angelsfort

I agree with @Alias47 on this one - it may be best to just have a set time to go for dinner.  That way if you are off doing something on your own, you don't need to worry about communicating with everyone else about dinner...   everyone already knows what time to head to the dining room and can plan their day accordingly.

we usually get the Bottomless bubbles when we cruise...  I make custom tumblers so I've always got a newly designed cup for our cruises.  Our cups are 30 oz and we bring them to the bars to get our sodas - even if they fill the tumblers with ice, there's still plenty of room for a full can of soda in the cup - so we ALWAYS got a whole can in each of our cups. (we also didn't have any troubles using our own personal cups - the bartenders were always willing to just take our cups and fill with ice / soda for us)

my BF didn't have any troubles bringing both of our cups / S&S cards to the bars to get both of our cups filled, either.

having said all of that - I paid attention on our last cruise and realized that we were not drinking enough soda to actually make the bottomless bubbles package worth it for us.  We both pretty much got the same drinks every time we went (I got Mug Rootbeer and he got Pepsi)...so I believe that the next cruise we take, we'll just bring on a couple of 12 packs of soda instead of spending the $$ of the soda package

2 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

 

I'd probably be more offended by the grandma.  

why?  She was just a loving grandmother, doting on her granddaughter...  and a bit blind to the ways of teenagers.  LOL

On 1/27/2024 at 1:11 PM, 1BDNANA said:

Shoot...If we put a hidden camera on our kids and grandkids when they hit their teens they would never make it to 21 without shekels and a ball and chain on them. Heck when i was a teen in the 60s as soon as I got to school, I would flip the waistband of my skirt over so my skirt would be a mini, put on some lipstick and blush that I had hidden in my locker and boom I went from little girl with braids to a groovy chic💄. We all did it and you know it...The bad part is every generation pushes the level of what they show off and what they could do in public farther and farther. We are only a few generations from pasties and thongs walking in the mall shopping.🤯

LOL  oh I definitely wasn't judging that young lady!  I was just very amused at being able to see both sides of her, while poor gramma was completed fooled!   At dinner she would brag about the young lady and what a wonderful example she was to others her age...  yada yada yada...   it was quite comical.

We always choose a fixed dining time and HOPE that we end up sitting at a table with other couples -  and if we don't get along with our tablemates (which honestly, is rare) it becomes a great story to tell to others about the cruise!   

I just wonder how many times WE'VE been the subject of other folks "great" stories about their cruises!! 

here's my favorite, so far.  We had a very nice older lady on one of our cruises who was sailing with her teenaged granddaughter.  (granddaughter was maybe 13 years old)  During dinner the young lady was all proper, had manners and spoke very well.  During the day, when we'd see her - she had her shirt tied up (so that a lot of skin was showing) and she was galivanting around the ship with 4 boys that were around her age...  she was wearing lots of make-up and flirting incessantly with the boys (at one point we saw her grab one of the boys in the nether regions!)    She was a COMPLETELY different kid when she wasn't around her grandmother!!   And my daughter (who was 15 at the time) and I laughed at the comparison and wondered if the grandmother had any idea of how her granddaughter acted when she was off on her own!

55 minutes ago, jsglow said:

@ledges1, we're back to a point where folks have assumed responsibility for their own health decisions. And that's a very good thing.

In my opinion, many of the covid cases could have been avoided in the first place by folks just taking responsibility for their own health.  

learning to wash your hands properly is a great first step!  (just rinsing your fingertips is NOT washing!)

10 hours ago, MEUB1112 said:

We are just off the Glory also, no vid here. We were on the Miracle to Alaska last summer and came down with a mild cold a few days after we got home, my wife tested positive, I didn't care.

I hope that you mean you didn't care if you had it or not, so therefor did not test yourself...  LOL  and not that you did not care that your wife was sick!

which brings us full circle back to the OP's original question on why you wouldn't just buy regular cruise cash since it can be used for anything?

is there a perk of some kind for getting EFFY specific cruise cash?   If the regular cruise cash can be used for anything (including EFFY) then what's the reason for getting EFFY specific?!

I know that many of you are looking for FREE files...  but if you go on Etsy, there are a TON of makers that can create a file for you.  I sell tumblers, so the files I use are different but I get a LOT of my svg files from the many AMAZING makers on Etsy.  (plus many times it's supporting small businesses!)

If you look up embroidery files, you'll find 'em!

17 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

Pepsi Zero is good but stay away from the Starry. 

Starry is far superior to Sprite, IMO.   Sprite has a slight DIRT after taste to it (yah!  that's experience speaking!) and Starry is just a cleaner experience.  

I'm not a fan of Pepsi in general, but ever since I gave up caffiene, I've found that the "other" options that Pepsico offers are better (Mug rootbeer rocks!)

