CharlesKru

I suggest you call Carnival, and ask directly. They know better than we do what exactly is accepted and not.

If someone says the copy will work, get their name, number and position so that you have that when you go to the port, in case there are any issues.

Good luck.

On top of the package not carrying over, it is a very limited menu for drinks on the island. They dont bring everything over with them. Lots of beer, but only like 5 kinds, and then a few low shelf liquors and some mixers but not all of them. If you drink normal frozen drinks you are good, but if you want something better, probably not on island.

It is a beautiful island, I found the setup to be better than Half Moon Cay, but Princess Cay has ALOT of rocks in the water. Be prepared to be careful going in and out of the water, and even while in you might still hit one or two with a shin or ankle.

We usually get on and get a Funship Special for my wife, and a Thirsty Red Frog beer for me.

Go drop off our luggage and find a nice shaded spot to watch them load the ship. Its always fun to watch the pallets of things loaded onto the ship. Who would think we would need 3 pallets of just watermelons for a 5 day cruise!

Charles,

 

Do you have any pictures of the upgraded room and bathroom?

Not as many as I thought.... Apparently, we have stopped taking as many pictures of the ship on cruises...

That seems like the best I can do.

Sorry it is not better.

You will need to select a check-in time in your Cruise Manager (where you do the online check-in). You cannot arrive to check in the port any earlier than your assigned time unless you are Platinum/Diamond or have purchased FTTF.

 

FTTF (Faster to the Fun) can be purchased for the cabin under the excursions area. The benefits are below:

• Priority Check-in Bypass lines and have exclusive security screening lanes for initial embarkation at onset of cruise.
  
• Guaranteed Stateroom Your stateroom will be ready as soon as you board, so you can relax or freshen up for the fun you're about to have.
  
• Express Luggage Your luggage will be expedited to your stateroom so you can unpack and get settled in for a great vacation!
  
• Guest Services You'll have a dedicated phone number and line at Guest Services so you can quickly have your questions answered.
  
• Dining Reservations Priority Main Dining Room and Specialty Restaurant reservations (excluding Your Time Dining).
  
• Priority Tender Boarding We hope you take advantage of Carnival's Excursions. If you choose to explore the destination on your own, you will have the option to choose a priority tender from the ship to shore.
  
• Debarkation We're always sad to see you go. But when your cruise is over, you may choose an early or late debarkation time upon arrival to your homeport.
  

I love that they still list Express Luggage. That is also a perk for Platinum, yet we never get it any more.. They dont bother to put the stick on the bags and they bags dont seem to get to us any faster than before.

Lately, we have just been carrying on our bags... can be unpacked before most people have even set foot on the ship.

To expand on the previous posters answer. You are free in every embarkation port to go back off the ship. You just have to be back on before the last time to embark, and security told me at least 3 times to be back by 2:30pm.

They dont like to tell you that, since it makes them more money if you stay on the ship buying a few drinks and what not...

I have done it in Charleston, since it is walking distance to downtown. Had a lovely lunch in town and then went back to the ship after.

I have not cruised Costa or MSC but my co-worker has taken 2 on each.

He suggested that the biggest difference is the smoking areas ( not sure if you smoke or not ) but Carnival has far less options for smoking areas.

He also said that the Carnival designs are more Vegas style, so more flair, neon, and bright.. The Breeze, and Vista are toned back from this trend, but all the other ships are still pretty strong.

Hope you have a great cruise.

We did the Chef's Table on the Liberty five years ago. Is that considered the "old" menu? Or, where can I find out?

The one posted above is the new menu, that started on the Vista and is rolling to all Dream class ships.

I think after that they plan to move it to all other ships.

The one you did on the liberty is probably two back in terms of what is on the menu. I have tried three different ones over the years. I dont have a scan of it, but just did the Elation last month and I have seen copies of that one on this site.. you should be able to search and find it.

I have not seen lobsters included on any of our 25 Carnival cruises except for cruise elegant night.

