Brad1972

We used them in April 2016 and they were awesome. Going to use them again in April 2017. Their office is right across the street from the cruise dock too. walk right out the gate and across the street to their office and they have you get in a van from there and take you to the boat. After your done they bring you right back.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

From last time does anyone know if On Board Charges counted towards the $500? I have a cruise paid in full -- so just tips & perhaps a drink package to any for.

 

 

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From what I understood and saw from others posts last time it goes for anything that comes up as a charge on your card for Carnival, Princess, Cunard, Holland or Seabourn as a $500+ single charge it qualifies but each card can only use the promo once. If you and your wife/husband each have a card with seperate names but same accounts then you can sign each card up for the promo deal and when you make one $500+ charge on the cards American Exp. i guess credits your account $100 for each card as long as each card makes a $500+ charge that shows it coming from those cruise lines.

I'm sailing on glory next April and asked the same question a while back as to which dinning room early dinning seating was in and everyone told me it would be in the Platinum dinning room at the back of the ship, decks 3 & 4

I booked Butts Up for my July 30th 2017 cruise. Its $35pp including lunch and no deposit or credit card was asked for. Just pay in cash once you get there.

No deposit. They want you to pay for the fun you have, not before tour vacation even starts!

 

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Awesome guys thanks for the help. Yea I saw they had a sale going on for $35 for the cave tubing tour and we have 6 of us going and wanted to jump on that deal for cruise next April. There's also going to be 3 carnival ship in Belize that day so it's going to be busy and wanted to get my place with Buttz Up. they could book up with that many ships that day being one of the most popular cave tubing tours in Belize.

Quick question instead of making a whole new thread. Does Cave-tubing.com AKA butts up require any deposit or want full payment up front when booking for caving tubing tour? I remember last time we used them we reserved it with a credit card but paid in cash when we got there and just wondering if any of that has changed recently?

How to earn Verizon points. https://rewards.verizonwireless.com/gateway?t=earn_points

Last time I dropped below 100,000 Verizon points was 2 years ago when I bid on a $100 Verizon gift card and won it. I get thousands of points each month. I have 9 lines on my Verizon account and if you pay on time you get bonus points, then there's anniversary points. Last statement I had 450k points. This months statement I have 465k points. Bidding points on the auction stuff these days is pointless. 2 years ago $100 gift cards went for 130k-180k points. Now a $25 gift card goes for 350k-400k points.

Ours just went up $20 pp too. I've been checking every now and then and as of last week it hadn't gone up yet. Not much but its been the same price since November of last year. now its starting to go up. All well, My PVP got me a rate few months back on Lido I couldn't even get booking online as past guest rate plus OBC.

Captain Marvins has a Stingray and Snorkel one that only takes half the day. Last time we did the Stingray and Snorkel one then when we got back to the dock we got on a different bus that took us to Hell and then the turtle farm. Bus or van from Captain Marvins stays outside while you get a guided tour of the turtle farm. Our second trip next April we're just going to do the Stingray and Snorkel ride and then do some shopping back Inc town by the cruise port. Turtle farm was cool for about 10 minutes then yea ok I'm done, Hell also was cool to see just so you can say you've been to Hell and back but it's not worth a second visit.

Last cruise we took Google maps pin pointed us when ever I brought up the app. You have to at least have the value wifi plan though.

Meh, you put 3,000 to 4,000 people on a ship, add alcohol, hot sun, it only takes one idiot to start a fight or get out of hand and ships security throws them in a brig. They get back to port they are escorted off the ship in handcuffs by local PD.

Or Like its been said they have warrants.

Do you compress the pictures later or why such high-res?

No, no compression. It degrades the picture sharpness and quality. I used to sell digital downloads of my work. I haven't been out shooting much landscape photography yet this year so I don't have anything up for sale right now. After I dump my pictures to my laptop I go through picture by picture and just delete pictures that didn't turn out like out of focus or just didn't have the camera settings right. The go through again and get rid of a lot of the duplicates or ones that just didn't turn out like I was wanting. By this time I've deleted half my photos from that shoot, day or event that I photographed. I use 64 GB cards because when I shoot a wedding or go out hiking in the mountains I take A LOT OF PHOTOS like a typical wedding shoot I easily take 1000 pictures. Hiking in the mountains for the day I will also take close to a 1000 pictures, especially if I come across some some wildlife. I can take any drab looking photo that colors are off or lots of haze in it or a photo that's a good shot but lighting and contrast are just off and turn it into an eye popping photo in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. These photos I keep and the others are deleted as they just take up space on my laptop or portable hard drive or DVD. once I burn it to DVD its permanent. If laptop hard drive gives out or portable HD then I still have a hard copy on DVD. My laptop may have 1 terrabit HD but with all the photos I have, I have to sort through my photos and reduce my photos down to the best ones and the ones I can fix in Lightroom. Wedding photos I let the bride and groom sort through them, it's their photos.

I have four 64 gig cards for my Nikkon DSLR. I shoot RAW and JPEG and 1 picture takes up about 40 MB of space between both RAW and JPEG. But even with a 64 GB card thats still about 1600 pictures I can take on 1 card. but I also take my laptop with my portable HD that I dump my pictures too at night and then burn to DVD later.

