Sigyn

Thanks so much everyone - the Mr. and I just watched a 17-minute ship overview video from YouTube and well, we're kind of excited now. I think we are going to do it... we really like the looks of the Red Frog and Alchemy Bar, and get a kick out of the Disney-esque theming, it really is quite cool. There's also an adult-only Sanctuary which is right up our alley, and we're looking at a Balcony room as well...

 

Now to research everything that I knew about Princess, now Carnival style :)

 

Thanks again, this board is amazing.

Good decision! I've cruised Carnival twice before, and enjoyed it. I haven't cruised with other cruise lines before, but I do enjoy super luxe hotel rooms and high-end restaurants and still I can thoroughly enjoy, and appreciate the lower cost, of a Carnival cruise. I think May might be a particularly good time because younger kids will still be in school for the most part, since you want to avoid much of that kind of scene.

That said, the serenity deck is the perfect hideaway for adults-only time. It's peaceful and it's where my husband and I spent most of our time on the last cruise we took together, since we'd left our own kids at home. (We're awesome parents like that! LOL!)

For the record, I cruised Carnival the first time when I was 41, and now I'm 48, and I feel like I fit right in with the demographic.

Enjoy your vacation! Any day on a cruise ship is better than one at work!

Good information! I promised my young son, who isn't going on the cruise with us, that I would look for Pokemon in Europe (we'll be on the Vista next week). He gets so excited when we catch a new type. I have the premium internet package, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to use up data!

It is a fun way to play a game with your kiddos. My son, who is in the third grade, loves it. And I love to see him joyful and happy. Sometimes we stop at local parks just to look around for new Pokemon. A good way to hit the trails and get some exercise while we hatch eggs being incubated.

My husband and I are nude at some point on every cruise we take.

In our cabin. :)

It will be perfectly appropriate, but it will be obvious that he's a tourist. Not necessarily a "tacky" one per se, but a tourist nonetheless. In my observations, European men tend to wear long pants and you'll see a lot of skinny pants on men. As someone said, you also see "manpris" and if you do see shorts on men, it will likely be long skinny shorts (not cargo shorts) on college-aged guys. You'll also see more fitted shirts, especially any t-shirts you see- they will be very fitted and worn with skinny pants. If you see someone in a loose baggy t-shirt or untucked golf shirt it's likely a tourist.;)

 

And you will almost never see a European wearing big chunky, thick-soled athletic shoes like Americans wear. Lots of younger guys will wear what would be considered an athletic shoe, but they are much lower profile and dressier (if that makes sense) than the average clunky athletic shoe worn as streetwear in the states.

 

None of this is meant to dissuade him from wearing what you suggested; most likely you'll be in heavy tourist areas so you'll see plenty of people dressed that way and it's fine. Just letting you know what's more common among European men since you asked.

Thanks, I appreciate the info.

He'll probably wear his woven leather sandals a lot, or his dock shoes. I couldn't get him to wear the super low athletic shoe that is in style, but I did convince him to buy these. Somewhere in between clunky and stylish:

FYI, I have friends that are on the 12-day Vista cruise going on right now. They disembark on Aug. 18. I see them on Aug. 21. I'll ask them what IMAX movies were showing. They keep all of their Fun Times for every cruise.

Ah yes - I remember! You got an upgrade into the spa cabins and we're there already! I'm so excited about the whole trip now. We fly to Barcelona in less than two weeks so the holiday is so very close now.

yes, that's us! is the chef's table every night, or just one night? I emailed to ask if there's a wait list since it's likely some will cancel.

Seems like this was posted a few years ago. I may be wrong but seems like the details are the same as what I read long ago.

Weird. I never mentioned it before and my friend doesn't use this site. Guess it happens a lot.

I was always impressed that he didn't let this incident get him down. Some people would have said there's no point in even trying to work hard and do good if you're going to get punished and treated unfairly anyway. But this kid kept his head down, and focused, and didn't complain, just moved on with his life.

I still find it really unfair, tho. Part of the money he made was by helping me move on one occasion. I hired him and my friend's sons and another boy. The only one who worked his butt off was this kid. He didn't give up and didn't let small problems during the move discourage him. The others wanted to give up when, in one instance, my freezer didn't fit down the basement stairwell. It was 10 p.m., 12 hours into the move, and the boys were exhausted. But this kid decided to remove the lid of the deep freezer, and make it work. It did. I was impressed. He persevered.

If he wound up missing a court date because the paperwork was never properly filed, wouldn't he have gotten notices from the court thereby knowing something was going on long before he even left for the cruise? I'm asking, because here in my state if you have a court date you get notice in the mail. Ditto if you miss it. Seems like it could of been cleared up.

No, he didn't receive anything. He didn't live in Florida when he did it. And then he and his mom had moved, so the paperwork probably got sent to the old address and then returned to the court, since I don't think they forward that stuff.

