k2excursion

I pay what is required at the time it is required to be paid by. I do not voluntary pay early for anything unless there is financial advantage or reason to for me. Paying early does not make things "easier" for me mentally. I *will* pay ahead if there is an advantage to me doing so; such as the Amex $100 credit with a $500 payment

I'm the exact same way. I will only prepay things if there is some type of financial benefit in doing so. I paid off my last cruise extra early, just so that I could get a lot of extra hotel points for spending enough money in the first 3 months on that credit card. Otherwise, I wait until closer to the due date. I have friends who always pay things off immediately, so that they "don't have to worry about it". I have never understood what they're worrying about or why they worry. I never worry about it. I just pay it off when it's due, or maybe a week or so early. It's just different personality types, and it's all good.

The gratuities make no sense to me. There's no possibility of forgetting to pay those, since they will be on your on-board account. I do understand if people are worried that they'll end up spending that money on something else before they leave on the cruise, and then they won't have any money to pay their gratuities. I personally don't live like that. I'm not wealthy; I just set the money aside and don't touch it. But not everyone can do that, so good for them to know that about themselves. With gratuities especially, I would rather not have to make the extra step of prepaying those, when not prepaying them is easier.

Thanks, SadieN!

 

For the sofas that don't make a daybed, what is that sofa like? Has anyone seen one of those? Is it short, like a loveseat with fixed arms?

For the sofas that are not allowed to be made into a bed, it's still the exact same sofa (aside from a few ships--not yours). They just are not allowed to use every sofa for an extra bed, because of capacity rules. So they have some system that picks & chooses which rooms allow the sofa to be made into a bed for an extra person & which ones are not allowed to do this. The deck plans will have symbols to let you know which rooms allow it.

The exceptions I referenced are with the Triumph, Victory, & maybe Sunshine. Those are older ships, and for some reason, when the room's sofa is not allowed to be a bed, it is a shorter loveseat-type sofa with arms. We had one of the rooms like that on Triumph. There could still be some rooms on those ships where non-bed sofas are the longer one, but I would expect to get the shorter sofa if I had one of those rooms. And just to clarify, if anyone else has a room booked on one of those 3 ships which will use the sofa as a bed, it will be the longer sofa.

Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought that deck 7 would be a problem, since you have deck 6 as a buffer. I guess that's not enough. Thanks for the warning.

It's never the last night. So many people have their formal gear packed away. In my experience, the elegant night is always on the 2nd night, regardless of whether that is a port day or sea day. I have had a port day on the 2nd day several times, but we still have elegant night that night.

I remember it. It was fun. I enjoyed it. There wasn't any point or prize to winning, just a silly light-hearted "competition", but that's what made it fun.

There truly is no way to know for sure. It doesn't necessarily alternate, not by rule. It might alternate, or it might all be port or all starboard. I did the exact same sailing on the Dream (same port schedule out of the same home port) within 3 years, and we actually did have the starboard side facing the island on every port both times. I kind of like looking at the pier, watching for pier runners, which is why I booked us in a starboard room the 2nd time (starboard is odd numbers; port is even). But I knew that it could be different this time. It just worked out that it wasn't. Your best bet is to try to find out from other sailings of your exact itinerary on your exact ship, pick your side of choice based on that info, and then just hope it's the same for you, knowing it might not be.

I did a behind the scenes tour on the Fantasy last year and they told us that sometimes the singers aren't feeling well so they have a recorded track they can use. To be honest, I always think they are lip syncing up there but I could be wrong.

 

 

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There are voices on the recorded track, but when the singers are singing, they sing over those voices. But just in case they can't sing, even if just for one line, those voices on the track are there to back them up. This is something that is being done quite regularly with mainstream, big-name singers as well. There are a few that don't, Miley Cyrus for one. Classical singers, which is my favorite style, also will not do that. But it is common with mainstream pop. One singer on SNL got caught many years back, as the wrong voice track got played at the start of the song. I was disappointed to see cruising going this route. The old shows had some recorded voices & some canned music as well, but it was synced with the real musicians, and the 2 singers did really sing. With Playlist Productions, I imagine that they do usually sing, which would validate what the OP was told, but they have the option to lip sync.

OP, thanks for your report. I'm surprised that there's no karaoke. 2 years away from cruising for me, things sure have changed.

Definitely, the Magic. I loved that ship. Given that you havent been on any of these newer ones, there's no reason to pick the newest just because its newer. You'll be very impressed by Magic. Plus, while Vista might have some things that Magic doesn't, it also took some things away that Magic has. Also, I like Magics itinerary better. All that in addition to the extra day & shorter drive.

In Mahogany Bay, Roatan, it will be tempting to just stay at the manmade beach right next to the ship, but I highly recommend that you get out and explore this spectacular island, one of the best islands in the entire Caribbean. Victor Bodden, as well as others, provide custom tours at very reasonable prices. These are independent tour operators, not booked through the ship. You pick what you want to do, and leave out what you don't. Many people will be lured away from one of these very memorable tours by that manmade beach. Use Costa Maya or Cozumel for a lazy beach day, not Roatan. For Belize, I would book a tour through the ship, but we do our own thing at the others. Paradise Beach would be a great choice for Cozumel, to cater to a wide variety of interests and people. Costa Maya has a nice setup right at the port, or you can take a cheap cab into town and go to the beach.

On the ship, please note that the waterslides and ropes course are not for kids only. Adults can use them too. Oddly enough, many adults don't realize that they are allowed to partake.

Thanks for sharing your story, and I'm glad that your recovery is going well. Great advice about the insurance as well.

If you are after final payment, yet booked under Early Saver, are you able to match to higher categories?

 

We don't want to move, but would like the reduction in price.

 

EX: if you are booked under a 4D interior but the 6A ocean view is priced less than your booking.

Unfortunately, no. I have been in a similar situation, and was told that I had to upgrade in order to get the lower rate. We kept our porthole room instead. In your example, I would definitely take the much larger OV room over the tiny inside, especially for a lower price. Plus, I like being on the lower decks.

To the OP, I'm glad it worked out for you. I have done that twice before, paying more now, and getting more in OBC later.

The grey area is backstage, not the theater. If you were over the theater/night club, then you would need to be worried about noise, but you aren't over the theater. I have stayed below backstage several times, and only one time did I ever hear anything above me. Before a show, I heard a singer warming up her voice, probably directly above my room. That's been it. I can't hear anything from the shows or rehearsals from being below backstage, so it should work the same being above backstage.

I called Carnival today, just out of curiosity. I was told I could switch over to the Pack & Go. We would lose the original obc of $75, but we would end up with $120 obc because of the lower price. Carnival would be selecting our cabin, so it could be anywhere. But the cabin we have now is right under the galley, and beside the crew stairs. So I really don’t know if a different cabin would be so bad. I will talk to my wife over the weekend and give it some more thought.

Hopefully, you have decided to make the switch, if the $120 OBC deal is still available. You are below the galley, so whatever they would choose for you won't be any louder. If that deal is now off the table, check to see if you can switch to another 4E room, one that's forward of the midship elevators. Those will be below the dining room, which is a perfect spot. The dining room is empty all night, and you don't hear much of anything even during the dining times. An equal category room shouldn't have any effect on your OBC.

If those are all taken, then look into moving up to a 4I room on Veranada deck. That's an upgrade, so you would have to pay any difference, and I don't know what that might do to your OBC. Because of the gym towards the front of deck 12 (one deck above), I would stick with V20-V40, which are below treatment rooms (quieter than the gym or aerobics room).

To follow up on question 2, there is the relaxation lounge that you can go in. It isn't for Cloud 9 people only. On the Magic, the doors weren't locked, so anyone could use it, but typically, only Cloud 9 people or people who just had a paid treatment would use it. Feel free to use it whenever you want.

On the Magic, there was no pressure at all to purchase any treatments. A worker showed me around on the first day, and I don't remember any sales pitches for treatments or anything else. If there was, it was low pressure enough that I have no memory of it.

Good logic for helping to determine whether to switch. Any downfalls to switching though?

A possible downfall that some people have happen to them is for name changes. After final payment, under Past Guest (and most other rates), you can do a name change for a $50 fee. Under Early Saver, no name changes allowed, not even for a fee, after or before final payment. A name change only applies if it's likely that one person won't be able to go, in addition to having someone else who could take that person's spot. This seems like a very rare thing to me, but for a select few people, this happens all the time. I have read posts from a few certain people who have said that they are frequently doing name changes on their cruises, so they won't book Early Saver. I think that the vast majority of us will never do a name change.

Between now & the final payment date, under Past Guest, you could still cancel, change cruise dates, or downgrade your cabin for free. Under Early Saver, fees will apply, and no downgrading. If these issues are possibilities for you, then you might not want to switch. After final payment, standard penalties apply; same penalties for ES or PG.

So if those changes or cancellations won't apply to you, and the current ES rate is cheaper than the PG rate you have booked, then there is no reason at all to not switch over. You will keep your cabin, and there's no fee. They just simply change your rate over to ES. Even if no other price drops happen, at least you get a cheaper rate. If ES is higher than the PG rate you have booked, then I wouldn't switch.

Others have already calmed your concerns, but I also agree that low & midship is best. I have had great experiences being low and/or midship.

In regards to location on deck 2, being below the dining room is the best spot of all. It's totally empty all night long, which cannot be said for any other spot on the ship. And even when the dining room is being used, you may only hear a slight peep, if anything. I have stayed below a dining room 3 times, and have never heard a thing from above. Being below the galley would be a concern, because that's where the crew is working, cooking, & cleaning 24 hours a day. The galley goes from the midship elevators to the aft elevators. If you are forward of the midship elevators, you're fine. Either you're below the dining room (perfection) or below the lobby (not perfect but still good).

I don't know if Dream is getting the newer burger or burrito place, but they will be downgrading their entertainment in the drydock, so their massive advantage over Breeze will be gone by then. But even without that, I would still prefer Dream to Breeze, just not by quite as much. I have never understood why CC posters are so down on Dream and so high on Breeze. The slightly upgraded burgers & burritos just don't seem like that big of a deal to me, but I guess that makes all the difference in the world to some cruisers. Dream still has many other advantages over Breeze. Dream still remains my favorite ship, while Breeze is somewhere in the middle of the pack.

So if Dream's itinerary is better, then I definitely would switch to Dream. Better ship, better itinerary, more interesting home port. I agree with you that Roatan/Belize beats Jamaica/GC. In Roatan, do an island tour! Don't just stay at Mahogany Bay, which is what many people will do. Use Cozumel for a lazy beach day, but Roatan is an amazing island that is begging to be explored. We used Victor Bodden for a personalized island tour, and the cost was surprisingly low.

Yes, Dream also has the Cloud 9 Spa, so they will also have the 2-person weekly passes.

What is the Thermal Suite?

The thermal suite is the term Carnival uses for their fancy saunas in the Cloud 9 Spa, which is only on Splendor, Sunshine, Dream, Magic, Breeze, & Vista. I know that with the 3 Dream class ships, the thermal suite consists of 4 different rooms, each with different temperatures & scents. It is very relaxing. Only people who have purchased a pass or have booked a Cloud 9 Spa room have access.

Most of the ships also have a fancy hot tub, which has a hard-to-pronounce name to it. Sunshine doesn't have that, and I'm not sure about Vista, but the others do. That would also be included if you purchased the pass or booked a Cloud 9 Spa room.

Playlist Productions is one of the reasons why I have cut back on cruising. Certainly not the only reason, but it is one of them. The stage shows with more performers, live music, & twice as long were much more entertaining for me. I felt that the performers in Playlist shows are asked to do way too much, so the quality suffers. But people have said that Playlist shows have gotten better lately.

Guys & Blue Iguana cantina have limited hours, much more limited than the old grille was. Guys burgers is what replaced the grille, and while the grille had burgers in addition to many other things, Guys has burgers only. On ships with the Red Frog Pub (not the Red Frog bar), the food at the Pub is not free. On ships with the Cucina del Capitano, the lunch is free, but the dinner is an extra charge. (Dream only has the free lunch, but no dinner.)

Dinner in the dining room is definitely going more & more casual, which doesn't bother everyone. Casual in dress & in ambiance. No more tablecloths on most nights, which has caused plenty of humorous arguments on these boards. The new menus have removed many options, and the size of portions are smaller, and many people feel the quality is worse.

There are some new extra-pay things that keep coming out, plus the new Vista ship has spots that are exclusive to certain room types. So basically, Carnival is moving slowly but surely towards the strategy of charging extra for everything. Some people don't care, as they don't use those things and would rather have a lower starting cruise fare. Others are bothered by it, because it's not the way cruising operated when they fell in love with cruising. Many people realize that other cruiselines are doing the same thing, and are much further along in this regard than Carnival.

In regards to "2.0", just ignore that number entirely. It's only a number. It's a gimmick that Carnival used to stir up interest, which actually worked. But it really doesn't matter whether a new thing has a "2.0" slapped on it or not. All that matters is what the new things are, whether you would like it, and if you will miss what was removed to make room for it.

