notscb

5 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

BATHROOM

EXACTLY. 3 people in a cabin, maybe. 3 people to one (very small) bathroom- absolutely not. I truly don't know how people with kids and families do it, their cabins always seem so cramped.

5 hours ago, Drew B 58 said:

Does your friend have another friend that wants to come along?

Our friend has a partner who is, um, the textbook definition of an introvert. I'm sure he'd find a way to have a  good time, but even the thought of coming probably is a non-starter. We're trying to think of another friend who might want to come and split the room if we can't avoid the solo supplement.

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Have you checked actual suite pricing for your sailing?

So far, it's about a wash between upgrading to the suite and just having the extra person get an interior room with the solo surcharge Carnival is pushing. The original rate of the cruise for an interior is listed at something in the mid $500's/per person. When you change it to 1 person, it doubles. That's why I had wondered about a two bedroom suite if that was a thing onboard.

I'm really just looking to try to save a friend some money, and admit that I'm not really keen on the idea to have them join us in our room.

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

but for certain, Dream does not.

That's super helpful! It wasn't totally clear looking at the room types on Carnivals website, and I know some cruise lines do have two bedroom suites on their ships.

We're currently in a cove balcony for a 6 night cruise. In my experience, when there's a balcony available, I tend to spend more time in my room that if I were in another category (oceanview or interior). I think my concern is by adding one more person to the room it'd be just extra cramped and not as comfortable.

I've been looking around and trying to figure out something about the Carnival Dream's staterooms-

We're booked on a cruise on the Dream in December and have a friend who is saying they'd like to join us. I'd rather not have them join us in our cabin as the cabins are already a bit tight with even two people, so I wondered:

Does anyone know if any of the suites onboard have two rooms? On the ships page on cruise critic it says there are some single inside cabins but I couldn't figure out how many.

Carnival is charging full fare for a solo traveler at the moment, so I'm hoping y'all might have some creative suggestions on how to include this person on our vacation without breaking the bank.

8 hours ago, hyster said:

is the dinning package worth it?

If you're happy with included, then it's probably not. Remember that if you want to try a specific restaurant or dining option you can do so and just pay for it as you go (like with drinks, too).

11 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

YUP

Where do i get this 🤔

I wanted to share my experience trying to use an e-gift card to make a partial payment on my cruise for December.

I initially purchased a Carnival gift card to take advantage of the $40 statement credit Chase offer that was expiring today. When purchasing the e-gift card, I received an email to claim and open it which took me to a page with the gift card number and PIN. When I went to Carnival's site and logged in to make the payment, the gift card number was coming up as "invalid."

I put in a call to Carnival (<10 second wait) to see if they could help and the CSR told me that there were too many numbers. Long story short, if you get an e-gift card that starts with "000," you need to drop the "000" when entering the gift card on Carnival's site. Also, since I was enrolled in auto-pay (3 payments), I couldn't make a partial payment and the CSR had to do it on their end as the website was asking me to make the rest of the payment with a credit card.

Just wanted to let others know in case you've got a gift card and are trying to use it on Carnival's website!

44 minutes ago, Magicat said:

  Instead of trying to figure out how to work on the ship, how about just enjoying vacation away from work?

You know, some of us work part of our time from home and part in the office. If I can flex my schedule to put the from home days at the end of the week and reliably work from a ship, I'd take that opportunity any day.

On 8/22/2022 at 7:43 PM, Matthew236 said:

Looking for a quieter adventure (I.e. no kids running around) but with lots of fun things to do. We love food, drinks, casinos, spas, entertainment/shows and just lounging.

I think based on your desire for a balanced itinerary with interesting ports to relaxing/quiet days onboard with some entertainment, I'd personally choose Celebrity. While Celebrity doesn't have as many activities onboard as RCL or Carnival, they do offer some really neat shows in their theater and their new ships are such a unique experience. I may be biased in that I think San Juan is a port that's worth stopping at no matter what itinerary, and is way more interesting than other Caribbean ports that are mainly just beaches as their main attraction.

My impression of Princess and HAL is that those lines are really designed for more relaxed cruisers and folks who are happy to just be left alone vs doing onboard activities.

On 8/23/2022 at 6:12 PM, clskinsfan said:

You could get someone from the entertainment staff to help you if you want to do it on a stage.

If you go public, please remember to have the conversation about the proposal in general before doing it so publicly 😬 I feel like proposals should never be a true surprise.

