moongal

Has anyone ever sailed during a holiday? Because of my son's school schedule, I am considering 2 cruises. One we would be on the boat during Thanksgiving and the other we would be on the boat on New Years Eve.

What is the experience like? Is it a more party animal type crowd? (I imagine the New Years trip would be). Is the standard of service lower? (Because employees are disgruntled at having to work). Is there ever anything special done to acknowledge the holiday? I know most employees are from other countries but the entertainers and cruise directors are western, so was wondering if they took time off for the holiday so the entertainment might suffer?

If anyone has any input on their experiences I would appreciate it as I am having a hard time biting the bullet and booking.

Thanks for the info! Glad to hear it's available!

I am waivering between booking a Triumph cruise or a Freedom cruise. I see there is no steakhouse on the Triumph, but will there still be the steakhouse selections available in the MDR menu or is that dining room option only available on ships that actually have a steakhouse.

Taking my teen son who is quite a picky eater, 2 things he will always eat though are steak and hamburgers so was hoping to be able to get a decent steak for him rather than that little flat iron steak they have available on the menu every night. Lol, he'd have to order 2 or 3 of those to get filled up. He's 6'2 and 225 lbs. (not ounce of fat on him, all muscle).

I hate that stuff also! I wish it would get banned from use! While on our shore excursions, it seemed to be the only kind of sunscreen anyone was using. The people tried, I think, to be considerate as they walked a bit away from us, but the wind always carried the stuff... In Jamaica I got a whole wad of it in my eyes, and it seemed every time I turned around I was inhaling someone's sunscreen. It sure does look a lot easier to apply than the typical lotions, but it sure does pollute!

As far as the biodegradable sunscreens... where can I find more information on what and where to buy this? I had no idea it was to keep the coral healthy.... I kept reading for our shore excursions (dolphins) to be sure to wear biodegradable sunscreen, but I have no idea where to get it or what it might be called and I had no idea why it was being required. Does anyone know what brand, or type is biodegradable? I don't want to harm the environment!

Thanks!

For the Anytime or Your time dining, I believe it says 6:30-9:30, is that the times that it is open? Can you get there at 9:30 and still be served or do you need to be finished eating by 9:30?

Smelled smoke on my balcony every single time I went out on it. Made it so I couldn't spend much time out there. Very irksome since I paid to use my balcony, and unfair.

Also never left balcony door open. Kept curtain closed even at all times to minimize sun heating up room.

Well that is the beauty of FFTF! It doesn't matter when you get there you can bypass all the lines.

When we left on our last cruise (also our first cruise!) we had no idea what time to get to port (Galveston). We ended up getting there at 12 noon and it was a madhouse! We sat in a line of traffic to be dropped off for 45 minutes. Once we got into the actual terminal all I could see was a mass of humanity and nothing but long lines in every direction. Since I had purchased FFTF, I figured I would ask someone what I needed to do and they led me to a roped off area and we sped past all the lines and walked right up to the passport/ID checker and then walked right past other security lines and into a security lane with no waiting and then straight up some escalators and right up to the front of sone other station (where they take your pic for sign n sail) and then we zipped right onto the boat and right up to our room which was ready.

Best $59 I ever spent.

So no worries if you have FFTF, just get to port whenever you want. If there are lines you will be able to bypass them.

Hello, I have lived in the Houston/Galveston area all of my life and I can tell you we get quite a bit of fog in the fall also. Spring (which is can be end of January some years, February and March)

I personally have experienced my worst fog episodes in the Fall, October and November in particular.

Also I think you would be better off staying in Galveston as anywhere you stay near IAH is likely not to be in a nice area. There are better places to stay in and around Galveston that would be safer if you are going to have to walk to eating venues.

In my opinion a 1:25 pm flight out of IAH is a wee bit risky if for some reason disembarking is late due to fog, not to mention you never know when you will find yourself in a horrid traffic jam.

Also you didn't say if you were Faster to the Fun or not. We had it last cruise and we were first off the ship except for the self assist people, so we were off the boat and out at the pier waiting for our ride by 9:15 am but because of a miscommunication our ride didn't get there till 10:30 am. We were seeing people who had just got off the boat at 10:30 from our boat.

If you couldn't get off till later (I don't know how they assign disembarking numbers) and then had to get a shuttle to IAH airport in my opinion that would be cutting it close.

I am planning my next cruise with my son in mind.....17 year old...he is a real meat and potatoes guy and loves hamburgers and steaks.....(is this a guy thing???)

I picked a ship because it had a Guys Burgers on it, but can anyone tell me a bit about it??

Is it a buffet hamburger joint like the one currently on the Magic? I was really grossed out with that hamburger place...the one time I got in line to get a burger, there was what could only be described as a demon child in front of me, and he kept pawing at the food that was laid out, picking up different meat pattys and tossing them into the French fry baskets frisbee style. Then he kept grabbing handfuls of fries and stuffing as many as he could all at once into his mouth so they stuck out like straws, then would projectile spit them out back into the fry baskets.

