sparks1093

Why I don't gamble a lot, it's too dang confusing (and yes, I earned my D- in math honestly in HS).

Thanks for the info, never even looked at the menu.

Not necessarily, the regulations that give us the closed loop cruise also contain provisions to allow the waiver of the passport requirement for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons. There will be a delay in returning home, which will be dependent on the facts of each individual situation. From what I've read the delay is usually measured in hours but it could be longer. OP, you could use her birth certificate and government issued ID. If her name on the two documents is different then she should bring a bridging document if possible. What is your mother's state of health? When was the last time she had a medical emergency related to her health? This is a short cruise so the odds of something happening are less than they would be for a longer cruise. You have to weight the odds of something happening against the potential delay in getting back and determine if the risk is worth it. It's a decision only you can make.

LOL. I cheated Carnival out of nothing. As I said, if you want the extra amenities you pay for them, that's the only reason for paying more. It's like saying I can't have visitors to my cabin onboard because we only paid for two.

They don't make it obvious if they do, and they didn't say anything when we had more in the cabana then 4 if they did.

Thanks so much!

Timely topic. We've just booked Summit for February 2025 on a southern Caribbean itinerary. Similar cruise history to OP. We booked Concierge class with the all inclusive pricing, which saves us about $1000 versus cruising on Carnival on a similar itinerary and paying for everything as we go. Looking forward to trying a new line, for sure. One question about the drink package- if you get the classic with your booking do you get the opportunity to upgrade to premium for the difference between the two plans? I'm sure I have a ton more questions but they'll be answered between now and 2025.

They have chicken and steak in the suishi place? I have never looked at the menu because DW has a seafood allergy. I thought I had read that Emeril's was free at some point, maybe morning, but in any event if it is a charge we'll probably pass. Too much free food to enjoy elsewhere. (We didn't even try the steakhouse until our 5th cruise.)

Exactly as I recall. DW is the one into flavored coffee but drinks regular coffee on cruises.

Entirely subjective. I have noticed no decline in the quality of the food. Changes in what is offered, sure, but the quality is still what we remember it to be.

There are extra charges, for sure, but it's easy enough to avoid. You may order a steakhouse item in the MDR for $20 if you choose, or not. You may order a third entrée for $5ish, or not. Suishi is an extra charge that you can choose to incur (no idea what it costs, not interested in eating bait). There is a seafood corner of the buffet where you can order market price seafood, or not (I have thought about clam chowder in a bread bowl but haven't pulled the trigger on that yet). Some of the newer ships do have more dining venues that incur a charge (such as Emeril's which is included during the day but an upcharge at night, if memory serves correctly). No charge for entertainment, yet. Many cruise lines are finding more ways to separate a cruiser from their dollars, not just Carnival.

We've purchased several over the years and don't have a preference. I go to www.insuremytrip.com, input our travel info and then sort the resulting list lowest to highest. I then look for mid-range plans that provide robust medevac coverage ($250k or so) and decent medical coverage ($50k range). If a plan has a pre-existing waiver coverage included for no extra that's a plus. The plans usually run around 5 to 7% of the covered amounts. (ETA- I just checked my account history and it looks like Nationwide Essential has gotten our business most, but there have been other plans purchased as well. For our upcoming trip it was $151 for a $2800 suite and airfare of $700.)

Absolutely nothing. You only have to pay if you want the extra two people to receive the amenities of the cabana (equipment, towels, food, etc.). It's not like the staff is doing a head count.

I did a little research on them because of this thread. In order to be called NA they have to have less than half of a percent of alcohol in them. You'd need to drink 40 of them to get buzzed. I think it's just an over abundance of caution if ID is asked for or if it isn't allowed onboard.

I noticed that @TxTeach79 didn't answer @HelloItsMeB's question about doing Cruise Critic wrong. Very, very smart man.

Did a faux booking yesterday for an ABC cruise in 2025, April I believe.

I guess it's a safe presumption that you know her.

By whom? When we applied for passports I (embarrassingly) misspelled DW's middle name on the application, Ann instead of Anne. It was spelled correctly on her naturalization certificate, but the passport folks still used the spelling that I put on the application. So I wouldn't expect that the processor at State would necessarily notice the difference between the birth certificate and the application. (To their credit they processed the correction at no charge.) OP, I agree with @Ferry_Watcher, this likely won't be noticed at all at check-in. (And I will preemptively say that it's not likely to be noticed by CBP at the end of the cruise, either.) They are processing thousands of passengers is a short period of time and they aren't looking for typos. Certainly do try to get it fixed but don't lose any sleep over it either.

DW was very disappointed in our standard balcony after being in the extended. Trouble is on our last cruise we upsold to a Vista Suite and then with the Ocean Suite this time I'm afraid she may not ever be happy with a standard balcony again (which is what we have booked for Mardi Gras next April).

Our last trip on Glory we had an extended balcony cabin that was the last cabin before the aft cabins, so our view was quite a butt shot but it was close. This time around we splurged on an Ocean Suite midship.

In our experience it is the cup that isn't included but the contents were. Our experience has only been with the shots in the MDR though. You could always transfer your drink into the tumbler.

Glory has changed a bit since we last boarded in 2017. I might do a before and after picture comparison as part of my review. Our group met this past weekend to discuss what to do when we arrive and decided that we would just go out to eat which should fill enough time to get us close to bed time (like we'll be able to sleep). We'll decide what to do on the Sunday we return at a later date, leaning toward the HOHO bus. I'm glad to see some mention of NOLA restaurants and DW and I would like to compare Bobby Flay's to Guy's. Looking forward to sailing on the ol' Mississip.

That is what I saw too, but I still decided to get one for everyone in our party.

We'll be on Glory soon enough doing the same itinerary so following along as well. This will be our second time on Glory and first time out of NOLA.

Everybody may do something illegal but that doesn't mean that everybody gets away with it every single time.