NoleFam20

Just a few comments...I was on the Jan 12-17th cruise also. There was discussion on Facebook regarding the soft serve ice cream and it was confirmed that it was not free by someone who was on the cruise at the time. There is a machine at the bar on the pool deck but when I asked, they said it was $5. The cups are $3 (or 3.50) and $5.50, you can also get a waffle cone of gelato for app $6.50 after the service charge. 

There is food that is free in the Sports Bar, but only during certain times and they may not have something in stock. For example, I was ordering a warm brownie with ice cream and it wasn't available due to it not being delivered from the galley. A lot of folks were ordering the chicken wings (4) and the burgers. If you get the wings, you can ask for an order for fries also (they are not listed on the menu). You can also order as many of the dishes as you want.

Casino - blackjack tables were $5 (auto-shuffle) and $10 (manual shuffle), there was also a Dream 21 table. Smoking was only allowed on the slot machine side, not near the tables. 

Disembarkation - I did the express walk off. You have to be able to take your own bags, but can get off as soon as they open it up. I was off the boat by 7:15, at the Miami car rental place at the airport and leaving by 8:00am. 

Anita is right on point with her review and has a lot of great details. Don't remember if it was mentioned, but you can also buy a wrist band for $5 which enables you to leave your card in your room. You just need your card to get on/off the ship and if you want to charge money to your room in the casino. The benefit of leaving your card in the room is to charge your phone, tablet, etc. while you're gone. The rooms have a card slot that turns on the electricity, if you take the card out everything eventually turns off. 

8 hours ago, 3redheads said:

Ordered mine on 5/30 and received an email saying they were shipped by the postal service on May 31st.  Haven't received them yet.  No tracking number.

 If you sign up for the UPS My Choice (free), then you can see what shipments you have coming to your address. It also allows you to change the delivery location. If you order over $500 then you have to sign for it - if your not going to be home to sign, you can always change the delivery to go to a local UPS store. This is what I did...took about a week and I went by the store after work, showed them my ID and signed for the envelope.

Who was at the piano bar? We sailed the week after and it was Johnny, who honestly sounded like Kermit the Frog and was terrible. When he did the 30 min pre-show for '88 Keys', there were people around us commenting on how bad it was. The piano bar was one of the main places I envisioned spending a lot of time in prior to sailing and ended only spending 3 songs worth there throughout the whole cruise....major disappointment!

Appreciate it! Is there a way to cash out your OBC through the slot machines? 

Thanks! I'll give that a try, but it seems like the Carnival site is having problems at the moment.

Waiting for some OBC for a price drop to hit our account from over the weekend....where would I find this online? Our TA said it would be issued by Carnival in 2-3 days, but I'm not seeing it on our Booking & Order details page that list our rooms and Cheers packages.

Thanks!

I really appreciate the help, but just need to clarify...

Use OBC at the tables - no fees, no problem

At the tables, ask them to put a $100 on my S&S account - 3% fee or no fee?

Slots - use S&S, no fees

Again...thanks! I'm trying to see if I need to bring more cash or which cruise to use the OBC.

I don't think I've ever had AARP email me the tracking number. I usually monitor my order details and it'll show there. I also have UPS Delivery Manager and can use that to change the delivery to a local store for pick up so I don't have to be home to sign for the package.

Sorry if this has been covered already....can you use your OBC in the casino? I have some Funpoints I can use either on a May cruise for excursions (will have to book onboard) with my DD or a Sept cruise with the hubby in the casino. I've been sailing MSC and we could charge playing funds (table games) to our S&S account - it was actually a cheap way to get cash since they didn't charge a fee for this. 

I just ordered some cards...you're saying that I can call and have them email them to me instead of mailing them? 

Thanks!

Blue Hole is in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We did a tour through Marvyn's as a family of four and the tour guide at the falls (Romaine) did an excellent job helping me get around and selecting different jump heights when I didn't want to do the tall ones.

