reno3

Loved Amber! Great Port! Will do a full report this week.

Please do....looking forward to it. We will be there in a few weeks and have no idea what we are going to do :confused:

You're welcome! One bit of advice. The elevators are going to be so terribly insane all morning long. Either be prepared to carry luggage down the stairs, which isn't doable for all, or hit the down and the up button and get on whatever elevator you can. If you wait for an elevator you can fit on wit luggage, that's also going down, you'll wait forever. We were on deck 7 and this was our experience. So many people coming from decks above. By the time they got to us they were full every time. So get on one going up and then ride the elevator up, then back down. Just preparing you for what embarkation is like when you have your luggage with you...

Thank you again for all of your great information.

We did not stay in our cabin. We woke up, got dressed, gathered our things and headed down towards the gathering area for self assist passengers. Then one of use went to get some items for us to eat and brought it back for both of us. We were literally the first few people off the ship and it was for sure befor 8am. I had a shuttle booked with sas and then I called them when I was walking off the ship, they said they would be ready for us when we left customs. We had to have been on that shuttle before 8, but we did stay and circle a few times for wait for more passengers. We were at the airport by 9, I would try for the 8am shuttle! And yes we did take the shuttle to FLL.

We have this same exact plan in place for our cruise in January.

Thank you very much for the information. I think I now have my ducks in a row :D

with fttf, you can pretty much do as you wish. You will recieve zone one disembark tags, but you can also do self assist as long as you can take all your baggage with you without needing assistance.

 

Last month I had zone one, and went after self assist, but this was the largest amount of self assists I had ever seen disembarking, I mean it had to be half the ship passengers, so when I got down to customs it was a madhouse.

 

The lines moved though, so I still got to Miami airport by 10am. FLL of course is further.

Thank you for the information.

Did you fly from Miami or FLL?

 

Our last cruise out of Miami, we did self disembark and had FTTF and were some of the first ones off the ship. We were at the FLL airport by 8:30 maybe? We were early enough we couldn't check our luggage yet. This year we booked an 11:30 our of FLL for our Miami cruise and are flying from FLL.

The key to customs is to leave the ship early before the lines have the chance to back up. If you have an early flight you need to use self disembarkation or go to guest services and ask for group 1. If you are later on in the afternoon the lines get long and start to back up. We have done self disembark with all of our cruises and have never run into bad lines.

What time did you get off the ship, I'm assuming around 7:30? Did you stay in your cabin or buffet area or somewhere else and wait until they called self assist and then got off? Did you take a shuttle to FLL? Not sure if I should book the 8:00 or 9:00 shuttle?? Just trying to get my ducks in a row.

I have a noon flight from FLL. I also have FTTF. Do I get off the ship with other self assist people or earlier with FTTF or something else:confused:

Has anyone done this swim with the sharks? I know it won't be with big

sharks but I'm looking for some excitment to it.

Another poster had mentioned the lower price also. Maybe not selling well. I can't decide on what to do in Amber Cove. Thinking of a cabana but which one. I noticed the ones by the pool it looks like a couple of them have the zipline going right over them! I was hoping more people would be posting their experiences at Amber Cove but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Has anyone on here actually rented one of the cabanas? I've read the posts and have also read the description on the Carnival website but was hoping for some information from someone who has rented.

I would like to know also....pictures, experience etc. I will be there in a few weeks and can't decide what to do :confused: Our cruise switched HMC for Amber Cove :( Had a cabana booked for HMC

If you were going to go to the trouble of trying to "sneak" in, why not just do the day pass through the ship and just tell your guide you want to pay for the shark add-on once you get there? The guides seemed quite happy to try to sell us the extras once we were there.

 

Do be aware that the shark encounter is with some very tame nurse sharks in a tank. The sharks are so tame that for most of the show, the handlers are lifting the sharks out of the water so people at the show can pet them. I'm not sure there would be much more to the actual swimming activity.

 

None of the extra charges at Ocean World that we paid were charged to our Sign and Sail, but they did keep asking for hotel/ship info and room numbers for all their paperwork.

I wasn't trying to "sneak" in. The day pass through Carnival is only for 4 hours and I wanted to be able to stay or leave at my own time, there seems to be a lot to do or if the hounding got to be to much we would leave. Thank you for the information.

I have a noon flight out of FLL from MIA port. Wondering what time to book our shuttle for (8am or 9am). We do have faster to the fun. I don't want to carry our luggage off if we don't have to. I don't want to book 8 and not be able to make it but also don't want to book 9 if that will be too late.

Looking to find out.....

What time do FTTF people get off the ship?

Do I have to carry our own luggage off with FTTF?

Or any other suggestions appreciated.

We went through Carnival. They kept trying to tell us that the timeshare stuff was in partnership with Carnival. We finally ended up giving our guide the slip to see the last show we wanted to see and then hopping the next bus back to the ship because we'd had enough.

 

Lifestyle owns (or is owned by the same company as) Ocean World. I suspect that all of their tours, including the beach days, were discounted a bit to Carnival because they figured it would open up an entire new stream of people for their timeshare business.

