heatherbelle

I bought as sapphire and diamond ring from Enmerald City in Antigua back in the 90's.

 

It cost £500 at the time. When I returned to the UK I had it evaluated for insurance purposes and they gave it a value if £1200. So I was very happy. I still wear it everyday. I just wished I had spent a bit more on a bigger ring:D

 

I also received a letter from the shop a few weeks after I got home thanking me for my purchase.

 

One day I will return.

Thanks for the replies, that's very helpful. Sadly Orlando prices are not within my budget. Direct from the UK $1800 dollars in economy, even one way you are taking around $1300. Jacksonville is a lot cheaper as it's less popular.

 

I think we will go down the driving part way when we land staying overnight. We will be awake at around 4.00 am due to the time difference anyway and can beat the traffic and have a look around the port area, maybe stop at fishlips if it's open or somewhere similar.

How long does it take to drive from Jacksonville airport to Port Canaveral? We will be flying in Friday from the UK to take a cruise on the Saturday.bso ideally need a place to stay too, not sure if it will be better to stay near the airport or drive straight down to Port Canaveral depending how long it would take.

 

Can anyone also recommend car hire companies that have both pick ups and drop offs at different places too we will need a people carrier as there are 6 of us.

We're flying to the States this year with my airmiles it worked out a lot cheaper than cruising the Med with the cruise lines available. I think we were all spoilt last year with Carnivals cheap pricing following the bad press the Sunshine initially received and the other ship that was left drifting at sea.

Hiya Velvet

 

I think they are just trying to flog Carnival cruises in the states. Maybe there is more commission in it for the UK TA's, plus they are cheaper in the main than the other major players, what with the cost of the airfare to the states, it makes for an overall cheaper holiday.

 

I have been scouring the European ports for months and not a sniff of a Carnival cruise to be had so I think it is highly unlikely, unless of course they are doing a Disney and have asked for the port dates to be withheld until they have made their announcement, which i very much doubt. There would have been a slip up somewhere. Of course I could be wrong and they will be back next year.

 

I wish they would they were a whole lot cheaper than the other lines.

 

Jenna I have been looking at NCL too, but it's an old smaller ship, in fact a lot of them next year are older smaller boats. No doubt because of Venice. They have the big shiny ones for the main ports, two of which are sailing out of Southampton, but you waste 4 days in freezing cold temperatures, (even in July).

I am wondering if anyone has been in Venice whilst this was on. I am looking at the Celebrity cruise for next July, however I am also wondering just how busy Venice will be. We were there last year a week after the festival and it was busy then.

If anyone has been can they also suggest where to watch the fireworks?

Try searching on here for the Sunshine there has been a whole host of posts about it in the last few weeks that will answer your question with hints and tips too.

 

The Sunshine is a lovely ship having sailed on here. As always everyone has their own opinion, it's like trip advisor, you have to consider some of the posts with a pinch of salt and you also have to consider how many people sail to the few who actually bother to write a review. Since she went to the States, I haven't read anything bad about her, in comparison to the rest of the Carnival ships.

 

There were lots of past Breeze cruisers on my Sunshine cruise and they all prefered the Breeze, which is larger and newer.

I have done both and IMO the longer the better so Sunshine. The kids would love either. One you have characters the other a better water park. The food is better on Disney for adults for the kids they won't notice it. Work out the cost per night and Carnival will of course be the bargain.

 

I did have a 7 nighter booked on the Fantasy this summer and I cancelled it for the Breeze 8 nighter.

 

I am a die hard Disney fan, but I work hard for my salary and I want value for money. Disney is wonderful but at a cost.

That's because they probably have nothing new to offer. I remember I was waiting for Europe, ships were listed as calling at various Med ports and then they pulled out.

 

You watch it will be the same old ports all US/Caribbean based, good job I have a back up plan.:rolleyes:

Thanks Claudia

 

I am a seasoned Med cruiser (well 2 cruises ) but been on lots of land holidays over the years, no jet lag to worry about, so I pack as much as I can in, up at 6 for the sunrise bed around midnight and out and about during the day, I love it.:D. The other two think I am mad.

 

Even though Celebrity sounds much more up market than what we are use to, it's the ports that are drawing me in. Even on good old Carnival, I sit at the back of the ship and ignore the pool type games, but we found the entertainment for us the adults much better than Disney. On a Disney med cruise most folks were in bed for 10 the ship was empty. Maybe it was because the kids were a lot younger than on Carnival.

 

I keep looking at the Constellation sailing out of Venice, it ticks quite a lot of my bucket list, plus some old favourites too. The only down side is how busy Venice will be due to the festival.

This is a long way to go from the ship. Yes I would take the ships tour to be on the safe side. I went to Pamakkule over 30 years ago before it was spoiled the tourists. Beautiful place. The buses then stopped at the top and it was slightly hilly, but not unreasonably so.

I would google some pics and also post on the Port guide section of CC.

Can someone help also with entertainment on an evening. Is there more than one show on an evening? We have sailed on DCL and Carnival, there is usually 1 main large scale production show and other smaller shows comedian for example later on in another venue, so we usually go to three different shows per night. We are not ones to sit in a bar drinking, we like to stay up quite late too. We can sleep when we get home.:D I am looking at Med cruises over 10 nights, so Reflection and Constellation for 2015.

 

I have told the boys they will have to wear long pants.

 

Can I also ask is it normal to receive large amounts of OBC this far in advance?. I have been offered $850 from one TA, with $200 of that from Celebrity.

 

Thanks

 

When you pick your own cabin and mouse over the cabin it shows the cabin pax number 2 3 or 4:)

 

I do wish Carnival would update their technology so we can see that info on iPads etc and not have to log into an old fashioned laptop.:D

Gosh that cruise isa bargain, prime time school holidays too.

