Eli_6

Full supportive of traveling with babies, but please don't put baby in pool or anywhere where the water can be re-circulated even if in a swim diaper. I see people doing that it and it is a good way to cause the spread of noro.

I always head the rule was if you were staying in the same room with them (i.e. my gold Mom could board if in the same room with me as a platinum) or if they were under 18 because I think children have to board with parents.

Do a Carnival excursion in every port and do a night at the Chef's Table x 2 people? Or Get the Cheers package x 2 people? Edit: I am staying in the Havana area. The good Vista-class Havana area. Not the Jubilee/Mardi Gras Havana. My question is should I get Cheers or do chef's table plus Carnival excursions? Both about the same price. Don't want to spend $1600 though. We have been to all the ports before. Many times. But CCL does have some new fun looking excursions we haven't done.

Just sold some RCL for $105 that I bought for $30.

FWIW, I researched the refund issue during the shut down and there is a legal requirement for a company to provide a refund that they admit that they owe within a given time frame. It depends on where you live, but it was somewhere between 30-90 days. However, the pandemic was a totally unprecedented situation and I doubt any court would have held a company to the normal rule in that situation. That's probably why you haven't seen any class actions arising out of Carnival holding on to money for a couple of months. With that said, I myself have had trouble getting refunds from Carnival unrelated to the pandemic so I feel the OP's pain. BUT I did eventually get the refunds both times after spending an absurd amount of time on the phone. I strongly suspect that if OP was willing to pay the $250 and explain what happened, they would probably be able to sail again. I can't fathom a company as deeply in debt as Carnival is going to turn away money unless they think that there is a risk of genuine fraud--i.e. that people will sail with them, run up huge charges on board and then "dispute" those charges and get them taken off. If you think about, someone could charge a bunch on their S&S card to a machine in the casino, cash out in the casino, and then "dispute" it for fraud and potentially steal well more than just drinks. Or buy tens of thousands of dollars in Effy or used Rolexes on board and then dispute the charges.

I agree with the others. You should have waited for Carnival to issue the refund to you for your canceled cruise rather than doing a charge back. That is the reason you are on the no sail list. *IF* you want to sail with Carnival again, I would imagine that if you paid the $250, they would probably allow you to sail again. I don't know this for sure, though. If you don't want to sail with Carnival again, it would seem that they refunded your current cruise so I would just take that money and move on.

I cruised in 1994. Then didn't cruise again until 2007. Then, I didn't cruise again until 2017...and I have been on at least one cruise every year since then including 2020--got in right before the shut down. Been on Vista 3 times Breeze 3 times Pride twice

I don't think so.

I have been hearing the Vista is slow.

I would love a South American cruise. Have not been there at all.

I saw that cruise and thought it looked amazing. My only reservation was if it was too much like what we just did last summer since we just did the Alaskan cruise. And it being 2 weeks.

And we did the locks in Holland/Amsterdam. I know Panama Canal is supposed to be better, but I have to admit that going to Panama to catch big fish would probably appeal more to my kids than the crossing. They didn't even come out on deck in Amsterdam...probably a good thing because we got mooned by people on the shore. 😂

One cruise only.

That is an option because we have more leeway with them being in private school...still, I hate to have them miss like 2 weeks.

So, I still have a $5400 FCC that has been lingering out there. My final deadline is August 2024 to spend it or lose it. I have to have my older son and I on the booking because that is who was on the original booking...so no romantic get aways. I had planned to do another Europe cruise (BCN to BCN touring Italy May 30 to June 7) but every one in my household is poo-pooing it EXCEPT me. I even have it deposited. I thought our Europe cruise this year was one of the best we have ever been on. Stark contrast to last year on Pride. Hubs reason: Don't like the long flights to Europe and don't want to have to be away from my medical practice for that long because it is too much money lost. (He looses about 8k-10k a week for every week he is gone. No, he doesn't make that much profit but that is basically because he still has to cover overhead of all his employees and doesn't have any money coming in. So, being gone three weeks like we were this year is a big hit financially.) My kids say they are "over" me dragging them to every historical site in Europe. Legitimately, I get that a 9 and 10 year old (who will be 10 and 11 next year) probably aren't as excited about history as their 42 yo Mom who literally studied medieval history at the graduate level and loves reading historical fiction. They do love cruising, though. Their favorite ever cruise was to Alaska. (Younger son is a huge fisherman...lots of trophies.) But when I search anything from the US, there just seems to be same old, same old that we have done over and over again. My husband suggested that we do an 8 day Bahamas from Galveston. (Can you tell he prefers not to fly and just wants to drive to Galveston for every.single.cruise?) However, that just seems like a waste of the money because I don't think there is a room on the ship that costs that much. And the fine print says you can't use part of it as OBC. It is spend on room or lose it. Plus, I have cruised out of Galveston so many times that I am frankly tired of it. The people who sell wares in Cozumel near the dock area actually remember us now. I even thought about doing a week on the Jubilee and getting one of those super cool aft wrap balconies with the hot tub like we did on the MG....but they aren't 6k like they were a couple of years ago. Now they are now 11k-12k!!!! I don't really want to spend 6k over my $5400. Also looked at Greenland, but it is two weeks and lots of sea days. Doesn't seem worth it. We did Alaska last year so I hate to do that again...although, it was one of our favorite cruises. Hawaii is always during school year as are a lot of the panama canal cruises. Same with Canada/New England--during school year. And I don't want to go on any cruise that is going to have a bunch of marijuana smoking and people acting like fools. Drinking and having fun is great. I can NOT stand the smell of any smoke--especially marijuana smoke. Any other ideas?

Yes. And we are platinum.

We are finally back home! So glad to be back home even though the cruise was awesome! 1000 times better than last year. It was exhausting, though. An AMAZING vacation but definitely not a relaxing one with so many port days. We carried off and were off before 6 am. Went to Cambridge then came back to London for 2 days. It was hot in London and even hotter in Houston.

Internet is terrible where I am. Debark super smooth. We were at dover priory train station by 6:10 am. In Cambridge by 9:30 am.

Above and below are pics of my kids feeding the pigeons in Amsterdam

We bought Edam and Gouda so looks like it is OK so long as we don't open it.

We also saw how they make wooden shoes:

Windmill at the village the excursion stopped at.

Hoping to see them on the way out, but it might be dark. Also, may not be able to stay awake that long. I don't know why, but I got really motion sick last night (ship was moving but nothing crazy) and put on a scopolomine patch and have been super sleepy ever since. I even fell asleep on our tour bus and my husband and kids said I was snoring. We went into town this morning and walked around Amsterdam. At 2, we left on an excursion to an old-timey village with windmills. It was cool. Then we went to a cheese making place and got to sample the cheeses. I literally purchased about 100 euros of cheese. Hope customs doesn't take it. Not sure what the rule is on cheese.