Organized Chaos

You're welcome. I haven't checked them out in a few days, but I know people were posting pictures in some of them.

Click on Carnival Glory on the right side of the page. It'll pull up all the threads pertaining to the Glory. There's quite a few about the dry dock, some from people who just cruised. You might find some good info in there. I haven't looked at them in a few days, but I know people were posting some pictures in some of them.

On the right side of the forum in the box with the header "Carnival Cruise Lines," under "See posts about:" choose Carnival Glory. It'll pull up threads pertaining specifically to the Glory. There are a few threads where people are docking about it post-dry dock. You might find something in those.

 

We'll be on the Glory next year. Looking forward to the new WaterWorks.

Hi Everyone,

 

I normally take European city vacations, or American hiking vacations, so I know the etiquette for those situations, but cruising seems a bit different.

At the risk of veering away from the cruise topic a bit, have you ever hiked the Smoky Mountains? We love it down there.

A cruise vacation was never on my radar. It was simply something I had no interest in doing. A couple members of my wife's family are frequent cruisers and had been asking us to go on one with them for a couple years, but we kept passing. Finally we agreed and went on our first cruise last year. Even though it wasn't really something I wanted to do, I was willing to give it a go because my wife & our son were excited. And I'm glad we went because we ended up loving it. We booked our second cruise last month. Unfortunately it's still a year away, but that's ok, it hasn't stopped us from being excited already and start thinking of things we'd like to do. We're taking some other members of her family and their 3 teens. It'll be their first time and we hope they have as much fun as we will. Last time our son was on his own, but now he'll have his cousins to pal around with, so we know he'll enjoy it more.

 

 

Try something you've never had at dinner. We always order one exotic dish for the table to sample. It makes dinner fun! My kids love that they can say they've had shark, squid, escargot, duck, rabbit, etc....

My son & I are very picky eaters, but we took advantage of trying new things. We both had muscles for the first time. I thought they were pretty good and my boy loved them. He tells that story every chance he gets.

 

A do for me to to stand on a front deck of the ship at night and just stare off into the horizon at the stars over the ocean!

We weren't even aware of the "secret" deck on the bow of the Conquest until we got back from our cruise last year and I was watching some videos online. And the really sad part was, one of the doors to that deck was on the same deck as our cabin and not far from it. We're going to take full advantage of it on our next one. I've already looked up its location. I also really like your idea of going out there at night. One thing I was disappointed with last time was not being able to see too many stars because of all the lighting on Lido, etc.

We took a long extension cord (8' I believe) and a 3-way outlet adapter, like this...

 

Since our cabin (Conquest) only had one electrical outlet by the desk and none in the bathroom, the long extension cord came in handy. For one, my wife was able to use it to reach the bathroom for her curling iron. Also, I took my 8" portable fan and was able to set it right by the bed. I like the noise and our cabin was pretty warm. The 3-way adapter gave us additional plugs to charge our phones & just generally use multiple things at once. They come in different shapes & sizes. Straight line (like my picture), cube shaped, "T" shaped. You can even get ones with built-in USB ports to charge mobile devices. We'll do the same thing on our next cruise. I think a cord and adapter are easier to pack and take up less space than a power strip. And like I said, having the long cord gave us the freedom to move around.

Can i bring the rest of the bottle to enjoy in the dining room after you've opened it in your room?

 

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I have seen more than one person on here say that they have done just that.

we're probably going to eat in the steakhouse at least 2 days and possibly 3. Maybe that's their intention.

 

We all know businesses, no matter who they are, make efforts to get customers to buy more expensive products, but I don't believe Carnival is purposely serving MDR food that isn't as good as it used to be just to get people to spend extra in the specialty restaurants. They know the MDR is part of the cruise experience and they invest heavily in that experience.

Wow, it's like you are inside my mind! I have all of the same thoughts, and am also considering a GoPro! My other issue is storage space. My phone is almost full, so I'd definitely have to back up and empty photos first. At least with big camera I can use multiple memory cards.

There's a thread in the Photo & Camera Discussion section where a women decided to leave her DSLR at home and just used her GoPro. She mentioned that she brought along a portable hard drive and emptied her memory card every night. I have a portable drive, but I really don't want to take it on a cruise because it's the only one I have, contains all of my backups, and I don't want to risk anything happening to it. We have one 16 GB card and two 64 GB cards for our GoPro, so I'm hoping that's enough. It should be because I never take that much video on vacations. Just a lot of photos.

 

 

The daily cruise planners also have the sunrise and sunset times, so use that to your advantage.

