howard6933

Getting a single cabin is hard to get at a low cost. However I believe NCL has a good amount at a resonable price. You should look it up and maybe you can get a fair price.

Good Luck.

Sometimes when you are ready to disembark, they have you place your luggage outside

your cabin the night before and they take it away. However, if you want to get off early you can keep your luggage in the cabin and go down early to the door next morning.

There is always a line so you should get down there early.

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When I make my dates for the trip with my travel agent, I tell them what I want for my table in the main dining room. I generally request for an early sitting and I like to get a table for six. When I get into my cabin I find out if i get what I had asked for. Almost every trip I do get what I asked for. If I do not get what I want, I go to the MDR right away and ask them to give me what I asked for and they will usually give it to me. I believe with that old saying "if you don't ask, you won't get".

Howard6933

My birthday is in December and we have had several cruises at Christmas. The pools are

warm and are quite busy especially when the ship is on a sea day. If you want to spend

a lot at the pool, take a dip early in the morning. Also when a ship is at a port, the pools

may not be very busy. Once in awhile you may get a cool day and the pools will not be busy at the time either. My wife was in the pool more than me and she has always liked it.

Just have a nice time on your cruise.

HOWARD

It's a shame that only 5 people showed up. I have been on 55 cruises and the "Meet & Mingle" was always a very enjoyable time on the cruise. Of course having it in the early day is too early since some people want to get comfortable to get used to being on the sea. I cant count how many nice people that I have had over all the cruises I've been on. The first time I went on a cruise was in 1976 and I have had some contacts to many friends I have made since then. I am getting greeting Xmas cards from several people and I "talk" to them right here on this spot. If you keep going on cruises in the future just let it slide and continue to go to the "Meet and Mingle". Thanks for your message and maybe others can see this and will have fun on their cruises.

Howard

I can consider any months are good for a cruise. We have been on 55 cruises and have never had any trouble. For the last few cruises we have sailed in April for my wifes

birthday, and then in december for my birthday. However we have done a couple of cruises in the middle of the year also. As I said before, any month is a good month for

a cruise and sometimes a good deal comes up and we fit that in anytime.

DH and I are avid "fan" people. We bought (still in the box) a small battery-operated fan.

 

Do we need to have that in our check-in luggage (for fear they would take it out of our suitcase if checked)???

 

Thanks!

I have seen people on other cruises that bring a small fan for their cabin. I don't know whether they were battery operated or plug in but I don't think that matters. Give it a shot. :D

Haven't been on Carnival in about 7 years. Going on the Valor on August 22nd to the Western Carribean (Belize, Honduras, Cozumel, Costa Maya)

 

 

My wife and I are mid 40's, our two girls are 17 and 13. We are getting two cabins on Deck 7 Aft (end of ship, I love those rooms).

 

Ok, what is the good, bad and ugly? (Wanna add, we had a great cruise last time we sailed Carnival. We went out of NYC on the Miracle.

 

Are there live poker games at night? Or just the stupid electric table game.

 

 

Thanks

I have been on Valor three times and it 's my favorite Carnival ship. The cabins are a little larger than some of the other ships and they are very comfortable. The entertainment was always A-1 and the food is pretty good. I cannot tell you anything about the poker table since I'm not much of a gambler and didn/t spend much time in the casino. One of my favorite things is the "Fish & Chips" area. It's in the cafeteria area and actually one flight of steps from the cafeteria. We always made a number of visits to that place and I can tell you that it is a good place if you like fish. Also every time we visited Fish & Chips there were always some of the ships officers eating there, so you can see that it must be pretty good.

There is one thing I want you to watch for. Your itinerary includes Honduras and be very careful if you go ashore. A few years ago we were on a shore excursion and my wife was pickpocketed while we were there. Thank goodness they hardly got anything because she didn't carry much in her pocket book. So BEWARE''.

Have a good cruise (I'm sure you will) and give us some good news about the trip.

HOWARD

I have been on a total of 55 cruises and I must say that I have never had a bad cruise.

My favorite has been Princess and we have sailed with them 15 times and have enjoyed all of those cruises. Our 8 cruises on Norwegian have been a lot of fun all the time. They are always on the ball and actually were the first cruise company that went to the free style idea for meals with open sitting for all meals. Also have been on Holland America 8 times and they are a classy cruise line. They seem to be liked very much by a little older cruisers.

