laymay

Because I saw this I thought I’d mention:

one blood (Florida) has you mark if you’ve left the country (probably in a certain period of time, i pretty much always have to mark yes lol) and then the person asks if it was for 24 hours or more.

This could always change in the future.

My latest visit to Roatan was on a 3/12/17 cruise and I’ve (only :/) donated twice since then.

So please don’t let a cruise discourage you from trying! My understanding is that anything that isn’t specified I certain questions is a 24 hour rule (I’m not even sure if 24 hours disqualifies you as I’ve never been in a port that long).

I've been in a spa balcony twice but never booked treatments.

IIRC: the normal bundle thing is 10/20/30% off and the spa room one was greater than that (maybe 20/30/40). But I believe you had to book it all at once. I didn't pay too much attention since I'm perfectly happy spending all my on board time in trivia, the spa rooms, or eating.

I have one coming up June 30th, I'll try to remember to report back. Otherwise, the benefits are the one scrub per room, the access to the spa, the robe and slippers, and the trial sized products in the bathroom (I believe you are allowed one set, but we've had some attendants enforce that and others replace the items).

We have 2 in the family with Gluten Allergies and the MDR has always been great at accommodating the requests. The only "problems" we've had there is that some of the waiters like to add "buffer" food (meaning they added extra items just in case, mostly just sad for the waste really), we once were given a brunch menu to order from, only to find they were doing breakfast and lunch (Journey's cruise) and they just started bringing out random items instead of what was ordered, and occasionally we've had a waiter make a whoopsie but it is (thankfully) usually something obvious (like an onion ring on a prime rib).

The buffet is a whole different story. Most of the time they end up saying they can get a plain burger or a plain chicken breast and maybe some potatoes or veg. Some people have definitely been more helpful/accommodating than others. You have to be EXTREMELY careful of cross contamination, and not just from the other customers. I.E. we were told what was safe on mongolian wok, but when we went to "order" the guy was using the same utensils for everything. So if you're allergic to one sauce, they've all been potentially contaminated.

Probably a dumb question, but as a pretty recent cruiser I've been wondering why they ask this if you're not using their transportation to/from the airport?

My guess is that it is because they give early flights priority disembarkation (I believe it is Diamond & Platinum, FTTF, then early flights). That's my best guess on how they know who has one. I haven't looked in to it much since I've only gone on one cruise where flying was a factor but I'm assuming they take the information and decide what is "early" and give those passengers papers on where to meet like they do with other priority disembarkers.

You don't have to do reservations but for trivia we generally show up at least 10 min early to make sure we can find a seat and for the nightly performances and comedy shows, we generally try to show up at least 20-30 min early if we can to get a good seat.

 

With comedy (and this is something that annoys me, so I guess I'm getting on my soap box now), they're starting to clear the rooms right after the show and make everybody leave. The last few sailings (particularly in the later evening with the adult shows) they weren't letting anybody in until about 5-10 min prior to the show starting. Which, if it was two shows back to back by the same comedian, no big deal. I can see clearing the room. HOWEVER, it's usually a show by comedian A and then 45 min or so later a sh ow by Comedian B. And since you're forced to leave the room even if you had a good seat for comedian A, yo'ure NOT going to be getting a good seat for comedian B because you're forced to out and get in line. IMO, if you're already occupying a seat and don't wish to leave because you want to sit through both shows, you shouldn't be forced to leave.

 

Flame away. I'm ready for it.:evilsmile:

What’s funny is I’ve had the opposite experience. We used to be told we had to leave and reenter but the last two cruises (December & February) they didn’t ask anyone to leave. I’m wondering if it’s at the discretion of the ship based on how busy they are, both of those cruises had pretty low comedy attendance, I was starting to wonder if this was a whole societal change.

I’ve got to say, it’s so nice getting the seat you really like and being able to stay there. I mean I obviously understand that there might be people who want to go who couldn’t make it to the earlier one, but I almost feel like they need to be an hour apart to give those that we’re watching the last set time to get in line (ie they actually could get in line an hour early and get a decent spot if they wanted).

The Splendor had the new Breakfast (I was happily surprised, I didn't even know it was a thing) in December but the old Deli.

I personally LOVED the new breakfast. I don't tend to like a lot of breakfast foods but this had a lot of unique options. IMHO, the old breakfast menu was just a sit down version of everything on Lido (in fact, I even had a friend make fun of me once for wanting sit down when we could've gotten the same things on Lido).

This is anecdotal but we usually take big Yeti cups that I filled with ice on Lido and then asked for the beverage of choice without ice. Some poured the soda in to a cup, some just asked if I planned on pouring it in my cup and then offered to pour it directly there. None offered me the can (which is really what the no ice turns in to).

It really isn't much of an inconvenience to fill with ice on lido when at lunch so I just took that extra step to avoid asking anyone to do something they may not be allowed to do (genuinely unsure of the policy).

