cloudydrms

Is the 50% off wine in the steak restaurant offered on all ships and sailings? We haven't cruised Carnival since 2012, and I'm trying to get a handle on some of the specialty dining discounts that are offered. RCCL offers quite a few prior to embarkation.

Cindy

I'm curious what the PYOW in the Library of the Sunshine costs? Does it vary based on brand/variety?

Cindy

We are in 7162 on ovation at the moment and I presume anthem is the same .

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Trixie,

Don't know if you'll see this, but we're in 7162 on the Anthem in February 2018 (still a way off). With all of the hub bub about staying on Deck 7 on Quantum ships I'm starting to get concerned about the life boats being right below this deck. I love the location of this cabin and that it has a larger deck. Did the life boats being right under you interfere at all?

Cindy

I would not depend on any show or activity being exactly when you plan for it, as there have been so many changes made by Royal over the past few months, on Anthem.

First, thanks to Dina for posting the recent 5 nt Bermuda Compasses that she found. They really help me to line up dining times. I still haven't gotten a handle on how to schedule dining times and not miss everything I want to do at night. It amazes me how people just fly blind and somehow make it work.

Second, why do you think there have been so many changes on Anthem? It's funny that the reviews for Anthem are less than stellar. I'm pretty sure I'll like her (hope so since we have both a 5 nt and a 12 nt already booked on her). Do you think they're making changes because of people's displeasure with Anthem?

Cindy

Is there only 1 Welcome Aboard Show on all the 5 Nt. Bermuda cruises?

 

I am looking at the Compass from the June 25th cruise & it shows only one show at 6:30.

Is that always the showtime on the 5 nt. Bermuda cruise?

 

Also, how long is the Welcome Aboard Show?

 

Thank you!

Dina

Dina,

I'd love to know where you saw the June 25th Bermuda cruise Compass. We're going in September and I've seen other Compasses but not one that recent.

Cindy

I noticed you have the ultimate dining package - we did that too. By mid-week, it was tough to get a reservation for any of the remaining days so you may want to book those in advance if you can. Otherwise, if you're stuck, try checking on the day of, we did that twice and were able to get in on cancellations.

 

Have fun!!!

Glad you said something while I was planning on booking all of my nights in advance, I had given some though to not booking a few of the days just to see if I'd want to go to the MDR or something like that. Now that you've said this I'll go ahead and book specialty restaurants and then cancel them as we make other plans.

Thanks so much!!

Cindy

I'll be cruising on the Gem in April for 10 nights to the Eastern Caribbean. How long was your cruise? It sounds like you had a good time. I'm wondering what times the shows were generally so I can plan my dinner times. Thanks for the review!

Cindy

I'm curious if I take the #7 bus from Warwick or Horseshoe back towards the Dockyard if there are any casual seafood sandwich places that anyone would recommend?

Thanks!

Cindy

Hi there,

 

I read this thread prior to our trip last week. We got dropped off at Horseshoe Bay in the early morning then made our way towards the far end as soon as it got crowded. We then got on a path and wanted to walk to Warwick and ultimately hit the Swizzle Inn.

 

Well, we must have gotten on the wrong path. We ended up coming out at the park where there was this odd tent set up near a parking lot. This led us to the road where we walked...and walked...and walked....

 

And I totally got made fun of for thinking we could actually walk from Horseshoe to Swizzle. The husbands finally convinced us (after many nerve-wracking moments of crossing the narrow road, having no shoulder, and fast scooters zooming by) to stop at the next bus stop. So, we got on the #7, headed toward Hamilton and literally around the corner was Swizzle Inn.

 

The waiter at Swizzle looked at us like we were crazy that we walked there from Horseshoe Bay. That and it was crazy windy so we were covered in sand. It was a fun adventure, but I definitely wouldn't try it with my kids. I feel like we took a wrong turn--the path we took didn't take us to Warwick--I couldn't even tell you where we ended up. I wish it had been marked better. Oh well! Still saw some beautiful views and the rum swizzles were great!

 

Amy

So I'm assuming the thing to do if you make it to Warwick would be to just go ahead and catch the #7 to The Swizzle Inn? That would be going towards Hamilton, correct?

Cindy

I'm just curious if we took the #7 bus from Horseshoe Bay if there is a casual, local place with good seafood sandwiches on the way back from the beach to the Dockyard. We're not all-dayers on the beach anyway, so it might be fun to stop somewhere for lunch on the way home to the ship.

Thanks!

Cindy

Day 1 - Magic/Comedy Levent was good.

Day 2 - Singer Bobby Arvon was okay, not for me.

Day 3 - Comedy Michele Balan, did not see.

Day 4 - Comedy/Juggler Billy Prudhomme was okay.

Day 5 - Saturday Night Fever was very good.

 

Also, Sophia Band was very good, played regularly in the Olive and Twist.

 

As always, YMMV

 

.

Great! Thanks again. This really helps. I think we'll try to see Day 1, maybe Day 4, and definitely Day 5. And I was wondering about the Sophia Band, so we'll be sure to catch them.

Cindy

Thanks so much for the wonderful review! You've definitely gotten me excited for my cruise to Bermuda on Liberty a week from tomorrow. I especially enjoyed your pics of your early morning jaunt around the ship.

Cindy

First, let me say thanks for posting the 5 nt Cruise Compasses for the Liberty. I'll be sailing on her next Saturday. But, I have to say I'm sort of disappointed. I'd seen some Cruise Compasses from earlier this spring and seen that they had an aerialist show and a Cirque de Soleil kind of show. To go from that to the same ole same ole Juggler, Comedian, Magician is a grand disappointment. I am looking forward to SNF since it's something different. I'm getting sort of jaded and tired of the comedians and jugglers. I mean how many of them can you see before it gets boring. Wondering if you saw any of the shows and which ones you thought were worth it.

