WorkerBee74

We stayed at the Hotel Current in 2013 for our cruise to Hawaii and it was a great place to stay. Not fancy but nice and for $149 we got our room, breakfast, transportation to and from the port and parking for free. That is less than we pay when we stay in New Orleans for a 7 day cruise. We are cruising back to Hawaii next December and we will stay there again. Good luck.

Excellent! I booked in there a couple months ago for a May 2017 sailing. I like to get things done well in advance. Glad to hear a couple of people recommending ;)

We went in August and it was crowded but we always found a lounger. We tend to go early though. There were a lot of chair hogs. Lol!

When you say early.... how early are we talking? Thanks!

I'm trying to avoid chair hogs making me angry which I understand can be a losing battle but just wondering ;)

The trip advisor comment comes after I just got here from reading reviews of an excursion. There are like 8 reviews in a row about how wonderful the place and food and drinks were, except in the middle there is one about how it was the worst place and not to go there as it will ruin your view of all Caribbean beaches. And it appears they were all from the same day.

Think this proves one thing I truly believe, you get back what you send out.

Agree!! And it's funny how those reviews always exist somewhere in the middle of everyone else raving about the opposite (i.e. "Cleanest hotel I ever stayed in!")

It's like people look for things just to be spiteful. (Or possibly work for the competition :eek:)

Here is a link to my fun times from August 13-20.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3Wwpjhd9iZNR0dCSlJQaU9NQ3c&usp=sharing

Perfect!!! Thank yousomuch!

IF you book the steak house for the first night of the cruise they give you a free bottle of wine.

There are no free drinks at any of the sail away parties and that would be before dinner anyway.

Sail away is late afternoon.

You do not have to book the steak house until you are on board so I wouldn't worry about it.

Are you sure you are not one of those first time cruisers who end up seasick???

Excellent tip! And although it's my first cruise it's not my first ship. Been back and forth across the Irish Sea on several sizes of boats and did fine. Even on one that was particularly rough so I think I'll be OK - fingers crossed!! ;)

I got 12:30 for Miracle in May

Trying to figure out when the best time to make a dining reservation for the steakhouse. Would like to do it on the first night, but don't want to miss any first-night exclusive fun.

Is there a sail away party? Being our first cruise we would like to experience it, and is there a second party later after you set sail? When do the fun drinks come out? I was trying to find a more recent Fun Times to see a sample schedule, anyone have one?

Thanks as always!

Yes it was a reduced deposit, which is fine..but if I had not looked on line I would have not known about the deposit increase and could have lost everything. The Rep. was very helpful and took care of it for me

Good news and good advice! Would never have thought to check that but if now you've helped anyone has paid a reduced deposit to check into it!

Put this link on your Christmas list!

 

http://www.carnivalgiftcards.com/

Ah yes, I think I did look at those but started to look more at Cruise Cash because you can get $25 or $50 whereas these start at $100. We already have a booking anyway.

And holy cow they already processed it! My deposit was $500 which I paid last month and I don't owe any more until full balance in February. I'm guessing maybe Vegas booked on a promotional deposit rate (like $150-$250 instead of the normal $500?)

It's coming to the time of year when the family starts asking for Christmas lists. Instead of something pointless I'm thinking about maybe asking for some Cruise Cash or beach towels/wine.

Anyone done this? What would they need, just your booking number and then it gets applied as OBC (for cruise cash) or is waiting in your room (for gifts)?

Figured I'd post this here as it may give others the idea for cruisers in their lives or open some discussion for anyone who has done it.

(Also we are Canadian of that matters, I expect this could still be done online but would obviously be in USD)

I sent in form and was given the $50 Obc....however, it increased my deposit by $342 I called Carnival and although I was supposed to pay this within 24 hours, they gave me into next week when i had planned to pay off anyway. Be careful to check, if I had not I could have lost my booking

Did you originally pay a $500 deposit or did you book when there was a cheaper one?

This is great, thanks all. I submitted for a fare increase of $30 but OBC of $50. Brings me out $20 ahead but hey that's still two drinks in fancy pufferfish cups as far as I'm concerned lol. As well, paying an extra $30 in February will not matter when I suddenly have $50 while paying for everything else on the trip!