I tried using their sunrise/sunset schedule in the Fun Times last year and something was off. I went by their times on two or three occasions. I'd set my alarm to give myself 10-15 minutes before their scheduled time, but each time it was already above the horizon. And I'd just get up, quickly get dressed, and go straight on deck. I finally ended up setting my alarm to get up well before their scheduled sunrise time and caught it one morning.

Are most bottle of wines in the US now screw tops?

People say bring a corkscrew!

I wouldn't say "most." My wife usually buys what most would probably consider cheap wine, like the kind you get in a supermarket or Walmart. Even many of those are corked. And a lot of small wineries we've been to still cork their own brands.

I admit this isn't very helpful to your question but I find if funny that people are looking for the fried chicken and upset that it's not on the every day menu any more. When it was first added, there was major backlash about how low class that is for them to have *gasp* FRIED CHICKEN *gasp* heaven forbid!!! on a cruise ship menu! (I never saw a problem with it.) I'm sure your kids will find something they enjoy. And like you said, there's always pizza! There's something for everyone!

I'm a picky eater, as is my son, and we weren't disappointed at all with the MDR menu. Even if we repeated the grilled chicken or flat iron steak more than once, it was fine with us because both of us thought both items tasted great. I guess our pallets aren't as refined as everyone else in this thread. :confused: Just like you said, there is something for everyone on a cruise.

 

We've only been on one so far and just recently booked our second, so we haven't been around long enough to see any of the changes in recent years. I think that's part of it. When you've been around something long enough and enjoy it, you hate to see anything change. Whereas we're new to it and most of it seems pretty dang good to us. Maybe we'll feel differently in 5-10 years, but if it gets that bad, it's simple...we'll stop cruising. Or at least stop cruising Carnival. It's funny that people complained when the fried chicken was put on the menu and now they complain about it being taken away. I guess people are going to complain no matter what. And not just about the food. The food, the shows, the perks (or lack thereof), the service, you name it. It's a bit shocking to see how many people complain about Carnival on here. I was telling my wife about it the other day and she said, "That's fine, it'll be less crowded for us on the ship." :D

Thanks, everyone! Great ideas. Now to figure out storage for all of those pics! I'm also having trouble deciding whether I should just use my iphone for photos, or bring my DSLR as well. Then there are excursions, some water-related . . . so many decisions and a week to make them! I think I will revisit the photography section for ideas.

I've read about people leaving their DSLR's at home (purposely), but I don't think I'm ready for that. Our phones can take some great pictures nowadays, but I still like to have my DSLR. But it can be a pain sometimes. I often found myself wanting to go out on deck to snap a few photos, maybe of the sunrise/set, clouds, or a port coming into view, then had to debate on whether or not I wanted to take the whole case with me or just the camera. Would I need to switch lenses? If so, I can't just stick one in my pocket, so I'd have to carry the case around too. So there's definitely pros & cons to a DSLR, especially if you have more than one lens. For the most part, I relied on my phone since it was always with me and so portable. I think I took my DSLR off the ship at only one port (out of 3). After that, I just used my phone. I definitely didn't take them if we were just going to the beach. Our next cruise isn't until next summer and right now I'm still thinking I'll take the DSLR, but I may change my mind before it's time.

 

 

I enjoyed getting photos of the seagulls gliding alongside the ship. A small storm rolled through on our last night and since I love storms, I was sure to get a few pictures of the storm clouds rolling in.

 

 

We went out and bought a GoPro after last year's cruise specifically for our next cruise. We had taken a waterproof disposable camera with us, but they didn't turn out so good. So we found a great deal on a GoPro last Christmas and got it. Looking forward to taking it snorkeling and on Glory's new WaterWorks slides (well, it'll be a year old by the time we get there, but new to us :cool: ).

I always book early saver I have gotten some excellent on board credit because of it. I also always get my own travel insurance in case something like this happens. Your best bet in the future. Good luck :(

 

We got the vacation protection plan for our next cruise. When I log into our booking online, there's a link that says something like, "Will there be a cancellation fee for this booking?" If I click on it, it currently shows a $250 cancellation fee. We couldn't figure out why since we had the protection plan that comes with cancellation fee waiver. After receiving a promotional email about the protection plan, I figured out (I think) that we have to pay the fee for the plan in order for it to activate, in addition to the deposit. So far, we've only paid the deposit. So am I correct, do we have to actually pay the protection plan fee before it activates? If so, is Carnival able to apply a payment directly to that protection plan fee as opposed to just putting it towards the balance in general? When attempting to make a payment online, I don't see an option to apply the payment directly to the protection plan.

On our cruise last year, room service crew members were not covered under the pre-paid gratuities...or so I read many times on the old Carnival forums. Has that changed, do they receive a cut of the pre-paid gratuities now? I understand we can always tip them more even if they do get a share, just curious if they actually do or not.

