RS182

yup got the same one for my July cruise.

1 minute ago, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

 

So I have to go down to Pixels I take it to get my pin? 

I personally would skip that trip but I don't collect them etc.

Just got an email from Carnival.  My FTTF for my July cruise has been cancelled and is being refunded.

I look forward to more information about eMuster that has been mention on Heald's page.

Does anyone have any parking discount codes for Galveston?  

1 hour ago, Colorado Cruzer said:

not in spam.  not sure why I didn't get the email?

I was the only one in our group of 5 that got the email.  In fact I got it twice since we had two rooms booked.  I suspect this was because I was the main contact on both rooms.  This could be why.  I also the only person that had done the online check in. (Don't think that is the reason though).

November2020

I am having a hard time not booking this.  Found flights from Houston for $1,300 each....all in cruise and airfare is coming in at $3,800.  

6 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I've also seen where someone wanted to upgrade to a available cabin and wasnt allowed once carnival cut off bookings. They were upset because they could see it was available.

 

I dont know if it's only august or not but see a lot of August sailings marked sold out on big box site.

 

My cruise doesnt even show up to book for august 31st on carnival.com site. It's like it doesnt exist.

 

 

Yeah ours doesn't show up either, but I have had that experience BC (before corona) when a cruise sells out.

There are also reports in this same FB group, for the August 15 sailing, of upgrade offers going out last night.  I found it hard to understand how there are upgrade offers if the sailing is sold out.  At first I was concerned they were preparing to cancel but the upgrade offers and the random booking made me feel better. (could still happen)

A limited number of cabins being sold would make sense for why there are upgrade offers now.

38 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I saw something that they cut off bookings at 50%. I see many ships with empty cabins no longer accepting bookings. Not sure where I read it.

 

Like I saw in our newspaper yesterday that ccl has turned up temperatures on washers and dryers to cut germs or sanitize whatever... but was in dallas morning news paper I read at my folks.

 

Dont have official source.

This cut off would make sense.  We booked an August 15th sailing out of Galveston on Tuesday.  When I was booking it there were plenty of room options available.  That evening in a Facebook group for that particular sailing people were reporting that this particular sailing must be sold out because someone's friend that was trying to book couldn't find the sailing and someone else had called and booked, they were only able to get on because someone cancelled.  I couldn't imagine that all of the options I had seen earlier in the day had filled up.  It makes sense now that they may have reached a cut off mark and took all options down.

No official information, just an anecdotal observation.

Here is something interesting to share about my experience with refunds.  This is by no means a shot at Carnival but more a symptom of the cluster they were faced with.  Everyone has been very helpful getting it all fixed and we came out of it in good shape.

Cruise was scheduled for 3/26/2020, 2 interior rooms out of Galveston.  It was a girl's (women) cruise and when we started to see our vacation slipping away rebooking was hard to schedule with kids etc among 5 of us.  On April 6th we decided to cancel and take refunds, understanding that they would take some time to get.  On April 20th I received the deposit from one of the rooms but not the other room, balances on the rooms were paid for with discounted gift cards.   Called Carnival and was assured that the other room was cancelled to and it was probably hung up in the volume of refunds.  Well here we are in June, still no gift cards or deposits on the second room.  Called Carnival to rebook a different cancelled cruise from 2019 and had them check what was going on.  Well, according to this new rep I never cancelled the second room and had in fact chose to rebook.  What?  Oh and all my gift cards for the purchase of both Cheers! and the balance payment on the first room (that got cancelled) was sent to my travel agent.  My travel agent is Costco.  What???

Called Costco to see what the protocol was for this, they said no they don't do that.  They called Carnival, and confirmed they infact did send my gift cards to Costco.  Who knows where they are now!  Costco spent all day today trying to work with Carnival to track them down and they are now being reissued and over-nighted to Costco and then Costco will send them to me.  Costco was shocked and said they would have to consider if they could continue to allow payment with GC if this is their policy. Not my rodeo, not my bull.

What a mess.  

Good news is that the ladies in the room that was cancelled/not cancelled are ready for a vacation and said don't cancel lets rebook and get the OBC.  

So refunds were processed within 30 days for the cabin they actually cancelled, but gift cards were sent to Costco.  Also, this is the second cruise that has been cancelled that has been paid for with gift cards.  The hassle with gift cards when this happens, will no longer be worth the 10% discount for a little while for me.

Driving and hoping to still cruise on 8/15/2020 on the Vista.  1.5 hours to Galveston.   This is a rebook of the cancelled cruise from 2019 when the Vista was having mechanical problems, so Havana room for $200 in port tax, plus $600.00 in OBC.  Yes, please.

Then just booked 10/8/2020 on the Dream, rebook of cancelled March 2020 cruise due to COVID.   We now have adjoining balcony rooms on deck 7 instead of previously booked interiors.  Same price and many more OBCs.

Just to get over my nerves about getting another cancel.

32 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

The fine print for Premier offers states DOU is not available on embarkation day for cruises out of Galveston.

Thanks. 

