kylesplash

A friend sailed out of Galveston twice recently and said you had to pick up liquor purchases the morning of debarkation. He said it was, in his words, a clusterf**k" and he'd never do it again. He was in line over an hour! That's so lame! Is this Carnival's new policy and is it fleet wide? We'll be sailing out of New Orleans on the Dream after Thanksgiving. We just will not buy liquor from the on-board store if they have stopped delivering it to your room the night before. Last thing I want to do after a lovely relaxing cruise is end it with an unpleasant experience.

On my cruise in 2013 they delivered it to my room on the last night.

I just got off of the October 9th dream, and we had to pick it up from the song lounge. I went after I ate breakfast in the MDR, and there was no lines. Nice and easy.

I will say the liquor selection was much smaller than it was in 2013 on the ship. NBD, I still got a got deal on some patron.

I know to some this may sound dumb but I wanted to buy my husband a container of cashews from Costco to have in the cabin for him as a snack. Is this allowed for me to bring on the ship? Can I/should I bring it in my carry on bag?

 

Thanks

Yes you can. We took 2 bags of roulette doritos on the 9th. We should have taken 3 bags :/

Hey! We will be cruising out of Mobile next month...and apparently you can't buy Cheers the first day. I'm just trying not to spend $100 without blinking. On my last cruise, the first night is when I had the most drinks, actually.

 

I know about bringing on a bottle of wine...but is there any other way? The $58 I would have spent the first night on Cheers will only get me about 5 drinks.

If you get well drinks, they are like $5.

I was drinking gentleman jack and cokes and they were like $6.95. Granted, I had cheers and only had to pay taxes on the first day. Day two switch to the expensive alcohol, add roca patron to everything $15 a shot.

The fruity drinks that they make cost more, but they also have more than 1 shot.

We are just off the 10/9 Conquest sailing. We purchased the Cheers package for the cruise. I tried to order a drink from the tequila bar that was made with cheap tequila and asked for it to be made with patron instead. I was told by the bartender that this couldn't be done. I was under the impression that you could have a drink made with an upgraded liquor. Am I wrong? Thanks!

I was on 10/9 sailing of the Dream, we drank Roca Patron for all of our tequila needs. It was $14.99 a shot, I love cheers.

Somethings I forgot to mention.

We ate in the dinning room any chance that we could. I think we only had the buffet 2 days for lunch.

We ate at the steak house on the last night.

Montego bay-> Catamaran sail and snorkel

Grand Cayman -> Turtle farm

Cozumel -> Nachi Cocum

I don't know when the pizza changed, but when I cruised in 2013 the pizza was thicker and you could order calzones. Now the pizza is thin crust and not as good.

This is going to be a hodgepodge thread to cover many things from my cruise experience.

I sailed on a 7 day dream cruise on 10/9. I was in room 11218 which is a spa balcony room. We ate in the scarlet dinning room, I requested a table for 2, we had a nice table that was probably 4' from any other table. I never once met my room steward, but I marked to card stating I wanted service morning and evening, and she did so. The room was an okay temperature, I was comfortable under the covers at night.

I messaged John Heald before the cruise letting him know it was my 10 year wedding anniversary. I also let Carnival know is was a special occasion on my booking. Thursday afternoon we received a card from our room steward which had a gift card for $50 at the spa, and a free 5x7 photo. Thursday night after dinner we had a gift from John Heald. The gift was a ship on a stick, a bottle of champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries.

We couldn't use the spa card, it expired Friday and most appointments were booked. We used the photo card on a large photo from a photo booth on the second elegant night, we did have to pay the difference in cost, I believe it was $10.

The wife and I did Cheers, and we enjoyed it. To start off, if you tip your bartenders, they will work with you. Sunday afternoon I was already at 12 drinks, and my wife was resting before dinner. My bartender started charging drinks against my wife's card for me. I drank 6 drinks against my wife's account on the first day. We hit 28 drinks combined the first day, and 30 combined the last day. Every other day we had more than $50 each easily, and didn't max out. The wife enjoyed doing shots of Roca Patron with a diet coke on the side. The Roca Patron was $14.99 a shot.

The only issue I had with cheers, one night they charged a $55 tip against me, and a $55 tip against my wife. It was the first night when we were paying taxes and we rounded up to $1, I guess they missed the decimal point and the total being $1 on both of our slips. Guest services took care of the issue no questions asked.

We did the behind the fun tour, it was fun. We got to see the engine control room, various parts of the ship, and the bridge. During the tour there was breakfast/refreshments, cookies, and champagne. At the end of the tour we got carved soap, a hat, a bag, a wristband, and a lanyard. later that night they delivered tuxedo strawberries and our pictures. The picture of us with the captain was blurry :/

We used Uber to get to and from the port. Bot trips were free with credits.

We stayed at the holiday inn downtown (8 day parking) before the cruise. We stayed at the holiday inn french quarter after the cruise. We also stayed 2 nights in Memphis.

