mgasaway

Thank you for all the great information.   We are planning on travelling QM2 from London to New York next year as our return to the US rather than flying. Right now it's cheaper to cruise each way than fly!  After a month of travelling, seven days at sea will be wonderful!   With travelling Europe for 4 weeks, mainly by train, the less luggage the better and the most formal thing we will even have with us are leggings and a few nice tops for me and black jeans and a collared shirt for him.  We have no problem eating in the buffet every night,

I have $1600 OBC for my cruise in Oct.  $1000 was a casino offer and $600 from a cancelled cruise.  I also have the OBC of $1000 on 3 other cruises I have booked next year (my offer was good for up to 8 cruises).  If I can't turn that into chips or my SS bank in the casino and (hopefully)have some some left to) cash out at the end of the cruise it will be the very last time Carnival ever gets a dime of the $$$$ I spend in their casinos.

Usually two.  An when possible they are usually fall on sea days (but not always).

Definitely go with a private tour.  We saw so many things that were not included in the large ships tour.  We used SPB Tours and they were great.  There are so many local small tour companies that get rave reviews it was hard to pick which one to go with.  The small 16-20 passanger buses were much more personal and you could ask as many questions as you wanted.

That was the dumbest thing I've read recently.  Those are the rules on just about ALL cruise ships. SMH.

Following....I'm doing the same cruise Nov 30th.  3rd time on the Elation. Been to Grand Turks 4 times and Amber Cove once.   Driving down from Illinois.  Will be on the road Thanksgiving Day so a Waffle House Thanksgiving dinner - lol.  Enjoy!  Looking forward to the rest of your review.

2 hours ago, Ak4n3 said:

 

Alaska is really beautiful.  Thanks for sharing the before pic.  Now I'm sad.

 

If you're going anytime soon at Mendenhall, please take another pic.  I want to see if there is any difference from my trip.

I leave this Sunday and we are in port on Wednesday.  I'll make sure to get a 10/3/2019 pic.

Love the review!  I leave for my second trip to Alaska on Sunday - last cruise of the season on NCL Jewel.  So sad to see how far Mendenhall Glacier has retreated.  Attached is what it looked like last time I visited.

Had this happen a few times.  Last time was on the Triumph right before she went to dry dock.  That was the last cruise I went where I didn't use the twin configuration. 

I almost always carry my own on.  I purposely choose a check-in time of 1:30.  No lines and straight on and to my cabin.  I also pack very light - one rolling bag and one carryon type bag.  My laptop bag works great as a carryon for meds, Kindle, passport, wallet, phone , charger etc.   I carry my own off at the end of the cruise too.

I almost always carry my own on board and off.  I pack very light and I seldom arrive before a 1:30 check-in so the cabin is always ready.  Some of the gangways onto the ship can be a bit steep, so if you have major mobility issues I wouldn't do it. 

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 9:51 AM, dcruiser50 said:

 

Lower than balcony and GTY. Sail away, = steerage 

 

Hey!  I booked a GTY Sailaway for my upcoming Alaska cruise and got assigned a deck 8 Oceanview near O'Sheans.  Give me 'steerage' any day!

Well this is Cruise CRITIC.    Seriously, some people like to complain.  And like any consumer product the good is always buried under the bad, or what someone thinks is bad.  Remember - to some having the room steward forget to bring them ice ruins the whole cruise.   I've been on many cruises with many lines and where some were better then others I've never been on a bad cruise - even one that skirted a hurricane for 4 out of the 5 days!  Sure, I've had complaints.  If it's a bad enough complaint I take it to guest services to get it rectified.  Other complaints are just annoyances and I live with it. The good far outweighs the bad.  Go on your cruise.  Have a fantastic time.  And forget about the complainers and draw your own opinion.

I wear black slacks, a nice top and sandals or black flats.   Absolutely no interest in dressing to the nines and lugging formal attire with me on vacation.

Loved Hawaii!.  Did POA years ago.  Flew in 2 days before and stayed a day after.  Rented a car for both the before and after trips and rented a car on all  ports except Kona.  Really liked the extended overnights on a few of the islands.  We fell in love with Kuai and went back two more times for land vacations.

20 hours ago, klfrodo said:

and Caribbean Stud

When did they bring that back?  Haven't seen that on a ship in many years.  They do have Ultimate Texas Holdem (I'm playing in the Tournment in May), but I don't even see Carribean Stud at land casinos anymore either.

Nice top, black slacks and sandals is as 'formal' as this old gal gets anymore.  Actually, that's what I wear just about every night that I eat in the MDR. Did the formal thing the first few cruises and then stopped lugging all that extras stuff with us.  We didn't enjoy it and sure didn't want to pay extra baggage fees for it.  Never cared for the overpriced pictures. 

I can't wait to do a B2B but 2 weeks off in a row isn't an option.  Hate it when work gets in the way of a cruise! As my retirement gift to me in a few years I'm thinking a B2B2B2B - West coast B2B then repositioning thru the Panama canal to East coast and doing the first east coast sailing.  If I was to do it next year (don't I wish) it would be 42 days on the ship.

Make sure you both have the WhatsApp app.  WhatsApp works with the social plan. 

I sure wish I could figure out how these offers come out.  I've cruised 3 times in the past year (14 total cruises lifetime) and always spend $$$$ in the casino.  I'm a table player so no idea on the proverbial 'points' as table players don't get points.  I do manage to get about 2300 slot points per cruise just by taking a break from the tables.  Usually get DOU the first day. Even got the $1000 cookies last cruise.  Just got off a cruise and didn't even get a Bounce Back (or whatever they are calling it now) much less any offers.   My DIL who cruised once and put a grand total of $20 in a single slot gets offers!    Love Carnival but about ready to jump ship to NCL or RCCL. 

try casino@carnival.com

oceanplayersclub.com  usually works.  They are slow to reply.  Just waited 10 days for an answer from them

I did Alaska with an inside cabin.  I'm more of a panoramic-up-front person,  I want the WHOLE view heading right into it. Didn't miss a balcony one bit.  And those Alaska excursion can be pricy.  Best use of my $$$  was not a balcony.

9 minutes ago, Tiger0613 said:

Who would have to clean up after the yaks?

The chair hogs. 

9 hours ago, Markmom18 said:

And what is the current price of energy drinks (ounces??) and club soda WITHOUT the CHEERS Pkg?

Don't know the price of energy drinks - never drink them but club soda was $2.95 plus gratuity.  Pre-order a 6 pack of club soda (or any soda) in advance to be delivered to the cabin and it's 6 for $10 ($1.66).  I always pre order a 6 pk of Coke Zero and a 6 pk of club soda but ended up ordering a club soda from one of the pool servers because I was too lazy to go back to my cabin and get a can - lol.