CanWeGoYet?

Thanks Eddie.  I got a pretty good rate through the cruise line because I booked the excursion when they were offering Carnival coupon promo codes.  Weather forecast keeps changing, now it may be just cloudy?  But thanks for the link for the passport card.  Maybe someone else will benefit from it!  

Even if you didn't book directly with Carnival, this is a piece of garbage.  If you booked late and then had no option of the same cabin back to back, and still choose to book - that would be one thing.  But you booked early enough to have the same cabin B2B, and that is what anyone would want.  He should be making a big fuss.  And also, the first person on the bottom rung who answers the phone at Carnival is probably not going to have enough pull to make a change.  Asking for a manager, and after that his manager, etc, might be more helpful.  

I know its extra work for him, but if it weren't for the travel agent you might be able to do it yourself.  You can't.  He needs to step up.  At the very least, he should be asking for OBC or something to atone for this inconvenient cabin change.  I really thought it was not something a cruise line would do, that if you did not book a "guarantee" rate that you had your cabin once you booked it.  A deal's a deal.

I booked a shore excursion / day pass for what is reported to be Breathless Resort.  Booked through Carnival so not 100% on that, but it's mentioned in many of the reviews.

Will be there next week, and now apparently there is a tropical storm / what is predicted to wind down to a tropical remnant on our port day.   

If we can even tender in, are there any sheltered areas outdoors at this resort?   Seriously considering cancelling ahead of the cruise.  Unless the cruise line cancels the excursion, they lobby a 25% penalty after you board & 100% within 24 hours of the excursion.  I have a little more time to watch the weather reports, but this is not looking good.  

Thank you Thank you!!!!!  Cruise coming up and those fun times are so helpful!

14 hours ago, Alsmez said:

 

Our plan is actually just to pick up in Seattle on the morning of the trip and drive straight to the other rental agency in Vancouver to drop off that afternoon, no parking required. I noticed when searching hotels that parking was not widely available and the city seems quite manageable on foot or with public transportation/cabs, so no need to pay to rent and park a car. I found Avis locations near our hotels in both cities that allow for a one-way rental so it should be a fairly easy process. 

Very good!  That was the only bit of advice I had to offer.  That adding a parking charge to the hotel bill would be pricey, driving here in Seattle can be a pain, and paying for parking once you got to your sightseeing location would likely add to costs.  

If you can load Uber on to your phone, it's quick and cheap.  International district in Seattle has many choices for Asian food, or stop at Uwajimaya (there is no ooo sound at the beginning of the word, just say wah-jee-maya) a Japanese store with lots of food & gift / souvenir choices as well as a good sized food court or deli area with sushi, cooked food to go etc.   

If you have a toiletry or dopp kit with many small bottles of liquids like shampoo, conditioner, mouth wash etc they might go unnoticed there.  Likely the worst that could happen would be they find them & take them away.  

Good idea  to check around, I skip the Carnival insurance because it doesn't provide coverage for pre-existing condition.  Look into Squaremouth.com or Insuremytrip.com  You can get a side by side comparison of what coverage is offered on different plans, and you can plug in filters that are important to you.  I always get coverage for medevac, and primary coverage saves waiting on a denial / submitting paperwork to your regular health insurance first.  Squaremouth has a box to tick for cruise trip insurance, it has coverage high enough to cover treatment requiring medevac.  From what I've seen from my trip insurance policies, people on your plan have to be relatives or living at the same address, or they are not covered.  But you can double check with the plan seller, they are the experts.  

The companies will probably be happy to sell you a plan, but if something goes south you don't want to hear that for this reason or that - the coverage is excluded in this instance.  

I think if you book the trip insurance within 2 weeks of the first payment, pre-existing coverage is not expensive.  If you wait longer, it can get very pricey.  So good for you for checking into this right after booking.  

Thanks, Hank.  I'll definitely bring mosquito repellent with us.   

I haven't done it since 2012 & 2013, so don't have current info.  Back then I walked up after disembarking, they held on to suitcases & you could either show your sail & sign card for a free ticket to board the ship &  tour on your own, or get a discount at buying a tour.  You did need to stop at the ticket booth & get a ticket either way.  

No matter what you'll still be at an advantage over tourists who need to drive there to tour.  From the tripadvisor reviews it seems the expense of parking is one of the biggest complaints.  

It goes without saying to bring a wear mosquito repellant, but would you necessarily even learn of a mosquito swarm in advance / getting off the ship?  Such a catastrophic result if even one affected mosquito found you.  

I don't know the topography of PV or the surrounding area at all.  Had planned on finding a taxi or uber to the botanical  gardens outside puerto vallarta - will the route there be affected by the flooding?  Trip won't be until late november.  

It sounds like there must be lots of glass bottom boat tours in Cabo, I would recommend not booking with the cruise line but just scouting out one on your own.  That way hopefully you can see the condition of the boat in advance of paying for the tour.

My first cruise that stopped in Cabo, I went through the cruise line for the boat tour.  The bottom of the boat was so dirty we had a hard time seeing anything, it was that or the water was so murky that day it was hopeless.  Hopefully you could see the conditions of the water & know if this would be a worthwhile activity.  

21 hours ago, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

 

Wow, then I should be surprised to have been on a peaceful cruise.  

This was not a typical Carnival cruise in my experience.  It was a 3 day out of Miami to Nassau on the Imagination.  In December.  Basically a rock bottom price cruise that many wouldn't even need to take vacation time off for - a booze cruise.   Our next door neighbor was screaming the F bomb, playing guitar & his female companion howling with loud laughter up to 4AM when I finally called security.  They were great, on it, came within a few minutes & no more out of these two for the rest of the night.  That morning it was a whole Customs Immigration & ship's security convention outside their door - I don't know what happened but it didn't look good for them.  Disembarking, port police running up the ramps looking for people & squad cars circling the pier apparently doing the same.  It looked like an episode of cops, there was so much police activity on disembark day.  Not typical of my experience either on any cruise line, had this been my first carnival cruise I would have made wrong assumptions about the cruise line.  

