adventuredancer

2 years ago i got an upgrade offer from oocean view to grand suite for 350 (for both hubby and i). we took that one. 

and how many people are in front of you. and that they will let people with excursions off first

they got rid of one of the hot tubs in the serenity area and moved the other. and added more chairs. no other big changes (i think some carpet somewhere was replaced)

i have two kindles because i have so many  books they dont fit on both.

i feel like i am joining a self help group

any good chairs or benches (with padding), couches etc WITH SHADE

locations on independence?

and here i am being forced into traditional dining time when i want mtd

12 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

 

 

Carnival is not going to spend the money to tear out a lounge and replace it with staterooms on a 25 year old Fantasy class ship.  The return isn't there for the limited service life it has left with Carnival, and Carnival has more pressing needs to pay down COVID debt and pay for ships ordered before COVID. 

i agree that they aren't going to add more staterooms. that lounge is used more often than a lot of other rooms. plus it is the only wau (with ADA accessible) ramp to serenity. it would be possible to convert one of the clubs into an alcamy bar. that i believe would be easy . or the rotterdam bar would be converted

i do disagree that this ship has a limited time with carnival. this ship and the pride are the only two that carnival has that can sail out of tampa. this sailings do tend to sail fully  booked.

i just wish they would add back in the 2nd nightstand in oceanview rooms. this past may was the 2nd time we have had an oceanview with one night stand. i was told it was standard. and no couch (i get not enough room, but there is plenty of room for a chair). but i literally had to use the stool as a nightstand

On 9/27/2023 at 6:28 AM, SNemeth said:

Yes!  They now fill all dining rooms for early seating and do not have a dedicated My Time Dining room.  When the first seating tables turn over they start seating MTD passengers.  

that doesn't seem very good planning. they should just dedicate certain tables to be MTD. otherwise, they run into the people with MTD not being up before the late dining. 

On 5/23/2023 at 4:10 PM, taglovestocruise said:

My Time dining now starts at 6:45, I have seen people in line at 6pm. There are two lines, one for reservations and one for walk up. Some have reported a small 5 - 10 minute wait and some have said they were in line for almost a hour.  Traditional is still walk in eat and walk out in 60 to 90 minutes.

645? that late?

34 minutes ago, MayorDrafty said:

On Elation, the Alchemy Bar is where the Rotterdam Bar is on Paradise.  I haven't been on either, so I have no idea if that location works well for Alchemy or not.

it is a little out of the way. but it works.

i would hate if they got rid of the aft lounge and turned it into staterooms. right now, it is the only way onto serenity deck without having to go down some very narrow non-standard height stairs

i can't picture where they would put the alcemny bar. unless they got rid of the library (which has been said by Heald on FB that they aren't putting them in). or if they converted the piano bar (which almost never has anything in there). or if they convert the rotterdam martini bar (which is also very under utilized). they do officially have 2 clubs. but one is used all day long for art stuff. i've been on the ship 3 times in past 18 months. those are the only areas i can think of

in most of the cabins we have had, there are outlets behind the bed. the night stand lights have to be plugged into something

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

Hopefully everything worked out for your cruise?

 she ended up con my father in law into paying for a plane ticket to texas and flew there few days before. and got her birth certificate. but both her and  my brother in law kept dumping their kid off on my mother in law

overall pretty good. but far from how it couldn've been

i am a paramedic and have several friends who work as medics on various lines and ships. one friend on a carnival cruise ship currently working states they have several different meds for treatment of afib. he could not speak to how your insurance would pay for the infirmary care as it is "outsourced through a shell company".

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

OP, does your family member have a SENTRI Card?  If so, that should work.

 

As for having to submit additional paperwork to the passport folks, I remember reading about US born citizens, born in border states like Texas and AZ, who had Hispanic last names, but the birth was at home with a midwife (basically not in a hospital).  The parents of these kids had to provide additional proof that their kids were really born in the US.

she says she was born in the hospital. 

personally i think there is more to the story than what she is telling us

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

I agree with my friend, @sparks1093, with the caveat that (assuming she is currently using her married last name), that her first and middle name, as well as her date of birth match up with the first/middle name and date of birth on her gov't issued photo ID (Driver's license).