I do agree with what everyone has mentioned on dress code. A pair of black slacks, and a polo is all I wear now. My wife tends to go with a nice blows and black skirt or slacks.

Have a great cruise!

Staggered check-in, FTTF, arrival time appointments are all new to us! Can someone explain, please?

 

When we've sailed Carnival in the past, we just went to the port around 11ish and were able to board regardless of the time it said on our documents. Has this changed? Thanks so much for the update!!

The simple answers to your questions below:

Check-in time - You select this when doing your online boarding passes. This is the earliest time a guest can arrive and be processed at the terminal without being Platinum, Diamond or having FTTF.

Boarding time - the time you actually get on the ship. This will depend on when the ship was cleared by customs and previous cruisers, also when you get in the terminal. If you are Platinum, Diamond, or FTTF then you get to board after wedding parties ( when they start), everyone else gets a number and they call the numbers by zone as it opens up.

FTTF - Faster to the Fun, is a pay service that provides you with priority boarding, immediate access to your stateroom, priority tenders, priority disembarkation, and a priority line to Guest Services ( basically, Carnival is allowing you to buy a bunch of the perks from the VIFP Platinum and up levels)

If you are not Platinum, Diamond or FTTF do not show up before your Check-In time. They will not let you into the terminal.

In 2013, I was on a list for last minute departure calls from Port of Charleston.

Basically, as my PVP told me, if they start check in the morning of the cruise and know for sure that cabins will be available, they will call through the list offering to sell the cabins. ( I needed a 5 hr window to make it down, which was tight)

We got called twice that year, and both times I could not swing the time off that fast. Both times were at 10 am.

I have not gotten called again. Not sure if the program stopped, or I got removed from the list since I turned them down twice.

The prices were decent, about $40 per person per day for an inside. Just could not get the days off.

We were on the June 3rd sailing this year. I was talking to the hotel manager, and he said that they are done updating cabins before the dry dock. He said that they knew there was not enough time to get them all in during the dry dock, so they were working on them before hand to hit the magic number they could do during the dry dock.

We were in one of the newly updated ones, they are very nice.

Hope you have a good sailing.

This is the info body of letter. Sorry it is landscaped, wanted to try to fit as much as I could.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

So, from this and the other document, it looks like you are using ComputerShare as the brokerage firm on file. This looks like a standard letter telling you that they are requiring you to have some action on these stocks, or your account.

This is not from Carnival, it is from your brokerage house. I would call Computershare and ask them to explain and provide more info. In the two scans you provided, there is no phone number, just a PO box in Louisville KY. I am sure they have to have some kind of customer service number.

They were doing first run movies when we were on in April.

So probably Transformers. Not sure what else.

Have a great cruise!

On average, you need 6 beers or 5 mixed drinks a day for each person for each day to break even.

We dont do it, but that is because we rarely drink that much anymore... If you feel you will drink that much then go for it.

We will deposit $500 in gift cards on day 1 of the cruise. If we want to withdraw cash later in the week from the kiosks, can we do that or are those gift cards locked in for onboard expenses only?

Not from the kiosk.

You can use the casino trick if you want. Go to the casino, put your card in a slot machine. Move X ( what ever you want to withdraw from your card, plus a few extra dollars ) Play for a few spins ( thus the extra dollars) then put that money into your player bank. Take your card to the cage, and ask to cash out your player bank.

Easy as that.

If you dont play some ( not much but some) they will lock you out and you can only do this once.

They have had stock of the $100 ones for a few weeks now.

I think they finally figured out how to get better inventory supply for the demand.

Happy 10% savings to anyone who needs some.

Half Moon Cay is stunning... If you are willing to spend some money and your cruise is not already sold out you could get a cabana for the day for the bachelorette party. These are semi private buildings that you make your base camp. They do sell out quickly so you might want to check now if you can get one. If you are really lucky and have the money to spend get a Villa... they are two stories, private and have a hot tub... We were next to one of these last time and the people in there had a great time!

