AlixPaige

Shameless plug for our cruise video I just finished editing last night!I had such a fun time making and editing it. I'm a videographer but refused to bring my business camera on vacation. Instead, the majority of this video was filmed with my iPhone 7plus with some clips here and there with our GoPro and DJI Osmo+.

For anyone wondering, the song is Ready for the Summer by Mike Mains and was obtained through musicbed.com.

Here is the link:

I'm a videographer (when I get hired for a job). Simply using any music for any video you intend to share online is illegal, whether you are being a paid as a professional or if you are sharing a personal video. You must obtain the music license that gives you the sync rights. Yes, this costs money.

One of my favorite resources for music for any kind of video is musicbed.com. I use that website for just about any type of video I do. A typical license will run you $50. We just came back from a cruise and I have selected a song from that website to use in the video we made. I took way more video than pictures so to me, being able to find a high quality song and use it guilt free is well worth the $50. Musicbed,com has an awesome selection!

On another note, there have been wedding videographers that have been sued by record labels for not legally obtaining music licenses. I know for the average joe the chances of being sued are quite slim but you open yourself up to the possibility whether knowingly or ignorantly.

Awesome! Good to know. We may still decide to hand it over to porter but just want to keep our option open.

Our cruise is this coming Monday. Woo! I searched to see if if this has been asked before and only found threads from 2006. Its been quite awhile since then so I figured it would be safe to ask.

We will be on Carnival Inspiration out of Long Beach. We only have 1 carry on and 1 checked bag. It really isn't a huge imposition to us to bring our checked bag on board with us when we board. Our bag has the 360 degree wheels so pushing it is a breeze. Is there a way we request to bring on our own bag?

I am well aware that is what the porters are for but we'd like to bring our own bag on board. We have FTTF so we'd get it fast anyway but having it in our room with us as soon as we arrive to our cabin would make unpacking much easier and faster.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone! Good to know the Guest Services desk is equipped to handle this! We'll just pull out 20s and then have guest services break them down as needed. :D

Since you asked. . .

 

If I were breaking $100 into smaller bills for a 19 day cruise, I would do $70 in fives and $30 in ones. If you are doing $100 each, then I would suggest $170 in fives and $30 in ones.

 

You would probably run out of fives more often than anything, so this helps avoid having to stop somewhere to make change. If you need $10 or $15, well you can make it up with fives. If you don't use them, then bring them home -- easy peasy.

 

No special formula - just a seat of the pants.

A 19 day cruise sounds pretty great! That's how long we have until we leave for the cruise. It's a 4 day cruise. A real short one, haha.

We are super conservative spenders when on vacation. We don't drink so no alcohol or bartender tips and we've already got our excursions paid for. We plan to shop when our excursions take us to the shopping areas but doubt we'll each spend over $30. We're doing the Catalina Island and Ensenada cruise aboard Carnival Inspiration. We have no cruise experience so we decided on a smaller ship to understand how cruising works. I'd love to go on RC Harmony of the Seas next year though.

We fly out for our cruise in 19 days. I've heard it's a good idea to bring cash. I was thinking $100 with me and $100 with him. We've prepaid our gratuities but may still do some extra tipping. What is the best way to break up the bills? How many 1s, 10s, 20s, do you generally decide to go with? We also want to use the cash to do some conservative port shopping.

We bank with USAA and that is in Texas so the only way that I know of that we can get cash is to ask for cash back when in the grocery check out or the ATM. The ATM will only give us 20s (unless this has changed in the past 6 years, haven't used an ATM since I was in college) and I don't want to take all the cash away from the cashier.

What do you suggest?

20 days until embarkation! I AM GOING INSANE. This is our first cruise. We booked it way early, when we had 584 days or some number close to that. So glad we aren't back at that number.