Glory has ALL 2.0 features except Red Frog Pub. Lots of us were hoping they would have added it when Glory was in dry dock couple months back.

The simplest plan is the travel pass.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/

Dont know what ports your going to but Mexico and Canada are $5 a day and its good for 24 hours and it goes off your domestic plan so if you have the unlimited plan then you have unlimited calling and text for 24 hours while in Mexico and Canada. And then most all other Bahama ports, and Caribbean ports are $10 a day and again goes off your domestic plan. San Juan, and any US virgin island ports is no charge as these are US territory and port of your domestic plan.

As far as communication while on the ship just get one of Carnivals Wifi plans like the social media plan and then you can Facebook messenger anyone else back home who also has FB messenger. Post on FB, Twitter and instagram and a few other sites too. Value plan gives you basic internet access. Last time I was on Splendor in April of 2016 I was able to use Verizons WiFi calling and texting option. just put your phone into WiFi calling mode and I could make calls and text message anyone free of charge. I have heard that some ships have this feature blocked though so test it first.

Tenders for most all cruise ships. the waters around the docks are too shallow for cruise ships. They are working on plans currently to extend the docks out further into deeper water and totally redo the cruise ship port so ships can dock instead of tender all the time.

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/cayman-islands-green-lights-150-million-cruise-port-development.html

google it and you'll find artist renditions all over of what they are trying for end result. Right now last I heard was they are still trying to get sponsorship and funding for the project.

The port itself has a free wifi but it is very slow and limited. walk out the port onto the street out front and you'll pick up half a dozen or more free wifi's

Last time we we cruised to Roatan on Splendor there was an excursion through the ship called Tabyana beach break for $35 pp. they transport you from the ship to the beach and back but we hired Victor Bodden to tour the island, monkey business and then the second half of the day at Bananarama beach resort. We are booked on Glory next April and and just want to go straight to the beach, this time Tabyana beach break, right from the ship but shore excursions in my booking manager doesn't show it as an option for an excursion this go around. I havent seen much recent talk about it on this section either. Does Carnival not own or have partnership with Tabyana beach break anymore? Did they give it up when Mahogany Bay beach get off the ground and running? I dont want to go to Mahogany bay beach. I much rather go to West bay beach because of the much better snorkeling and sand at west bay is like powdered sugar. I've heard Mahogany bay sand is a lot more course. Just wondering what happened to Tabyana Beach break and also options for transporting 6 people cheap to and from if we go to Tabyana or Bananarama Beach Resort or one of the other nearby beach areas. Victor Bodden? how much? taxi? I know Tabyana is only a couple three properties south of Bananarama and doesn't matter to me where we go as long as were close to the snorkeling area thats right off the beach in that area. If I go to Tabyana Beach Break I know I can walk up and down the beach and pretty much pick any resort and eat at their restaurant without having to pay their day pass price if I dont want to eat the plain burgers and hotdogs at Tabyana. Just looking for options to get to Tabyana if Carnival doesnt offer the excursion anymore.

until TSA bar-code scanners get better at scanning phones I get a printed boarding pass when I check my bags. If the TSA scanner cant read your phones bar-code on the screen they send you back to baggage check to get a printed boarding pass and they dont try but only a couple times then say go get a printed boarding pass and they dont hold your place in line and you have to spend the next unknown minutes standing in line at baggage check and then again unknown minutes back in the TSA security line and possibly missing your fight. Always get a printed boarding pass encase TSA's scanners wont scan your phone. I've had it happen twice to me and one of them nearly cost me my flight.

Any airline will print you a boarding pass for free. United might smash your head into a near by arm rest but eventually they will print you one and let you back on board. :evilsmile::evilsmile::evilsmile:;p

Interesting. We were there mid April 2016 and never had an issue being bit by anything. We were at Bananarama resort most all day. We had bug spray with us but we never put any on. We did use sunblock though. It wasn't sunblock with bug repellent either. maybe there's certain times of the year hey are bad? We'll be back there in April next year and we'll have bug spray again but hopefully we wont need it.

I taped and stapled them on for our first cruise at the hotel. somewhere in between loading luggage on shuttle and getting to our stateroom 1 tag was ripped off. took a while before we had our bag. Never again.

After that we bought these,

https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holder-Steel-Loops/dp/B017BVFA00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496962391&sr=8-1&keywords=highwind+cruise+luggage+tags

no more tape or staples.

steel wire cord that screws around your luggage handle and tough tick plastic tag holder. attach after flight to port or at hotel morning of and no worries.

I'd call your PVP starting maybe 2 months before your sail date and just tell them your interested in upgrading cause you want to make this an amazing cruise, what do you have to offer, convince me. DONT TAKE THE FIRST OFFER. Tell them you cant do any better then that? or i'll have to think about it cause its not quite what i was wanting to spend. let it be for a few days. You may get a call back with a better deal or an email offer. if not call them back and ask them if he could do any better. A lot of people forget, your the customer and you can negotiate the price. Carnival wants to make their passengers happy as much as possible, may not seem like it sometimes but their goal is make as much money as possible and keep you happy. Who knows maybe the upgrade fairy will call you with a great offer. Carnival called me on my first ever cruise and offered me a upgrade from lido balcony to a suite and dont get me wrong for $250 total we could have gotten a nice suite but also taken down to deck 6 or 7. I like to be on Lido deck 9, I picked it for a reason after lots of research for great view, quiet, and close to the open deck and food.