Beyond that, this port is mostly just a beach day. So as long as everyone is having fun, then it can be the party.

If you wanted to do it on a sea day, you can work with Carnival to reserve a venue for a party... you can pay them to provide drinks and apps, or just use the space. To my knowledge they dont really have something specific for this, but you can always bring along what ever you would use for the party.

I would try for a cabana/villa on Half Moon Cay if it was me.

I also agree the steakhouse is far better than Outback...

I would put it on par with most of our top end steakhouses.

My only issue with it, is that they throw way to much food at you... And when I pay extra I feel like I should eat it all... who really needs a 18oz cowboy cut of steak... I mean it is good but seriously that is ALOT of meat..

The cut backs you might notice will come in terms of service. The service is still good, but they have cut people, in every position. So your stateroom Steward will be servicing at least double the cabins they had when you sailed last. The dinning staff will have 2-3 times the seats they have to manage. This really removes some of the personal interaction you used to be able to get with the staff, but so far have not stopped me from cruising.

Thanks, however that doesn't factor in different prices for higher decks.

I am not really sure what you are talking about. Every cabin is a set fare code. Insides are like 4A-4G ( there are some more for different ships)... When you booked you booked one of these cabin types. It does not matter what deck you are on, again for example, there are 4A on deck 1 and deck 8, its just the fare type.

So, to use the tool check your booking for the fare code, then check the tool for that booking. If you find anything higher lettered (or the same ) than your booking type you should be able to then apply for a price drop. Example, you booked a 4D inside cabin for $298, if the price of a 4D is listed at $289 you can request the fare drop. If the price of a 4F is $289 you can request a fare drop or a upgrade to that category type. ( the same applies to go from inside (4's) to oceanview(6's) )

The room wont change if you stay in the same fare, you can be made to change rooms if you price match against a different room type ( oceanview from an inside)... again you found a oceanview for less than you paid for your inside.

For people saying that the fare is not there, that means that fare code is sold out at present.

I have been using this website for over 8 years to get more than $2,000 worth of price drops. It works, and is far faster and easier than mock bookings.

Just did a mock booking and our price drop was $180.00 for our May sailing on Vista.Called my PVP and he adjusted it. Lost my 50.00 OBC, so had a net savings of $130.00.

 

 

I'll take it!

to make it a little easier on you going forward you can use:

https://www.carnival.com/bookingengine/fareviewer

Which will tell you the fare only portion for what category you booked.. ( you can easily compare this to what you paid )

The Taxes and Fees almost never change..

They have not taken it out of my carry on in about 6 cruises...

It goes through the X-Ray Scanner and they can easily tell that it is 2 bottles of 750ml wine.

Sorry you have to hide what you would want to do, not sure how I would feel about cruising that way.

I love Pancho's backyard.... there is one downtown and one at the pier that Carnival tends to use...

The one downtown has a lovely vibe, and is literally in the backyard of a few shops... very fun and great food. the one at the port area has the same great drinks and food, so you just miss out on the atmosphere, though it is still good.

If you sign up ahead of time you can get a free Margarita, on their website ( though last time it took a few days for the coupon to come through).

Hope you all have a great time where ever you end up!

Would like to hear if you thought it was worth the extra $$.

I did it on the Elation on June 6th. I think it was worth the extra cost but then again I am very open to trying anything. It was my birthday cruise and this was really the only special option for food on the ship..

My wife is a very picky eater, and tried everything. She did not like everything, but at least tried it. She told me that she would not do it again. But that is just based on the type of things she eats.

I would do it again, if I am with people who want to go, just wont drag her to it.

We all know the story-- call back and ask 5 times and you will get 5 different answers.

 

happy sailings

You can fight to keep the $50 OBC if you price match the cruise, and my PVP did for me.. but the actual policy states if you change anything it goes away.. And they are taking that to mean if you price match to a lower fare, you lose the OBC for booking under this new promotion.

It is awesome for me as a stockholder, more revenue with less give aways. As a cruiser it pisses me off to take away yet another loyalty perk.