debwats

Good morning all so we are cruising on the Victory next July. I have cruised this ship before and enjoyed it. We've had balconies twice but now looking at a L Shape for the next one. How much did you enjoy it?

We enjoyed the larger balcony but missed the couch.

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Our Alaska cruise ends in Vancouver in two days. The ship docks early in the morning but our flight home isn’t until 11pm. We booked a hop-on-hop-off bus excursion that included storage of our luggage and an airport transfer. We were just informed the excursion was cancelled, so we are trying to figure out if there is a similar option available from another vendor?

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So excited to read this thread, as we are booked on the Coral next month. First Alaska cruise, and first Princess cruise. Thanks for the great tips!

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My husband and I are cruising Alaska in May, and are interested in fishing in Ketchikan. Any tour recommendations? How much (ballpark figure, because I can’t find any information) does it cost to process and ship your catch?

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I wonder what “operational considerations “ means? We are booked on this Jan. 2019 version of this cruise and would really hate to lose Cartagena.

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We just changed our booking to the Sky on the same dates. We don’t mind switching to a Miami departure, because we are flying in, and had not made reservations yet. I am sad to lose Key West, but will plan to visit there again sometime in the future. We get a $200 onboard credit. Of course, the new booking will cost us $280 more.....

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We just got the same email. Very disappointing. We really wanted to go back to Key West, and were looking forward to overnighting in Havana. We can’t do either on a 3-day cruise, so I guess we will look at the 7-day options (which aren’t posted online yet) and hope it won’t cost too much more. I wonder why the schedule had to change?

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Is anyone else having trouble with the RCI website? The home page will load, but if I try to go to any other page on the website, I get an error message saying the page is no longer available, and I am directed back to the home page.

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I'm glad to hear they have apparently reconsidered the practice of disembarkation day pick-up. It was truly a nightmare.

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When we were on the Breeze last summer, we had to go to the Fun Shop on the morning of debarkation to pick up alcohol purchased on board. The line was crazy long, and there were lots of complaints. It was so bad that we refused to buy any alcohol on board on our next cruise. It was not worth the hassle.

The reply has come in regarding our April 14, 2018 Panama Canal Partial Transit cruise & reads as follows:

 

Good Day,

Thank you for contacting Carnival Cruise Line. We have received your e-mail message and appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance.

There will be no stopover and no oportunity to go ashore as entire time you will spend on the ship.

If there is anything else we can do for you please do not hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Tour Operations

Carnival Cruise Line

 

Glad to share this information & we are wishing everyone a wonderful journey as we're sure looking forward to ours! :)

Thank you so much! I was not going to be disappointed either way, but was just curious about what to anticipate. Thank you for sharing this information. Enjoy your cruise!

I appreciate the information. Thank you to those who tried to help. Condescension is not helpful, but seems to be common on these forums. How about we try to help each other, instead of shaming people for asking questions? Happy cruising!

Excellent! Thank you!

Yes, I know it's too early to see excursions for that particular cruise, but on the excursions section of the Carnival webpage, nothing is listed for Panama Canal. I was just curious if Carnival, in general, offers ANY excursions for the partial transits. I'm happy if they do, and happy if they don't. Just wondering!

We are booked on the Dec. 2, 2018 Miracle Journeys cruise that does a partial transit of the Panama Canal. In doing my research about Panama Canal cruises in general, it seems that many of the partial transits on other cruise lines offer excursions while the ship is anchored in Gatun Lake. I don't see any such excursions offered on the Carnival website, however. Does anyone know specifics about options? Do we just stay on the ship and watch the scenery? Or will there be opportunities to get off the boat and explore? I only have two years to make plans....HA!

If you go to Guest Services and tell them you've become members of the Balcony Club, they'll have your cabin steward commemorate the event by putting a red bow on your cabin railing. ;):D

Bahahaha! Now I'm REALLY glad I left it intact. Increased my street cred!

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We just got off the Breeze today and I have an odd question. There was a red mesh bow tied to our cove balcony railing in cabin 2289. I would guess that whoever tied it on there did so in order to spot their cabin easily while off the ship. I did not remove it, and wondered how many previous passengers may have left it intact. Does anyone recognize this bow? I'm curious to know its story.