I had a friend who went on a cruise out of Galveston with her girlfriends. The last morning of the cruise her girlfriend was escorted off the ship in handcuffs (she did at least get to finish her cruise). Turns out she had a hot check for like 11.00 to a grocery store she swears she knew nothing about. She was embarrassed and scared to say the least. Now every time I hear the loudspeaker on the last day I just hope I don't hear my name :eek: That was the first I had heard of anything like that ever happening. I wonder why it doesn't happen at embarkation?

Well, this happened the day after embarkation. Apparently that's when they ran everyone's name to see who might be "wanted" by the police.

It should happen pre-cruise. Sheesh.

It happened in 2010, so it's long past the time for him to do anything. He opted to just let it go and move forward since he was focused on college and work.

No idea, but I'm on your cruise, too! Exciting!!!

I tried to book the chef's table three weeks ago and it was already full.

I thought some of you might be interested in this incident.

I have friends who went on a Carnival cruise several years ago with their three teenaged kids and their kids friends, including their 18-year-old daughter's 20-year-old boyfriend. He had worked hardest to get the money to pay for the cruise on his own. He'd saved for six months, and earned every penny, while the other kids had mostly had their fares paid by their parents. This kid had had a really tough life, and had some issues as a younger teenager, but had a full-time job while going to college and had turned his life around.

The family and friends were on the ship, which left out of a Florida port, and the first night it went to the Keys. The next day, the boyfriend was called over the loudspeaker to report to an office on the ship. He went down, not realizing what was happening. He was removed from the ship. He didn't get to see anyone in his travel group again, he was removed in handcuffs and taken to the local police department and detained. The daughter and my friend (her mom) were in tears, everyone was so upset, not sure what had happened and devastated that he'd been taken off the ship. It was just shocking and sad for everyone and put a pall on the whole trip, of course.

It turned out that two years earlier, when the boyfriend was 18, he'd shoplifted a pair of sunglasses while on a high school spring break trip to Florida. He'd been arrested for it, and went to court, and the charges were dropped. He had paperwork showing all of this, but of course the paperwork was in a cabinet at home in another state. So they kept him in jail all day until he could reach his mom on the phone to ask her to find the paperwork and fax it to the jail. Once they saw it, the police processed it and he was released about a day after he was arrested. His mom was so upset and worried about him that she flew down to Florida to get him, and fly him home. He missed the entire cruise, and never received any refund from Carnival, since it wasn't Carnival's fault.

Someone in the court system in Florida hadn't filed the paperwork that the charges were dropped. Instead, it showed that he had an outstanding warrant for not showing up for court, since the proper paperwork hadn't been filed. A clerical error. But when the ship ran everyone's ID's after they'd left port, it came up that the boyfriend had an outstanding warrant in Florida and so he was arrested. Carnival didn't tell anyone in the travel group, as I'd mentioned, until after he was removed from the ship. They came and retrieved his passport and gave it to him in the police station, but he wasn't given any of his luggage. My friends had to collect that and bring it home with them a week later. They didn't hold Carnival or the police dept. responsible. My friend's husband is a police officer himself, and he understood how the mistake happened. It was really the fault of one clerk who didn't enter the data properly.

My point of telling this story is if you are traveling with anyone who might possibly have an outstanding warrant in the state where the embarkation port is located, they will be arrested on the ship and taken off, with no notice to anyone traveling with them, and no refunds, etc, given.

I'm sorry this happened. What a tough lesson to be learned.

I have no idea how to get refund from Carnival, but I do feel bad for you. It sounds incredibly disappointing for everyone involved.

What is the typical outfit for men in the summer in Europe? We will be in Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Naples, Sicily, Provence and Palma de Mallorca.

Are shorts acceptable, except when visiting churches that require that knees and shoulders be covered?

I don't want to stand out as a tacky tourist. If my 40-something husband wears cargo shorts or golf shorts and a polo shirt, will that look appropriate? Or should he wear loose linen pants with perhaps a linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up, or a polo?

As for shoes, he doesn't wear flip-flops, thank goodness, but with all the walking, he needs comfortable shoes. What about sperry dock shoes vs. brown leather sandals vs. stylish Nike athletic shoes?

I'm 48 and I am currently a size 10, up from my usual size 6. Despite the increase in my booty size, I still shop most often at these stores: Athleta, Banana Republic, White House Black Market, Anthropologie and Soma.

I like Athleta for the cute sundresses in summer and sweater dresses and sweater tunics in fall.

I like Banana Republic for well-fitting trousers and flippy skirts that pair equally well with fitted T-shirts or stylish sweaters with 3/4-length sleeves.