I guess I will have to wait to see who our CD will be. The schedule doesn't seem to be updated for 8/25/2018...:confused:. I mean its only 537 days before we sail (at the time of post) come on Carnival get planning, we are......LoL.;)

I don't mean to take pleasure in your long wait :evilsmile: but I must admit, it's kind of nice to finally see someone else on here who has a while to go yet. We're at 450 days and I hadn't seen anyone that far out. It's not easy seeing everyone talk about their sail date that's just around the corner. I feel your pain. :beer-toast:

The hotels that have cruise packages with parking offer shuttle to the port only. None of them offer R/T transportation to Port of Miami. You will have to get a taxi or uber back to your hotel when the cruise returns.

The wife and I did some more searching and you're right, we couldn't find anything that offered a return shuttle back to the hotel after the cruise. Well, there was one, but only if you were staying at the hotel again after the cruise, which we won't be. I guess we got lucky in Ft. Lauderdale last year. They offered long-term parking for cruisers and a free shuttle to the port and back to the hotel after.

 

A taxi or uber won't really work for us for the return ride back to a hotel that has cruiser parking because we'll be a party of 8, plus everyone's luggage. We'd need multiple taxis/ubers and I'd rather not mess with that. If we can't find a hotel that also offers a return shuttle after, then we'll probably just park at the port.

Here is the Carnival FAQ info about cancellations. Depends on whether or not you're paid in full (which you said you are) and if you used a promotion, such as Early Saver. I don't know about the handicapped room, but if I had to guess, I'd say there's a good chance they'd move you to free up that room for someone else who needs it.

 

 

I need to cancel my booking, is there a penalty?

If you are canceling your booking prior to your final payment, there is no penalty to cancel unless you have booked a specific promotion with a non-refundable deposit and/or fare.

 

 

 

 

• Bookings made prior to December 2, 2015 for sail dates through April 30, 2017: For cruises 5 days or less, the final payment date is 60 days prior to sailing, for cruises 6+ days and Alaska cruises, the final payment date is 75 days prior to sailing and for Europe, Transatlantic and Panama Canal cruises, the final payment date is 90 days prior to sailing.
  
• Bookings made December 2, 2015 and onwards, for sailings April 1, 2016 and onwards: For cruises 5 days or less, the final payment date is 60 days prior to sailing, for 6-9 day cruises, the final payment date is 75 days prior to sailing and for cruises 10+ days, Alaska, Europe, Transatlantic and Panama Canal, the final payment date is 90 days prior to sailing.
  

The following promotions have a non-refundable deposit and/or fare at time of booking and will be penalized as such. Within our standard cancellation penalty period, regular penalties will apply.

 

• Early Saver and Early Saver Last Call: The deposit is non-refundable at any time after the booking is made. All cancellations that occur prior to the final payment due date will receive a non-refundable and non-transferable future cruise credit in US dollars in the amount of the deposit less a $50 USD per person service fee. The future cruise credit must be used on a cruise within 24 months from the date of cancellation and can only be applied to your cruise fare. Any unused portion will be forfeited.
  
• Super Saver: The deposit is non-refundable at any time after the booking is made.
  
• Pack & Go: 100% of Total Fare is non-refundable any time after the booking is made.
  
  

Once your booking is within our cancellation penalty period, the amount of penalty will increase as the cruise departure approaches. When calculating the days prior to sailing, the day of sailing should not be considered as one of the days. The day of sailing is considered the first day of the cruise.

 

• From the final payment date to 56 days prior to sailing (or 46 days prior to sailing for cruises 5 days or less), the penalty is the deposit amount.
  
• From 55 days prior to sailing to 30 days prior to sailing (or 45 to 30 days prior to sailing on cruises 5 days or less), the penalty is 50% of the total fare or the deposit amount, whichever is greater.
  
• From 29 to15 days prior to sailing, the penalty is 75% of the total fare or the deposit amount, whichever is greater.
  
• From 14 days prior to sailing to the day of your cruise, the penalty is 100%* of the total fare.
  
• No refunds will be made if you do not show up for your cruise or if you interrupt or cancel your vacation once it has begun.
  
  

The total fare is defined as Cruise Fare, Transfer Services, Pre/Post Cruise Vacation Packages and Air Supplements (excluding Restricted Air which is non-refundable at time of booking).

*Note: For full 100% penalties, the refund will ONLY include: Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses and Optional Prepaid Gratuities.

 

For booked guests: To check and see if your booking has a cancellation penalty, login to your carnival.com profile. Under the 'My Cruise Details' section, click on the 'Is there a penalty for cancelling this booking' link.

