cruzinlisa

If you order a copy of your booking invoice from whomever you booked thru it will show up on there. They are posted in date order so if your cruise is more than 2 weeks away it may not be posted yet

I booked with a TA but added it myself later. Will it still show up? I am not sure if they would request a new invoice, since I had gotten one when I booked.

I'm going on Majesty of the Seas Friday for the 15th time on this ship so I MAY be a little biased. Never sailed on Carnival and don't plan to. But I've talked to enough people to have enough information.

 

The Majesty is a beautiful ship and the overall food and staff are as good or better than any ship in the fleet. There may not be the wide selection of food options but it's all good. They have a Johnny Rockets which is really good!

 

I think if you want a pure spring break party atmosphere and don't care too much about anything else, then go with Carnival. If you want a really nice ship with excellent food and superior service, go with Majesty. I would spend a little more $ to get a Deck 9 OV stateroom. For a little more $ you get a very spacious stateroom.

I have been on plenty of Carnival cruises, including a 5 day on Elation and it was nothing like a spring break atmosphere. It is an older ship, no waterworks area, no speciality dining. But it was a good time.

That said, I might lean toward Majesty, although I have never been on it. If the drink package is a big deal, Carnival will require both parties to purchase and it will be capped at 15 drinks. Plenty for me, but if the husband is a big drinker, it might be an issue.

I do mine online. In the comments box I put my reservation number, cabin number and my Crown & Anchor number. Be sure to print your confirmation email and bring it with you. The OBC may take a few days to show up in your onboard account.

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WHere does it show up on your account? I redeemed mine several days ago and I don't know how to tell if they have applied it to my account. Can you tell online? Is it in your cruise docs?

I was on the Liberty 10 months ago.

 

For me, the "hard sell" was the Head Waiter coming to our dinner table each night selling specialty restaurant packages while we were eating.

 

We were a captive audience at our dinner table. My wife and I have always looked forward to bonding with our MDR table-mates; we haven't had a bad experience yet (except one night in the NCL Jewel MDR when we were seated with an elderly Cuban couple who pretended to not speak English).

 

It was particularly off-putting for me to listen to the sales pitch and then say "No" to the people who are otherwise being very gracious and pleasant to us each night. The MDR wait staff are a more personal relationship than the Promenade table-staff offering jewelry discounts or drink packages.

 

I felt that it was an intrusion on the relationship that we established, as our servers knew our names, our tastes, our favorite drinks, and then became salesmen for RCI during our meals.

 

 

Steve

The most selling I ever experience (on a ship) was on Celebrity. They were selling drink packages (which we already had as did many people since it was a "perk") and they were selling specialty dining. I do recall being approached a few times about dining. The drink package thing was mainly the first afternoon. It was annoying, but not enough to ruin the experience. I will still consider it to be one of my favorite cruises and I love the cruise line.

I did not notice much selling on Disney or Carnival. On Disney all I really noticed was with specialty cups or cocktails on pirate night or in the MDR, but nothing really extreme. On Carnival, they give you a lot of paper about art shows, inch of gold and sales and probably make announcements, but you can tune them out.

The dining room thing would put me out a lot. Other than that though, I just say no. Maybe its all the experience of shopping in the tourist areas in Jamaica (especially), Nassau, or Mexico with the constant barrage of "come look at this" that has desensitized me.

As far as the parent alone time, if the kids are little, send them to camp. If they are old enough that they are too cool for camp, then why not just tell them, from 1-2 (or whatever), Mom and Dad are taking a nap. Please do not disturb us. So what if they read into it. Its life and if they are old enough to figure out what you mean, they probably figure you are doing it anyway.

Cariloha. Amazing.

They look like those decorative pearls that you can buy for cake decorating like at Hobby Lobby or even Walmart. I bought some for my DD's cake one year. They are kind of like big sprinkles. They weren't especially tasty- just like sugar.

I won't pay that much for a cake. And I am celebrating my birthday and anniversary. Now if they had a really good cupcake (like carrot cake or red velvet with good cream cheese icing), I might pay extra for it. As long as it is reasonable- like $5 give or take. DH would not eat it anyway, and DD and I could share a cupcake. I don't need a whole cake.

Promenade was not an option for me with 3, but if it had been I probably would have booked it just to check it out. I am also interested in the boardwalk or central park balconies on Oasis class, just to see what it is like.

I don't mind an inside room with the darkness. I sleep much better. If it were a port intensive cruise I would not want one though- I would sleep all the time. I am one of those people who wakes up about 5 or so to go to the bathroom. If natural light hits my eyes, it is over for me. Even a tiny bit. Artificial light (like the bathroom light) does not do it for me. We have two windows in our bedroom right by our bed. I get no sleep on the weekends. On a cruise on a sea day, I could sleep until 9 or even (gasp) 10. What is even better is... SO DOES MY DAUGHTER (who is now 6). :eek: And unlike most kids (insert sarcastic wink here ;)), she is a bear when she does not get enough sleep.

