buzzard05

17 minutes ago, timberframe!!! said:

We got tired of waiting for the so called email. We called and booked it with the NCL casino dept. That is who is in control of the free my vegas cruises. Their number is (887)785-8259. Be prepared that the free cruise is not so free. They hit you up per person for a fee of 101.50 p.p.gratuities, 140.00 p.p. administration fees, 181.00 p.p. tax/port fees. Then if you want to use the "free at sea" offer it is 13.80 p.p. for the dinner upgrade or $277.00 for two people (must have both in cabin purchase) for the free drink pkg.   When we won the my vegas free cruise on Carnival, there were not any administration fees. 

When you called, did you just reference the redemption code you got when you redeemed your award?

Thanks for all the info by the way....that is really helpful.

On 10/27/2018 at 6:31 PM, zitsky said:

 

I feel sorry for him, but I'd rather not see caps at dinner.  I hope he gets over his hang up.

....as I hope you get over yours as well.  

44 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

Can I ask how long it took from the time you redeemed your points for the cruise until you received the e-mail on how to book the cruise?  We snagged our cruise on Saturday and are still waiting for the e-mail letting us know how to book it.

 I am so glad to hear you ask this question.  I got mine last week (midweek) and still have not heard back.  I asked their support and they said they would be in contact to book...but nothing so far.

Thank you.  I wasn't sure if signing that waiver was an exception to that or not. 

Thanks again.

I tried searching for this without any luck....

I know on NCL that parents/legal guardians can sign a waiver for 18-20 year olds to drink beer/wine on board.  My question is, if I am sharing a cabin with my 20 year old son and elect to get the UBP as our "free" perk...will he get the UBP as well and be able to use that to cover the cost of any beer he might drink on the cruise?

Thanks!

...between the "I'll be right back, I have to poop", and the Caribbean Islands/Jackson 5 analogy, you have brightened an otherwise crappy morning :)

So glad you are back to finish this!

I.... and that I don't normally buy things like that.

That's an odd response. How are you going to "normally buy things like that" if PayPal won't let you buy things like that?

:)

I've got the same issue. Same PayPal account for years that I know works (I have another automatic charge set to use it).

I have tried changing cards, clearing cache....even set up a brand new PayPal account just to see if there was a problem with my original....all with the same result....not able to purchase using PayPal (unfortunately using a regular credit card is not an option on the screen I am seeing).

Oh well, I'll keep trying every once and awhile until they run out.

Oh and to give you what you have all been waiting for...

Thank you all for coming along on these crazy journeys. It’s been an amazing year of cruising, but I feel like I’m only just getting started.

I think this might be the best one of all times.

We are going on our first Carnival cruise late this year and I had two questions (at least for right now....just two):

1. How are boarding times assigned? Is it completely random, or is there something I can do to affect my time slot?

2. Where do you choose ATD (MTD)? We booked through a TA, and when I view my cruise online, I don't see an option to make that choice.

Thanks!

I booked two rooms through my travel agent last year on Harmony, one balcony and one Boardwalk balcony that were diagonal from each other across the hall. Our TA originally said Royal's policy was as long as you could open your door and "shake hands" across the hall, the rooms were close enough (not sure where he got this from).

Anyway, he was able to book the rooms this way and I went through the process of booking excursions, soda packages etc. for each room. Then about two weeks before sailing, I checked my booking and saw that my one son had been moved with me into the balcony room, and my wife had been moved to the other room with my other son (their ages were 18 and 15 at the time). I called my TA and he said that Royal changed their policy and that rooms with kids (under 21) had to be next to each other or directly across the hall.

What really got screwed up was that the excursions and soda packages I booked for the boys did not stay with them...they stayed with the cabin. This meant my wife was booked on the Labadee Zipline (which she did NOT want) and she also had a soda package (that she also did not want). Once I got on board, I went to Guest Services and they moved the boys back into their room without question and straightened out the drink package and excursion...I just had to wait at Guest Services for quite a bit while they got all this done. Now if our rooms had been further apart...I'm not sure if they would have done this or not.

Does Cheers (or anything else you can pre-purchase online) ever go "on sale"?

I know on Royal, they run periodic sales on their drink packages, excursions, etc. Does Carnival ever do this?

Also, if I buy Cheers now and then change my mind....can I cancel before my cruise without penalty (we have booked our first Carnival cruise and I'm not sure about their "rules")?

Thanks

We decided to go down a couple days early and found a great little hotel right on the beach called Snooze. It was very cheap (compared to other hotels in the area) but had very clean and HUGE rooms. Our room had two king beds, a dining area with a sink, fridge, and microwave. It was plenty big enough for my family of four (two teenage boys - 19 & 16). The hotel also had free beach gear to use (chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, etc.)

The staff at the hotel couldn't have been nicer and more accommodating.

This hotel is right along the beach strip with plenty of restaurants and shops within easy walking distance.

We rented a car from the airport (from Enterprise I think), drove to the hotel and then drove it down to one of their locations at the beach (and just walked back to the hotel). Getting to the port was easy with Uber.

If we ever go on a cruise out of FLL again, we will definitely stay here.

Might there be any more pictures of Rachel on said-iPhone?

....asking for a friend.

