Calnev1

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I think they can secure the port and let people off for a shot of tequila then back on.

 

Yup, it wouldn't be too hard for the federales to secure the two cruise ship docks if they wanted to.

56 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

We are on the radiance over Labor Day..we already had no intention on getting off at port, lol. (Done it once, gave it another chance, no need to try again)

We actually enjoy Ensenada.  Wine tours to the Guadelupe Valley are very nice, have done them multiple times.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/julietremaine/2018/10/02/valle-de-guadalupe-is-the-napa-valley-of-mexico/?sh=4d835aaa4efe  Now we get off the ship to get massages . . . so much cheaper, and done better, than on the ship.  It would be a shame if the cartels shut down Ensenada. 

28 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Mine is a four day out of SF but I would certainly not be upset if they needed to extend it for unforeseen circumstances.😆  

I will also be on a four day Miracle out of SF departing September 1.   I doubt Carnival can find another Mexican port if Ensenada is a problem.  I know you are joking, but of course there is no way they can extend the cruise without messing with the Alaska cruises that sandwich the short trip to Ensenada.  My guess is that if the cartel violence around Ensenada is bad we will pull into Ensenada and Carnival will simply advise people not to get off the ship.

Radiance and Navigator of the Seas scheduled to stop in Ensenada tomorrow.  Will be interesting.

2 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

FUELUPSUMMER22

Thanks Megan!  Weekly spacing of these codes seems a bit random now . . . .

1 hour ago, Caribbean Chris said:

We’ve also found the staff to be very accommodating on seating requests. Last time, after we arrived (fairly early) the first evening, I showed the manager exactly the table we liked the most in case it was a possibility, and that became our table for the whole cruise. 

That is interesting.  I suppose you had to commit to a particular dining time, or at least a particular time window, right?

29 minutes ago, vicd1969 said:

I was with an 11-person group. One of us met up with the manager on embarkation afternoon to request all of us sitting together for dinner. They graciously accommodated our request, and we were able to sit together each night. Their only ask was to let them know 24 hours ahead if we were eating at another place like Pinnacle grill that night. Of course, breakfast was each person/cabin to themselves since we had different waking up times but we never had to wait for a table. I can't say enough good things about the service we got at Club Orange for our cruise, especially our dedicated waiter Raymond. Hope you will enjoy your dining experience there like we did!

Thanks for the info.  All the responses are making me feel good about our Club Orange situation.

My wife and I are sailing on the Koningsdam in September.  We are traveling with some other relatives in two separate parties with separate booking codes.  All of us have purchased Club Orange.

Do we need to somehow link our two parties together before sailing to ensure that we can all sit together in the Club Orange dining room?  Or do we just show up at the dining room during dinner hours and they will seat us together?   This will be our first time using Club Orange. 

8 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

 

 The card data imprinted on that (physical) card feels safe, as opposed to an e-card floating around on a server somewhere.

I don’t know whether physical cards or ecards are more secure . . . or perhaps equally secure.    I am quite sure, however,  that the card numbers and pins for all Carnival gift cards -- both ecards and physical cards --  are all “floating around on a server somewhere.”  Otherwise, you couldn’t use the gift card remotely, such as to purchase your fare over the internet or by feeding the number and pin to an agent over the phone. 

Of course, personal preference will ultimately determine whether you use egift cards or physical cards.

1 hour ago, abby1257 said:

Hi there, just wondering....I booked  few cruises but honestly can't remember which offer I used for each one....does the offer used show on my booking anywhere?  TIA

Unfortunately, the offer code does not show up on any Carnival booking documentation.  Thus some of the details of your booking (e.g.,  DOU) do not show up on the booking documentation.

2 minutes ago, jemrtt said:

I was able to find our booking on the website just now. Also, I checked the Covid-19 legal notices. There are no updates there, at least not yet. I‘lll check back later. 

Yes, my future bookings are back.  Personalized offers are not yet back though.

Its probably wishful thinking to expect Carnival to react this quickly to CDC changes made only yesterday.

Yup, a website issue.  Can't access future bookings, and all my personalized cruise offers are missing.  Expect they will fix this shortly.

14 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Thanks for you input, but that's not the issue. It's hard plastic gift cards vs. e-gift cards. Which is better.. that is the question. And it appears that "it don't make no difference." 

I used to buy the physical cards, but now I only purchase the ecards.

The ecards seem superior.  For one thing, with the egift card you avoid that annoying shipping charge that Allstate adds to the physical gift cards.   More importantly, you receive and can use the ecards right away.  I think we have all at one point or another wondered “when is that (physical) gift card going to arrive??”  And the fact that you get the ecards within a minute or so of ordering seems to reduce the possibility of fraud.  I think (but may be wrong) that my email is more secure than my snail mail.  Snail mail of course has various handlers at the point of origin and in transit and there is the time in transit and sitting in my physical mailbox.  Even if you think your email might not be secure, the fact that you can (if you want) use the ecards within minutes of ordering them definitely lessens the possibility of someone compromising your ecard.

I really can’t think of any advantages to the physical cards.  I know some folks like being able  to hand the hard plastic card to the staffer at guest services when you use the gift card for onboard credit.  But my experience with the egift cards is that I can just print out the webpage with the card logo, number, and pin, and the clerk behind the guest services counter is perfectly happy with that piece of paper.

Really, are there any advantages these days to purchasing physical gift cards? 