A small area with some limited selections would be nice. On Disney they had a little buffet with pub type of food in the bar areas. They had things like mini crab Rangoon, meatballs, sliders, wings, mini tacos etc. They would put it out like around 10:30 or so. It was nice to have a small snack at night before bed, without eating a whole meal. Its not that much work to maintain it and its cheap food. It should cut down on room service some and also eliminate the experiences of people being hungry after having a few drinks and ordering a bunch of room service and then either falling asleep before it comes or realizing they are less hungry once they sober up.

I did initially consider Adventure and may still. We sailed her probably 8 years ago and had a great time. My only concern is being spoiled by the mega ships that we have recently traveled on and all the different dining options. When we initially started cruising we very rarely ate in the specialty restaurants. On our last Oasis cruise we weren't thrilled with the dining outside of the specialties. That was probably the biggest disappointment of the cruise for us.

I have not sailed any Mega ships, but I do usually sail on mid level ships which are bigger and have more amenities. We took a shorter cruise on a smaller and older ship (Carnival Elation). I did notice the lack of dining venues and amenities. But the price (this was a bonus cruise that we went on because it was cheap) made it worthwhile. Had it had an amazing itinerary, it would have been even better. If it is a port intensive cruise, you will likely spend less time on the ship itself and the amenities become less important. On the mega ships, you could practically do a cruise to nowhere because the ship is your entertainment.

Departure point and price are primary for me. Then I look at secondary factors, such as itinerary and ship. Its not that itinerary is not a big thing for me. It definitely is. But more important for me is the departure point. And for me that is usually NOLA or Galveston because of the potential of driving. And the cruises and itineraries sailing from those homeports are more limited.

If that were off the table (like if I had free airfare to any departure point), then I would probably look at itinerary. I would love to go on a Greek Isles, Med or even Southern Caribbean cruise some day. But I can't drive to those places and airfare is a killer.

I have been on many cruises and had some great cruise directors and some okay ones. The great cruise directors make a fun cruise even that much more fun. The blah ones did not ruin the cruise at all, just did not make it better. And they were not memorable. I think for those that don't understand the fuss, most of them did not have a cruise director that really clicked for them.

The problem is that the underdressed people are much more likely to be boorish and rude and not mind raising a stink. The well dressed are more likely to be sophisticated and polite enough to take it in stride publically. So it's asymmetric warfare unfortunately.

It is a good thing you don't stereotype people. :rolleyes:

I have seen plenty of well dressed people think the world owes them something and raise H**l to get what they want. So let's not go there.

Back to the topic- The thing about dress codes is, the people that NEED this are the people that aren't really paying attention. For instance in your typical office environment (or even public school), most of the things that are prohibited, they should not even have to say it (What do you mean this cute Budweiser shirt is not appropriate for my 3rd grader to wear?). But sometimes they have to. Common sense should dictate if something is see through, showing off body parts that are generally covered in public, is dirty or torn, you should not wear it to dinner. If you wear something totally inappropriate, it can impact the ambiance and is a bit distracting. But if you are wearing shorts and a polo or jeans to dinner, I don't really care. That does not impact my meal.

People who are dress code police like to pretend that there are tons of these people that are dressed outlandishly. But in reality, there are just a few. I think most (even those who don't care what others wear) would agree that the man on formal night wearing a pit stained white tank top (affectionately known by some as a "beater") who has tufts of chest hair hanging out and cut off shorts that barely cover what needs to be covered should be escorted to the buffet (or given a room service menu). But in reality most people are not dressed that way.

Thanks everyone- just got off the phone with Insure My Trip and it was very easy- and only $146 total! Much cheaper than through the cruise line.

 

Luckily we're young and healthy and have nothing pre-existing. :)

I was going to suggest this option. I have bought travel insurance (for a non-cruise vacation) the day we left. The weather had been bad the day before and I had expensive non-refundable football tickets. I was able to buy online before we left. Turns out our flight got cancelled later that day and they could not get us on a flight until Monday- after the game. So I was glad we had the insurance.

I always by my insurance separately and usually close to when we leave. You do lose some options (like cancel for any reason or pre-existing conditions). But we don't have any pre-existing conditions and would only cancel for a covered reason or for a work reason (and some plans cover that).

You seem to forget that it is THEIR SHIP! When it is your ship you can make the rules, I think that as long as they own the ship they should get to make the rules! All of you that only know how to dress like you are going to clean out a cow barn should be ashamed that you never learned to dress properly!

