jennknee

1 minute ago, TeresaJ said:

I did not get an email for the Mardi Gras cruise. I checked my sailing after I saw this post and it does apply to my sailing when I add it to my cart, however it's not advertised anywhere when I log in. I am convinced that it's probably not going to sail on time and that's why I didn't get an email promoting it either.

 Thanks for the input! I know the site is slammed and not working correctly, so I'll check it out and cross my fingers (on both the deal AND that my ship will sail!) a little later!

1 hour ago, TeresaJ said:

Mine is offering 20% plus $100 in cruise cash too. Did anyone get thatoffer? I haven't tried to puchase yet. Thanks for the heads up, didn't think Cheers ever went on sale.

@TeresaJ Did you get this email for your January Mardi Gras cruise? I'm booked on MG for Feb and, to be honest, I haven't been convinced it's going to happen and I didn't get an email which is definitely throwing fire on that theory for me!

I'm also cruising into Montego Bay in September and I am curious about people's experiences using private tours to do some of the Ocho Rios excursion options - Dunn's or Blue Hole, etc. I think my group and I would really enjoy doing something like this over staying in Montego like last time.

We prefer the private tours, but the distance does have me a little hesitant. I know there is a ship option to go to Dunn's, and the guarantee of the boat waiting for you in the event of something happening is the main draw for our group, but I hate the idea of being lumped into a huge tour.

Has anyone had a truly close call with a private tour? Anything you can tell me to share with my friends to convince them a private tour from Montego to Ocho Rios is not a risk would be great!

I would have been one of the people who said the CD didn't make a difference on cruises 1-11. Then, on cruise 12, I had Butch and LOVED him. He is the first CD I that remembered after getting of the ship and he just seemed to be having a great time the entire cruise. My cruisemates and I still talk about how much fun he was and we wish he would be the CD on all our cruises. Because of Butch, I paid much more attention on cruise 13 when we had Matt Mitchum. And, if Butch seemed like he was having the time of his life, Matt just...didn't. I don't know. I have heard decent things about him, but he just seemed to be really impressed with himself and not overly excited to be there.

Cruise 14 is 70~ days away and John's new schedule shows both Jamie Dee and Skip Lyons so I'm not sure who exactly will be ours. I've heard nothing about Skip so I'm hoping for the best.

I was a bit torn on YTD at first. I like the flexible time, but I've always enjoyed my time at dinner meeting people. In fact, the 3 friends I generally travel with now are my friends because I was at a table with one of them 7.5 years ago on a Carnival cruise and we've been traveling buddies ever since. I also really love when you have a great wait staff all week. So I didn't know if I would like it.

My first experience with YTD on Carnival was the Breeze in January of 2013. The first night we had an awesome waiter, Taras. The second night, we didn't realize we could request him again, so we let them seat us and we HATED it. We were stuck back in a corner with a staff that barely cared we were there. So, the 3rd night we requested Taras again and got in no problem. We requested him the rest of the week with no wait except for the final night. There was about a 20-30 minute wait, but there was no way were going to miss our last night with Taras. He was awesome.

Cut to November 2013 on the Glory, 30 minutes after boarding the ship we see Taras again on the lido promoting the steakhouse. I nearly tackled him and asked him if he was doing YTD still. He looked scared (didn't remember me yet) but said yes. We requested him all week and only had 1 night that we had a wait and it was probably less than 20 minutes. Again, we absolutely were going to wait any length of time at this point since we had completely bonded with him.

We always tended to go to dinner between 7-7:30. There was 4 of us so it was easy enough to just put us at 4 top by ourselves. We ended up being surrounded by some of the same people every night including another 4-some that we chatted with. The fact that you CAN request (and generally get) the same wait staff makes YTD perfect for us. One of my favorite aspects of cruising is falling in love with the dining staff. The cruises I've been on where I don't connect as much with the waiters definitely can be somewhat less memorable for me.

TL;DR: For me, YTD is the perfect mix: Flexible times, same staff, barely any wait.

The "real" CD for the Breeze got off on the 18th (same day we got off) to go to the Sunshine for two months. He is fantastic! It's too bad you missed him..most people would agree that he is Carnival's best CD!

I agree! 9 Carnival Cruises and 4 RCCL Cruises and Butch on the Breeze is the ONLY CD I remember...he was awesome! It's too bad they missed him. I knew he had just recently gotten off the Breeze, but wasn't sure if the OP would have just missed him or been the last group...when they said he was very annoying I just thought "Butch??? NEVER!" :)

I didn't get a call for my Glory Cruise this past November, but I got one for my Breeze Cruise in January...I think I remember most of the details:

1) Breeze 6 day Caribbean

2) Not positive...sometime in the week prior. 5-7 days maybe?

3) 2

4) Deluxe OV on Deck 1

5) Upsell to a Balcony, not sure what deck, $300 total for cabin

We didn't end up taking it, though we maybe should have. I just wanted to keep costs down as much as possible.

Wow! what a small world. Check out this picture.

Ok, now we are just like picture twins! :)

Mine is a bit different then most others. This is from the Carnival Triumph, Oct. 2007. It was obviously during the Halloween party.

 

That's me on the left, my wife Karrie in the purple witch get-up and our new friends Rob and Jennifer next to us. What makes this so special for us is we met Rob and Jennifer on that cruise and have become life long friends. We traveled around the country to see each other after the cruise and they are now in Germany (Rob is in the Air Force.) We are traveling to Germany in the summer of 2009 to visit them for a few weeks.

 

The back-story to this photo is fun. My wife and I had planned for the party and brought our costumes. But Rob & Jennifer didn't know about it. We finally talked them into doing something for it, so while in San Juan we looked everywhere and finally found a Walgreen's that had some Halloween stuff and they spent like $10 each. We had a blast! One of my best memories from any cruise!

 

Wow, that was a lot of blah blah blah just for a picture. :o

 

TTz - That is crazy you posted this. For a second I thought I was on the same cruise as you, but I was on the Triumph the week after after you.

While on that cruise, this pic was taken:

This is a pic of me (pirate - red bandana) with my friend of 19 years Andrea (pink flapper) with Scott and Eddie, two friends we made on a cruise less than a year earlier. Andrea and I came about 5 minutes late to dinner the first night with these two sitting at our table in early December 2006 and they have been two of my BEST friends ever since. We have made the drive back and forth between Iowa and Ohio about 5-6 times since that first cruise, have taken a second cruise with them, and I even met up with them in NYC while visiting a college friend in PA. I talk to them nearly every single day and, actually, Eddie is flying out with a friend to visit me this weekend!

The 2nd or 3rd night of the cruise in December of '06 we decided to get our pics taken at the back drops before dinner and ended up these...two of my FAVORITE from that particular cruise. What we like to call our cheesy Prom Waterfall Pic and our Western pic:

I love these two and have Carnival's dinner seating arrangement Gods to thank for their friendship!

Some favs...

A dancing lady right off the pier in Cozumel

Cozumel again...we were on the Fantasy to the right

On a stingray excursion while in Nassau

Half Moon Cay...My friend was going to be parasailing and said "Take a picture of me while I am in the air" like I could freakin' tell which one was her! I snapped this and said "Look at YOU!!!"

From Margaritaville in Grand Turk

Found on a scooter adventure in Grand Turk

Also, the pic in the signature is from Grand Turk on the same scooter adventure...I used the panoramic setting on my digital camera