Really, my only problem with the bubbles and Cheers! as far as what is included is that you can't just get a can of soda. It may be because of sharing or because they aren't kept cold (doubtful since they do sell the whole cans), but it just seems silly to me that an adult is given a glass at a time.

Whether or not something is worth it is totally subjective. We're going back and forth on this debate now.

The big 'for' on our end is that you really feel more like you're on vacation. 100% if we didn't have the drink package we wouldn't get the coffee shop coffee we want because of the cost. I know that for our group, we'd all be thinking of the price for every drink. I think we're leaning towards doing it again at this point when I pointed out that we'd be getting the $7.50 /day soda package without Cheers! and then add the fact that my father is really trying to convince my mother to relax and get coffee she'd enjoy ($4 per large coffee with a flavor). So we're already at $11.50 of the $49.95 (I also drink coffee). It is a 9 day cruise but it works out to 38.45 per day or 346.05 for the 9 days when you account for the 'sunk cost' of soda and coffee. So 346.05 for 9 days pp of unlimited alcohol. When you look at something like Patron that's 10.95 a shot or the same price for an Alchemy Bar drink, it's less than 4 of those drinks a day (which is easy to justify if you drink and want to try lots of things). IMO it is also a nice opportunity to try new things. With Cheers! I'm more willing to try things because it's just one of 15, if I don't like it it isn't like I 'have' to drink it because I paid specifically for it.

Suffice to say, I believe CAN be fiscally worth it. It mostly depends on whether or not you drink enough/what you drink. If you only drink water and a couple of beers, I'd probably pass.

We did discuss just putting $500 on the account and using that but again, we're already at more than half that for 2 of us getting coffee daily and all 3 getting the soda package.

And this is before taking in to account the 'added perks' so to speak. I like having the sparkling water at dinner (I don't *need* it and would drink regular water or soda instead but it is nice), we usually get milkshakes every other day when we have it, and then we do a little vitamin water and regular water hoarding for taking off the boat (not a big deal as we usually take one of our big free waters off but it's nice to have the options. I also like having them in the room for when I wake up).

It won't let me do it. I get all the way to "My Guests", but there is no modify to click on. I see where it says "special occasion" and under their names it says "none". I guess I could contact our TA?

I've always booked direct. So, maybe? It would look like this (hopefully I attached this correctly)

Re: adding it to the reservation

My Cruise Manager > Cruise Details > My Guests > Click Modify under their names > Anniversary.

Congrats to them on so many happy years!

YMMV but I don't think the spa is nearly as strict as Carnival makes it out to be. For instance, we had a spa cabin last cruise and they specifically told the first two of us to make sure the other two came in. I would definitely just go see once you're on board, it seems like they set aside the number of passes by occupants.

Ok so my personal opinion is to secure the account with another payment option (I think the Debit amount secured hasn't gone over $100 for me if I add money before going over the amount secured. I did this once with a gift card). That way you don't have to worry about that morning of departure line. If you want to go the cash route, I'd probably prepay any drinking packages or gratuities to minimize cash carried on board. I've definitely seen the kiosks take money towards account but I'm not sure of the cut off of how it would work towards exact payment. If you don't want to prepay grat, I'd at least look at the exact amount so you can load that and then add on top rather than realizing you need to add it the night before debarkation.

As others have implied, do not allow privileges to anyone you do not want to be on the hook for the bill for (you specifically pick people with privileges for your card online). Even if that person says they are going to pay it off as they go, I've definitely been on a cruise with someone who had the unfortunate 'must see guest services' paper on the last morning. That person was planning on paying in cash but hadn't looked in to actual costs [ie gratuities plus their drinks plus auto grats. for a person who had cruised before she knew very little about the process. (I.E. complained when she realized there was a 15% tip on checks and then she tipped on the post tip amount)]. beforehand, unfortunately (she had a parent send her money before departure but just as an example of someone thinking it will all work out).

I think I got it to attach, took the smallest snip I could while still getting all the words

It says the file is too big for uploading a screenshot, but Heald posted in 2016 that you are welcome to enjoy a drink at the Steakhouse Bar. So, it shouldn't be a ship rule that you aren't allowed to and I find it funny that Carnival said that has always been the policy in response to you.

If the alchemy bar is on your ship, we used that place during the day to play Munchkin on the last cruise. Seating/tables worked well for playing a game and it was a quiet area where you still had a view out.

It's popped up on all of mine in the past year I think. That being said, I didn't realize you could switch the excursions! Might take advantage of it if it pops up again.

Does anyone remember how much the beer buckets are?

 

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IIRC, the buckets are 4 beers for $2 off the total individual price. So, it depends on the beer. Like, a $6 beer in a 4 count bucket is $22 then. I've never ordered them but I've looked at it and I'm pretty sure that is what it was in January.