 

 

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I have never actually cleaned out a "cow barn" so I am not sure what one wears to do so. However, I can assure you that nothing in my closet would I wear to clean up any kind of muck. That is what I would use old stained clothes or old sweats for. And those things I don't wear to dinner or pack with me for that matter.

Usually DH will wear khaki's and button down shirt (like Hawaiian but not gaudy print) or polo shirt, although the last 2 cruises he did wear his dressier shorts a couple of times. On formal nights he will wear dress shirt with tie and slacks. Not a full suit. I have a couple pairs of capris which I will wear with a dressy blouse or a couple of simple dresses to wear. Formal night is a dress. DD is small and wears a lot of sun dresses. I think we look nice. I don't really pay that much attention to what someone else wears. The only times I have really noticed were in surveying the room to see if men are wearing shorts so that DH can wear them, rather than long slacks every night. Other than that, I don't care. I don't care what you are wearing, although if it is really outlandish, it might distract me from eating a bit.... :halo:

I am sorry you had a less than positive experience. I am sailing on Liberty in a couple of months and hope to have a better experience. I personally find it hard to consider any Mexican restaurant "upscale" but that said, you did pay extra for it and to have people nagging while you are eating is a bit much. However as far as the constant upselling, that is not limited to Royal, it seems to be a mass market cruise thing. The only cruise I have been on where I did not feel like it was a constant upsell was Disney Fantasy and I think that is because they are more inclusive than some of the other lines- or maybe because they had so much free stuff that was above and beyond that I did not even notice them push extra cost stuff. You mentioned fliers and loud speakers- Carnival is bad about that as well. Tons of paper about art shows, inch of gold, 2 hour sales, etc. It seems to be the way of the times, in an effort to keep prices low, making more ala carte things. The shame is that they seem to push service staff to sell, sell and it impacts their ability to serve (like which is their job).

I am sorry to hear about the activities. One of the reasons I wanted to sail on this ship is that they have more options than the Carnival ship I was looking at. But I like that Carnival has plenty to do and you really can't be bored. I like to do stuff, I am not a sit around by the pool all day type of person.

I also don't like to hear that about My time dining. I specifically picked that because we are not reservations people, I want to eat when I feel like it. I don't mind a bit of a wait but don't want to wait forever either. I expect to wait if I show up at 7 p.m. on formal night, but if we pick off peak times, then I don't want to have to wait. I have a 6 year old and she will get impatient and then we all suffer. :(

You mentioned that there were some good points. Any you care to mention?

We dress nice, although not necessarily overly formal. Like nice church clothes or wedding attire for us. DH does not usually wear a suit, usually dress pants and shirt and tie. DD wears mostly dresses in warm weather anyway, so we will pack her Easter dress or something like that. her clothes take up so little space and dresses actually take up less space. For me, I wear a light weight dress usually. We do not take up a lot of room with these clothes and we mix and match things.

It is a good opportunity for a family photo if you are into that. We did it a few years ago and still have it hanging up. DH and I were discussing that we needed to update it this cruise.

I have not yet been on one of the Mega ships. Its on my bucket list, but just not important enough to pay the premium. I do like the ships that I would consider "larger" ships (like Carnival Conquest class) rather than some of the smaller ships. I guess those are now "medium ships" but they are plenty big to me. I do want to try Oasis or one of those to see what it is like and I am really intrigued by the indoor balcony rooms. One of these days. But right now the prices are too high and I would have to fly to Florida on top of that. For less $ we can sail from NOLA or Galveston (where we can drive)

Just wanted to add that you should make sure that your driver's license will meet the requirements I think there are 8 or 9 states that do not and will not be able to use drivers licenses for air travel (and I am assuming this will be true for cruises as well). You don't want to wait until the last minute if that is that case. The state we just moved in is one of the ones involved so the news stories catch my attention sometimes.

 

We are also a family of 5, so I know how expensive family travel can be. We do have passports for everyone, but we do travel some out of the US. Honestly, I am not sure what I would do if I was just planning on the one cruise. I have a hard time parting with that much extra cash but I like being prepared for any possible circumstance. If I didn't have a passport I would be on the lucky cruise that gets stranded at sea and towed to Mexico and required to fly home, lol!

I believe they have extended time frame before we are not able to use driver's licenses to fly. I don't know how long though, but I do know that I also live in one of those states and was able to use my DL without issue when we attempted to fly in December. (I saw attempted because the trip got cancelled but we made it through security with 0 issues). We have passports anyway, so its not an issue, but I avoid using ours for flying domestically, as I have no need to carry my passport around.

I wonder if they are on any of the other ships. My daughter is very into characters right now and she really likes Poppy. She likes Shrek too, so I suppose she can make do with that. She is in more of a Disney phase now so DreamWorks characters are more foreign.