 

 

they aren't married so that isn't a problem.

21 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

 

These two posts are confusing and it could just be because the person you are conversing with doesn't know what she is saying, but a birth certificate with the parent's name on it is considered the long form. (And I note that the State Department only specifies that the parents name have to be on the birth certificate, it doesn't make any reference to "short form" or "long form", or at least it didn't the last time I looked at it.)

it's not that she doesn't know what she is saying, she's an idiot and has always been a '' it will all work out''

so when she texted me on march 23, this is word for word what she said=

in nov when i started the passport process i figured it was just taking awhile but about halfway through Feb they send me a letter stating that i need a different type of birth certificate and so i sent the application for it right away to vital statistics in texas. then they like a week ago they send me an email asking for further documentation proving my identity even though the application was notorized. 

~~~now at this point, it was march 23 and this new birth certificate hadn't arrived. (personally i dont think she had even ordered it yet) and why would they ask for her to prove her identity again? i didn't think anything of it. i was just confused. my husband and some of his family were borne in central america. the idiot's mom is from mexico. he thought that maybe she wasn't here legally. 

back to the text=

i sent the info and am now waiting for the birth certificate. now i have to send that to the passport people and hope and pray it gets here on time. 

~~~i told her to have it expedited. she replied = 

ok so i changed my order to have a copy with it. so it's a certified copy. it should be here on time. and i changed to expedited. i had a short birth certificate. the one i need is long. 

so i am going to attach a photo of the photo copy of the birth certificate. in the photo, it actually looks much better than the original did. i did black out the names. except for father's first name. so this shows parent's names. i remember seeing the original. i don't know if it had a seal but it was rough. 

25 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

An original birth certificate not accepted by the government for a passport seems very risky to try and travel with it. Clearly there was something wrong with it. If they live locally and want to chance it they can. I certainly wouldn't fly across the country on those odds. 

the port is in our home town. 

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

The far more relevant issue here is that this birth certificate, that she has a copy of; wasn't accepted for her passport because it was the "wrong" birth certificate. So, likely it is also the "wrong" birth certificate for cruise travel. I'm guessing into the hospital certificate instead of the state certificate. No, you guys can show up and try but its very unlikely they will let you board.

no it says texas dept of health..... 

it looks like a real one

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

For a passport application a birth certificate must have the applicant's parent's names on it, which isn't the case for a birth certificate to be used for a closed loop cruise which only requires a government issued birth certificate in any form (long form, short form, small ID style, etc.). 

her birth certificate has the parent's names

13 hours ago, icft said:

Perhaps I have missed or misunderstood something but the OP said, " her application for passport was denied because she supplied the wrong version of birth certificate. she waited almost 2 months to tell me and then request a new copy of her birth certificate (she says they kept the other one). she has a photocopy of the very very beat up birth certificate she turned in."

 

If what she sent in to get a passport was "the wrong version" it would appear to me what she sent in is not a valid birth certificate. So how would having either the original of something that is not accepted as a birth certificate by the U.S. government or a copy of that invalid document help anything?

 

Since the OP said, "she has a photocopy of the very very beat up birth certificate she turned in" and never mentioned a photo copy of any other document I assume it is a copy of the invalid document that is under discussion.

 

But they sound like Carnival's target new cruisers and Carnival will do everything possible to get them on board so they should take what they have and hope for the best.

according to the idiot, passport people required the long form and she supplied the short form. 
it says texas department of health bureau of vital statistics. it looks like a birth certificate here. 
 

17 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

I have known it to work for others. I have relatives born in Texas and once they order one online and it came in a few days to another state

well she ordered it (or at least said she ordered it and paid for expediated) on March 23rd. 

1 hour ago, Elaine5715 said:

Can you read every number and letter on the paper?

no. i couldn't read every number and letter on the original before it got turned into passport people.