Did you try texting through wifi???

We were on the Conquest last summer. We have iPhones and each of us purchased the Social plan and was able to text one another on board via iMessage. Plus, was able to iMessage anyone back home with an iPhone (as long as they had their iMessage turned on).

 

 

The social plan also works with popular messaging apps like facebook messenger, WhatsApp, etc.

Does anyone know if there are any Miami hotels that allow long-term cruiser parking? Something in the $100-$150 range...for the room, that is. Parking would probably be additional, which is fine. We had one last year in Ft. Lauderdale that had a cruiser lot in the back for long-term parking as well as a shuttle that took us to the port and brought us back to the hotel after the cruise. Looking for something similar in Miami. I've done a couple quick internet searches but the sites didn't seem to be very current. We still have a lot of time, just wondering if such a hotel exists in Miami.

I tend to sweat and after a while just don't feel clean, so I like to have an extra shirt for that day if need be. For me, if I have the room in my suitcase, I'll bring extra shirts whether I use them or not. Personally, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. That is, as long as it fits. Whenever possible, roll your shirts instead of folding them. It saves a ton of space in a suitcase. I take my time rolling my shirts to be sure to remove any wrinkles as I go, that way they're wrinkle free once unrolled. And always account for any additional space needed for souvenirs if you buy them.

 

 

I do take an extension cord but that is because I have two CPAPs. If you don't, don't bring the extension cord.

I definitely advise anyone to take an extension cord if they have multiple electronic devices, an alarm clock, or whatever. There's plenty of people out there who say to take a power strip, but an extension cord is much easier to pack and takes up less space. We take an extension cord and a 3-way outlet adapter. Can fit just about anywhere in luggage and gives my family of 3 plenty of plug-ins.

The ship is full of cabins and beds! Make use of those instead.

Preferably your own cabin, right? :eek:

I agree with 5ten. After reading through this thread and seeing everyone asking for the file via email, a much better option these days would be to upload the file to a public Dropbox folder (or similar service) then post the link here. Others could even share their own files too. Unless CC doesn't allow that type of thing, of course.

 

I was just skimming over the recent Carnival threads and thought I'd check this out. We just booked on the Glory, but not until 2018. Still excited though. Only our second cruise, but taking a family of 5 first-timers, so I've been considering matching T-shirts. Was thinking about one of the websites where you order personalized shirts, but saw this thread and remembered my aunt has an embroidery machine. I'm pretty tech savvy, but I don't know much about her machine, other than it's a Brother. And I guess it's a bit older. She used to embroider a lot of shirts for our son when he was younger (teenager now) so it's 5 years old or more. But if it's still capable of doing these kinds of things, maybe going the embroidered shirt route would be better than ordering some online

Hahahahahaha! Is that better than being the Dancing Queen? Definitely not better than Dairy Queen [emoji39]!

If you don't mind me asking, do you really like the Glory...is that why you've been on it the most? The reason I ask it because we recently booked on the Glory for 2018. We were aboard the Conquest last year and, as far as I can tell, their layouts are very similar, if not almost identical (aside from the recent dry dock work on the Glory). Would you agree? We're even staying in almost the same place as we did on the Conquest (purely by coincidence). At least we'll have a good idea of where everything is.

We absolutely loved Epic Rock and hope it's playing again on our next one. Our teenage son didn't go with us the first time so he's hoping it plays too since he's into classic rock. I also love 80's music, so hoping 80's Pop to the Max is on our next one. We haven't seen that.

 

If you're old enough to remember The Newlywed Game, then you're familiar with Love & Marriage. I didn't go to the whole thing, but stood up in the balcony for 20 minutes or so and it's just not my thing. I thought Hasbro was very boring.

We showed up late to one of the comedy shows and it was packed, standing room only. We got to see about 20 minutes of his set and he was pretty funny. The line for the next show was already extremely long when we were leaving, and it was still an hour or two away. So I'd say definitely show up to comedy shows early.

 

Seems like the consensus in this thread is that the playlist production shows don't get much love. Some of the comments are downright mean. Bottom line is, to each their own. Everyone has different tastes in entertainment. Sounds to me like things have changed quite a bit over the years, but doesn't it always? Those familiar with the past are rarely pleased with present-day changes. I know this thread was started last year and the OP has probably gotten the info they were looking for, but one thing I'd say is, don't let anyone tell you NOT to try these shows, which a few did just that. There's really no harm in checking at least one of them out. You can always leave if it's not your cup of tea. Or you might be pleasantly surprised.

be careful of the security cameras.

I thought that's what underwear is for? ;)