Thanks again! I really do appreciate it despite the griping. Ha!

Cindy

Tried to make reservations as well as we are a 'group' of about 8 - and it seems they don't take reservations! :(

 

we may still take our chances and of course have a backup plan!

We ate at Punto de Vista during our cruise a week or so ago. Had a great meal! We went fairly early - 5:00 or 5:30 on a Saturday and had no problem getting a seat.

Cindy

My husband and I are cruising on Grandeur in 12 days so I've been keeping pretty close tabs on what's been happening on board that ship. The last several reviews I've read stated that there has been no aerial show on board. Such a shame. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but first and foremost want everything to be safe. It seems odd that it isn't fixed yet though since it's been several months since there was an issue.

Cindy

We're going on a Grandeur OTS cruise in just a couple of weeks. I've already booked one night at Chops. I think I want to book a night at Chef's Table and Giovanni's as well. Right now if I book in advance they'll give me 30% off in onboard credit. Will they offer something better onboard? It seems like someone said you might get that same deal with an additional 20% coupon for Izumi, but I'm not sure. If I decided to wait until I get onboard, would I need to cancel my existing reservation at Chops now so that I'll be eligible for onboard offers?

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Cindy

Hi Cindy,

All aft cabins will not have access. Deck 8 and 9 are not included in the re-class. My cabin is one of the lucky ones that get to look but not join during the day. But its fine, Lido is only two decks up which is probably why they are not included. Having the Havana pool there will hopefully lighten the crowd up on Lido.:D

Sorry you didn't get access, Cruiser1202. It would have been pretty sweet to have access to a "private" pool 3 floors down or go up two to all the action. I may be joining you up there if they keep adding cabins. Ha!

Cindy

Just one last thing, there was a more specific post about additional havana cabins on a Facebook thread:

Please note as of today, new categories have been added to Carnival Vista, and cabins have been re-categorized, see below recap of the changes, list of cabins affected has been attached.

1. 3 new Havana Balcony categories added:

* HM - Havana Premium Vista Balcony

* HL – Havana Premium Balcony

* HI – Havana Aft-View Extended Balcony

2. 24 cabins re-categorized:

* 14 aft-facing balconies (8M) converted to new “Havana Aft-View Extended Balcony” (HI)

* 2 premium balconies (9B) converted to new “Havana Premium Balcony” (HL)

* 4 wrap-around balconies (9C) converted to new “Havana Premium Vista Balcony” (HM)

* 2 standard balconies (8D) converted to Wrap around Balcony” (9C)

* 2 interior cabins on deck 7 (4E) converted to the existing “Havana Interior” category (HA)

3. 9 interior cabins (4D) have been removed from inventory.

This basically means that more cabins have access to the Havana area during the day.

Great for those of you that this may benefit, but I gotta say I'm not so excited about so many more cabins sharing that space. So now we're just going to be fighting all sorts of towels holding down the chairs at the Havana pool. So what's the benefit I have to ask? So, now do all those balconies currently overlooking the pool have access? That sounds fair. I'd hate to have to sit and look at people in their private pool all day. That would be sorta depressing.

I admit that I really have no idea how crowded this pool will be now. I think I'm going to go and do some research on some of the NCL private areas like this and see how many cabins (people) have access to these private areas. At this point the Havana area sounds a little overloaded to me, but what do I know?

Cindy

There are stairs but you can see a good bit by using some of the ramps. You may not be able to get all the way down, but there is still plenty to see. Just take the trolley, which at times goes very close to the entrance of El Morro. From there, I believe the next stop is San Cristobal Fort. Even if i could not climb all of the steps, I would still go as its something worth seeing even partially.

Thanks for the info, PortMaster. I actually think that we may just hop on the trolley to see what we can see. I've never actually gotten out to see much of OSJ on our visits there, so I think it'll be interesting even if we can't climb to the top of the forts.

Cindy

I agree. Both forts have a lot of stairs.

I thought it would be pretty unusual if there weren't a lot of stairs at the fort. That's the whole idea...to be up high so you can see people coming from far away. Thanks for the info. Hubby and I will have to be content just eating at a nice restaurant this trip.

Cindy

You can get them on the beach, if and when you decide you want them. They have PLENTY! Or, you can bring a cheap, blow up float, and avoid the rental fee!!!

That's what I kind of figured, but I wasn't sure. A blow up makes A LOT of sense!

Cindy

The rafts that some say are well worth it and some say to skip...can you get them once on shore or do you have to buy them on the ship or earlier?

Cindy

I remember reading a post describing the different vendor areas on Labadee. I see that the three areas are Artisans Village, Artisans Market, and Artisans Showcase. Which one is the one where they don't bug you? I know there's one. I think it's in a building.

Cindy

Generally, I'm not the one that would look at American stores in port, but I remember reading one time that the OSJ store had really good deals. From someone who's been there: Are these just normal outlet prices like what you find in the U.S. or is there really something special about the Coach store in OSJ?

Cindy

As many times as we've been to San Juan, we've never been to El Morro. My hubby broke his hip in January and is still walking with a cane. I figured that El Morro was out because typically there are a lot of steps at forts but I recently came across a picture that looked like maybe there weren't too many if you took the trolley to the front. So, my question is are there tons of steps making it impossible for hubby to do (or steep hills)?

Thanks in advance.

Cindy