tlwg04

21 hours ago, reedprincess said:

You mean the standard Blue Hawaiian cocktail - rum, blue Curacao, pineapple juice and coconut cream?  It is tasty! 

Book the cruise anyways, just to verify! 

 

oooooooooo, thank YOU!!!! Would that be regular rum, or coconut rum? Is coconut cream the same thing as cream of coconut? As you can tell, I'm not the expert at drinks....lol

I hope someone knows the answer to this.....I feel dumb because I should have asked while onboard. Basically, I fell in love with the Blue Hawaiian drink, but I dont know the ingredients to recreate it at home. Does anyone know............or may be onboard soon and could ask for me?

Thanks so much!!! I'm on the verge of booking another cruise just for that drink----dont judge me. LOL

Sorry, Port canaveral.............

What is the closest lot, and would anyone know of a discount code? Having to take two cars this time, and any money saved before the trip is more money spent ON the trip!! TIA!!!

Well.......there goes my mom's hope that she could simply re-use her cup from January without buying the pkg. HA!!

where do you purchase this card? does the symphony offer the 10 drink (alcohol) card as well? They looked at me like I had three heads when i inquired on the Liberty in January.....

1 minute ago, Scotty G said:

from Google:

Royal Caribbean's new terminal at Port Miami will serve as home port to several Royal Caribbean International ships, including two of the world's largest cruise ships, Allure of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas. The world's largest cruise ships finally have a place to park in Miami.Feb 7, 2019

So it's not terminal A any longer? Let me find my magnifying glass....lol

One more question...........my google-fu shows that Symphony of the Seas is in Terminal A. Is that correct?

You both are life savers...thank you so much!!!!

Hello guys.............this place has been a great resource in the past for cruises, and I'm in need of a little magic once again.

Does anyone have a map of the parking lots around terminal a (symphony of the seas)...........and pray tell, any coupons? This is a last minute trip, and of course money is not falling the way I would like. Help? And TIA!!

12 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Whats the issue? Just cancel the cruise and be done with it

This comment..

rude.

unnecessary.

And you clearly didnt understand my post.

MY room is not in jeopardy as I NEVER cancel. I was pondering the potential outcome of a different room of family members.

Thanks for playing, though.

4 hours ago, victory2020 said:

I have found in every instance when people don't pay for something, they do not value it as if they did.

soooooooooooooo true

Wow! Well, one thing is consistent..........People are self-absorbed for sure. To back out, and in my case putting all plans in the lurch is treason to me. The aunt will never be invited on another trip with me. She didnt know that I was paying for a two day pre-tip to Key West. 

But I will make sure I post a ton of pictures of us living our best lives! lol

Well, I have an update. Called NCL tonight. The skinny after checking the website, and then calling the 1800# if we wanted a room to accomodate five (THE HORRRRRRRRRRRORRRRRRRR, but I was willing...........grandma just got confirmed with dementia this year, and i really dont want to leave her home alone with no other family to check on her---she doesnt like to eat.) So they had solo (rep priced it at a little over 2000..............grams is currently paying 1586 for a balcony on the 10th deck). With final payment due mid-january, it was a little ouch but i would have figured out a way to help if i needed to. However, it went to NOT AVAILABLE as I navigated the site. The only other options are my group giving up my balcony to all move to an ocean view (double take moment) or going into the Haven. Now, I am somewhat cheap by nature, and while i will pay the $3000 for the four of my crew to go, I dont really pay for other people AND I FOR SUUUUUUUREEEEEEEEEEEEEE DONT HAVE 10,000+ for some freaking Haven!!! I dont care if the butler brings gold glided finger sandwiches, feeds me grapes, gives me the lapdance of my life before running me a bubblebath. 7-8 days for a room I am hardly in will never see me depart with my hard earned cash like that. Even if I booked it two years in advance, that still breaks down to roughly $420/month.

NOPE!!!

Anyway, as we were discussing the options, my ne'er do well uncle called, and eventually stated that he would take my aunts place. Now, I dont care for him, and plan to not spend any significant time with him (he is brash, a loud talker, and tries his best to charm every woman in the vicinity. It is nauseating when you know the truth about his life..............but I disgress). The point is, SHE thinks the sun rises and sets from his back-crack, and it does handle this situation for me.