I like WHBM for the occasional cocktail dress or cute top to wear with slim-fitting summer pants or skirts. But you have to be careful not to pick something that is too embellished with gold or silver details (WHBM does love the tacky, cheap embellishments, but there's plenty of basic black or white.)

I like Soma for the super-comfy maxi and knee-length jersey dresses that feel like I'm wearing my nightgown but don't look like it. You do have to be careful at Soma to avoid the embellishments (black cotton lace insets have been popular this summer at Soma) and wild prints that look dated. But a simple solid-color or muted print jersey dress with a fabric twist at the waist to hide a tummy bulge is always suitable.

And I also like some of the breezy dresses, thin cardigans and tops at Anthropologie, but the pants never fit me. Anthro's jewelry is interesting, and the scarves and hats are adorable and can really update an outfit.

I'm a 36DD, so while I really like the look of dresses from some of the sporty brands such as North Face and Patagonia and Prana, I can never quite fit into the bodice. It doesn't have enough fabric and my chest hangs out in a way that is never appealing on a woman in her late 40's, unless she's in Miami and has had a fabulous augmentation.

We are staying at the K+K Picasso pre-cruise and the Hotel Claris post-cruise. Both have fantastic reviews, but I haven't been to them yet, so I can't detail my own experience.

I'll be staying in a spa balcony on deck 14 on the Vista for the Aug. 26 cruise. I can let you know more once I'm on board. I am getting the internet package, so I'll occasionally post during the cruise.

What is "green, not blue"??? I just gave up my RAZR for an SE a month ago and am still discovering the wonders of a smartphone (I just learned yesterday how to delete old messages...)

This is on iPhones. A text message shows up in green while an iMessage shows up in blue.

It's also true for the bottomless bubbles package. I tried to order online and received the notice that it couldn't be purchased for this cruise (I'm on the Aug. 26 vista 8-day).

I called and a Carnival rep said that it's only available for purchase on the ship, and the price for that (and Cheers) is the same as if you had purchased in advance, that they aren't penalizing people for purchasing it on the ship since they didn't have an option beforehand.

The problem, as others have noted, is that now you're stuck paying the 10% VAT because you're purchasing on board.

I am going to skip the bottomless bubbles. I was on the fence about it anyway, but had decided to go ahead. But with the extra 10%, it's simply not worth it to me.

I see that there are two companies with HOHO buses in Barcelona. Barcelona City Tour and Barcelona Bus Turistic. Does anyone know which is best?

That's a bummer about the people not respecting the property of others. I cannot fathom thinking it's okay to take things from an empty cabana.

When we were on half moon cay we rented a cabana and never had a problem, but we didn't leave it except for the buffet lunch, and then we brought our food back to eat there. Not much time for anyone to loot our stuff!

"The key card to turn on the lights and outlets is annoying. I would love to charge my electronics while I'm gone, but it requires leaving the key card in. "

 

You can use an old hotel card, gift card, old credit card etc to place in the card holder and the power stays on.

Is this only a feature in the suites on the Vista, or every room? We are in a spa balcony and I'm wondering if I need to prepare for this.

NJSmom, Have you picked your seats yet? Since i booked pretty late, there weren't many seats for me to choose from. Most of the empty seats were middle seats, however, I'm all set. It was very convenient for Carnival to do everything and as a bonus, the airfare was at a great price. I hope you're able to get good seats.

Yes, I picked my seats back in early June, right after I made final payment for my August cruise. That was the only glitch in the booking. Our PVP said we had to wait 45-60 days before our flight to pick seats, but Delta said we were able to pick the day I called randomly to check, about 85 days before our flight. A minor glitch that caused no problems, tho.

At first we were given two seats together in a four seat grouping in the center, since the plane is a 2-4-2 configuration. We had an aisle and a center. My husband would have gotten the aisle since he is tall with long legs. But then two seats in a two seat grouping by the window became a available the next day. Available seats pop up frequently on flights, so I recommend checking daily if you don't like your seats.

But then we decided to upgrade to delta comfort for $99 each since we saved so much (something like $850) on our total airfare. We know we will enjoy the extra legroom and 30% additional recline on the seats for our long flight from Atlanta to Barcelona. Our two new seats are in the 2 part of the 2-4-2 configuration and are bulkhead seats so tons of legroom for my husband.

We are just 3-1/2 weeks away from our flight. Can't wait to see the Vista and Europe!!!

I wanted to post an update on how long it took to change my name with TSA pre check due to marriage. I applied for the name change on April 14. They said it would take 1-3 months for TSA to contact me for documentation. I called three times, once a month, to check, with no movement on my name change. On July 13, a day before the three months were up, I heard from TSA. They asked for proof of my marriage, which I emailed. On July 29, my name change was complete.

I know everyone's wait can vary, but wanted to share my details in case anyone searches for this topic in the future.