I have a bunch of video and pictures that I need to go through.

Feel free to ask any questions

I take advantage of purchasing the "Cruise Cash" ahead and I understand that it's $500 max. but is that per person, or for all passengers combined? I'm asking because I have put $275 on my account, my mom has put $200 on hers, but we still have another passenger that will be in our room that is suppose to be putting money on his also.

Thanks in advanced.

Something to know for next time. With gift cards you do not have a max, and you get refunded what you do not use. Gift cards are easy to find with a % discount. I know I get mine for 10% off.

Just something to think about for next time.

I'm on the Dream in 2 days, and have already bought cheers for the wife and me. My goal is to drink $100 a day. I will let you know if I think it is worth the $800 for a 7 day cruise.

SUNDAY!!! 2 days!!! I am ready!!!

Does anyone know if there is a formal dinner on a four day cruise, and if so, which night? Also, is there still a bottle of wine per guest permitted in carry on.?

Yes and yes. Just know they eliminated lobster on the 4 day cruises.

I went on a 4 day cruise in 2013, I felt it was too short. Granted I had to fly to the port. If I lived closer to the port, it might have been okay.

It is an upsell but the important thing is it is a good thing for you

I see you on the boards often. I have never been in a balcony before, what tips do you have?

What is the best way to keep the balcony door open?

Which sailing?

 

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Dream 10/9

In most, if not all cases, when they offer one an upgrade it is for one of the following reasons:

1) The room that you already is in is very desirable and they could sell it, probably for an increased profit.

2) The room that they will upgrade or upsell you to, for some reason, they were unable to book (poor location, poor layout etc), and they are willing to give it away at a discount

3) Combination of #1 and # 2.

 

In any case, buyer beware.

Yeah, I asked plenty of questions. I have seen several horror stories on here. I don't know if my room is a hot commodity, It was a port hole room, which is better than an interior. I actually had the choice of two different balconies. One is a spa on the panorama deck, I read the reviews for the room before I confirmed I would take the deal. The other balcony was near the aft, and below the lido.

I will let you know how it goes.

That's not an upgrade, that's an upSELL. There's a huge difference. One does not have to PAY for upgrades.

Interesting. You probably argue with people when they say they won something on ebay.

Semantics aside, I have an email from Carnival congratulating me on my upgrade.

I am excited.

Side note, I would gladly take a free upgrade.

I thought my cruise was sold out, so I thought I wouldn't get a call!

I am going from deck 1 porthole to deck 11 spa balcony. $432 flat adder. This averages to $30.86 extra per day for the wife and me. That is almost cheaper than the daily spa access. I am soooo excited!

I am sailing out Sunday. I am so glad we decided to do NOLA this time. I hope you get to cruise.

DSYKES2

I am sure you must be back home by now. Hope you had a great cruise. We are leaving on October 9th on this same cruise. Can you give us any idea as to what to expect. The highlights... the lowlights. What did you do in each port? There will be seven of us in our group. We are staying in New Orleans for two days prior to leaving. Any info will be appreciated.

I am also on the October 9th cruise ;) Don't let others distract from your vacation. I am excited, and ready to be on the ocean.

We are staying at the Holiday Inn downtown/superdome in October. It ran $275 which includes parking for 8 days. There isn't a shuttle to the port, but its only a mile some walk. It is our first time in NOLA and we wanted somewhere central and close to the action. After the cruise we are staying at the Holiday Inn in the french quarter, that one is free from points ;)

We did not take advantage of Cheers and when I looked at my bill it reinforced for me that Cheers doesn’t pay for our family as we only spent $400 in drinks which included $150 for the 5 bottle Cruising the Vineyard package.

Do you feel you would have drank more with cheers? Did you ever talk yourself out of a drink?

What did you get at the steak house to eat?

I am cruising on the dream in October, I am hoping I don't notice the ship looking run down.

We are going on Carnvial Breeze and are interested in this excursion however they show a 250 lb weight restriction. One of our friends is 7' tall and about 300 lbs. anyone know how strict they are on weight limits?

Mrs Lucky, did you have any issues with the weight limit?

As of John Healds facebook yesterday, you are more than welcome to do that.

I love his posts! I am so going to the steakhouse to get the expensive drinks.

New Orleans last January was freezing 50-60's. To add to the Galveston question, you must factor in expensive transport from Houston-Galveston.

Freezing, I do not think it means what you think it means.

I would love to be in 50 degree weather in January. I would wear flip flops and shorts.

This is not news. If you are going with female of child bearing years would talk to DR before going on cruise to Caribbean

If you are a guy, you can pass it on through sex. Luckily I have 3 kids, and my heart wouldn't be broken if I couldn't have anymore.

once you and your friend hit 10 each, just go individually and get 2 drinks. You will get charged for one and then the other will count towards cheers.

Remember, sunscreen first let dry then insect repellent with deet.

They sell sunscreen with insect repellent in it ;) I plan to grab a bottle for my cruise in October. Bullfrog!