Needless to say I left and didn't eat there EVER. I saw no parents around watching this kid (looked about 7-8). I was hoping someone else would see this despicable behavior but it was my luck to only have a handful of teens behind me in line and they found this rather funny. (There didn't seem to be any carnival employee manning this station, but I presume there is one)

Anyway, getting to the point, if Guys Burgers is just another buffet I might switch my next cruise back to the Magic.

Not really a fan of any of the buffets on board. Seems kind of germy. Saw people scratching themselves then grabbing the handle of the buffet serving spoon and after taking up their food just tossing the serving spoon onto the food so that the handle was actually in the food. Just picturing that happening over and over made me a bit queasy of eating at the buffets. Wish they served it like they do in cafeteria's where the food worker is the only one handling the serving utensils.

I am contemplating booking another cruise to take my son on, but I had a couple of questions about choosing to stay on board the boat when docked at a port.

If we were to stay on the boat instead of getting off and doing an excursion, will the food places be open? Like Guys Burgers, or any of the other places? I'm assuming the buffet will be open since I've read that some come back to the boat to eat lunch but was curious if ALL the normal food venues stay open during ports.

What about activities? Are there any activities scheduled during port of calls? I didn't even think to look at the daily schedule for the days we went off the boat on my last cruise, so I was just wondering. If anything goes on during the day for people who stay on the boat.

The port we are thinking of skipping is Progresso. We didn't really see anything that looked too exciting to do there. Does anyone have any recommendations for something fun to do in Progresso? I don't drink and son is underage also so not looking for any bar trips.

Thanks for any thoughts!!

Are they only available at certain times on the AARP site? I looked and saw nothing for Carnival.

Original poster here. I don't know how to quote on here so this response is for singbluesilver who said I was paranoid and wanted to know if I trusted my daughter.

Well I may be a bit over protective but answer this hypothetical question....would you let your 13 year old daughter run around with packs of kids she barely knew well into the late night at a hotel or other land based resort? I wouldn't so I don't know what is so different about being aboard a ship. The potential is still there for a girl to run into the wrong kind of person.

As a mother I would have no problem letting my son run around the ship unsupervised, but I would be foolish to think it is the same for girls. It's not. I would love it if it were not that way but it is what it is.

When I am out with my 13 year old daughter whether we are walking at the mall, or the grocery store and yes, even on the ship I always see men ogling her. (She is a leggy, tall, thin blond with a nice figure). And no she doesn't go around half dressed. So while I trust my daughter completely, I am well aware of her extreme innocence and trusting nature. She is completely oblivious as to how she looks. I certainly do not trust every stranger on the ship though and do not feel that just because we are on a ship that somehow magically every segment of the population will suddenly become perfect and nice.

So for me I feel like it is my duty to protect my daughter till she becomes a bit more aware of what goes on in the world and becomes a little less naive and trusting.

Sorry for long post just got my dander up for being called paranoid. I guess I could come back at you and accuse you of being careless. I am not one to judge anyone else's decisions that they make in regard to their own children. My post was simply my own experiences. No need to call me paranoid. I even said if you are ok with it to be sure to get to the meet n greet the first night. Thanks for being so judgmental.

Lol I thought everyone was crazy with their talk of being cruising addicts. Well after one cruise, it's all I can think about (going again!)

Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to be in the cards for me.

I keep asking myself "what was so magical about it, that has left me so affected!! I am in my 50's and I figured there wasn't much left to get excited about and this has thrown me a curve ball so to speak because I don't feel like I can be happy again until I'm back on board another cruise!! [emoji3]

Omg yes!! I forgot about the bread and butter they serve you in the mdr....so good we almost could have had a meal just of the bread!!

The new internet pricing packages are NOT available on the Magic at least it wasn't when I sailed not even 2 weeks ago.

The only Internet available was the old plans:

480 mins for $159

240 mins for $89

120 mins for $59

45 mins for $29

Pay as you go .75 cents a minute

If you do purchase one of these plans, I recommend that you only attempt using it while down on deck 3 near the guest services. That seemed to be the only place I could get internet.

If I tried using it in my room or at the fun hub, I wound up wasting too many minutes just watching the spinner go around and around waiting for a page to load. I burned through almost half my minutes the first night trying to get out, to check emails as I had left my 17 year old son home with his grandparents and I was wanting to keep in touch with him.

To me the Internet seemed mostly non existent and I felt like they shouldn't even be selling or advertising that it was available as it didn't work most of the time and I figured it out finally by accident that it was semi reliable on deck 3 near guest services.

I would have to say the shore excursions. Before our first cruise a week and a half ago, I was really apprehensive about our shore excursions which we had booked through Carnival. I had read so many things about them being all crowded and people feeling they were being herded etc... I even was just about to cancel them and do something on our own, but my mother nixed the idea because she was nervous about us getting around on our own.