When you get a great deal please post the three digit code.  I get bombarded with Carnival offers, and it is much easier to sort through them if I know what code is associated with the deal.   Thanks.

On 7/1/2022 at 7:43 AM, CruisingFromLA said:

Purchase the test kits through eMed instead (link) for $150 for a pack of 6. Also, you can get partial reimbursement from your health insurance (for up to 8 tests, per insured member, per month, and the reimbursement is up to $12 per test). Therefore, you will get $72 back from your health insurance, making the 6 test kits $78 ($13 each).

Does the $150 cost of a 6 pack also cover the cost of remote monitoring?   Or is the all in cost something more than $25 per test kit?

AARP just changed their limit on the number of Carnival egift cards you can buy each month from five to 25.  A nice change.  Oddly, it seems that the limit of five gift cards per month still applies to all the other gift cards you can buy there (e.g.,  only five Princess gift cards per  month).

3 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Yes, if you sign into your HAL account and go to the booking, then select Cruise Activities > Packages & Gifts > Packages > Packages > scroll down to Unlimited Laundry Package.

Yes.  They do ask you to choose one occupant of the cabin for the laundry package.   But I assume only one occupant actually has to buy the package, but one can then use the service for both occupants?   Don't want to buy this package twice for the cabin if we don't have to.

3 minutes ago, Calnev1 said:

Can  you buy the unlimited laundry service before you embark?   I am having trouble seeing anyway to do this on the HAL website.

Nevermind.  I found it.  You have to go into "cruise activities" and then "packages."

5 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

Yes, the by the bag is great but the prices are actually:

 

Laundry services on Holland America Line cruises. Each ship in the Holland America Line fleet offers a full laundry, pressing and eco-friendly dry cleaning service. You can pay by the item (from $2), by the bag (from $20) or buy an unlimited laundry package for the duration of your cruise (from $7 per day). Laundry is charged at $20 per bag in North America and $30 per bag in Europe.

 

Can  you buy the unlimited laundry service before you embark?   I am having trouble seeing anyway to do this on the HAL website.

6 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

What a buzzkill, man. Every time. 
 

Your pain is my gain!  I am embarking the Miracle tomorrow after  you disembark.  Really enjoyed your photo adventure!

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

It's very, very simple. In the screen shot below, the 1st offer is for 2,the 2nd offer is for 1. How do you know? Because it says it right in the offer headline. 

Damn, you sure know how to make me jealous.  Lol.

4 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

 

All cruise staff are trained for multiple positions on the ship specifically to BE interchangeable. If you watch any of the crew members vlogs on YouTube, it's interesting to see just how many roles some of these folks fill. Casino dealer, server, entertainment staff, excursion host, etc...

This I think is a bit of an exageration.  Yes, you sometimes see crew members doing more than one job on a  ship.   Relatively simple jobs, like muster drill.  But the role of casino dealer, for example, is very specialized to the casino.   The dealers must know how to deal and run multiple different games in the casino.   Carnival does not take servers, entertainments staff, or excursion hosts and make them into Casino dealers.   I spend a fair amount of time in the casino, and I make it a habit to ask the dealers at my table where they are from in their country and where they learned to deal.  I have spoken to dozens of Carnival dealers over the years, and every last one of them learned to deal in a land casino or a land-based dealer school somewhere else before being hired on to a ship.  Not one of them has said, "oh, I was doing something else on the ship and Carnival taught me how to deal."

On 6/21/2022 at 8:42 AM, SmoothFlying said:

I'm not sure but I believe they don't have a Red Frog Pub either but not sure, always wanted to check one out, but I heard they don't serve pub grug anymore, someting about staffing problems. 

 

Mac

I  was on the Miracle last month, and yes, it did have a Red Frog Pub.

READY4SUMMER2022

2k points

22 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

NO, NO, NO. AARP will code these as Charitable, NOT Travel

 

AARP is a Charitable organization so ANY purchases from them will code (to your credit card) as Charitable. Tried doing this with my Costco VISA card several months back (hoping to get 3% cash back) but only got 1% because of how the transaction was coded. In the future - I will use my Citi Double Cash card so at least I get back 2%.

Another 3% cash back option is through the Bank of America Cash Rewards card.  If you set your 3% cash back category to "online purchases" then Carnival GC purchases through both AARP and Allstate will get you 3% cash back for the first $2,500 in purchases each calendar quarter.  The BofA  cash rewards card has  no annual fee and, currently, has a $200 signup bonus.

12 hours ago, Scurvy Seadog said:

I am still getting these as well as Elite and Ultra offers on a regular basis.

 

• Plan Now, Play Later: Free* Balcony Room + $1,000 FunPlay^® credit + Drinks On Us! included everywhere on board the ship

  Book by July 5, 2022

  • Free* Balcony Room. Excludes taxes, fees, port expenses and deposit
  • $1,000 FunPlay^® credit
  • Drinks On Us! included everywhere on board the ship. Terms apply
  • Reserve your cruise with a non-refundable deposit of $200 per room and get $200 to spend on board
  • Available on a wide variety of sailings
  • Rate Code FVB will be automatically applied at checkout

   

   

  From

  $100*

  AVG PER PERSON2 GUEST ROOM

  SHOP NOW
•  

I think that if you typically spend/lose a lot in the Carnival casino, you will continue to get great casino offers just like before COVID times.   For the rest of us who don't drop a lot in the casino, I think the free cabin offers are pretty much gone unless Carnival suffers another big setback.   I am still getting good Australia offers, but even those are not free cabin offers.