 

For low cost carriers in the UK try the following:

Vueling,

British Airways

Jet2

Easyjet

 

Just be careful on London airports, they are miles away from each other.

 

Also consider flying into Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid too, it will be cheaper due to the high passenger duty tax we have here in the UK. For anyone with a load of airmiles consider using those for part or all of your flights. I think KLM offer a free stop over.

 

A return to the US direct from Manchester in school holidays is £1200 or around $1700 and that's in economy.

The problem with the Sunshine is that when the refurb was done there were BIG problems. The posts which discussed all of issues and who was to blame were removed. They were written by someone who witnessed first hand what happened before the new refurb ship sailed. I think Carnival learned a big lesson from that and that is why they are not prepared to take the risk on another big refurb.

 

I truly believe that once another summer season has past the ratings will shoot up, as more people post positive reviews. You have to remember that in the June 2013 and July 2013 sailings there were major issues with cabins mainly new ones and I remember on the first sailing there were complaints of closed pools/ waterworks/wire walk/mini golf too. Those early reviews bring the ratings down. Only read the reviews from when she moved back to the states. The early Med ones should be ignored in the main scheme of things.

 

I am on the Breeze in August and it will be interesting to see how they compare.

We sail on the Sunshine on April 19th! Can't wait!!! Does anyone have any insight on Anytime Dining? This'll be the first time out of the MDR and I'm a little nervous...

 

 

Serenity

 

We had this, back in July service was very slow and a number of times the food was cold, so much so that when my main came I had to call the head waiter. After that no problem, I was given a red ticket (warning to server I was a complainer) and my food from then on was always pipping hot.

 

I imagine now the crew are experienced the service time is faster. On the Med cruises the bust time was 7.30 to 8.15 and the line was very, very long.

Have a great time. I have already completed a 12 night cruise on the Sunshine last summer:D

I can remember seeing a ramp from the main pool deck up to Senerity the level with the pool.

When you go into the buffet area it will be packed, grab your food walk then walk all the way through to the Havanna bar area, this section will be empty with plenty of seats. This is where you will also find the Italian place and Ji, Ji's, you can sit here for breakfast and lunch for free. At lunchtimes there are long lines here later on in your cruise once people discover that these are free for lunch. Ji, Ji serves lovely stir fry dishes and the Italian has delicious pasta, so try them early on in your cruise;)

 

Get to the theatres early after dinner if you want a seat otherwise you will have to stand to watch the show, the same with Punchliners. Very small venues given the passenger capacity with the added cabins.

I was on the ship in July when it still had a few issues.

 

The ship was fantastic, service was slow in the dining room, but most of the staff were new then, there were a few buckets catching drips, I never saw any water in the buckets, other than the water bucket on top deck:D.

 

I had a problem with a shower deck 8 cabin 8117, but other than those few very minor issues the cruise was great. It's a lovely ship and you would never know how old it actually was. All guest areas great, little bit if wear and tear here and there, a few missed brushed strokes with paint.

 

Give the ship a go and when you get back write a review. I think I gave it 4 stars, but I have cruised in DCL and Carnival can never compete nor do they try to. One costs a small fortune the other is reasonable. I gave DCL 5.

 

We enjoyed the Sunshine so much we will be sailing on the Breeze this summer and paying a fortune (airfare) to do so.

Another Explorer

 

Italian Mediterranean

9th Aug 2015 (14 nights)

Ports of Call: Southampton, Gibraltar, Villefranche, Rome (Civitavecchia), Florence and Pisa (Livorno, Italy), Provence...

 

I couldn't find any last night around 4.00 PM UK time.

Explorer is open for bookings on the 3 April 2015. I can get them up on a UK agencies website.

 

Italian Mediterranean

12th Jul 2015 (14 nights)

Ports of Call: Southampton, Gibraltar, Villefranche, Rome (Civitavecchia), Florence and Pisa (Livorno, Italy), Provence Malaga, Lisbon, Southampton

 

Spain & Med Beaches

26th Jul 2015 (14 nights)

Ports of Call: Southampton, Gibraltar, Malaga, Spain, Nice, Ajaccio, Cagliari, Palma, Seville, Southampton

 

Nothing shown for August, so they could still be loading them into the system.

Ncl is a brand new ship. The a Sunshine which I have been in is an old ship, with a complete make over. Very nicely done IMO.

 

If it were me I would go on the brand new ship, especially as you are saving $700. That will more than pay for one of you to do a shorter cruise another time.:D

 

 

I am having trouble making the same decision with the Getaway and the Breeze for the summer at the moment, but currently the prices are the same, albeit in an OV on the Breeze compared to a balcony on the Getaway. I am waiting to see if prices drop anymore. I also get better ports on the Breeze and 1 extra night.

 

I have not cruised on NCL, but you have so you know both lines.

I feel that had Carnival left the fun select rate on the booking engine for everyone to see, alongside the KSF and whatever other promotions they had people wouldn't moaning, myself included. It's because it was hidden in the small print, that it looks deceptive, plus they also had the wrong prices posted when the KSF hit our screens.

More transparency is the key.:rolleyes:

I speak from NCL experience, but it is the port who run the shuttles. Last year I think it was $15 each into the town centre. From there you buy bus tickets, the bus then takes you to the train station.

 

It's a bit of a faff. If I were to do it again, I would either do a tour on your own type package or look at a private excursion. You might get a better response on the ports thread. There are taxis waiting at the port both inside and outside, but these will be after longer excursions and not wanting a one way fare to the train station. Allow an hour to get to the station.

 

There is an excellent video on utube that shows you how to do it and also an excellent Carnival Legend review with photos.