Now.............................will he really go? I doubt it, but I have a wait and see attitude about it AND a back up plan. I will collect a portion of the fare weekly from her, and hold it (she's a shopper, cant be trusted to not put QVC on speeddial) until final payment time. If he has paid his, then groovy. I will pay hers and all is well. If not, I will cancel their room, pray for a fire sail as the ship still has a significant amount of rooms left, and pay hers as a last minute booking. Heck, she might come out ahead that way and my mom would move to her room, leaving just me and my girls in our suddenly much less cramped room! Sounds like a win to me----what do you guys think?

Hey all!

Hey all! I am a first time cruiser with NCL, scheduled for the Breakaway 5/19 (not cruising, though). I am the type of person that, when I pay my deposit, only death or serious injury will keep me from it. Usually, my travelling crew is my mom and two college aged daughters.

I took advantage of the $1 deposits for this cruise, and spread the word to other family members. My aunt and her son jumped on it! Great, right? Well, he is no longer able to go, so I was able to do a name swap for her, and put her mom in the room with her.

Now my aunt, the primary, is saying that she will not be going. Where does this leave my grandmom? Will the room automatically be cancelled at final payment, even if she has paid her part? would they give her another room? if cancelled, would she get her fare back, or only port fees/taxes? 

The issue is further complicated by my aunts announcement that she isnt paying anything further than that $1 deposit, and that the account she used is now closed. Thus, they wont be able to get any cancellation fee from her, allegedly. Thoughts? Advice for grandmom?

I was going to use them on my last cruise, but changed my mind when I found out about the presentation. Goport has some good deals. I personally just booked a room on my own, and paid $10/pp r/t to park for the week using beach line trans.

I had booked a cruise on the conquest last year. We nearly missed it, and it would have totally been my fault!

We drove to port everglades from bham, al the night before sailing, about a 12 hr drive, I think. I built in the necessary extra time for stops, meals, etc, as I had specific breakfast plans to show my mom a particular mcdonalds in orlando. Little did I know......there are 1000's of mcdonald's on international drive!!! OMG!!! I cant tell you how much time we wasted traipsing around and ended up driving from disney to universal looking for this place!!! Needless to say, i gave up on it, stopped at the 1st mcd's that we saw.....SECOND BIGGEST MISTAKE. This place was so incredibly crowded, that the line snaked around itself! We were starving and opted to take our chances rather than leave and look for food elsewhere. We took it to go, and I drove like an absolute madwoman for the time it took us to get to port. OF COURSE we hit traffic as well, and my stomach was in absolute knots.

I had planned to park offsite, but no longer had the time option of looking for the place and hopping a shuttle, so we drove str8 to port and parked there. Sticker shock @$128 for parking! We ended up being literally the last people to embark....Jesus be a fence!

Special note: it was a good thing we had parked at the port, though. You know its kind of dark in the garage, and i did not realize that I had left my wallet with ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL of the trip money (in cash) laying on the floor of the passenger seat. We were all the way at check in when I needed my license, and discovered that I didnt have it. I was able to run across the tarmac to the garage, and get it. WHEW!!

Needless to say, when I booked our cruise on the Magic this year, we arrived the day before!!!! Dont need that kinda stress in my life.

No guarantee offered. But in my experience Princess seems to have many less people lacking class such as those men wearing tank tops and sweaty baseball caps in the MDR at dinner, and people trying to max their 15 drinks on Cheers "because they paid for them!" ....regardless of whether they should. Or even worse - stealing by sharing Cheers and trying to justify it.

 

In reading both the Carnival and Princess boards I find that Princess has less people trying to share the drink package or wondering exactly how casual they can dress on elegant evening.

There is a difference in mindset that I sense and experience when dealing with Princess. It's not stuffy but simply classic without being opulent or 5 star.

 

Don't get me wrong - I have 3 Carnival cruises booked and 1 Princess. We will continue to sail Carnival as it is good bang for the buck but if even up, I will be choosing Princess.

 

 

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This is what I call "the race to the bottom". Its like...........people know what the rules are, and DELIBERATELY want to do the opposite. These fools know what Elegant Night entails....so why go to the MDR? Once, I was in the hallway and speaking with my neighbor about how her cruise was going. She was dressed in shorts and a silky tshirt. She seemed to feel that the fabric of the shirt lent it a dressier air, and was perfectly fine for elegant night. She also said that her family chose not to dress up because it would add so much to their luggage.