Give it a shot and call them and just ask for a deal, but do your homework first and know what standard price difference it is between what room you have now and the balcony you want so you know if their giving you a deal or not. again dont take the first deal unless its a great price drop. give you PVP some time to work his/her magic and see if they'll call back with a better deal or call them back after a few days or week or 2 and ask again if he could do better. whats the worst that can happen? you stay in the cabin you already have and you still have a great cruise or you pay a small discount off for a balcony. all depends on how bad you want it. but if you come off to your PVP as eager they think they have fish on and wont offer you a great deal. let them convince you of the deal.

With Verizon if you sign up for the travel pass and it's free and can be done with just a text msg, it's only $2 a day or 24 hours to talk, text and data in Mexico and it goes off your domestic plan so if you have unlimited everything then you have unlimited everything in Mexico also. BUT just so you know for others, Belize and Roatan are NOT part of Mexico. Those places its $10 a day or 24 hours to use your cell there and again it goes off your domestic plan usage. Grand Cayman is also $10 a day/24 hours. And activating travel pass is just a simple text to a certain Verizon code to activate it or sign up for it and it's free. Then just use your cell in port and you'll see the $2 or $10 travel pass surcharge on your bill next month.

Last year Verizon used to have a international plan that was for cruisers and worked on the cruise ships cell tower and in most ports too. $40 per line per month that was going to use it you where covered for up to 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100 mb of data. Incoming texts were free and unlimited. When we took our cruise last year in April on Splendor we used this and it worked great because our young kids stayed home being watched by grandma and needed to be in contact in case of emergency. but we also were told by the Verizon rep that added our international plan before we left that Verizon is testing wifi calling and texting and if you are connected to a wifi service on the ship and activated wifi calling on your phone you could make phone calls and texts through wifi and it wouldn't count towards the 100 minute/text limit on the international plan. We tried this and it does work, at least it did on Splendor. We never saw the itemized calls or texts that we tested on the ship in our bill. Carnival may have blocked this feature since then but others have said it still works and some have said it does not. Verizon also does not have any cruise ship international calling plan anymore with cellular at see because last summer AT&T/Cellular at sea decided up the lease price by a lot for other carriers to use the tower at a discounted price for their international calling plans and Verizon did not renew their lease with Cellular at sea because they were asking way too much for lease renewal. You can make a call with a Verizon cell on the ships Cellular at Sea tower for $2.99 a minute but why pay an extra dollar when you can use your staterooms phone for $1.99 a minute or like others have said use one of the ships wifi packages and communicate through Facebook messenger or what's app. Voice calling through Facebook messenger does work on even the social media package but it's sketchy to good sometimes and sound is delayed by a couple few seconds. It's tough sometimes to talk to others back home with that voice delay cause your always talking over each other or interrupting each other. But texting and sending pictures through Facebook messenger even on the social plan works pretty good if you have a fairly good wifi signal from the ship.

It seems every year or 2 cell providers and Cellular at Sea change things up, change calling plans and international rates or plans or just give up and add neighboring countries onto the domestic plan for free to try and simplify things or attract customers with better calling plans that include more coverage with added international coverage into the existing domestic plan. So in another year or 2 it will be all different again. Who knows

Wifi is available throughout the ship but if you want to access it and use it you have to purchase one of the 3 wifi packages they offer to use it. Each package level, social, value and premium allows different levels of internet access. Social they limit it to Facebook, twitter, instagram and a few other social websites. Value plan you get basic internet but sites that stream video, music and skype are blocked. Premium you can stream music and video but still no Skype and like sites or apps. If you want to use it you have to pay for it. You may see it as an available wifi connection on your device but if you try to connnect to it you are sent to the ships website and asked to purchase one of the 3 packages. If you don't purchase a package then no wifi for you. You just get rerouted back to the ships website with the wifi packages if you try to go to access any other websites on your device.

This is why I bring my own pop on board plus I drink Pepsi. I dont care coke or coke products. 12 pack of Pepsi will last me all week on a cruise. Free lemonade and free soft vanilla ice cream mixed half and half makes for a great copy cat Chick-fil-a frosted lemonade. these 2 things and some mixed drinks is all i need.

Go here >>> http://www.aarp.org/rewards-for-good/ Sign up for free and start earning points. No membership cost needed.

Seems past few weeks AARP and Verizon have released gift cards more frequently like once a week and there's been a couple times its been twice a week. they just had them a few days ago too.

If I do a review I type it out in MS Word first. Copy and Paste. Dont know if there is a limit to how long a single post can be but I know its a lot longer then your firt post. I've seen single posts on here that where a novel. You are limited to I think 6 pictures per post though? right? anyone confirm? I think that includes emoji's also.

Any pictures of your cruise? Where going on Glory next April for a western cruise.