Question...you can get the Carnival card, make at least one charge (no minimum amount) and get a $200 OBC? Do I have that right? Most card promos that I've seen require a minimum amount charged per month for a certain # of months. For example, at least $1000 a month for 3 months before you get the promo bonus points.

Thanks for all the input! These forums are always so helpful!

A few quick questions...we don't have the FTTF, so would you check in your small carry on suitcase? It has my CPAP machine and extras. Second, if you have the Cheers package do you get free drinks at the Red Frog Pub? I see where the food is $3.33 and there are prices for drinks - just didn't know if the drinks are covered in the package. Last...does the Casino do 'happy hour' for the table games? MSC had cheaper bids (e.g. $3 bids instead of $5) on sea days between 9am and 11am for their table games. Thanks!

Also, there's a thread somewhere that has some codes that folks have thrown out there and for the life of me, I can't find it now. I also found out that if you're a Wells Fargo customer and accumulate their reward points(Go Far Rewards), then you can use these to 'buy' Carnival gift cards. 10K points = $100 gift card. I'm not going to use these points for anything else...so why not?

They're available now... I just bought a couple $100 gift cards. 

1stime...look for the thread on AARP. There are a couple folks who have posted extra 'promo' codes that you can enter (some work, some don't). It's an easy way to increase your reward points balance.

Yes, promotion to head waiter and a substantial pay raise. He has a lot to teach his staff and I'm betting he'll be an assistant Maitre D soon!

We did the Blue Hole/river tubing combo through Marvyn's Tours. The only thing to be aware of when doing this...there's a Marvyn's driver that picks you up outside the port gates (they can't go inside) and takes you to Blue Hole and hands you off to a tour guide that takes you through the falls and jumps.

Blue Hole (Island Gully) - We had Romaine Dougie who was totally awesome! He showed us some local plants, crumpled the leaves for us to smell and told us what they were used for. He also took photos for us at key spots, flowers, jumps, etc. We had a party of 4 and it took a little over an hour, but we were there before the crowds started to show up. I highly recommend Romaine!!

Driver then takes you to the River tubing stop and again hands you over to another guide. Float down the river through some small rapids and some peaceful stretches. There was a riverside stop where you could take a break, do a little shopping for trinkets or drinks. If you don't have money with you at the time, you can pay at the end. 

This was one of our favorite excursions....just need to plan on how much in tips you may need. We had initially only planned for tipping one tour guide, so this took a hit on our overall budget. 

We did a tour with Dora's company last week with Mercedes and really enjoyed it. We spent the extra to have a private tour for our family of 4 ($95 pp) and enjoyed being able to have the van to ourselves and her attention. She made sure we got to certain points of interest before the big groups to avoid the crowds. The only down fall was not being able to sample local Colombian food, but we didn't prepare beforehand to see if this was an option. We did go to the Monastery, Old Town and the Dungeons (shops). All great information and an experience watching the driver navigate us through traffic. 

If you go to the Dungeons and like coffee - go to the vendor with the old red Jeep (Golden Coffee) and get a cup of iced coffee. It's $3 for regular and $5 for alcohol added. I had the regular coffee and it was great! Highly recommend!! The vendor speaks great English and gets his coffee from  his family farm. 

Correct, Arthur got a promotion after his last contract on the Seaside and is now a head waiter in the Black Crab dining room on the Divina. We saw him last week and requested to get moved to his section where he now oversees a group of waitstaff. It was his first trip on the ship and it was still impressive to watch him work. He is head and shoulders above the average dining room staff in his manners, recommendations and expertise. We also saw him working in the buffet area during breakfast and lunch times. 

Just returned from an 11 night cruise on the Divina. This was my second time on the boat and the experience was good. Here's a quick recap...let me know if you have any questions.

Dining - buffet was busy as heck at the peak times, which resulted in lines just to enter the buffet area. I didn't remember seeing this the last time I sailed. Food quality is buffet quality - I'm not a picky eater and was able to try something new each meal or revert back to the good ole cheeseburger or pizza. Lines to get into the buffet - yea, not good if you showed up during peak peak time when you couldn't even get in the door without standing in line. Also, need silverware or a cup/mug? have your walking shoes on and get ready to go on a scavenger hunt to the other stations. Not all the time, but too often that this happened. 