20 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I have found a couple more on subsequent cruises.  I may actually buy some ducks and hide them on this up comng cruise since my grandkids will be with us.

I would be willing to wager that they'd also enjoy getting in on the fun of hiding! 

If you join your sailings group page, you can likely discover the many others that will also be hiding on your cruise.

On 1/11/2024 at 7:12 PM, sid_9169 said:

The ports for this sailing aren't exactly among my all time favorites. In Amber Cove I'll probably just be calling it a sea day, as I've never found anything great to do in the Dominican Republic.

 

In St Thomas I've considered taking the Red Hook ferry over to St John, but that'll all depend on my ability to drag myself out of bed early enough to make a decent day out of it. The more likely scenario will be taking the dollar bus over to Lindquist Beach or maybe Sapphire… I'd also like to find something good to eat there. I've got my eyes on a roti place in Charlotte Amalie, which I've never really explored, so that'll be a whole new experience for me. 

 

In San Juan I'll probably walk the city streets for a little “gastro tourism”, and try to locate and consume some of the great local food and adult beverages… 

You'll have to be sure to share your thoughts on the ROTI if you end up going there...  I'm a huge roti fan and you definitely piqued my interest here!   (maybe photos too?)

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I went down to Guest Services to pick up another newsletter. I guess this is how it's going to be. I don't mind too much, but I really think Carnival needs to make a choice on this and be consistent fleetwide.

In our past cruises, we were able to ask our room steward to get us a copy of the FunTimes.  We never had to go to guest services to pick one up.

I honestly don't know if it was an inconvenience for him, we just mentioned it on our first day and asked how we could get physical paper copies each day and he told us he'd take care of it.  and he did!

On 1/8/2024 at 7:24 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

I found my first duck behind our tv in our cabin.  This was probably 2018.  I didn't know the game so I just left it there.

Since then, have you joined in on the fun?

4 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

These kids today have a different abbreviation for everything... I still remember the good 'ol days of writing in cursive.

the good news is that if we don't want the kids to know what we're writing, we can just write in "code" (ie:  in cursive!)

On 1/8/2024 at 6:42 PM, mirglip69 said:

I miss the printed Fun Times and long for the days when our phones went into the safe and we were able to take a break from technology. Seemed that the Trivia cheating wasn't as rampant back then either. 

SAME HERE!   Just know that we can still get the printed Fun Times, you just gotta ask for them.  

3 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

I Hopefully will not have any more dropped on my head.

LOL seriously, that's not usually how the "hides" go...  it may have been a child playing with their ducks up on an upper level and the ducks got away from them!    But it's rare that ducks get dropped on folks from above!  🤣

On 1/5/2024 at 4:22 PM, slavigne5577 said:

Please explain the whole duck thing. Last cruise, we were sitting in lobby listening to band when someone dropped two ducks down that hit me in the head. 

sure!  It's basically a scavenger hunt (or hide & seek, however you wanna look at it)

Rumor has it that it was made popular by a 10 year old girl back in 2017 / 2018, who just wanted to make other guests smile.  She & her dad brought on a handful of ducks, created a FB group where folks could post that they found them and it just LEAPED off from there.

most put tags on their ducks stating something like "oh what luck, you've found a duck!" and instructs the finder to either keep it or re-hide it for others to find.  It also either has a QR code with the group linked to it or a hashtag of some kind that directs folks to the group page.

I do it because I really enjoy the spirit of the game - when you watch a little one come across a duck unexpectedly, the joy that they experience is contagious!  (many adults have the same reaction when they come across a duck!  Which is also fun!)   

I'm a tumbler maker and work with resin crafts as well - many of my hides are my own creations (as you saw from my original post).  I like to hide things that are completely different - I guarantee you that NOBODY is hiding keychains like mine around the ship!!  I've also hidden a tumbler or two (duck themed, of course!!) and for those, I definitely stick around to see who finds them!  (you're welcome to check my tumbler album out - it's called out in my signature below).

Part of the fun, for me, is coming up with what I want to create for our next cruise - I've already got two tumblers in the works, just for that reason, even though we don't even have our next cruise scheduled!   LOL  I work on things in between custom orders when I have the time to have a bit of fun with what I'm creating  🥰

Unfortunately (and for reasons I just don't understand) the hiding of ducks also annoys some people... I don't see how it affects them when they spot a duck in one of its hiding spots (some are really not hidden very well but are instead, right out in plain sight!) but apparently it does... 

so if you choose to participate in the game, just be aware that there are a few that have an open disdain for the game too.  Don't let that deter you though!  far more joy is achieved with these little ducks than there is annoyance...

