BananaAnna

There is a place online where you can do, for example, a

Carnival Platinum And Diamond Gift Swap

I swapped 2 Carnival beach towels (that I had purchased) for 2 of the fleece blankets.

And I'm keeping an eye out for one of the beach bags.

Ship time will be based on the time zone from which you sail, and will remain the same.

Incorrect.

While in some cases the ship MAY remain on initial port time it's definitely not always.

On our Pan ama Canal cruise had us changing clocks almost daily it seemed.

Re: the hype

For some of us southerners it cuts off 4 hours of travel time each way.

It will cost you.

Incorrect.

Paragraph 3 of Carnival's Name Change policy linked earlier:

'For bookings that do not include airfare booked through Carnival, and not booked under a restricted/non-refundable fare*, there is no charge for a name change.'

EDIT FOR CLARITY: yes, there is a charge in some cases, but NOT in all cases.

Itineraries are always subject to change as per the contract.

This is my 20th cruise so, yes, I fully understand they have the option to change the itinerary.

I'm just disappointed that I bought a Monday -Thursday stay in Bermuda, but I'm getting a 24-hour stay and then a 22-hour stay.

I did receive the change letters, no idea why the change is being made but feel like we're being charged a premium price for what is no longer a premium cruise.

None

Incorrect. The kids WILL receive credit for each cruise they've taken.

I can't speak for the original poster but as soon as someone were to tell me i had to wait 40 minutes I'd be squirming :D:D:D .

Seriously, for me it would be helpful to know about facilities in advance so I'd know which of my medicines I should hold off taking.

247kay - I absolutely understand where you're coming from!

We booked a 10 or 11 nighter on Celebrity for hubby's retirement. Wanted a balcony with sliding door, not a hinged door. Guy at Celebrity swore it was slider, but from website ship pictures it didn't look like a slider to me.

I called back several times to verify, every time I was told the vast majority of that category was sliders and that I had a slider.

happened across a picture of my actual cabin - NO SLIDER!

I wrote them an email, nicely spelling out what had transpired and how disappointed I was.

They upgraded us, at no charge, to a two room family veranda, huge balcony and a slider!

I realize it's different from booking a guarantee but you really should be able to believe what their reps tell you.

You may want to write and let them know your disappointment and give them an opportunity to make it right.

I haven't sailed in a cove, my concern though would be if your children are small they may not be able to see out.

About 110 days before cruise received an upsell email offering to move from porthole to ocean view for $100 total.

I called in and was able to keep existing OBC, keep early saver rate, and select a better located cabin than was being offered.

(New cabin was priced at $360 more than our original cabin, we got it for $100.)

Grand Turk you'll likely be in easy walking distance back to the ship for meals.

I bring cheese crackers, nuts, granola bars, power bars, etc for snacking on ports.

You can pre-order a 12-pack of bottled water for $4.50 + delivery for your cabin. A sharpie for writing names on bottles and you can reuse the whole cruise.

You MIGHT could just remove the child from your room and put in dad's room before the cruise. That would likely decrease your cabin cost while dad's would remain the same since you're paying double occupancy for dad's cabin anyway.

Not having the dexterity and balance of my youth...

On lido i usually put the napkin-rolled silverware into my pocket to keep my hands free.

I also use a lidded tervis tumbler (although I use a Carnival cup to get ice and fill my cup) to help prevent spilling.

It's a waste of $90, most get there luggage after non FTTF.

Really? Do you cruise each of the ships and walk the cabin decks monitoring luggage delivery?

After about the third time some one posts an outlandish statement about something they couldn't possibly know,

I don't put much stock in anything they post.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1123#grats

Link to Carnival tip info.

Includes daily cost, how those tips are distributed, etc.

That should have been ROLL call for your sailing, not tool call. For some reason it wouldn't let me edit.

It looks like sign up is cut off 2 weeks before cruise. This is a link to the tool call for your sailing. Even if there isn't a sponsored meetup, they may put together an informal one.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2528303

Love your format - super easy to follow along!

I'd love fareviewer back as well!

The tiny selection blocks when going thru the website on my phone make for lots of errors.

This isn't Ecstasy-specific but first time I cruise on any ship I print out the deck plan on advance either from carnival website or elsewhere. Helps me get oriented and I can carry plan onto ship with me.

One important piece of information in the Funtimes is the contact name and telephone number for the port agent in case an emergency arises while in port. Once you are a few hundred feet away from the ship, you will lose WiFi contact with the ship and the app will not work. I think that if Carnival does away with the printed copy of the Funtimes, they will still need to make this information available in print form. Savvy users could save a screen shot on their smartphone with this information before leaving the ship if this information is available in the app, but some cruisers don't have the skills to do this or don't even have smartphones.

I take a photo of the emergency contact info in Fun Times each port day.

Maintenance!

Last Carnival cruise windows were too nasty to see out of, bathroom stalls had missing or broken latches, etc.

After a 2 1/2 year hiatus I'm hoping things have improved.

Where did you buy this? I checked Amazon and did not see the brand.

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/magellan-outdoors-24-can-sport-backpack-cooler#repChildCatid=1628713

There may be other stores as well.

My wife an I did a 10 top one time(now we eat just the 2 of us), but one man at this 10 top table kept repeating everything I said or my wife said. It was very annoying. It was like he was a Parrot or something.:)

Good one ;)