nissach

nope, you can price match up until 2 days before your cruise!! The only thing is you will might to move to a gty cabin. My last cruise i booked es, and price matched to a gty and had to move into the gty pool.

Does it have to be the same category room??

So we are sailing December 21 and are past our final payment due date(we also are booked ES). Are we out of luck to get this deal due to the fact that we have already paid in full??

That will totally suck!:(

I received confirmation via e-mail about two days after I made my steakhouse reservation request.

Same for me, just got confirmation today via e-mail, made reservation 3 days ago.

We were in St. Maarten a few years ago and we too went to Maho Beach. We took a taxi both ways. Not too long of a ride if I remember and it cost about $10 each way.

There is a beach bar where you can sit and watch the planes come in.

We booked ES and had to change ships. We didn't cancel the booking completely though. I was told that out of our $250 deposit pp that $200 would transfer over to the new booking and $50 would be forfeited.

 

Is this the standard policy? We went from one ship to a b2b that was more money.

 

We did change the booking and hoped the PVP would not charge us as we are giving Carnival more money. No luck!

 

Anyone else have experience with this?

Sounds right. We needed to not cancel but change our cruise to an earlier sailing date and I knew I would likely be charged the $50pp to do this....and was charged. Essentially, you are cancelling/changing the original booking, so they do charge the fee to do that. :(

We have always sailed at Christmas or New Years due to the fact that I am teacher and that is the only time during the winter months that I can travel. So I cannot compare it to other times of the year, but it is an awesome time to be on a cruise ship.

The ships are beautifully decorated, most ports(at least all the ones we have been to) are also decorated for the holidays.

The ships are full, usually lots of kids(which for me is a negative, but I know it is to be expected). Everyone IMHO is festive, friendly, and excited to be cruising over the holidays!

We have met many families who have taken a cruise as a 'Christmas gift' for the family and they did not regret it.

With all that being said, it is the most expensive time to cruise, but the only time when the kids have holidays(therefore not having to take them out of school). I personally can't wait for the day when I can cruise when the prices are lower, so I can cruise more often!!:D

Soooo glad to see people excited about this. (thank you for starting this thread OP).

My ROLL CALL is "dead as a door nail"...lol

My roll is as 'dead as a door nail' too!!:(

We only cruise at Christmas/New Years due to me being a teacher, so I have nothing to compare it too. Expect the ships to be full and festive and over the top decorated! Usually lots of families. We always decorate our room and doorway with inexpensive decorations that we leave behind after the cruise. Expect popular excursions to sell out quickly. We often enjoy time on the ship when in port because it is quiet while everyone else goes off ship.

Here's a break-even chart I worked up. This is per day, so you can look at the kind of drink you would usually have and decide if you would break even or not. I would consider soda a bonus and not count it towards breaking even, primarily because the "$2.00 soda" is a 20 oz. bottle and what you get wit Cheers is a glass (from a bar tap) that is less than 20 oz. BTW: Soda does NOT count toward your 15 drinks per day limit - only alcoholic beverages.

 

Whatever you decide... Have a great cruise!

 

Thanks for creating this chart and breaking it down. Very easy to see if it is worth it or not based on how much you think you will drink.

I always think that if you buy cheers program you are likely to drink a little more per day because it is already paid for. IMHO

Once you got the lab test back proving it was my wine I would laugh.

 

S??t happens.

Exactly! Believe it or not people sneak booze on board all the time. Stupid to pack glass bottles, though. But I think it would be the 'smugglers' clothes to get soaked and not someone else's in another suitcase.

My December 2014 cruise is already sold out. If more do become available is it at any specific time (say beginning or end of the month) or do I just need to check back frequently to see if more do become available?

Thanks for any information that you can provide.:)

I agree with everything in the above post. It will cost you more, but you have the option of booking an interior room vs. a balcony to save money.

This is the only time of year that we can travel(along with spring break) due to me being a teacher. So we book early; we are already booked for our Christmas cruise this year, this way we have months to save up and pay for it.

The ships look amazing over the holidays and yes they are FULL!!

We value our holidays away to warm tropical places, so don't mind travelling during peak season. We just try to save by deciding on which type room we should book based on price and keep our eyes on flights to try to get the best price.

I'm a new cruiser! I'm wondering something about tips!! I don't mind auto tips, but what if I get poor service! Do I have the option to change the amount?

Yes, the amounts can be changed, cancelled, etc.

I always see tipping as an optional thing for services provided to me. We always tip our room steward over and above what the auto tipping gives them as they have always been awesome.

On many of our cruises we make adjustments to the other amounts.