Its funny that so many mentioned having the staff know you by name...  on our last cruise, our server called me by the wrong name every single night.  Just once, when he had to look at our sign/sail cards to charge our bottomless bubbles, he actually said my name but never did it again.  He got my boyfriends name right every time!   LOL

we only saw our cabin steward on the first day, when he introduced himself

*************************

for me, the very small thing that hits big is the ducks.  I know that it's a bit controversial - some people love them, some people hate them...  I'm on team "love them" for sure.   We bring 20-30 ducks on board with us and hide maybe 10-12 of them - the rest we drop in mailboxes of cabins where we've seen little ones coming & going OR we'll put them directly on their tables while at lunch on the Lido deck or at dinner in the MDR, then we get to watch them light up when they find them.   

My ducks aren't the typical "rubber duck" though, I have little duck magnets and rubber duck keychains that I've made to hide/give away.  (the attached photo is the keychains - little ducks on water, with teeny tiny fish in the water below them)

On 11/20/2023 at 6:15 PM, maxydu said:

Thank you for the review as I haven't seen one as informative since the COVID days. My wife and I

are booked on the Magic Jan. 13, 2024 southern cruise. I've been writing on the Roll Call site for several months now and was surprised to see very few others involved. There seems to be very little excitement. We were beginning to get concerned about "current cruises" as we haven't been on a ship

in 4 years after 16 previous CCL trips. The Magic is getting older now and was glad it appears to be in

good condition.......to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, - can't wait!

I think that most of the roll calls are on Facebook now - I didn't see any on here for my last cruise but there was a group page on FB that had well over 500 members.   

I did a quick search for your cruise date (just typed in "Carnival Magic January" and found your group...  they have over 700 members already)

being a Florida resident, we tend to exclusively sail out of the Florida ports...   but for our next vacation (that we will need to save for a while to be able to accomplish) I'd like to sail out of California.

my plan is to spend a few days at Disneyland and then jump on a cruise for a 5-7 day - so our next ship will be whatever ship happens to be sailing out of that port when we book it!

again, as a Florida resident we've got annual passes to Walt Disney World and I've always wanted to make the trip across the country to go see Walts original park.  But cruising is my absolute favorite vacation - I can't NOT book a cruise!   As Vizzini would say "that's inconceivable!"  (for all you Princess Bride fans out there LOL)

my favorite CD moment is when Julie McCoy fell for Barry Corwin but later found out that he was also Rose York, the ships entertainment.
 

apparently the real Rose became bed-ridden was unable to make the cruise so Barry volunteered to impersonate her while on board, so she wouldn't lose "face".  Barry didn't count on falling for Julie though!   (and seriously, who wouldn't - Julie was adorable and charming!)

On 11/17/2023 at 5:23 PM, ProgRockCruiser said:

You don't know how they handled it.  All anybody has are the second- and third-hand retellings of what was printed in the on-line stories and nothing but supposition beyond that.

Exactly this.   

even if the lady herself gives a "first hand" account of what went down, we're only getting HER SIDE of the story.  (which I guarantee will be presented in a way that makes her look all shiny and pretty...  while making Carnival the evil horn wearing bad guys)

the news has no idea...  they report whatever they need to in order to get views.  Its very rarely the TRUTH or the WHOLE story (and by very rarely, I mean like almost never!)...  they spin the story however they need to, to create drama and generate views. 

(honestly, I can't believe anyone watches the news anymore...  unless they're watching it as they would NCIS or Seinfeld, a purely fabricated show for entertainment only)

so we will never know what truly happened...  but I also believe that she likely got belligerent when they told her she couldn't bring them on board and made a fuss and turned it into more than it needed to be.

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

So, the libraries are not a source of income for the cruise lines. At what point are the bean counters going to realize that no one is paying to swim and replace the pools with gift shops? 😒

many parents, though, ARE technically paying for their kids to swim.  They'll choose a ship / cruise line based off of what amenities there are for their kids and I feel like the pool is a big part of it (as well as the splash pads and waterslides, etc).   

Take out the pools and they'll also be taking out the "family" unless they replace it with some other equally "fun" activity for the kids to do ALL DAY EVERY DAY

4 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I have no problem with it, as I stated, but I still think adults in bed clothes in a public eating venue is tacky.  You can also make the argument that older large man in a Speedo in lido having fun is tacky.  Do I care?  Nope. But it's tacky.

but seriously...  what are pajamas?  I can't think of a single "pj" that can't also be compared to another form of regular clothing...   even lingerie, to be honest, can be similar to the bikini's that you see all over beaches nowadays.   You can't even say that the "patterns" on them make them PJ's vs regular clothes since there are SOO many different patterns on everything now!
 

flannel pants are like sweat pants

tank tops are already worn everywhere at any time

lace?  it's on blouses

or is the fact that many pj sets have a matching top & bottom, in the same pattern?  Don't mens suits do the same thing?   the jacket and the pants are the same?