One time, on the Explorer, I was dinging out back in Cape Liberty. Instead of dinging, it went "eennnnnnnnhhhhhhhhh". She picked up the phone and called Guest Services. There is a twenty five cent credit remaining on my SeaPass account. Did I want to go back upstairs and get it?

 

WELL....

Don't leave us in the dark, did you? Inquiring minds want to know. :p :p

On a related note, do they have self service laundry- specifically on Liberty? Cost? Do you use your sail card to pay or cash? I know a lot of people hate to do laundry on vacation, but I like to do a load early in the cruise and one toward the end of the cruise. We usually travel for a day or 2 before we embark and take 7 day cruises. So even by day 2 of the cruise, I have quite a few dirty clothes. Plus, its great to come home from vacation with mostly clean laundry. I don't mind it that much really, as I can put it in the washer, set a timer and go read a book in my room or rest for a bit while DH and DD are at the pool. Its better when I have a balcony, but even so its not a big deal. I would likely be somewhere quiet and reading anyway.

Not to defend anyone's boorish behavior, but I often struggle with line etiquette when it comes to buffets on the ship. It may be a function of how the buffet is laid out, but I'm often unsure whether everyone plans on getting some of everything, thus there should be an "assembly line" feel to it, or if people are just going to grab what they want. I certainly don't intend to cut in line (and I wont push people out of the way), but if there's a line outside Item A, and I want Item C, I will often grab Item C.

I don't really consider it cutting in line, but some people might. I like it when they have smaller stations with a break, then you do not have to worry about it, but I have been in plenty of buffets before where it is just one giant long line. If I am already in line and the people in front of me are getting salad and I don't want salad, I might slip past them, assuming they are still there getting their salad. I always end up behind the people that are selecting each individual piece of lettuce for their salad after careful consideration. And I don't want to stand there for 10 minutes while the line backs up behind me, when I don't even want salad.

Same principal, if I am getting something and realize that my daughter needs a milk (which on the buffets I have been too are in cartons on the buffet, not a separate drink area), I might just go up to that area and ask the person in front of me, if it is okay if I grab a milk. Now if I am there and see that they have something else I want, then I will go back, get a plate and go to the end of the line to wait my turn.

Some people would take offense to this and think I am a line jumper. I would not have a problem if someone did it to me though.

Has any of the Royal ships tried to have a cubby or locker type space nearby - Personally if I am at the pool, I like to be watching the kids or just sitting on the side - BUT I need a place to put my towel, bag and flip flops so they don't get wet! I always hated putting stuff on a chair because I didn't need to be sitting there. When you have kids in the pool - you can't be on the upper deck or back by the windows.

This, exactly. I have a 6 year old, so she can't be in the pool alone without me nearby. Same with the splash/play areas. She does not have any siblings to keep an eye on her. I don't have to be "in the water" but I can't be 10 rows away or on another deck. Assuming that DH is checking out the slides or flow rider, I am likely to be very near the pool keeping an eye on my daughter, although I may not be in it myself. I don't really want to stand there by the pool holding all of my stuff and DD's stuff. Of course if we did have a chair, I would only need one, DD and DH's stuff don't need their own chair. Of course if I could get one very close to the pool I could actually sit in the chair and keep an eye on my kiddo. It has not really be an issue so far since my daughter is pretty young and has only been potty trained for the last 2 cruises. One of those cruises we did not use the pool for and the other was Disney and she played in the splash area and I was able to have a chair in the front row.

Not to take over your thread OP, but I have the same question. I am looking for a beach club for my family of 3 (DH, I and our 6 year old). I would also like some suggestions

Musts: Good (or at least decent) beach, food and drinks available for purchase, decent admission price, transportation

Would really like: pool, availability of snorkeling (tour or on own) for DH

We are on RCCL Liberty of the Seas (May) and I think we dock in Coxen Hole (or something like that?)

OP, I am going to echo what most said and say you should go. Life is about choices and as a young adult, it is a good time to learn that. Life's lessons are not always easy and the amount of "trauma" depends on the person. For example, my sister, who has a lot of drama in her life, will tell you how traumatized she was because she missed a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese when she was 10 due to not having her homework done. On the other hand, when I was a young adult (24), I had just finished law school and was preparing for the bar exam. I don't remember the cost, but I want to say it was over a thousand to sit for the exam, not to mention bar prep classes. I pretty much blew off the classes and did minimal amount of studying in June. End of July is the bar exam. The week before, my mom, sister and best friend took a vacation to Florida. I stayed home to study. I studied my tail off. Ultimately I passed the exam. I probably would not have gone to Florida even had I studied all along, because it was not the right choice for me to go. I knew that. I always remember that I missed that trip to Florida, but I still never regret it. As important as vacation is, some things are bigger. Like graduating high school, or passing the bar exam.

Also, I did not begrudge my family for going without me. I made my choice.