1 hour ago, Scotico said:

I heard about a RCCL ship testing starlink satellites for internet. 

That ship is Freedom of the Seas and I'm not sure if they're still piloting it, but based on some recent youtube cruise reviewers it seems like they are. As long as there aren't any individual parts of the system that would get flagged  by security on your way onboard, I don't see why you couldn't hypothetically try it?

47 minutes ago, George C said:

No

I have to disagree. Cruise Critic even did a write up (https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2974) I think any cruise would be boring without a person making sure that events were scheduled across the venues of the ships and that the appropriate staffing was assigned and prepared to host the activity. I think most folks only see the cruise director at the shows in the evening and think they don't do anything all day, when in reality these folks are in charge of a vast number of staff and events throughout the day.

@Elaine5715 is absolutely correct. VeriFly is 100% unnecesary and only really saves a handful of seconds. Bring your paper copies and make sure everyone has their paper copies- even if it means calling your local health department to get a new copy of a vaccine card or something- and just have them in hand and ready to show. Super easy and cuts out an unnecessary app that might not even load at the terminal (in MIA, for example, the 4g and 5g service are notoriously awful at the terminal)

@Cyndi874 it looked like the folks who wanted just sushi were being sat at the sushi bar itself (which is a really neat experience IMHO). I don't remember seeing any tables that weren't surrounded by a hibachi station, but I could be remembering wrong.

1 hour ago, baelor said:

hassling the employee managing the line about how the wait was unacceptable and they needed more machines, and then challenged the employee when he acknowledged the complaint,

It's weird how many folks go on vacation to be so upset at every turn. Any day standing in line on a cruise ship is still better than on land, IMHO.

3 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Butter hides the taste anyway

The first time I had lobster was on a Carnival ship back in the early 2000's, and they had a garlic butter that was just the right warm temp and enhanced the flavor of the lobster. Thing is, if the actual protein is overcooked in the first place, nothing is really going to help.

I think this question also depends on whether or not you're cruising during a large school holiday (which I know is difficult to gauge at some points). I frequent aviation and travel threads other than this board and have seen massive lines for TSA at MCO, even if you have pre-check. I would agree that an afternoon flight would be a safe bet, and gives you time in the morning to get breakfast and off the ship at a more leisurely pace.

FWIW, if you had asked about MIA from their port, that'd be a different story entirely (even if you were flying out of FLL instead).

2 hours ago, HD2003 said:

do you feel it was worth the extra $$

Honestly...

I had a $30 room credit left at the end of my time on Freedom so I figured why not get the lobster? I was...disappointed. It came out and tasted overcooked. The butter they put alongside wasn't anything special and didn't enhance any of the flavor or taste. I was disappointed (but of course still ate the entire thing because lobster).

28 minutes ago, jp2746 said:

The rolls were not that great, but the Poke Bowl was amazing!

That's interesting, I participated in the Sushi & Sake Lunch and I thought it was incredible. The pairings and the fact that we had the entire restaurant to our small group of about 20 people who signed up made for a great experience.

On 8/15/2022 at 10:11 PM, Boytjie said:

night the Martini Bar became a gay bar!

That sounds like an excellent time 🙂 It seems like Celebrity is the line of choice for many LGBT+ cruisers. Maybe it's just because Celebrity offers an upscale experience?

On 8/8/2022 at 4:09 PM, mast3rn8 said:

While I've not tried them yet, OUTbound does smaller, more intimate trips that look like a lot of fun - without the intensity that Atlantis has.

This looks super interesting! Smaller ship stuff is really a niche in this discussion that's missing. Thanks for the recommendation!

1 hour ago, knagl said:

despite acknowledging that they were ultimately responsible for keeping track of the date.

Wasn't that the kicker, though. They owned up to the mistake and still got three pages of thread out of it.

OP, thanks for posting this and sharing the value of the PVP. I think many of us try to be as self-sufficient as possible in planning our travel and overlook the value of a good travel agent/advocate.

5 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

it doesn't say how to get it

If you go to all of the offers and find the carnival one,  there will be a little plus sign (mine shows in blue) in one of the upper corners to add it to your card for the time it lasts.  It's easier if you don't click on it,  just look for that little blue plus sign. 

"Earn $40 back on your Carnival Cruises purchase, when you spend $100 or more."

It was super helpful when the last round of offers thread went around, and I just logged into chase today to see this one pop up (first time since April, FWIW). I hope others have it as well!