Midwifelife7

34 minutes ago, mattg43 said:

If you are only going to use it for cruises, it's not bad.  2% I think goes to OBC with some new customer perks.

 

If you want it for an every day card, it's not good, only 1%.

 

If you don't pay it off in full every month (outside of 0% promotions), no benefit program will make up for the interest charges.

 

Not sure why people don't use credit cards.  It's free money and safer than a debit card.  Everything outside of my mortgage and car loans go on a credit card.  Pay it off every month and pocket, in my case, 1.5% in free money on every dollar I spend.

So which credit card do you use and prefer? (with the most perks)

We don't use credit cards, but I was thinking of getting one to book our cruise.  I see that RC offers one, but I don't know when we will cruise again outside of this one that we are booking soon so I'm not sure if that would be worth getting a RC card for just one cruise, but it may be......

I'm not familiar with travel credit cards/perks. Do you have a suggestion?  

On 12/19/2022 at 3:58 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we don't snorkel in Bonaire at all. But we LUUUUURVE Bonaire - Sorobon beach to be exact. It's a paradise. Our 11 yo loves it as well, and he was 5 when he tried it out first. ABC islands is our absolute favorite itinerary. We've just done it twice - RCI in June and Princess in November.

 

Sorobon Beach, Lac Bay, Bonaire:

 

 

 

But you, @Midwifelife7, will need to remember that your 2 yo will not need a car seat on Cococay. Cococay does not need to be expensive. We don't spend a cent there ever.

 

You may need to bring something like an Evenflo Tribute or Maestro for the 2 yo to use in taxis in other locations. If the kiddo is small, you could get away with a Cosco Scenera NEXT (rear facing only).

 

 

Other than that, I'd pick ABC itinerary hands down.

 

oh wow, i never even thought about carseat.  How on earth do you transport that easily???? 

16 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

what time of the year are you looking to cruise?

July

8 minutes ago, death_star said:

It will be in the app like the below from the current cruise. Looks like they're following a similar schedule to ours. 

oh wow, yes this is perfect!!

25 minutes ago, death_star said:

They used the teen club for a couple hours on a couple of days of our 5 night Bermuda cruise. They put down some of those folding gym mats then some toys for various ages. Some little things they could climb on, some building kind of things. Some cars. Stuff like that.

 

Our little one had a great time there and it really was a nice break. Was also great to chat with other parents to compare notes and trade tips and tricks. Too bad they didn't put an actual nursery on this ship.

 

Who would I contact to see if they are doing it, where it would be, hours etc....?  

Actually, I was completely wrong about the itinerary.  

Option 1:  RC-Adventure of the seas

St. Croix,

Tortola, VBI

Perfect day

Option 2:  Carnival Celebration

Aruba

Bonaire

Curacao

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Well that changes things if they're different lines.  I mean it's Carnival, but it's a nice new ship.

I'm completely ignorant about the two different cruise lines.  So, I would appreciate any insight! 

9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It's close to a tie, with ABC slightly favored.  So what's your next deciding factor, ship or cost?

ABC island itinerary is carnival celebration

Virgin islands/perfect day itinerary is RC adventure of the seas 

33 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I personally love the ABC's.    What does your family like to do?    What time of year are you looking to book?    If going in the winter months, it would be better to go to the ABC's for warmer weather and warmer water temps.    Many beautiful beaches at the ABC's and lots of good snorkeling at Bonaire and Curacao. 

Perfect Day at CocoCay could be very expensive if your children want to do the water park, which they most likely will want to as soon as they see it.    

 

we love to snorkel and we are going in July! 

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

Which ship?

adventure of the seas for virgin islands itinerary and carnival celebration for abc islands 

Which would you pick and why? 

Cruising with spouse and kids 19,14,13,12,11 and 2 

I know the children's programs begin at 3. I'm not really interested in a children's program anyway, but I was wondering if we would have access to play in a toddler friendly area with our 2 year old? 

Beach/snorkeling, off the beaten path stuff.  But I know incorporating a toddler into it can be challenging! 

We will be in Curacao in 2022 (I know its a long way away).  We are a family of 8 and our kids will be 18, 13, 12, 11, 10 and 14 months old.  What do you suggest that would hopefully entertain everyone but not super expensive?

Thanks

On 5/12/2020 at 10:28 PM, TTEllis said:

I'm sure it's happened before, after 25 years of cruising, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to what other cruisers are willing to do. With that being said Thank God I've never known anyone who brought their own beach chairs on a cruise, that's a new one. Good luck though with bringing your's and hauling it all over the Caribbean, please let us all know how that works out for you. Thanks Todd

We tend to gravitate towards the "off the beaten path" locations.  In the past, rentable chairs weren't where I wanted them to be and I have often wished that I brought my own chair.  Fortunately, my backpack chair is lightweight and I've carried it for miles in the past.  I wasn't asking whether it would be difficult to "haul" all over the Caribbean.  I was asking whether a chair is permitted to bring onboard.  I am not planning to use it on the cruise ship, just on the beach somewhere.  Thank you for your help.....

