Mic101680

I had issues with it on the last day on the Ecstasy last month. It worked fine all week, and then all of a sudden... nada.

I haven't sailed DCL in AGES, but did they have a video version of a muster drill during covid? And if so, are they doing away with the video option and that's why they're saying the 'in person' requirement is back? I know NCL has the video option, and as long as they can verify you watched it, you're good to go with them.

If you plan on changing for dinner and have an early seating, I would bring a change of clothes. I one had luggage not show up until 20 minutes before dinner! Otherwise I think everyone else pretty much has it covered

I've been on around a dozen cruises on several different cruise lines, and have never seen rooms ready before 12:30, and as late as they have to clear the ship before boarding can even begin, I wouldn't expect my room to be ready before then. It's a vacation. Go have lunch, have a drink, get oriented with the ship, check in at your muster station, take a tour of the spa, wear your swimsuit under your clothes or pack it in a carryon and change into it and go soak up some sun in a deck chair, or just sit somewhere and people watch. I get that some people like to 'get settled' in their rooms ASAP, but seriously, just relax. If you want to guarantee that your room will be ready upon embarkation, then book a later arrival appointment/boarding window.

No preference with which side of the ship, but I do usually try to book in the middle portion of the ship whenever possible - to try to feel less rocking whenever we go through rougher water.

If you have a set dining time, then you have to make sure the cruise bookings are linked together so they assign you the same table. If you are using the anytime dining, yes, you can set the reservations each day, you just have to link everyone together - we've always done the chat plan, added friends/family, and whoever is making the dining reservation that night chooses everyone who wants to sit together for that meal. Just note that you may have to wait a little while if you have a large group, depending on the ship and number of other cruisers trying to eat at the anytime MDR at the same time.

I called a few weeks ago to have my B2B's in January linked. I seemed to know more about the process than she did, so I'm not confident it was done right. She re-sent the confirmation booking emails to me, but nothing seems to have changed. Does anyone know if there is any way to tell they are linked, besides having to call to confirm again?

As much as that hike sucks, it's still waaaaay more reasonable than most other cruise lines, and it still beats buying it by the bottle from the bars.

For me, Carnival's food options generally are just not that exciting. Maybe something is wrong with my palate, or maybe I just need to book some cruises on the bigger ships LOL That said, things I do love are the breakfast burritos at Blue Iguana's. I would eat them for every meal if I could! The tiramisu in the MDR is one of my favorite desserts, though now I'm going to have to go hunt down this confetti cheesecake on the buffet everyone is going on about. I've never seen it but it sounds yummy. I absolutely hate calamari. But the calamari in the MDR is delicious! My only complaint with it is that 5-6 little pieces you get isn't really an appetizer, or a snack. More like just a taste! If I ever order more than 1 appetizer at dinner, this is it.

A lot depends on the terms of the offer you booked. Like others have said, it's probably best to call and see what they can do for you.

I'm a pretty light traveler, so I'd say the only 'extra' things I bring on a cruise are plenty of feminine hygiene products (only made that mistake once - $17 for 6 tampons was insanity but necessary!), a small flashlight, a pen/pencil and some paper or sticky notes, and a well stocked mini first aid kit to include motion sickness meds, allergy meds, throat lozenges, something for general pain/headaches, something for upset stomach, and something for heartburn. The first aid/meds kit is even more necessary now that a lot of ships seem to have moved their entire stock of these items to their medical office and charge an even more ridiculous amount then ever for them.

Poorpouri is an essential, not an extra, when I'm not traveling solo! More for courtesy to whoever is rooming with me than for embarrassment purposes lol. This entirely depends on the packing cubes you use and how you pack them. The ones I have are from eBags, and I have a couple in pretty much every size they have and they are sooooo handy! I am a pretty light traveler (1 carryon suitcase and a backpack, tops, for any trip), don't mind doing a load of laundry during a trip, and don't mind wearing the same thing a few times, so I pack them loosely when leaving and don't truly unpack when I get to a hotel or on a ship - just unzip the top and fold it back and set the whole cube in a drawer or on a shelf, and as I use things out of them, I'll consolidate the clean stuff into one cube and toss the dirty stuff into the empty one. Then on the way home, the cubes get packed a little more tightly/carefully, which gives me more than enough space (and extra padding) for up to 2 bottles of liquor in these inflatable bottle pouches plus space for whatever other things I buy, if anything. Packing cubes: https://www.ebags.com/accessories/packing-cubes/classic-6pc-packing-cubes/117786XXXX.html?dwvar_117786XXXX_color=Eggplant&cgidmaster=packing-cubes Bottle pouches: https://www.travelonbags.com/shop/travel-accessories/waterproof-bottle-pouch/inflatable-bottle-pouch/12875-850.html

I would look at a couple specific cruises you're interested in and track the prices over time. I did this with one we're going on in 2024, and in my case, there was a huge price difference between a brief time when they didn't have the sale active and when it did go active, with only minor fluctuations in the price during the sale periods. I realize we're also talking way, way, way in advance pricing too for my cruise, but it's still worth following if you know you're going to book something at some point.