Hopefully this is a quick question.  When sailing out of Texas Cheers can't work on Day 1.  However, if the casino is giving us DOU cards with our booking, does that work on Day 1 or are they subject to the same silly TABC problem?

Looking for someone that has experienced this.

Thanks.

43 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

So One person can not buy the package alone, but if two people get free promotion then third person does not have to buy?🥂

That is our experience at this point.  And I believe that it will be our end experience.

4 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

No.

If guests #1 & #2 receive the promo, #3 doesn't have to purchase anything.

Great news.  My 68 year old mother in-law wouldn't drink enough for $800 in UBP.  Thanks.

This is my first time on NCL so I am not familiar qoth all the details.  We booked under the recent promo and have 3 guests in our cabin.  Everywhere I see everyone over 21 must have the drinking package, we are all over 21.  Will they force our third passenger to purchase the package?

I find it easier to have cord in my bag, no matter where I travel. I also use the ship water....I don't even make Carnival aware of it anymore, they used to call and check to make sure I had it and didn't need anything else. I just figure CPAPs are soooo common now, I got it covered.

I just saw a guy at our craps table getting what I assumed to be bounce back offers handed to him at the table. He was throwing down THOUSANDS of dollars on the $5 min table. He had no idea how to play, we spoke frequently about the game. He got frequent visits from the Casino hostess, but I have never seen such a thing. We played for many hours on this 4 day cruise and saw nothing, not even a strawberry. They did buy a round of drinks for the table, that was it. Not sure if this was due to this cash loaded whale being at our table or the new management.

How long does it take to get through customs and exchange CUC? We are going in July. Not worried about the tour thing personally, but would love to know what to expect. Any longer then a port where you are tendered in?

We just got back from the Cuba cruise over the weekend. The process takes a while in total. First the ship must get cleared by local officials, then they allow the carnival shore excursion folks off. If you are not taking a Carnival shore excursion we had to get a sticker that put is in a group to get off the ship. We had to wait for our number to be called, word of advice, get that grouping early. We spent more time waiting for our group to be called.

Once off the ship you have to go through immigration. There probably 12 lines and it moved relatively fast, not lightning but didn't take hours. Once you have your passport stamped you have to go through security, similar to the airport with less undressing. Next is the currency exchange. The line for the currency exchange for us was as long as the terminal and was actually causing them to stop x-raying bags. We passed this line up and went to a bank in the public square across the street. Waited a short time and off we went.

Craps is actually your best odds in the casino than any other game. The game is based on the rolls of the dice and pays a percentage accordingly. It's a very skillful game, knowing where to bet your money.

They pay less on the bonus game on the craps table than I have experienced in land based casinos. The odds bets were only 2x, several of us had to be reminded pretty consistently. However, several of us took they craps table for a rough ride, for the casino, on our cruise last week. It was a blast. $6 BJ was 6:5 and a waste of time.

I thought i saw we could buy tickets online, my question is are taxis readily available to and from?

I have had the orange sticker in the past when I have purchased FTTF. However, in January 2018, on the Breeze, we had FTTF and they didn't use the stickers anymore. Luggage didn't arrive any later that my previous experiences. My cruises have all been out of Galveston and New Orleans. I believe the stickers are a thing of the past or will be a thing of the past soon.

My favorite bar is the Alchemy Bar in the evenings and favorite drink is just about anything that they make but if you get to know the Alchemist then they will make you something just for your taste.This last cruise on the Breeze(Jan.7-14,2018),Svatava made me a drink with blue berries and it was WOW so good.She had me name it, so I named it the Blue Czech since she is Czech.All of the bar tenders that we have met at the Alchemy Bars on the ships have been the best and really make it fun.

My daughter feel in love with that drink too. Had it several times....several days

I was comfortable but my husband gets hot, 74 - 78 is too hot for him. We used a fan.

No you will not have access to your cabin. The thread that lcpagejr referred to got pretty nasty with people saying all kinds of things about me because I was stating the facts as Carnival has them printed. That caused me to write an emailI asking if Suites had access to their cabins and this is the response I got. I then wrote back asking why the Suite luggage tags had Priority printed on them if that wasn't a perk. I never got a response but some have reported that it no longer shows when they go to print their tags. I don't get Suites so I can't confirm that. Maybe they fixed the error. I don't know.

 

It also says exactly who has access to their cabins on the cards you get handed out at embarkation. Suites are not on there.

I just got off of the Breeze on January 14th. I had the following bookings 1 Balcony (7th floor, with FTTF), 1 Suite (7th floor, no FTTF), 1 Interior (7th floor, with FTTF). What this email says is mostly true. My son, daughter and MIL who stayed in the Suite all had "Priority" on their boarding passes and had priority embarkation. However, their luggage tags did say FTTF and they recieved their luggage in around the same time the two rooms with FTTF did. All of us boarded together, luggage was received at the same time and the suite also had priority tendering. The suite did not have access to their room early and did not have a sep guest services line. The suite was ready when we boarded, we had to go get my MILs scooter. We were prepared to sneak her scooter out (embarkation wore her out, she refused a wheelchair) and drop all bags in the two rooms with FTTF. Hope this helps.