Will there be plenty of options available to choose from or will all the good ones be full?  We have $1400 OBC at this time, and a family of 7, so I would really like to use that for a nice excursion that we would not normally get to purchase.  I am looking at a dolphin experience in amber cove/dominican republic that is roughtly $135 ish a piece....for our family that is a lot and we wouldn't ordinarily do that.  It would be great to use OBC to purchase it, but I didn't know if there would be much available if I wait until we board the ship.  

3 minutes ago, ray98 said:

 

Yup.  There is no way to shut this society down.  You can decide to become a hermit if you want while you proudly tout on Facebook how you are so responsible that you got your groceries delivered like it deserves some sort of medal.  Reality is the countless people keeping the supply chain flowing, the internet and phones on, the electricity on, keeping the shelves stocked, delivering fuel so the trucks keep rolling, those keeping our health care system afloat, all the first responders maintaining law and order are still going about their day like they did in December are the ones making that possible.  Those people don't share the same inconsolable fear some do...their daily life has changed very little and many are ready to move forward even as the doomsayers who are able to sit at home due to their sacrifice critique it.

I'm in the minority here, but I think there is a very real possibility that cruising will begin on June 27th.  Granted, I don't know what types of changes will be involved, or if people will want to be on that first ship, but I do think there is a good chance it will sail.  

24 minutes ago, seaman11 said:

my guess is a portion of the cabins are already preblocked. (unbookable)

The reason I don't feel this is true, is because I booked this cruise before the May cruises were cancelled and I was told at that time that the ship was almost full.  We were looking for connecting rooms (5 and 2) and we couldn't find that and ended up settling on something else, and he specifically said "This ship is really almost full."  Since then, I've talked to a couple other people at Carnival (when calling about price drops etc..) and it was mentioned that it was almost at capacity.   Of course that was WAY before there was any talk about reduction in capacity. 

1 hour ago, ray98 said:

At some point society will also have to address the elephant in the room.  People who want to stay at home can only do so because we have deemed many others 'essential' down to the teenage stock boy at the grocery store.  The 'essentials' have had little change in their daily lives since this started.  They get up and go to work every day making sure the services and supplies are available for those who believe they need to hole up with no contact with the outside world.....they demand all this as they sit on Facebook and complain about all the people who are 'out there'.

 

For example.....we visited a local restaurant here that opened back up.  They did it by the book.....probably 1/4 capacity....number of people in the building tightly controlled....tables spread probably 12ft apart and all parties were in small groups.  It just happened to make our community Facebook page with the usuals popping up with the "OMG they are going to die" from their basement bunker.  I could only laugh at their little outrage.....I have went to work every day since this started like normal because that is what my job requires.  I am out in 'the world' daily doing a job that enables you to sit at home and complain.  If those safety measures are good enough for me to be forced to work so you can sit safely at home then it is good enough for me to grab a bite to eat.  

Completely agree. I'm in the medical field so my "normal" hasn't changed very much, but honestly I can't tell much of a difference anywhere.  Stores have been packed the whole time.  The other night I was driving to the hospital at 2:40 AM and there was a line wrapped all around the building for the Drive-thru at Cook Out.....

1 hour ago, ray98 said:

 

Society won't survive the amount of time it is required to find a vaccine.  If we destroy our industry, food chain and supply chain we will end up crippled much worse than any virus can do.

Not only is it not realistic to "wait" on a vaccine, it is also unrealistic to require people to take a vaccine in order to cruise.  

17 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

They probably are marking every other cabin as 'sold' to ensure they sail at 50% capacity and to make sure people don't book cabins next to each other- which will make the ship look full when it really isn't.

I don't believe that is the case here, because when I booked the cruise, it was already pretty full. We had to settle on cabins.  The person I spoke with from carnival commented that the ship was pretty full.  

How would that work?  I was looking to see if my cruise (june 28th, magic, miami) had many cabins open, and it didn't look like there are many out there.  It looks like the ship is pretty full.  So, how would they go about sailing at 50% or 75% capacity if they are already booked beyond that?  

We are scheduled for June 28th out of Miami.  I feel sure it will be cancelled, but if not....we will be there. 

On 4/19/2020 at 9:09 PM, jperry2011 said:

I dont think you can pre book excursions with OBC.. you can only book them once your on the ship if your using OBC.

You are correct. I finally got through and got some answers about it.  Thinking about cashing out in the casino.  I love how i'm talking about it, like this cruise is actually going to happen lol