Sports bar - too small for the number of people that wanted to use it and not enough staff, especially on the weekend with football games going on. Also, it wasn't open until 4pm on some days where I would have expected it to be open around 11am. 

Food is not available all day - between 11am and 11:30 - no buffet or dining room. Also, late late at night....room service is it. 

We found Arthur (for anyone who has had the opportunity to sail the Seaside in the yacht club) - he got a promotion after his last contract on the Seaside and is working in the Black Crab dining room. We got moved to his section and he spoiled us as usual...hopefully he can get his staff trained and serve like he does so well. 

Drink package - we booked under the Drinks on Us promotion, but upgraded one cabin to a Deluxe (includes mini-bar) and the other to the Classic (a step up from the DoU package). Many times that we ordered as a group, the bartender just asked for 'a' card. This meant we could order as many drinks that we wanted and for anyone we were with. Many times in the casino, when you played near someone long enough, they would order a drink and then ask "do you want something?" and the bartender didn't care. Also, some folks were using the drink vouchers from the Fantastica package - we even gave a couple booklets we had from our last sailing to a family to use. 

Bella balcony cabin - smaller than the Fantastica cabin that I had last time...no couch in the room. It also had a smaller balcony which I think was approximately 2 planks less deep. When the winds and waves picked up on some of the nights, I was awakened by knocks and groans from the ship. They did two balcony cleanings during the cruise while we were in port. At the 3rd stop (Colon, Panama) they had the emergency drills for the crew. It wasn't bad until you thought it was over and then another alarm went off  - scared he heck out of the hubby who was trying to nap. 

Shows - they had a lot of the same shows that I saw last time so I only went to the first few. I personally don't think their shows are that good. The sound quality seems out of balance and you can't hear the singers over the music at times. Also, during some of the shows they have portions that are irrelevant to the story/theme. "Wind beneath my wings" in the Pirate show? Some folks also thought it was odd to have the opera singers in the Bohemian Rhapsody song for the Queen show. 

Elevators - crowded at times and as others have mentioned, sometimes folks don't want to let you on. However, you could flip this and mention there were also times that folks forced themselves on when there was no room. Nothing like being in full contact with strangers!

Fellow cruisers - as last time, as an American, I would say we were the minority. I sort of liked that though...love to listen to all the different accents and talk with people about where they're from. We met people from Russia, Germany, South Africa, Sweden and Greece, just to mention some. 

Customer service - a little touch and go. Some of the staff gave the impression that they were just trying to get through their contracts and move on. I don't think they have enough staff on schedule during the peak times to assist the passengers in a timely fashion. Sometimes bar service was slow, dining was real slow for breakfast and lunch and the guest services desk only had a couple staffed during a peak time. They need management training to adjust their staff's schedules and breaks. 

FYI...if you're interested in spa services, they go on sale towards the end of the cruise. I didn't take advantage of this (spent too much in the casino), but I noticed the ads in the daily programs. 

The Divina is a beautiful ship, but the layout is a little aggravating some times between decks 5-7 in the aft section and trying to get up to deck 16 mid. The onboard activities were fun...there's always trivia a few times a day. We took some games from home to use a few times when there wasn't anything that appealed to us.

Would I do it again? Yep....nothing so terrible that ruined our experience. 

I had the same issue a few weeks ago...called MSC and the rep entered our passport information and address. She told me she couldn't check me in, but after talking to her we received our e-tix later that same night. 

Update...about an hour after talking to MSC and posting last night, I got our e-tix in my email. The rep initially advised me that she couldn't check me in, but apparently she must have been able to push something through. 

I'm able to log in, but can't do the web check in - it won't populate the Country on the second step where we input our address. Just called customer service and she couldn't get me checked in either. Advised to wait until 20 days out. I asked if that was to get my e-docs or to check in...she said check in. Don't remember having to wait until then on my past cruises....good ole web site!