Will keep watching this until May, figured I'd apply for this one to see how it all works, you guys rock.

Thank you so much firemanbobswife for the screenshots!

I really hope they get this on the Miracle before next May. Where I can see myself using it is when either myself/husband may want to do our own thing for a bit like if he doesn't want to see a show or one of us scouts out whether there's a line for comedy, we can answer each other about what's going on without having to run across the ship.

We are in our late 30s/early 40s so we are quite attached to texting each other for little things here and there so I really see a benefit.

For the younger cruisers who are REALLY attached to their phones, this will be pretty much essential.

261 Days until my FIRST CRUISE EVER and I'm so excited!!!!!

And you guys are awesome - how can I not be excited when I'm on this board?!?! :D:D:D:cool:;)

Question about the plugs/outlets. Does anyone have a picture of what it looks like? Trying to envision if there's one outlet convertible into both Euro and North American, or two separate ones of each. Also need to know WHICH Euro It is, mainland Europe, UK etc.

I have the converters for USB to Euro, so if there's one of each I will bring my converter and we can charge both our iPhones, done.

Otherwise I have this guy - technically it has surge protection so I don't know if I can.

http://www.belkin.com/us/BZ103050-TVL-Belkin/p/P-BZ103050-TVL/

You will have a great time. We are older than you (buy a considerable amount) and have sailed on Carnival many times (as well as other cruise lines). We prefer Carnival because you really do get more bang for the buck.

 

I have a pretty comprehensive document I've put together called "Tips For New Cruisers". It will answer many of the questions you might have. If you'd like a copy, send me an e-mail and I'll reply with a pdf file.

I actually came across your doc in another thread and it's wonderful, thanks so much for taking the time to put that together for us newbies. :)

There were some Wal-Mart people wandering around. There were shorts in the dining room for dinner, but we didn't let what others did ruin our vacation.

Hahah - I'm sure they'll be at the Puerto Vallarta Wal-Mart, first in line... :D:p

LOL. Another thing to bear in mind as per her one time remark to me, was that her Princess cruise was full of humorless Canadians! Well this is one Canadian you wont find on Princess anytime soon. And I have this person on ignore, but only see this post because it comes up in quotes. But thanks Podna's for the good chuckle of the evening:)

That's pretty funny because.... guess where I'm from? 😂 I promise that we are really quite fun though... :D:p;)

See below..... We're going!!! Booked today. :D:D:D

Minus the trollage (LOL) you've all given me some great advice. It really wasn't a question of whether it was going to be a choice between Princess and Carnival as I could only do Carnival with the dates I needed, it was more if we should even bother if we can't get Princess. In the end those who said we won't know if we don't try are right. We are in an 8D cabin on the starboard side, got FTTF, and now will mull over some excursions.

Thanks so much everyone - the Mr. and I just watched a 17-minute ship overview video from YouTube and well, we're kind of excited now. I think we are going to do it... we really like the looks of the Red Frog and Alchemy Bar, and get a kick out of the Disney-esque theming, it really is quite cool. There's also an adult-only Sanctuary which is right up our alley, and we're looking at a Balcony room as well...

Now to research everything that I knew about Princess, now Carnival style :)

Thanks again, this board is amazing.

Hello lovely folks...

I'm a first time cruiser, married, no children, 41 yrs old. Husband is 38.

I had my heart set on a 7-day Princess Cruise to Baja, and it fell through now because it was in conjunction with a convention I was going to - just found out the dates and it's later than I expected. It is at the end of May so Princess is gone to Alaska at that point, but I'm now eying up the itinerary for May 13-20 on Carnival.

Am I too old/young for Carnival? What's the 40-something dynamic on a 7 day cruise to Baja? Is it a wild 24-7 frat party or loaded with screaming children? That's my non-educated stereotypical view of Carnival.

We do like to drink so we would be OK tying one on, but we don't stay up until all hours like we used to, but we do expect *some* peace and quiet away from screaming children and 20-something party-animals. We've never been to Mexico but we do a lot of travelling around the US, Canada and England so we're definitely seasoned as far as regular travel goes.

We would be interested in excursions and things like that as well, what say you, seasoned cruisers? Will we hate this or will it be a great first time?? Is my view of Carnival skewed and do I need to smarten up and do it? :cool: