JaxsMama

My husband brings a headband flashlight just incase. I always made fun of him but we actually needed it once at an AI when the power went out. 

Never really a sale, just the discount if you buy before vs buying onboard. 

The opposite for me.  I have more days than my husband and do all our bookings. I've noticed the price is cheaper if I use his number. I price checked last week with both our numbers and ended up getting $70 drop only on his number. 

The shrimp is only on burrito side menu.  You have to ask for it in taco side.

Also check prices using the other cabin mates vifp.  I just checked under my husbands and got $70 price drop. 

I would take a bus or cab to Eagle or Palm Beach. IMO Aruba has the most beautiful beaches!  You can walk forever down the beach.  Plenty of beach bars to stop in for food/drinks.  If you get eaten alive by bugs like me I would pack bug spray. I use Cactus Juice. My first time there I had prob 100 bites from some type of sand flea and my husband had not one. 

9 minutes ago, Alaskan Joe said:

...LoL.......You said HOT.....LoL. No seriously, that would be great if you need to get off first thing. As for HOT I doubt that will happening, but its the thought that counts.

Lol. You're right. Prob more like lukewarm.

There is only the room service door hanger for breakfast, but it looks like they are now offering hot breakfast sandwiches on some ships for a fee. 

I would still fly in the day before and choose a hotel that will do a late check out, even if for a fee. If you end up with a really late check in time you could do a day use room at the hotel and then hang out, swim etc.  I've had a flight canceled before tho and drove and barely made the ship so I only do day before. 

1 hour ago, MsSWhite said:

Usually the CD doesn't make or break our cruise--HOWEVER--Simon was awesome!  My (now adult) children commented that they have not enjoyed a CD as much since the cruise with Wee Jimmy back in the day (2007).

Loved Wee Jimmy!

I leave auto grats in place then I tip in cash: porter who take my bags, $1 per round of drinks at the bar, room stew if good service (I've only had one terrible one), server in specialty restaurants (don't do mdr anymore), room service waiter and coffee shop person.  Off the ship I tip taxi driver if we have one and the waiter if we go somewhere to eat or drink, uber driver to/from airport and the shuttle bus driver at the airport. 

I'm pricing trips for a 2020 cruise and I noticed that there is nothing sailing out of Ft Lauderdale in 2020 May - Sept.  Anyone know what's going on?  I'm pretty sure when I started looking a month or so ago this wasn't the case.  Thanks.

Aside from not having as many extra pay food options I really like the Conquest. It was super easy to get a seat at a comedy show or at the piano bar. I also liked other lounges were used for karaoke so you could have that going on at the same time as comedy.  It also has a sports bar which I liked, but no red frog pub so that's a trade off. I also like the alchemy being located by the piano bar instead of in the ocean plaza. I prefer the old set up with a regular bar in ocean plaza. I'm trying the Valor soon bc I enjoyed the Conquest so much.

4 hours ago, Amadawn1 said:

I read somewhere (maybe JH's FB page?) that they also offer the free bottle/or 50% discounted wine of choice on elegant night as well.  Can anyone who's recently sailed and eaten at the steakhouse on elegant night possibly confirm this for me?  We always book the 1st night.  It's always relaxing for us after that exciting, but tiring and chaotic 1st day on board.

Correct, same deal runs the first elegant night. 

20 minutes ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

But the system told them that your drink agreement with Carnival was the Cheers program and that does not allow multi-drink purchases. You cannot choose when you want to pay with Cheers or not. In 20 minutes you could have bought 4 beers - 1 every 5 minutes. Yes they would have counted as 4 drinks on your cheers program. BUT, that is what you signed up fo,

You're right. I should of read the rules more carefully. Next time I'll make sure to say I'm buying a round of drinks for friends since that's allowed.

1 minute ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

You Cheers contract clearly states that you can only buy one drink at a time with an several minutes interval between purchases. A bucket of beer is more than one drink. And I belive you contract states that it cannot be used for buckets of beer. It is important to read the instructions before using whatever the instructions are for.

I wasn't trying to buy it with my cheers, I was trying to pay for it. 

I was on the magic once and wasn't allowed to buy a bucket of beer at any bar bc I had cheers. I was maybe at drink 5 or so and really just wanted a bucket to take into a show.  I chalked it up to maybe miss training on that ship or something. Of course they were happy to sell me a bottle of wine in the steakhouse.  Made no sense. 

23 minutes ago, RhinoMomIL said:

That is what I thought. I believe it specifies you can't have the self-pour wine for sure and the draft(craft) beers cost more so why would they want you to have those instead? I appreciate your quick response.

You can get craft too, just nothing over $20

12 minutes ago, RhinoMomIL said:

Ok we had a confusing conversation with a customer service rep earlier today so I'm hoping someone here can clear it up. My brother is thinking about getting the Cheers package this time (has always just done the buckets of bottled beer) and the rep made it sound like he would only have access to "self serve draft beer". I told him that is just wrong but I wanted to clear it up. It's all bottles except for the craft/IPA beers correct? And people on the Cheers program can drink whichever they prefer? 

 

She was wrong. He can do bottles or draft. Just no buckets of beer or beer tubes etc.  It used to not include self service beer or wine but that may have changed. 

Our trip in January had pj, rock n glow and Caribbean parties. 

30 minutes ago, havanadaydreaming said:

my buddy has Flemings as his favorite steakhouse. lots of local folks say Ruby's but im partial to Morton's.  my wife used to have Ruth's Chris at top of her list until we went there last fathers day, was good not great. 

 

big time steakhouses are not unanimously praised in my herd. 

 

i miss The Waterfront big time, was my fave Rudy joint. 

 

i do agree that Carnival steakhouse might be worth it when the atmosphere is included in value.  i,too, like getting out of MDR a few times per cruise.

 

 

I loved The Waterfront. Got engaged there!  This post is making me hungry.

I read one about the Valor since I'm sailing her soon. Lady pre purchased cheers but apparently didn't have any money or card linked to her s&s.  So when she tried to order drinks going down the Mississippi she didn't have funds for the taxes. She was mad she wasted her money for day one. I wish you could comment back to reviews, couldn't believe she didn't just go to GS and add money instead of not drinking lol.  And I had no clue Carnival would even allow that. 

My kinda couple...cracker barrel chicken n dumplings and Cincinnati Bengals!  Who dey!