Athankfulheart

3 hours ago, hamrag said:

Don't ever count on that happening, ships are now sailing at full capacity! 😉

I never COUNT on anything LOL... Im a cruiser ;) 

1 hour ago, sbcs5390 said:

YC can be very reasonable - and in some cases can net out to less than Aurea when you consider the inclusions and premium YC food - no need for specialties, etc. so "most expensive" not always the case. The real bargain is booking a YC inside - being in the lap of luxury you don't miss the balcony. You can also often upgrade to YC balcony onboard if there's availability for a very reasonable amount. 

Thank you for the tip and that sometimes upgrades might be available reasonably !

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

Yacht Club is the way to go, but reasonable deal....not likely!

Thank you. I was looking at that and I agree that isn't cheap, but the extras are sure tempting.

5 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

 

 

All for me right now.  EM

Thank you so much for the helpful info EM =) 

5 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

 

I would like to take a cruise from the Southeastern US in July. I did the loyalty match, but really need a bit of advice on getting the most out of an MCS cruise starting with booking. I know all there is to know about Carnival and a lot about RC and NCL. I really like the areas that are less peopley so am area like Havana on Carnival would be great if a reasonable deal. Would someone be willing to walk me through this process ? TIA

Tracy 

Will miss the offerings at Ocean Plaza as well as late night eats =( 
The +Plus options at the pizza place were offered pre-pandemic. We enjoyed them on several of our cruises. I believe those were all Dream class ships, so maybe it depended on the ship. They had salads, lasagna and meatball subs after 11pm. 

 
I thought they had a plan for the Princess cruise to disembark. 

I just got off the Breeze. Great sailing. Checked my agent email to find that Carnival has presented a great variety of options to people who are sailing this weekend and beyond through May. If you have an upcoming booking, check your emails.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I sail on the 29th on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary and will be happy to return with any info I feel may be of help to those sailing after me. 

Mistakes happen and this one, while upsetting to your plan, isn't the worst thing that could happen. Others have given you great thoughts on how to overcome some of the challenges. For what it is worth, you CAN fire a TA, and take over your booking,  but I am not sure what the criteria is for doing that ( in other words, does this issue warrant dropping a TA according to the line).  You could insist that your agent call the line themselves and admit his mistake and see what he can do to fix it. I have found the staff on the agent line to be pretty reasonable people. Your agent could easily do a 3 way call, adding you to the call after they reach customer service. If your agent is completely unwilling to do this, then in my opinion, you have grounds to call and drop the agency for not being responsive to a problem. If you don't want to go to the trouble, then your only apparent compromise will be the difference in boarding. I wouldn't grip about someone just because a mistake was made, but I sure would if they were dismissive and unwilling to attempt to fix it.

Best of luck in whatever you decide !

There is a fellow on the Diamond Princess by the name of David Abel. He broadcasts multiple videos each day on YT and FB. He also hosts a group of just the passengers. He is well in tune to the situation and shares info. Watched him earlier today and he says they are still scheduled to debark on the 19th. Japan calls the shots on that and this is the info on their govt website as well.

3 hours ago, WashCoCruisers said:

That's right - I forgot about the manifest submission.

However, I thought that was primarily used for terrorism suspects. 

 

Not entirely the case!  Had a friend of a friend who was ready to embark with her husband, Homeland Security came and arrested him for outstanding warrants in Florida, he spent the cruise time in jail and she had to go ahead and go on the cruise!!! They wouldn't even let her get off the boat!

I don't know how they could justify detaining the wife ?

They explained to us that they choose the schedule after they find out how many people are interested. 

I have downgraded my internet and even completely cancelled it due to lack of performance.

They are the same ounces as a travel sized toiletry. Pack them in your checked luggage with other toiletries. Toiletry and med liquids are permitted in checked baggage so I honestly don't think it will be a problem for you. If you get called to the naughty room, simply plead your case. 

Our first cruise with Carnival was January of 2012. I reach Plat in Feb 2020 but my hubby is 7 days behind me on that. There is a chance we will squeeze a trip into our schedule in December in which case that will be my platinum sailing and hubby's will be in Feb. We have done all 7 night sailings with the exception of one 5 night . We only discovered cruising in 2006 at which time we were 36 and 39 years old. We're trying to make up for lost time. 

I take groups of new cruisers this size and larger. I do all the prep work ahead of time so that they feel well equipped to board by each cabin group. A group page at the website where you can create private groups for chatting, sharing info etc - works very well. 