Yes. The non-alcoholic beverages listed in the package are unlimited. And yes, you should be able to get the bottled water at any bar.

I second this. We did this on our last cruise, went to muster, and was in and out of there in less than 5 minutes (they told us it would be 10 minutes when we boarded) and then off to lunch and to explore the ship we went. I like this process so much better than the days where they made everyone assemble at the same time and stand there for 20 minutes.

You have to redeem them through the credit card company. There may be a phone number you can call, but I've always just redeemed mine online or through their app. Not sure if you can get a gift card anymore, but I just use the card to pay for whatever directly through Carnival (including onboard cash), then I'll login to my CC account, go to the redemption center, choose Pay With Funpoints, and choose which Carnival charges I want to the points applied to.

We've handed our excursion tickets to friends cruising with us in different staterooms, and I used a friend's mom's ticket for one once, when we've changed our minds on multiple cruises in various ports. I've never seen or heard of it being an issue since they really just check that you have a ticket and do a head count to make sure the number of people matches their list.

I might be the only one here, but for me, it's not worth the cost of the package. At $59.95/day, that's roughly 5-6 cocktails a day just to break even, which is a lot for me, and I'm not a coffee or soda drinker. I'm just fine with a case (or two for longer cruises) of water ordered to my room, to which I sometimes add powdered drink packets brought onboard, and then I'll bring a refillable water bottle to carry with me.

This really depends on all the things everyone else has already pointed out. I've arrived about 15 minutes early on multiple occasions (ex: 10:45 for an 11:00-11:30 check in window) and it hasn't been an issue for me at this point, but there also haven't been masses of people waiting in line either. I *have* seen people get turned away or asked to at least stand to the side for awhile, usually because they have something like a 2:00pm time on their boarding pass and showed up at 10:30am. So yes, go a little early, but not too early, and it will likely be fine. Just note that not all ports have a good area to sit and wait around if you're asked to wait or come back later.

I don't get the casino offers since I really don't play much (if at all), but have been getting a lot of similar deals. For example, free room - just pay taxes and port fees - with enough OBC to almost cover the taxes and port fees. Just did a 4 nighter with just 1 port day where it ended up being so cheap we could use our cruising budget for more spa treatments and other extras than we normally would do. Get off the ship and they sent me the same offer again, so I booked another one for a longer cruise. Planning on taking advantage of as many of these and similar offers as I can while they last, as long as I can get the time off work!

When you do check in for your cruise, you should be able to request to be sat with no other cruisers. Otherwise, you may be assigned a table with other cruisers, which they usually try to pair people in similar age groups so hopefully there is some shared interests there. If this happens, and you decide you don't want to sit with that group, you can usually request to have your seating arrangements changed, but it's subject to availability once you're on the ship. Table sizes vary - I've been sat where it's just me and my cabin mate, and I've been sat at tables as large as 10 (but have seen larger setups before). It's been my experience that they will go ahead and do bread and drink service pretty much right away, but usually won't take meal orders until everyone is present or after about 10-15 minutes has passed (to give the others time to arrive).

I booked my first GTY for January about 3 weeks ago and don't have my room assignment yet, but I imagine it will be at least December before I see it. Part of me doesn't care (because the rate was really good, and I'm never really in the room other than to shower or sleep) and part of me in super anxious about it (because I tend to prefer to have all the details in place before I go anywhere). Whatever happens, it'll be an adventure lol

It's been my experience, across all cruise lines I've sailed or looked into over the years, that Black Friday really only gives you an early booking discount and the 'best deals' are usually for sailings at least a year out, sometimes longer. Some of my VIFP deals lately have been much, much better than any Black Friday deal I've ever seen.

Agreed with at least 30 minutes for a good time frame, and 40 is more than fair - 15 really is a bit short. The person could be in the pool or whirlpool for a good 15-20 minutes and if it were me, I'd be upset if someone moved my stuff in that short of a time. I've seen deck chairs be 'reserved' and unoccupied for half the day or more with nobody touching the items on the chair and none of the staff marking it in any way. Personally, I really only have ever seen this be a problem around the pool and water play areas (even on other cruise lines) - there are usually plenty of deck chairs elsewhere on the ship where the bar servers are still attentive and you can still hear music from the pool areas if you're just wanting to soak up the sunshine.

I've been snorkeling in the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean in January several times and have always been fine with the temps, however, on several of those occasions, it was also overcast and took a little longer to dry off/warm up after getting out of the water than it would have on a sunnier day. It's also still usually warm enough for shorts and tank tops or short sleeves, though the locals will be wearing long pants and jackets, complaining that 77 degrees is cold!