The best thing you have going for you is that both your daughters are of the age where they can both attend the teen club. We have been on two cruises in the past year and for both, my oldest son was 18 and my youngest was 15/16. Since they like to hang out together, and my oldest couldn't do the teen club, it meant my youngest missed out on that. I would encourage your girls to get involved in that.

As for the excursions, we did the same cruise last summer on Harmony. Now I had two teenage boys, but here is what we found for each:

Labadee: We rented the clamshell loungers (they were on sale for half price on the cruise planner when we got them). They were relatively cheap, relaxing, and convenient to most everything we needed. The zipline was also on sale, so we got that for the boys and they loved it!

Falmouth: We did the Royalton White Sands resort through a third party (Shore Excursioner I think) and we all really enjoyed it. It was a nice resort with lots to do and good food. The one thing I will caution you on is that they DO NOT appear to enforce any drinking age at the bars (at least the one by the pool). My boys discovered this, and let's just say they had a "good time" at the Royalton, while my wife and I laid on the beach (chalk it up to being a Jamaica rookie).

Cozumel: We have been there twice. The first time we did the speedboat/snorkel adventure and loved it. The second time we did the ATV Tour to Jade Caverns and my boys said they liked that even more. So not sure if your girls like active things...but those were two fun excursions that were just the right length and had a little adrenaline to go along with it.

Hope you all have a great time!

We were on Navigator last year over Thanksgiving and they showed it on the pool big screen as well.

I believe that is who we used when we went to Royalton and we had a choice of when to return. The only thing we had to do was coordinate with the other family that had also booked this excursion and was on the van with us. The driver was very accommodating and would have returned to pick us up whenever we wanted, and even offered to stop at a shopping area on the way back if we wanted to (which neither us or the other family did).

We had a wonderful cabin attendant on a recent Harmony cruise (on Deck 12 - aft). Her name was Marie, and by the end of the week we felt like we were saying goodbye to a family member. She took such good care of us, and was like an extra set of eyes watching my teenage boys as they came and went from their room...she always would tell us when/where she saw them.

I seem to remember her saying she lived in the Caribbean, but I don't remember exactly where. If anybody is currently on Harmony that has her as a stateroom attendant, can you check to see if her family is okay after Irma? I couldn't help but think about her yesterday as I watched the devastation. I know she was due to get off the ship in mid-September for a few months off.

Thanks

The price is usually@99pp., however, I think Hilton Rose Hall is a little more than that now. They all include transportation:)

We did Royalton White Sands (also had access to Blue Waters but didn't visit that resort) for $99.00/person including transportation last month and loved it. The resort was great (and close to the port), and our driver was extremely nice and worked with us on our pick up time. They met us right in the port, so it was very convenient. I would highly recommend Royalton, it was a lot of fun and very nice. I was dreading our Falmouth day based on many things I had read, and it turned out to be my favorite "land day" of the cruise.

The one bit of advice I would give is check the terms of final payment if you go through a third party site. Ours charged a 15% service charge if you chose to pay your balance with a credit card. I read that before we left on our trip and brought extra cash to pay that balance and avoid the service charge. The family that was also on this tour with us did not know that and were a little upset to realize that their bill was now over $50.00 more than they thought.

We did a day at the Royalton White Sands through a third party vendor and loved it. The excursion was actually for two resorts in one day (Royalton White Sands and Blue Waters), but we just stayed at White Sands and had a great time (and it is very close to the port).

We did the Royalton White Sands resort, which was only about 10 - 15 minutes from port, and loved it. However, I have never been to the Rose Hall resort, so I can't compare the two.

We booked it through ShoreExcursioner and they picked us up and dropped us off right at the port.

It is my understanding that it is 10 drinks for the $79 plus 18% tip.

Yes, it is 10 drinks on the card for a total price of slightly over $93.00. As you use them, they either punch them out or scratch them out with a pen. However, make sure to check your bill. I got billed for a drink from one bar when I used the card. Though, when I spoke with Guest Services and they took it off my bill without question.

One of the other benefits of the drink card is that it is shareable...which the drink packages are (supposedly) not.

This will be my first cruise on RCI. When should I look for those on Cruise Planner for best prices?

You might want to check today. I saw on one board that there was a Cruise Planner sale going on now for certain sailings.

For our cruise, I would literally go on there a couple times a week to check on prices for stuff (we booked about five months out from our sailing date). However, I was really excited to go on our trip and checking Cruise Planner, message boards, excursion reviews, etc. just helped me pass the time until our date. A couple times I got lucky and got some better prices on stuff.

Sorry, I can't answer the exact question you are asking but I did want to just give you some info on your little one's feet. Make sure they have some kind of shoes on when walking on the pool decks in the sun. We just got off Harmony a couple weeks ago and the pool decks got EXTREMELY hot during the day.

We just did a Harmony cruise and did the clamshell chairs and zipline (for my son's). At the time of our cruise the clamshell chairs were $45 (per clamshell of two chairs) and the zipline was $98.50. However, there were several Cruise Planner sales on and off before we went and I was able to get the clamshell chairs for $38.00 and the zipline for $71.50.

I believe the clamshell chairs are on Adrenaline Beach...the zipline goes right by out over the water. The clamshells were nice. There are plenty of free chairs on Labadee, but shade was somewhat limited. I wanted to make sure we had a place to not sit out and just roast....so paying the $$ for the clamshells was worth it.