megmno

According to this article the guarantee was used 47 times between September 2013 and September 2014. This article says that Carnival had 4.5 million passengers during that time period, so the rate of usage is .001%

You can order extras, but be nice to the waiter and ask for them all when you place your dinner order (i.e. don't make him run back and forth repeatedly).

I went on a galley tour as part of the Chef's Table dinner, and the galley is set up with stations. The waiters go through and grab what they need at each station. Ordering things one at a time makes the waiter go through the line repeatedly and might throw off his timing.

To anyone who is sailing on the Valor --

If you eat at the steakhouse on the first night you will be charged sales tax, since Valor doesn't sail until 10 p.m. The tax was about $7 for 3 people, or around 7%.

We did this on the Valor a couple of weeks ago and got the free bottle of wine. The red was Santa Carolina merlot, and it was decent wine.

I would still eat at the steakhouse the first night, in spite of the tax. It was a nice way to start our vacation. Also, since the first night on the Valor has open seating in the MDR, it's not like you're missing meeting your tablemates.

Well, not on the Miracle, but...

We did it on the Valor on the April 13th voyage and it did not sell out. There were two sections available, each with 12 seats. Our session had 9 participants, and the chef said that only 6 people were reserved for the following night's session.

We reserved when we were on board.

We just sailed last week. I didn't buy it because there are no tender ports.

Since the ship doesn't sail until 10 p.m. I didn't feel much need to rush over and stand in line to board.

Instead, we had a leisurely morning at our hotel and went out for breakfast. We checked out a little after noon and got to the pier at 12:30. There was almost no line -- just a short one for the security scan. From there we just walked right up to the check in desk and then boarded immediately. We were in our rooms by 1 p.m.

Since the ship doesn't sail for a long time, we took the opportunity to go back out into San Juan for a few more hours.

I don't regret not buying FTTF.

FWIW, I own my own business and I don't call in or remain in contact when I'm on cruises or other vacations. In my experience most small business owners are egotistical micro-managers, but if your business is properly run (and you're not a one-man shop) your people should be able to get by for a week without input.

 

I put in some extra time the week before and the week after, but I am out of touch when I'm on vacation.

I own a family business that was started by my dad. While I loved him, he was one of those egotistical micro-managers who didn't take a week long vacation in over 30 years. He died of a massive heart attack at age 69.

I try to take at least a week off every year. Sometimes the employees don't do everything exactly as I would have, but somehow the show goes on....

Agreed. It was actually difficult for me to let go the first time I tried it, but after a week I came back and there had been no issues. I had a mountain of calls and emails to respond to, but I didn't lose any customers or have any problems. Now I go away and tell my people not to call unless the building burns down. :D

I'm with you, except that I tell the employees if the building burns down to call the fire department. Not a hell of a lot I can do about it when I'm half a world away....

I hate to be paranoid, but there was some discussion recently about what the cancellation penalties are for the free cruises. According to the fine print on the letter, cancellation penalties are for the market rate of the cruise at the time of booking. So it sounds like even if you only paid port taxes and optional upgrades, you could be asked to pay much more back if you cancel.

(Hard to believe, but true if you read the fine print. Someone scanned a copy of the fine print here (see post number 300):

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1988194&highlight=free+cabin&page=15

I'm really curious if Carnival would actually try to collect this money from your friend.

What stellar role models for their kids.

We're going to do a Segway tour of San Juan when we're there in April.

There are two versions: a two hour tour for $84 and a 45 minute tour for $42. We signed up for the longer tour.

We rode Segways in Cozumel and really liked it, so we're going to try it in San Juan. They are really easy to learn to ride.

How late can u board the ship?

Im a first time cruiser. As i read this threat it seems everybody wants to be the first to get on the boat. Would it be better to board later after many have already boarded. Then use the fifty i saved to buy myself a drink or 2 until my room is ready. Will my luggage be ok sitting beside me at the table or at the bar?

There is no tendered port so should be ok there.

Anybody else do this and if so does it work out for u?

That's what we've done in the past. I don't get why people want to get there early knowing full well that there will be huge crowds. When we were on the Magic in 2012 I think we arrived around 1:30 or 2 p.m. and breezed through security and went right to our rooms.

It's sort of like I don't understand why people arrive at the MDR fifteen minutes before their seating (for the early or late seatings, not YTD). You just end up standing around with a few hundred of your new best friends in a crowded corridor. Instead, aim to arrive about 5 minutes after the doors open and just follow the crowd in...

Re: the onboard credit - try calling again during daytime hours. You often get different answers from different operators and I get the feeling that the most knowledgeable ones are there in the daytime.

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OP, I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but if you order room service you should also tip the waiter. Usually a couple of bucks is sufficient for an order (more if it's a big order).

In 2011 we sailed the Western Caribbean during late August. We were lucky in that the Caribbean was calm that week. But we were unlucky because Hurricane Irene hit New York (where we live).

Due to the disruptions in air travel we didn't get home for an extra three days, and even then we could only get a flight to Washington DC and had to drive the rest of the way home. Fortunately we had travel insurance, which paid for our hotel rooms and other costs associated with the delay.

While it seems a little creepy, it's really no different than using your own camera to snap pictures of strangers. You don't need permission to take someone's photo in a public place (although they might not be happy about it!)

For what it's worth, the OP appears to be a New Zealander, not an American. Does the Passenger Services Act apply to them too?

I work in global tech support at Verizon, .50 to send and .05 to receive a text is all you will pay onboard ship and most countries. Check out www.verizonwireless.com/tripplanner, have a great trip!

This is a really helpful link - thanks!

The link lets users input their itinerary and their phone model and gives a listing of Verizon's exact charges for each type of communication (voice, text, data) for each part of the itinerary, including cruise ships. It's really great!

Well, if you think about it, Carnival has 24 ships. If you figure there are about 3,000 passengers per ship, that's 72,000 passengers aboard Carnival ships at any given time (not even thinking about all of the other cruise lines).

In a population of 72,000 (a pretty good chunk of whom are elderly) the chances of someone dying on any given day are pretty high.

Our cabin on our first Carnival Cruise was located directly across from the self serve laundry, 5 night cruise I was shocked at how busy that place was...everyday...even first full day? We joked that it was the hottest club on board because people hung out and talked too, maybe ironing? Or not trusting to leave clothes in washer/dryer. IDK

Wouldn't it be cool if they had bar service and some comfy chairs? It make doing the laundry fun :D

You should sue the United Nations. My vote is to abolish daylight savings completely. In fact, we should adopt a universal time for the whole world. It's 1:40am everywhere right now, whether it's sunny or dark. After all, the southern hemisphere has hot weather in December & January, then it's snowy & miserable in July. We can adjust.

As the song goes, it's five o'clock somewhere.

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So were clocks.

And the internet.

When we were on Valor in 2011 we ate at the fish and chips area several times and it was yummy. It's up a flight of stairs from the main buffet area (Rosie's??).

Does anyone know if it's still there?

CCL's next earnings call with Wall Street analysts is March 21st.

If I were in the stock market I'd be shorting them. Just saying...

No need to print in color. We've printed our luggage tags in black and white and had no problems.

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