC. We all have our opinions. I would ask your teens to look into each place and find out which one they are more interested in. I did that with my just turned 17 year old and he chose Monaco/Monte Carlo because he is an absolute huge fan of racing/grand prix and wants to go where it is held. I had him also plan out logistics there (we already knew how to get to the train from the tender area of Villefranche to Nice or Monaco depending on what he chose. Personally, just seeing one or the other was fine with me as I am visiting a place where I've never been no matter which place we saw.

Apparently Border Patrol at BCN is understaffed. EU passengers, before April 7, never had to go through passport control and even then there were long lines for passengers coming from outside EU territory.

Border Patrol says that now with the new rule they just don't have enough people, but they are working on it.

So does this mean now everyone goes thru the same line? Sure hope they hire a lot of people very soon as this is not a small airport by any means.

Is this a separate line from people coming in from outside the EU? You'd think they would have more than 2 people checking passports with new rules. Never been and why I'm asking as we fly in in Sept and want to prepare myself (along with my then 6 year old) for a very long wait.

We used to bring different sets of the soft somewhat thick gel window clings (like during holidays putting them on home windows for decorations- those types). it would occupy our daughter for at least a few hours off and on. Plus it doesnt leave a film on the windows or where ever else they may land. food-wise, bring like finger foods like nuts (if no allergies), oranges (I always peeled my daughter's beforehand to avoid the mess) and pretzel type foods. Dont bring stuff like cheese puffs that color little fingers orange as they will touch everything and turn it orange (I know unfortunately from experience)