I have to say I was most impressed with all 3 of our shore excursions. We had no trouble finding our departure points, did not ever feel like we were overcrowded or herded and it was most relaxing not to have to worry about all the logistics of getting to and fro from the excursion to the boat. Our excursions were all super fun and enjoyable.

Other thing would have to be the staff... everyone was so nice and treated us so well! I did feel like they were friends at the end of the week and was sad to leave them!

Warm choc melting cake. EWWW!! Should be named warm choco melting SOUP. No cake that I could discern.

We were on the Magic just the week before you. We absolutely loved the shows and dancers!! My daughter is also a dancer and my eldest is very involved with theater, so we are usually a little harder to please entertainment wise because we have a tendency to compare and judge, but for us we were definitely impressed with the energy and talent! We went to all the shows and were impressed with every single one!

I was also impressed because many times during the day, I saw these same dancers performing other tasks as well. I thought how hard these people must work to be working all day and then again late into the night!!

Just off the Magic, first time cruiser, and we dressed to the nines.....think sequins and long flowing gowns. Well daughter wore long flowing prom type gown. My mom and I both wore sequins and blingy knee length gowns. We did this just because we all wanted to and thought we would get a great pic we could cherish forever. (We did!)

After I had read so many posts on here before we left on our cruise, about how so many folks hated dressing up, I figured we would be in the minority, as we were going all out.

I was very surprised to find the exact opposite. I saw so much bling everywhere!! (At least on the ladies). Everyone seemed really dressed up and seemed to stay that way all evening. I changed out of my dress after dinner and getting our picture but felt underdressed the rest of the night at the shows as most everyone was still wearing their finery. This was first elegant night. Second elegant night was less formal. More like churchy.

I wondered about the discrepancy over what I had been reading here (many posts from people who didn't like dressing up) and what I saw onboard. It seemed on elegant night I run into many people in the elevators dressed in shorts, swimsuits, you know, regular everyday cruise attire and many of them had trays in their hands of food. I think there must be 2 camps of people on board, the ones who eschew dressing up and just eat at the buffets on elegant night and those who like to get all dressed up, so don't stress out or worry about what to do, just be yourself and do what is comfy for you!

I was just off the ship 1 1/2 weeks ago and as of that sailing I did not see available for purchase any other plans other than the per minute pricing.

Since poster above said he purchased a premium plan maybe it is available if you ask at guest services?? Maybe they are selling it but you have ask specifically for it??

I didn't see it as an option! What did you get with the premium package? All I saw available was 480 mins, 240 mins, 120 mins, 60 mins and the 75 cents a minute pay as you go.

I was just on the Magic 6/21/15 thru 6/28/15 and the new internet pkgs were NOT a available.

I purchased 240 mins for $89 dollars but I felt like it was robbery almost that they even sold and advertised that Internet was available.

The service was so slow (I knew in advance to expect slow service) but this was non existent practically

All I wanted to accomplish was to send and receive emails to keep in touch with my 17 yr old son at home, and I burned through a ton of the minutes that first night as I kept waiting and waiting for my emails to come up.

Sometimes I would some to come through (after waiting and burning through 20 or 30 mins of airtime) but most of the time I would just sit watching the little thing spin around that says checking for new emails.

I did find later in my cruise that I had better luck if I was down on deck 3 near guest services, but still slow.

This was all when I tried using the Internet from my AT&T iPhone.

I did try to use the computers at the Hub but Internet was same slow/ non existent as on my phone.

Someone else said they had purchased the 75 cents a minute pay as you go plan and they actually got their money refunded one of their nights because guest services acknowledged that there was no internet that night. ( no announcement was made so if you didn't go and complain I am assuming you didn't get any refund). I never went and complained and there were no refunds on my sign and sail acct for Internet outages.

Hope this will help you a bit so you will know what to expect.

You didn't say which ship you are going and I don't know if it matters, but our cell phones did not work to send texts aboard the ship. I purchased the internet plan also but i still could not send or receive texts using wifi, or any method. We have AT&T iPhones and I had even called AT&T beforehand and was assured it would work and we would be charged 50 cents each way (send & receive) which seemed a small price to pay to be able to keep in touch, but no texts would ever go through. Some other passengers told me that Verizon phones were the only ones that would work on the boat. (We were on Magic)

Hopefully you have Verizon!

I just wrote a long review on circle c a few days ago. If you want to read the long version maybe type circle c review in the search area. (I don't know how to link). But the short and to the point is that I doubt Circle C would be suitable for your needs. There is no supervision and it is basically just a meeting up location, from where the kids then generally take off and go running the ship. Despite a posted schedule of activities, it seemed that the activities would never actually take place, I guess because the Tweens and teens deemed any organized activity as "uncool" and similar to "baby camps".

Unless you are ok with your child just running all over the ship with various packs of kids completely unsupervised I don't recommend it.

There is something you can sign the first night that gives your child permission to sign themselves out of Circle C, but as far as I could see there was no "signing out" or even anyone checking to see a child's sign out status, or anyone in charge even being around.