I feel that whatever cruise line you decide upon, you will have a great time. I have always said to my friends if you want to have a good time for a vacation, take a cruise. It's the "best bang for the buck". :)

My DH said he may upgrade my bridal set soon. On our last cruise, I saw several sets that I liked. Has anyone bought onboard? I would also like to know if there were any problems. Thanks!

I have been on a great number of cruises and have NEVER purchased any diamonds on board the ship. However, if your itinerary includes St. Thomas or St Maarten, you can find some very good jewelry stores in those places. I have shopped on those islands often and have always gotten good deals on very beautiful diamond items for my wife and myself. :)

The charge for parking at the Miami garages is $20 per night. However, if you happen to have a "Handicap Tag" from Florida and any other state, you can park free. When you go into the garage with your tag hanging from your mirror, they will wave you in. Then when you return from the cruise, you show your "Handicap Tag" to the person on duty as you go out and they also check your drivers license. Pretty good to save $140 for a seven day cruise.:)

Does anyone know if there are porters that will come to the car to get your luggage and at the end take it back to your car? My parents are cruising from Miami and my mom is in a wheelchair and on oxygen. There is no way my dad can push her and all her gadgets plus luggage. Thanks for any info!

Having parked at the garage in Miami several times, I can only tell you this. When you arrive BACKFROM THE CRUISE, the porters will generally take you and your luggage to the garage where there is a waiting area for you to have your passenger wait for you while you get your car. Some of the guys will go with you to your car and help you load the luggage.

A nice tip is expected for this service. However, in reverse, when you arrive at the pier, the porters probably will not get your luggage from the garage at take it to the ship, What you should do, is drop your luggage at the pier first, and then go to the gaarage and park. You will then be able to push your wheelchair to board the ship without having to worry about dragging the bags with you.

OK, for those in the know...how far is the parking garage from the baggage drop off or where you would board?

 

Thank you,

It is not very far from the parking garages to the ship. However, there is a shuttle bus (free) that takes you from the garage to the ship and vice versa when you come back from the cruise.

Just a note for all the people who think they should not give free parking to handicaped persons. You may be surprised to hear that those with handicap tags do not pay to park anywhere in Miami, that includes city garages, parking meters, etc. etc. I think it's nice of the city to give that perk to handicapped drivers. I just hope that I will never need a handicap tag for myself. I'll pay the parking fees.

In FL it just has a registration number on it. No name, no DOB. Just wondering if they require extra documentation if it doesn't have a name on it.

I think you should take a better look at your tag.......there's more than just a registration number on it. Near the bottom there's a yellow sticker with the expiration date on it.

Look a little harder and you'll see your driver's license number in small print. The last time I parked at the port of miami, they asked to see my drivers license to match the number with the tag. ;)

I like to play trivia on my cruises and I can empathize with those that know for sure that they have answered a question correctly, only to be told that their answer was incorrect.

I don't let it bother me anymore since you cannot win arguing with the person running the game. I remember awhile back that the moderator of the quiz said that there are two rules to the game which are: RULE #1: The answer that I have is the answer that counts.

RULE #2: "See rule #1".

At any rate, just to give you an analogy to this "wrong information" era we must live in.

Last night, I was watching the 10 o"clock news from WPIX Channel 11 in New York. They were reporting on the 75th Anniversary of the APOLLO theater in NYC. There was something about some awards to be given out on stage and the WPIX reporter remarked that one of the awards was to be presented by Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. I guess the reporter did not know that Ossie Davis died in 2005. How about that goof up? :p

Anyway, play the trivia game on the ship and enjoy the fun.....don't take it seriously.

There are a number of good,reputable jewelry stores in Grand Cayman. Kirk Freeport Plaza has many shops right near the port. Cozumel also has many, many shops and I believe that Diamonds International has 4 or 5 stores located along the main street. One thing to keep in mind is that the Cayman Dollar is worth a little more than the US dollar. Also, I have learned over the years from going to Cozumel quite often, be sure to bargain in any of the stores you go to, and also they will give you a bigger discount if you pay in cash (US $) than if you use a credit card. ;)