We usually plan lunch at the pasta bar since it is the least busy on embarkation day and we usually sail the ships that have them. If we plan to meet at 1:30, that gives everyone time to check in, drop off bags and even the stragglers have time to order pasta or grab other things from downstairs. Since you are sailing on the Breeze, that would be my suggestion. If some people want to arrive and check in earlier or even buy FTTF for themselves, the group meet up would still work smoothly regardless. Keeping a large group of cabins together through check in isn't simple and usually isn't necessary.

If you can't imagine doing it any other way, then I would definitely have the whole group choose the latest available check in window. It would be a good idea, in this case, to be sure to feed children and those who might suffer from lunch running very late. I really like prepping people and then having them check in on thier own. Being self sufficient is a great way to start a week long cruise. As much as I LOVE preparing people for thier cruise, once we set sail, it is nice to just relax. Except for having dinner together and hosting one excursion, I appreciate having some time to just enjoy my week . This is important whether you do this for your family, just for fun, or for a living. 

Have fun !!

On 7/4/2019 at 9:35 PM, chloemonkey said:

I have the largest size Kyss bag but wanted to check out your recommendation for the coolbags.  But I am confused as to how they work.  Can you lock these to a stationary object?  Or is it just the bag that locks itself?  As in what is to prevent someone from just taking the whole bag?  Sorry if I missed something....as I find the Kyss bag to be too heavy and want to try another product but DO want one that we can lock to a chair, table, etc....

I have locked my bag to many various things. When we lock to chairs we lock it around two chairs, since one chair isn't that hard to move. The Gen 2 bag is a better iteration than the original bag. I would recommend a Gen 2 cool bag.

On 7/4/2019 at 11:35 PM, brillohead said:

If you watch the video on their website, you can see how the bag can be locked to a chair or something via one handle. 

Not a fan of them supporting chair-hogging on their website, though:

 

Have you ever been to a great beach resort excited to lay out by the pool, only to find the only loungers remaining are quite a long distance from the water?  Not any more!  With CoolBag’s locking handle, you can find your chairs near the pool in the morning, lock them up, and leave for breakfast.  No more worrying about someone moving your bag, taking your bag or taking your chairs!  All will be secure when you return.

 

If it takes you less than the allowable "chair saving" time then I don't see a problem with it. Personally, I have no desire to sit by the pool. 

 

 

 

17 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

Don't worry! You still have two more! No one will take the cabin that fast! Take your time!

Go back in and follow through to the checkout screen and put a 24hr hold on the cabin. When you decide, call Carnival and tell them the cabin you held. If you do nothing, it will just drop in 24hrs. 

We enjoyed the Chef's Table on the valor last month. In all our cruises, we just hadn't made time for it before then. We were the second Chef's Table of that sailing and we met at 5:45 on a port day. There seemed to be much delay with our particular event. We were delayed in starting and at other times which resulted in and ending time closer to 9:30. That didn't bother any of us much because everything else was fabulous. There were 16 of us and it was held in a small private  room at the rear of the mid-ship dining room. The room was of adequate size for the event. The only "door" was a curtain so that allowed some noise in from the MDR which was a little annoying. The addition of a real door here would make it a very nice little venue for this event. This was especially problematic when the wait staff would sing happy birthday to various cruisers, which happened a few times during our meal. 

I arrived prepared to NOT eat everything on my plate and to save room for dessert. I found that the portions must have been reduced from previous reviews and it wasn't as necessary to "save room". There was one soup which I did not finish (mostly because I was a little warm) and then in the last couple of courses I ate less just being cautious, but I would say that the portion sizes went well with the number of courses. Dessert was inventive but not as delicious as I was expecting. 

If you cannot change your flights,  there are two things you can do to improve your time from plane to ship. 
You could improve your time through the airport by traveling with carry on luggage only.

You can avoid the taxi line by booking a reputable car service pickup ahead of time and then calling them to check in as soon as your plane lands ( if not sooner using the planes wifi). 

I book almost all early saver for myself and clients. Moving laterally (same cat) to another cabin has never cost extra. The only time I have incurred cost was for an upgrade which is charged at current pricing. If you want to downgrade you will need to cancel and rebook, which winds up in a loss of 50pp with the balance of deposit credited to the new booking. You may have to add funds depending upon the deposit required by the current promos. 

I've been on a couple of sailings now where the FTTF did not sell out. I noticed the lull in it selling upon the previous price increase. I am sure it still sells out in many cases, but things have definitely changed. 

We used VRBO for our San Juan nights.