Yeah, unfortunately, that's how it works. I have actually called to request a higher rate that included more OBC than the increase in price would be. So we came out ahead. I have done this twice in the past. But I knew that any price adjustment would remove that OBC, because it was tied into the rate. Any OBC that is not tied into the rate would not get removed with a price adjustment.

I think Carnival is a nice mix of the young, middle-aged, and not-as-young people. Carnival seems to usually have a nice, fun atmosphere, without it turning into a wild frat party. If you do some of those short 3 or 4 day cruises, then you might find more of that scene, but not as much on the 7-day & longer cruises. I have never really seen that wild "party boat" atmosphere that they talk about. But it's also not dead either. Only one ship (a Spirit class ship) felt like it was somewhat dead to me. But if you do want that peace & quiet feeling, there are spots on the ship that you can find that.

I'm not too happy with a lot of the recent changes with Carnival, which is why I haven't cruised in awhile & I don't really miss it. I have found land-based vacations that are cheaper & offer more than what the cruises do. However, cruises are still fun, and since you haven't cruised before, I would certainly recommend going for it. Carnival might be a more lively atmosphere than Princess, but I think you'll fit right in.

The Dream is by far my favorite ship of all. I have had 3 magnificent cruises on board the Dream. But while the Breeze was still a great ship, it fell short of the standard that Dream set (for me). Several small things were changed with the Magic/Breeze that are worse than the way Dream did it. Also, I personally prefer the more lively decor of the Dream, by comparison to the toned down (I call it boring) decor of the Breeze, but many people prefer the more bland decor. When on vacation, I want things lively, not toned down, but I understand that many people want things more toned down on vacation. Dream certainly has had unbelievably superior entertainment to the Breeze. However, Dream is removing all of those advantages at their next drydock. But if your planned week is before the drydock, then Dream will still have those advantages: much better shows & the amazing Blackjack Band, all going away at the next drydock. I sailed Dream both before & after Breeze, and Dream was still by far the winner for me. I didn't even care or notice that Dream didn't have branded burgers or breakfast burritos. Dream had some food options that Breeze didn't.

In regards to ports, New Orleans is a more interesting port to visit. Galveston isn't that bad; it's just not as interesting. Plus, Galveston does have the very long shuttle from the airport, if you're flying. And Galveston has the common fog issue. Sailing down the Mississippi is not that big of a deal, but it is unique. I was able to see the pilot getting on the pilot boat at 12:30am. Normally, the pilot is on the ship for about 10 minutes, but here, it's 8 hours.

This thread did start on the Carnival board, so the OP is probably sailing Carnival. Carnival rarely changes the ship time to match port time on closed-loop cruises. It can happen, but not usually. In 15 cruises with them, we changed times on 2 cruises, and both were because of the daylight savings switch. On many of my cruises, there was a difference in port time & ship time. We did not adjust ship time. That would get annoying to switch, then switch back later, especially when visiting a port that is 1 hour behind the home port, then 2 ports that are 2 hours behind, then a 4th port that is back to 1 hour behind. Our heads would be spinning. We thankfully didn't change times at all. We did have to make sure our independent tour operators knew of the time difference.

To answer the OP's question, I do bring a wristwatch that's in one of the small pockets on my backpack. But usually, I use the time that is on my cameras (regular cameras-not a phone camera). I have those set to ship time, and every time I turn one on, the ship time is displayed.

Magic, Breeze, & Vista have it. Ultimately, it's an unnecessary nuisance & very ineffective to the goal. Many parties sharing a room don't go everywhere at the exact same time all the time. If one person is leaving the room, needing to take their S&S card that's in the slot, then they'll be turning the lights out on the person(s) still in the room. But because of the delay in the lights going out, they don't even know that they turned the lights out on the person, who might be showering or sleeping. Then, they have to feel around in the dark, trying to find a card to put in there, maybe getting themselves hurt in the process. It's quite annoying.

The answer to the nuisance is to use a different card (such as an old gift card with $0 left on it) or folded up paper. Fold up part of the fun times, and that'll do the trick. Just leave it in the slot. That's when this feature becomes ineffective to the goal, because people who always leave all the lights on (which I cannot understand why anyone would but I know that some do) will now be able to continue to always leave the lights on. The room steward might throw away the paper if you leave it in the slot when everyone's out of the room, so designate a spot to put it when the last person leaves.