topguy

On the 8 day out of Ft Lauderdale, which nights do they schedule the Chef's table?

A few years ago, I took the Behind the Scenes tour, which took you to parts unseen by the passengers. It included the ship's morgue. The host of the tour said that they regularly have a death onboard. I've been on 2 cruises that I know that someone has died onboard. I'm sure that there may have been more, but the ship lines are very discreet

Carnival will probably come out ahead. If you think about it, those 3,000+ cruisers are staying on board for an extra 2 or 3 days: they are going to be spending their money on buying booze, souvenirs and gambling.

Very good point. Who knows, maybe Carnival asked those countries not to let them port. JK

I didn't think that Belieze let them port either. If so, that would be 2 ports missed. It certainly wasn't Carnival's fault. I feel sorry for the vendors and excursion people who missed out on both ports.

Carnival is doing the OBC and future cruise discount as a good will gesture for its passengers. I don't think that they will bankrupt themselves even losing a lot of money. They have deep pockets.

I bet Walmart has something to do with this. :)

The main problem with a Chinese made ship is that once you sail on it, a week later you are hungry to sail again.

I bring a highlighter with me and highlight in the Fun Times those activities that I might want to do the next day. Some I do, some I don't. Don't try to crowd in everything. I made that mistake on my first cruise.

I would like to make a suggestion. If you do take food back to your cabin from the Lido deck, I would take the empty plate back also. There is nothing grosser than stepping around half eaten food sitting on the floor outside of a cabin. I have also seen food kicked around the hallway that people stepped on by not seeing the plates on the floor.

I always pick up one of those 2 for a $1 cheap ponchos and take with me. It saved the day in Greece.

There's a popular online shopping company that starts with "A" that sells Cruise Luggage Tag Holders for very little. You fold up your printed luggage tag as instructed and it fits into the holder with is clear on both sides and just connect it to your luggage. The connector comes with it. I have been using mine for many cruises.

I was in the checkin line for an Imagination cruise a couple of years ago. I was talking to the young couple in front of me, and they had mentioned that the airline lost her luggage and that they were looking for it. Her husband had his. She was going to board without anything, but a few personal items in her carry on bag. Some of the ladies who heard her story around us immediately offered their clothing for her. It was really heartwarming. But the most amazing thing is that the young couple were not the least bit upset about not having her luggage at cruise time. She said that life has its hiccups and this was just a minor one. No big deal. I spoke to them quite often on the ship. She bought a few things at the Carnival store to wear and had them washed. The airline did find her luggage and delivered it to the ship at our last port. It was such a pleasure for me to meet this young couple who didn't go berserk over this, but looked at it as a great story to tell in the future. They were from a little town in Tennessee.

I was on the Valor and one of the men at my dining table was on his 4th leg of a B2B2B2B2B2B. He actually lived on Carnival cruise ships and found it cheaper to do so, than own a home. He always booked the early saver inside cabin and was always upgraded. All of the crew knew him. He also dined at the Captain's table a couple of nights.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that you have to leave the ship after your first B2B leg. I think that guest services will have you go to a room on the ship during debarkation, and give you your new sign and sail card there for your second leg.

I had a B2B on Carnival, got off the ship, went through customs, went back to check in and they couldn't find my next sign and sail card. It was on the ship at guest services waiting for me. Someone told me later about my info in my first paragraph.

I know that I will catch grief about this, but I am not a fan of Guy's burgers. They drip with grease. There are many better burgers around the country.

People who like NCL, will not be happy with what I have to say.

 

Years ago, we cruised on the NCL Star, which was a brand new ship then. I won't go into all the details, and hopefully things are better now than back then. They had very little to do on the ship, compared to Carnival, and to me, I called it the LAZY ship. I know a lot of people cruise to rest and relax, which is fine, but I want to have "activities" to choose from, if I choose to attend them. We never heard so many people "complaining" about the ship at the Pursers desk, and also on our flight back home. We decided then, we would never cruise NCL again.

 

As for Carnival, we are NOT party people, but we really like Carnival, and I'm sure if you want to party, you would find a way to do this. One of the things I really like about Carnival are their beds/bedding. Awesome. :)

 

We went on RCCL this year, and it was a good cruise, but I will say I think they are MORE expensive. :(

One thing that I have learned the hard way is to never use just one experience to flavor my judgment. I'm sure that every ship of every cruise line has had some issue, but I don't think that I would never cruise that line again just because of that one time with that one ship years ago.

I have sailed both numerous times. I sail mainly Carnival, because I go with other friends who always sail Carnival. Personally, I like NCL better. On my last NCL Sun cruise, the staff (including the officiers) walked around passing out cupcakes to everyone on the Lido deck. Another day, they did it with ice cream. Little touches like that mean a lot. I like also that NCL has a lot of restaurant choices. Some of them do require a small stipend, but it is well worth it. The shows are much better also.

 

DW (she is the talker of the two of us) loves to get to know our waiter too. Find out about their lives at home and such. Very interesting stories about where they come from and how their experiences are on board.

I do the same. I really enjoy meeting the staff and asking them about their families and lives. You can tell that they appreciate that your concern for them is more than just them waiting on you.

I've caviar on a Norwegian cruise, but it was for the guests staying in suites.

I'm sure that the room stewards on cruise ships are no different than the passengers. Some have financial problems, some don't. Same as all of us. Even though, I am far from being rich, I do not struggle financially, so if I can help out someone else by giving them a little extra, I'm happy to do so.

I could see it happening if someone was prone to seasickness and didn't know it. I know someone a few years ago that had to be talked back onto the ship when they reached the first port. They were horribly sick the entire time at sea.

I received the coffee mug the last time and even though I didn't have a Carnival coffee mug, I do have a zillion other coffee mugs. I just gave it to the first person that I saw. Coffee mugs are a dime a dozen.

I believe that most of the complaints about people having hot rooms on the Dream were because they kept their curtains open during the day. The outside cabins will heat up quickly if the sun keeps shining in.

I've found that the pictures taken with a Samsung Galaxy phone are excellent. It also has the editing feature. You can connect to Wifi or use your carrier for transfer directly to FB, Twitter, email, etc.

I booke directly on-line with Carnival, but I use a PVP when I book NCL. My NCL PVP stayed with me for 45 minutes the last time, checking out every kind of discount and promotion that would be of advantage to me. If I had just booked online, I would have missed out on some special offers and discounts not shown online. I'm not sure if Carnival is the same.

I know that NCL always has a Cruise Critic gathering for their passengers near the beginning of the cruise, so they probably read the post.