Night before debarking.........six suitcases outside of her door..........hmmm.

I have a water related question. I usually travel with my mom and two daughters, and we are all VIFP. So how come we only get two of the big bottles of water in our cabin? I have never understood this.

lol!

Ahhh....Uno's. Anytime I go to a city that has one, I am in like Flynn!! :hearteyes: We always get the Numero Uno Deep dish, and for me....the raspberry colada's are the gift of life. OMG, I should learn how to make it, but it probably wouldnt be as good. Anyway, we rolled ourselves out of there, and went to Disney Springs to "window shop" and kill some time. So different from the last time we were here, which is when they were in the process of closing/renovating downtown Disney. We bought a few things here, and headed back to the room. Big Day is here!!

I wanted to get up and head out of the room by 8a, grab some breakfast, and head to our parking spot for the week to catch the 10a shuttle (we are 45 mins away from port). The best laid plans.......*sigh* I continually hit snooze....and finally threw myself out of the bed to the floor at 830a. By the time we made it the car, it was nearly 10. Ughhhhhhhh! We decided to skip breakfast....when we hit major traffic snags. Att his point, I figured that we would just try to make the 12p shuttle............but a rep from Beachline called me to ask when we would be arriving, as they were waiting for us! I told her that we were still about 25 mins away, and she said that they would hold a shuttle for us. Awesome!! We found the lot with no issue, handed off luggage, and headed to the ship. *happy dance* Now, for those looking for a cheaper alternative to the $128 port parking....I paid $0 for the actually parking, and $10pp/round trip to ride the shuttle. I was MORE than pleased with this arrangement, and would TOTALLY do it again.

Now, I had one carry on, and checked our other luggage. However, I was told that I would have to check it, since it would be too large to fit thru the scanner. Bummed, I just KNEW that when I got this bag back, the sodas would be a hot mess! Oh well..........I can say that the whole embarkation experience was sooooooooooo easy. The lines really moved well, and having arrived around12-12:30, we were walking onto the ship in under an hour! :hearteyes:

I love Guy's burger, and had been dreaming about them every night for a month...........but i had a better destination in mind. I took my fearless---and knowledge'less (ha)--crew directly to Cucina del Capitano!! And just like you guys said, it was almost empty. Let the peasants battle it out on Lido! Ha! Double Ha, even! For those that dont know, you are given a "menu" when you are seated, and you mark off your selections for pasta, sauce, meats, and other options. MY PERSONAL THOUGHT: I enjoyed the ability to try this for free. Unless the dinner options are better, this is one that I would personally skip. While I found it to be just ok, I felt that my pasta could have been cooked to a softer degree and the alfredo sauce was quite thin and runny. Maybe Olive Garden has spoiled me? *shrugs* My daughter and i made a game of "find the broccoli"...lol. All in all, I was glad to try it.

We wandered the ship, took a few photos with Mr and Mrs Potato Head, I got a DotD, and maaaaaannnnnnnnnnn it was potent!! At a $1 less than the usual price, it was worth it! Around 2, we headed back up to lido to find our room, 10245, our very first balcony. LoveAtFirstSight! The kid loved that the sofa was already in bed mode---as it would remain for the entire week. The back cushions remained at the foot of my bed, in front of the balcony doors. Eh. Not a deal breaker, just .....interesting. We also found that several lights were not functioning in the bedroom and bathroom. the bedroom lights were fixed quickly, but I had to call.......and call......and call again about the bathroom light. They even suggested I call maintenance myself to get it fixed. When That didnt work out and I had to call the room steward # again, someone very exasperatedly told me that they would just call themselves. *blank stare* :confused:

We wandered some more, hit the casino (Ki was MOST EXCITED to do this, as she is now 18....and wanted to do it evvvvvvvery single day. It was a bit of a workout to distract/tempt her with other activities). I ws really looking forward to the MDR in the Northern Lights (early seating), because this would be the only night that I would be able to savor the ever so delectable strawberry soup. They clearly left out the sugar portion, as it was quite bitter this time. *sad puppy face* Dinner service was--and would remain---quite slow, but this is vacation, and I tried my best to not be in a rush. Throughout the week, I would find that whether I was the first, fifth, or twentieth to my table, we would ALWAYS be served last. It was very frustrating to see that other tables would have lemonades, teas and such waiting for them, but we never received anything. :( For the 1st time in 5 cruises, I did NOT enjoy the MDR. For the 1st time, I probably ate on lido or elsewhere at least 3 times. We wont discuss the toddler sized lobster on elegant night. I try to find the positive...........Oh! I got one!! One one night (i think the last?), our food was actually warm when we got it!! let's move on, shall we? :')

What part of Alabama? I am from Muscle Shoals. Roll Tide. Thanks for taking the time to write and post a review. We will be on the Magic in nine weeks. It will be our 44th wedding anniversary.

I have been "gone" from Those lovely hills of Alabama, and that red dirt, which is the color dirt should be imho, for such a long time. Sweet Home Alabama. but I have to admit, Florida is pretty awesome too. Especially in January.

And the HOUSE of the MOUSE. check out Disney resorts. The VALUE Resorts. You can get them at reasonable rates if Not school is out time. Or Holidays. And remember.........You have Bus or monorail transportation in the Magic Kingdom those buses run every 15 minutes or so. They are also much safer.

Thanks again for the Review.

I'm near Hoover. And I LOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEE The mouse, but the Mouse isnt currently loving my pockets. The last time I went, I think I paid just a bit over 2k for a week for 4. It's probably triple that by now! :') Since my last is heading off to college, and I am no longer tied to a public school calendar, I just might be able to git er done! lol

Thanks to everyone that is reading along! :hearteyes:

Our drive was largely uneventful, and we arrived in Orlando the next morning around 145p. We checked in and headed to our room, changed clothes, and did what three women on the loose do-----we headed to the mall!! ;p The kid and I needed new tennis for our walking on port days, and Mom wanted some sandals. I couldnt find any in the price ranged I wanted, so KiKi and I ended up going to Target and getting some of the inexpensive Ked knockoffs. Mom did find some nice sandals in the mall at Macys on sale for $30, and I got a nice bottle of Moscato for the ship cabin! Now let me tell you....this mall is deceptive. It does not look very large, but it is MASSIVE once you are inside!! We were there for several hours and only covered perhaps 2/3 of it. Our Waffle House breakfast at 6a had worn off, and I was ready like Spongebob to get to Uno's!!

I should be asleep right now (( work overnight), but since I cant.....

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, the SCAM. Well, almost.

After doing a couple of searches for hotels in the orlando area, I came upon a hotel that looked very, very promising! We have a mall here where I live that's touted to be the largest mall in Alabama, and it has an attached hotel. Well, I found one just like it in Orlando! I believe its called The Florida Hotel and Conference Center. The first website had it listed at about $108/nt. Subsequent looks (I always compare with the hotel directly, etc) listed the same night as being $200-247+!! What the doo hickey!? Why is the first website so much less? Well.....I took it! And an hour later, I started having doubts. Why IS it so much less? So....why not research my purchase AFTER THE FACT? :') The booking required that I may the entire fee upfront and any cancellations would forfeit up to a 60%-full penalty. That made me nervous. So I put in the name of this website.......and my heart sank. The first 5 or so entries talked about this being a scam site....that people had booked hotels thru them, but the hotel never received the reservations OR payments. Further inspection showed me that this site was based in SWITZERLAND (which would explain why I 'd never heard of it), and that they recommended waiting 24-48 hrs for the reservation to show up at the hotel-----but you took my money immediately?! I was on pins and needles and absolutely flogging myself for such a bone-headed move.

On the appropriate day, I called the hotel directly to confirm my ressie----and they had it!!! THANK YOU BABY JESUS!!!!! *whew* I can't tell you how relieved I was!!

Meaning the health issues are none of anyone's business :D My bff needs as much of a stress free vacaton as possible before having major brain surgery! I originally booked this cruise with just my 2 adult daughters and myself... then the diagnosis came and bff wanted to get away, but has 2 young girls. Our plan was to relax and spend quality time together as much as possible.... obviously spend time with the girls too, but preference would be for them to be involved with Camp Carnival as much as possible.

A) This is terrible.

B) Sounds a bit selfish

C) Poor girls being treated as unwanted tagalongs. Just.........wow.