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One of the highlights of our cruise on the Magic last year was the martini sampler served at the Piano Bar. They were all delicious, and came with a flamboyant pour of all 8 drinks simultaneously (I can't describe it well, but there are videos on YouTube.) We sailed on the Breeze in June, but the bartender at the Piano Bar did not know anything about a martini sampler. Is this something unique to specific ships? Or has it been discontinued? We will be back on the Breeze in a few days, and would love to sample tee many martoonis again!!

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It's a category 8C. Same price as a balcony room.

I know there is much curiosity about these rooms, so I thought I would share my experience. We stayed in cabin 8462 in June.

First of all, I must tell you that I am a balcony gal. I love, love, love to hang out on a balcony, just watching the gorgeous blue water. I spend a LOT of time there, relaxing, reading, people-watching in port, etc.

So it's no surprise that I absolutely fell in love with the extended balcony that came with this cabin. It had a lounger, two chairs, a table, and room to spare. How did I miss my chance to take a nap in that lounger?

Our room was next to one of the aft extended balconies, and I noticed that our balcony was MUCH shadier than the aft extended balcony. I would not have enjoyed that balcony as much as I did ours. Just my personal preference, since I am not a fan of baking in the sun. I've always been curious about aft cabins, but I don't think I would enjoy one on a sun-filled itinerary. Maybe Alaska.....

As for the cons...this room was TIGHT. It had the usual desk and closet space, but almost all of the floor space was taken up by the bed. To access the bathroom, we had to negotiate a narrow walkway between the foot of the bed and the wall. And, there was no couch. Neither of these things were a big deal to us. We were fine with lounging on the bed to watch TV, or sit on the balcony. And, it was nice to have the bed facing the window, and wake up to a beautiful view!

All in all, we loved the room, and would definitely book another one!

Looking forward to another voyage on the Breeze in a couple of weeks, in our first cove balcony cabin!

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When this all started over a year ago all these threads started popping up on this topic and at that time I had been through the process only once and I had stated that it was a fairly easy process for us and did not think it was a big deal. I got flamed pretty bad on here. Now after doing it several times and going to be purchasing liquor again on the Valor in 10 days I still don't see what all the whining is about. I do understand that some people have special needs and it could be difficult and Carnival should do something for those families traveling with someone with disabilities but for most it's very simple. In my experiences it has taken less than 10 minutes with very long lines. When I get to the airport I just unzip my bag, shive it in and rezip. Not very diificult. Some people will complain about everything.

The "whining" is about waiting in line for 90+ minutes, which is what happened on the Breeze last Sunday. We were told to pick up liquor purchases between 6-8 a.m. Those who showed up at 6:00 waited 90 minutes. I showed up at 6:30 and waited 90+ minutes. The line was just as long at 8:00 as it was at 6:30. If I only had to wait 10 minutes, it would not be an issue. Apparently, this has been a problem for others as well. I don't mind picking up the liquor the morning of departure, but the distribution system was very unorganized, and many purchases were not fulfilled correctly. Hope you have your fire extinguisher handy to put out the flames I fear are coming your way.:)

Hubby called Carnival today and was told the delivery procedure was changed about six months ago because too many people were getting drunk and obnoxious that last night. He was also told this is the number one complaint since the policy was changed, so I have faith that Carnival will come up with a more streamlined procedure for pick-up!

I completely understand why room delivery may not be practical, but the current process could be refined, it seems. We heard from people ahead of us in line that orders were filled incorrectly, so the CC folks started slitting the tape on the boxes so everyone could check their bottles. That really slowed the process. It seems like a fairly easy fix, given their track record of excellent service and logistics.

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I am waiting in line to pick up the liquor I purchased in the Fun Shop on board the Breeze. The line is incredibly long. I have been waiting for at least 45 minutes and am not even close. Debarkation is about to begin. I could swear liquor purchases were delivered to the cabin in the past. Am I correct? Has anyone else had an issue? I have FTTF but it is useless considering my situation.

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