 

I did tell Carnival about the bad experience, so maybe it will get better for future cruisers.

Thank you. I really want to swim with the sharks but this timeshare thing is really looking like a hassle that I don't want to deal with. I asked Ocean World if I could take a taxi there and just pay at the window. I was told no, I told them how would they know I was from the ship and not from a local hotel....they told me "we will know because we have ways! :eek: I guess they will ask the taxi driver where he picked us up. I was told I could take a taxi there and pay at the window but....."you just sign a ticket at ocean world and carnival make the charge for that program aboard". I assume to my sign and sail card??

Anyone go to Ocean World on their own by taxi? Carnival has the swim with

dolphin excursion but I'm looking for the swim with sharks. I have been emailing Ocean World direct but not getting the answers I'm looking for. They are tring to stir me toward the carnival excursion. Not much information coming in on this new port :( Any information appreciated.

peppergal.....did you go through the cruise line or did you just take a taxi and go on your own? I sent Ocean World a email asking quesitons and my concerns about the timeshare hounding and they told me I had to book with the Carnival!

Thank you. Very disappointing to hear about the timeshare hounding.

Not much on Ocean World here on the boards. We are in port from 7am-4pm. I have looked at TA and some good reviews there. They do talk about being hounded for a timeshare thing and that people hound you to tip a lot. Anyone have a recent experience with this. I am interested in the swim with sharks. Thinking of Ocean World in the morning and maybe the pool at the port for the afternoon. Any imput would be appreciated.

I ordered 10 - $100.00 from AARP. I did not know you had to sign for them. They called me and told me I had to sign for them. I changed the ship to address to my work address. They shipped them to my home (my husband happened to be home early that day) and he signed for them. I was a little PO'd when I got home and opened the package to find a sticky note that said "change of address" with my work address that was never made:rolleyes:

I had bought a small bottle of contact lense solution for my DS to travel with.

Fast forward to the morning waking up in hotel to get ready to go to the ship. I hear my son screen out from the bathroom....I had bought sterilizer not the regular solution. He had put one of his contacts in and burned his eye:eek: We flushed it with cold water and his eye was red and puffy for hours. I felt so bad for him. DH walked to a CVS and bought the correct solution. This was really my "worst packing mistake".

It all comes down on the first turn around day after Christmas. As early as the 26th, and no later than the 31st.

We board the Glory on the 26th and it would be nice if the decorations are still up since we are not putting our tree up at home :)

I also can't get to the rewards for good stuff. I see total points but when I click on it I just get regular aarp stuff and can't earn more points nor redeem points.

I just tried again and still

no luck.

I logged out and then logged back in and still can't get to my rewards for goods:confused: I couldn't last night or this morning either.

We have been to HMC three times (3 for 3) and had booked our New Year's cruise on the Glory because we would be going back to HMC (had my cabana booked also). Carnival has changed Amber Cove for HMC. I wasn't very happy myself but Amber Cove will be a new port for us so I have stopped pouting :p

I would be even more disappointed if we were to go to HMC and not been able to tender in which has never happened to me and I was probably due.

If booked already, you can also do a mock excursion booking and at the payment screen there's a check balance button. No pin required

Thank you for this great tip! I was going to call Carnival tomorrow and check the balance on the 10 cards I just received last week. No need to now, I just did a mock excursion and checked all 10.... $100.00 on each :D

We have cruised the last two years for Christmas. Two years ago was our first Christmas cruise and we loved it so much we booked again for the following Christmas. The first Christmas cruise was the first year without both of my in-laws and my husband said he did not want to be home for Christmas. My parents understood. It was myself, DH and DS. We spent Christmas day at the beach both times. It did not feel like Christmas but that was OK we did not have little ones to worry about. I called my parents on Christmas day. We brought a Charlie Brown tree, it even played the song, and we decorated the cabin a little. This year we have decided on a New Years cruise. We loved our Christmas cruises and will probably do one again.:D:D:D

FYI, I ordered 10 - $100.00 gift cards from AARP on 8-19 and received my

confirmation email stating I would receive an email when my order was shipped. I received a call on the 20th from AARP to confirm I purchased the 10 cards and because of the large dollar amount I would have to sign for them when UPS delivered them. At that time I changed my shipping address to my work address so I could sign for them. As of today no email to tell me they were shipped. I called the 888 number on my confirmation of purchase and the AARP rep told me because of the large amount of cards it was taking longer to ship. I told her if I didn't receive a email confirming shipment by Monday I would call back.

They didn't waste any time charging my CC on the 20th:rolleyes:

Follow up...received my gift cards today. As I mentioned I had changed the shippping address to my work address since no one would be home during the day to sign for them. Well my husband happend to work half a day today and when I got home from work the cards were on the kitchen table. I asked him where they came from and he say UPS delivered them and he signed for them! I looked at the packing slip and there was a sticky note with my work address on it but they never changed the shipping address. Glad my husband was home. It all worked out but I know for future orders to not order a large quantity.