In my personal experience, I've had more issues with motion sickness on west coast cruises than any other.  Even transatlantic / transpacific the seas have given me far less grief overall.  That and brrr that Cabo / Catalina Isand / Ensenada cruise was cold in March.  Even cold on the ship, I was glad I brought a winter weight flannel nightgown to sleep in.  

I don't regret my current booking on Carnival.  It isn't a new itinerary for me, but a reasonable price for a cruise over a holiday and in an awesome class of suite I haven't been on yet.  That said, I will probably be booking Celebrity or other cruise lines in the future aside from a quick local getaway.   My bucket list has itineraries that are not common on Carnival, unless they are Journey cruises - and it seems those are at a premium higher than what the other mass market cruise lines charge.   The 1-2-3 promotions on Celebrity more than make up for any disparity in price between the two lines.  

A large extended family on the Imagination, screaming at the top of the lungs threatening to beat the #@$* out of another group of people in the atrium.  It was mainly noise and not a physical altercation though.

I think the most stunning visual was at embarkation on the Amsterdam, a woman I dubbed the sparkle sprite.  Wearing purple glitter, battery lights & blinged out from head to toe.  The shoes, the ball cap, every visible piece of clothing absolute blinding sparkle & bling.  

The other issue is not recommending an excursion unless you've been on it.  That is another rule.

I don't know if Carnival needs to cut anything - we all want a great cruise at a great price, but I'd gladly pay 25% more to have the cruises I came to love in the 90s.  Or even 10 years ago.  

BUT, if some things need to be cut - the platinum gift, the horrible chocolate covered mushy / half rotten strawberries, quit developing the photos and just have the photos be available to view from your state room or at kiosks throughout the ship - then pay to develop what you like.  

On 9/15/2019 at 4:18 AM, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Due to the fact that crew at all levels on a ship are constantly changing, I would never judge a ship by the crew only. If you have a good or bad experience on a ship because of the crew, odds are really good if you sail on the same ship 6 months or more later that the crew will be significantly different. 

Good point, and I did consider this.   But this was not the case of a random employee here or there, it seemed across departments and a significant amount of poor attitude / burnt out staff.  I don't think it was a coincidental situation of bad attitude people in the employ, because these things don't exist in a vacuum.  It's bad management that affects morale, either working conditions being such that workers are at the end of their rope or no follow up / repercussions for poor service.   Unless  the management from the top down turned over I don't know if I'd want to chance a replay.  

I had a less  than ideal cruise on the Imagination, but it was not the fault of the crew.  It was a sort booze cruise out of miami to Nassau, and despite the prison yard demeanor of a few of the passengers - security was top notch and on it.

But my last cruise on the Conquest - the problem was the crew.  Not all of the crew of course, but there was a morale problem and I would not want to be on this ship again.  Hoping this was an isolated situation and not the general direction of the cruise line, because it was in 2017 and my first carnival cruise in several years.

I certainly would hope not.  It isn't like you have any input on extending the cruise, or decided to book that length of cruise & budget for the extra cost.  

The 3 and 4 day Carnival cruises I've been on to Ensenada / Catalina have had pretty well behaved cruisers at least in my experience.   On one of the cruises there was a huge family reunion going on, looked like hundreds of folks with the same custom t-shirts.  Aside from a very snotty teenager who seemed angry at life in general - no issues at all on these cruises.  

The 3 day Nassau cruise I took on the Imagination was so bad, I was stunned.  There were fights in the lobby, a large family screaming & fighting with another family, and even though 95% of the passengers were perfectly well behaved - the ones who weren't were so bad it felt like being in a scene from a prison movie.  Had that been my first carnival cruise it would have been my last.

And the 4 day HAL coastal cruise I went on, had an extremely rowdy young crowd roving the ship at night.  It was quiet in the daytime but maybe they were sleeping in.  Not what I was expecting on HAL.  Probably would never happen on a 7 day cruise.  You can make generalities about how the different cruise lines draw different types of passengers, but I think it's pushing it to make generalities from limited experience.  

My last cruise to Alaska was in June several years ago.  And every single port day we had temperatures in the 80s.  It was beautiful, but I didn't plan for that much hot weather.  I like early season best I think for Alaska, first cruise of the season in may was perfect.  Not hot, rain unlikely, lots of snow in the Yukon and no mosquitoes.  

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

 

 

I assume this this is something we can do with our itinerary. 

 

 

 

Sorry, my ensenada outings have all been on cruises that specifically stopped there.  Quite a few do, I've taken some from long beach that also hit catalina island, or frequently longer cruises use ensenada as their foreign port stop.  It's really quite far from cabo and your other port stops.   Also, ensenada is not everyone's cup of tea.  I love it because I love to try food off the ship, and to me La Guerrerense is as good as it gets.  But it isn't a polished port town, a little  rough around the edges for some people.  

I have my 3rd mexican riviera trip planned, same ports you mentioned, and I like the itinerary.  I had traveled on regular land vacations a few times also to Mazatlan.  Pretty easy to navigate with the buses or taxis, just have to negotiate the fare before you get in the cab.  

I love Ensenada even more, great food & I have a spa day every  time I have had a port stop there, at Massage & Facial Care.  

I think it's worth at least one cruise to check out the itinerary, but the beaches are definitely not like the crystal blue, warm water at half moon cay etc.