MistyRo76

that's not bad!

How long of a walk is that?

I figured it wouldn't be too hard. I just wanted to make sure that we didn't need to be IN our cabin to see the zones being called. If we are going to lounge on the ship until last call, I don't want to be cooped up in the cabin. But sounds like that won't be an issue at all! And I love the idea of not having ship-wide announcements not going off every 5 minutes!

Good tip on the luggage! I may have not thought about that. But we will definitely do that if we decide to camp out on the ship until last call. We have an 8-9 hour drive home - so even getting off at 10, hopefully being on the road by 11, will still put us home before it gets too late. Hopefully the kiddo will be so worn out from all the fun she had on the cruise, that she'll sleep most of the way! lol

We actually have a Cruise & Park option at the hotel we are staying at pre-cruise. So we will likely just Uber or Lyft back to the hotel. Last thing I want to do is to do have to schlep around the parking lot looking for our car! LOL

Thank you! That's good to know! First time driving to our port city and I like the idea of not having to rush off the ship for once!

Agreed! Sometimes common sense just needs to take over! lol

I was pricing the Hampton Inn & Suites online. Before I hit confirm, I called the hotel to ask about cruise parking. They told me there was no additional charge and just to let them know when I checked in. There was nothing needed to be done as far as booking a special cruise and park rate or anything like that. I then booked it online - got a 1 bedroom King Suite for three nights for $720 including all taxes and fees. Includes the breakfast buffet. I also paid a bit more to book the semi flexible rate which is fully cancelable within fI’ve days of our stay. If we find anything better, we can easily make the switch. But the other hotels I found, were either less expensive but had terrible reviews (I’m looking at you, La Quinta!) or were more expensive, or didn’t offer the cruise parking and would have been more total once I included the extra cost of parking at the port.

I’ve read in someone’s previous Sunshine review, that the Port of Charleston doesn’t allow announcements while the ship is in port and thus thru do a “silent debarkation”. it’s been a while since I read this review and I can’t recall whose review it was to go back and refresh my memory! Can anyone elaborate on how this process works? I believe, if I recall correctly, that Carnival runs runs the announcements on your in-cabin TV screen. Is that accurate? we are driving to Charleston instead of flying so we won’t be in any hurry to debark. I was thinking it may be nice to just have a relaxing morning on the ship rather than rushing to get off. If we were hanging out on Lido enjoying breakfast, would they be posting the debark messages on the big screen? How would we know when it’s last call? Thanks!

Wow! My mouth is watering just looking at it!

I would love to…but it’s only a 5 night sailing and we don’t want to dine without our daughter more than 1 night. Not sure there’s much at JiJi’s she would love right now. But I am totally taking her Bonsai sushi for lunch! She Loves sushi!

Thanks for the dessert tips (and the others as well!). I don’t enjoy many of the MDR desserts, so I’ll definitely try the Crème Brûlée when we go to JiJi’s!

Someone above pointed out that many NA beers actually have a small amount of alcohol in them. Not enough to be considered alcoholic beverages. But still some. So I’m guessing that’s why!

I was just coming back here to post about the same!

The pork belly was already high on my list! So guess I'll definitely be getting that one!

I just booked us on the Suess breakfast for our October cruise. It was showing both early and late seating available on the last sea day. My daughter will LOVE it!

Finally sailing on a ship that has JiJi's Asian Kitchen (Sunshine - this October!). So I've already secured reservations for the hubby and I to have dinner there one night - we'll ditch the kiddo to kids camp for this one! 🙂 I've scoured the menu a few times and it ALL looks so good! What are the must have items at JiJi's? Would love to hear everyone's favorites!

Interesting! Thanks for the info. Our cabin is forward, so that will make it easier to get to our dining room!

Is the aft dining room the one used for the Early/Late dinner seatings in the MDR on the Sunshine? It seems like the last few ships I've been on have had the Aft dining room for set dining times and the forward dining room for anytime dining.

I hadn't considered the fact that they do have a teeny amount of alcohol in them to be the reason you couldn't carry them on. But that makes sense! Thank you!

Thanks! I hadn't seen this site before. I've always just selected the FunShops under my cruise booking. I will keep checking on this site and maybe scour Ebay or Etsy if I don't see something pop up on here in the next couple of months!

Does anyone know if Carnival sells photo albums at the Pixel's desk on their ships? I looked at the FunShops online and didn't see any photo albums available for sale. I want to get one in advance of our cruise if I can. We booked our family on a cruise for October and are taking our 9 year old daughter. It'll be her first cruise since she was 3. We aren't telling her about it until her birthday in August. My plan is to get her a new suitcase and fill it up with things that she can take on the cruise with her - couple new outfits, sunglasses, etc. Would like to include a couple Carnival themed items and thought she would really like a photo album! If anyone knows of anywhere that sells Carnival albums, let me know. Also would love suggestions of other fun things we can put in her suitcase for her! 🙂

It could also be a capacity thing. If there are only two of you in your cabin and the cabin holds 3 or 4 people, they may have needed to move you to accommodate the larger group if there were no other cabins that hold that many in your cabin category. Sucks - but it's their right to do so. Our PVP always advises of this if anyone in our group books a cabin that holds more than they are traveling with.

Hello all! Just booked a cruise for October and am looking at insurance options. I am rather new to the trip protection game! Took my 19th Carnival cruise last October and it was the first time that I purchased Carnival's Vacation Protection. I was a young (mostly) and dumb traveler before and thought nothing could possibly happen. But since COVID plus having had multiple I've traveled with need to visit the infirmary for illness/injury, or having had friends/family need to cancel cruises for a multitude of reasons over the last few years, I've opened my eyes to the importance of it. For my last cruise, I just purchased Carnival's Vacation Protection, plus individual trip protection from the airlines for my flights. This time around, I want to look at other vendors for insurance. But there are a ton of options out there. For those that have used both Carnival's Vacation Protection and purchased insurance through other vendors, what have you found to be the biggest differences between them? How has pricing compared? Anything particular I should look out for when purchasing third party insurance? I should also note that we are driving to the port, so we don't have to worry about refunds on flights if we have to cancel. Our main out of pocket costs that should be covered are the cruise itself and our pre-cruise accommodations. Any tips, recommendations would be much appreciated!

That could be! I hadn’t considered that!