tinlizzy

Carnival Spirit cruise out of San Diego maybe 17 years ago.

We sailed thru a storm and they had closed the upper deck because of the high winds. The loungers were stacked railing height and tied together and to the railing with a rachet strap. A group of teenage boys were standing on top of the stacked loungers next to the railing pretending to windsurf in the high winds! The winds were so strong that they could barely get their footing to stand upright on the chairs! Scariest thing I've ever seen. 

How will you get home from the cruise if you booked a one way tix? Your original RT ticket will be cancelled if you don't show up for the first leg.

That early is doable but risky.

We were off the ship in Miami at 7:30 (group 1 priority debarkation) and took an Uber to FLL and were there by 9 am. Our flight was at 12:10 pm.

However, the sailing before ours was delayed 3 hrs by customs and as we were leaving a person in group 1 was held up by a customs agent checking her purchases.

It'll be great if it works out for you but a very long day if it doesn't. Does your airline charge for missed flights?

Everyone has to be off the ship at 9:30 and Miami airport is maybe 15-20 min by cab. 1:30 should give you plenty of time.

That's a hard question for people without mobility issues because it's an easy walk therefore not memorable. I just got back a couple weeks ago and while I only have a sketchy memory of walking out to the street Aruba as I recall is about one city block or 300 ft with duty free shopping half way and Curacao twice as long with a walk over a pedestrian bridge.

Pictures of the bag

Someone asked for pictures. It's a big bag with a cooler on the bottom. Plenty of room for beer and ice. That's six bottles or 14 cans.

*sorry no idea why the pics won't load

The best thing we did in Aruba was to catch the local bus from the Oranjestad cruise terminal to Palm Beach (for $2 roundtrip) and simply walk the beach. It was fabulous!

 

http://aruba-island.com/palmbeach/

We just got back and I would second this. The local bus terminal is across the street from Diamonds Int'l as you walk out of the port parking lot. The private buses are the little vans and are not airconditioned. They want $5 each way. The local bus is a large transit/Greyhound type airconditioned bus. The price 2 weeks ago was $2.50 one way or $5 RT. You pay your fare at the ticket booth (wooden booth with the window facing the fence - kind of easy to miss) and they give you a card to swipe. #10 bus loads right beyond the ticket booth.

This bus stops first at Eagle beach then proceeds to the hi-rise area and Palm beach. It stops at the beach access that leads to the pier and Bugaloe bar. There were men offering chairs and umbrellas for $15. We weren't fond of the area - water rentals, overpriced bar, lots of people.

We walked right and went farther up the beach and put our towels down in a shady area behind the Royal timeshare papayas and chairs. This is a lovely spot with both sun and shade (the Royal beach bar is there - just a shack with bar stools and a foot wash on the side which we used when we left). The malecon is directly behind.

After we got settled we walked around a bit. It you cut through the Playa Linda resort a little farther up the beach or we walked on the malecon, there is a convenience store attached to the front. My son bought beer for I believe $18 for a 6pk. He bought IPA's so reg. beer may be cheaper. We spotted a dunkin donuts attached to the back of another hotel on the walk back and I got an iced coffee. They also gave us ice for our beach bag full of beer.

We exited the same way we came, waited at the sidewalk bus shelter (across from a I <3 Aruba sign) and took the bus back to the port. Super easy!

Thank you! I believe I will :hearteyes: the location too!

Have a great time! That's neat that your son works onboard and you can visit him!

I've only been offered one upsell and it was for a balcony cabin on a higher floor.

I suspected though that the real reason was to move us from a balcony cabin that sleeps 4 to a balcony cabin that sleeps 3 and I said so. I told him that I would move to the other cabin for free. They declined my offer:confused: .

I think most upsells are to free up more space in a cabin or free up the interior cabins that they have an easier time selling late for less money while extracted more money out of you.

Also not a sun worshipper and loved the cove balcony on the Dream for that exact reason. It's nice to be close to the water - completely different perspective.

There is an entire "lanai" area outside on Deck 5, port and starboard, where you can go out and connect with the sea. Did you not see this part of the ship?

 

The "lanai" is outside Ocean Plaza - exactly what I said, you can walk around outside on deck 5 if you go through the exit at Ocean Plaza but if you are walking inside the ship you will be walking through a hallway with walls.

So I do have a tip. The Ocean Plaza serves a smaller buffet breakfast in the morning similar to the late riser breakfast on lido....scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, french toast and danish if I recall correctly and oatmeal and grits. Coffee, tea, milk and juice. I was told it was to make breakfast more convenient for the Havana room cruisers if they didn't want to venture upstairs. There was only one couple and several officers eating breakfast there in the mornings. If you want to avoid the crowds or get off the ship fast on port days the Ocean Plaza is the place to eat.

Im cruising with a cruise newbie and not even going to tell her about this site to be honest, the comments on Vista are so negative. Why ruin her excitment?

I don't think the Vista comments are negative but they are honest critiques by long time cruisers who have a lot of experience cruising with Carnival.

You may end up in the "not a fan of the Vista class ships" after you sail on her. Steel yourself Firefly because you may douse her excitement when you experience the Vista and are disappointed.

I didn't read anything about the Vista until I got home and came on here to see what other people thought.

16 cruises and I'm booked on the Horizon next year and I hope the surveys I fill out after the cruises impact future ship designs.

I am not trying to be rude, but I really have no idea what you are talking about with the hiding of staff. What Vistas are obstructed (no pun intended)?

 

 

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You cannot see outside for most of decks 4 and 5. They are just hallways now. You can walk completely around deck 5 (ocean plaza deck) but you have to either exit from ocean plaza or cut through the red frog pub. There may be other venues to walk through to get to the promenade but I always felt like I was searching to see the ocean. You can no longer see the water at all from the casino and aren't allowed to exit any outside doors from decks 3 or 4.

The older ship designs just feel more connected to the outside views.

Vista was not my favorite ship. I want to see outside when I'm inside and the views are mostly obstructed everywhere you go on the interior (decks below lido) of the ship.

There is a trend now to hide the business workings and staff of places like hospitals. I think this is what was behind the design of the newer ships - to allow people to enjoy their cruise without encountering carts or crew. You will notice on the Vista that crew members will immediately exit to the promenades and walk to where they are going on the outside of the ship. The downside is that, ironically, the vistas are obstucted.

The ship is beautiful and the cruise was fun but not my personal ideal cruise experience.

That isn't accurate. The lady in the Disney example had a note from her doctor. She was 25 weeks pregnant. Cut off is 24 weeks. Disney stuck by their rules and denied HER boarding. Everyone else COULD have boarded and gone on the trip. But they didn't. They opted to behave like tortured drama queens and record it and post it.

Exactly. The media has identified her as a Vlogger. It was nothing but a stunt for publicity.

I just wanted to add another warning about missing the ship.

Time change - DST. Without going thru all my old posts I don't remember the ship or the country.

We booked an excursion thru a very popular CC tour operator and when we got in the van I noticed that the clock was behind an hour. I actually mentioned it to the driver and got the response that the van clock was probably wrong or that it was set to local time and he knew what time we needed to get back to the ship. Since I didn't know what the local time really was I accepted his answer. My watch was on ship time.

For some reason I clocked the ride to the excursion - it was a little under an hour. The excursion was great and we had a little sightseeing afterward. At our first sightseeing stop I mentioned that I thought we would be cutting it close getting back to the ship and a few others expressed the same concern. We were all poo-pooed and the excursion continued. Another 15 minutes passes and my watch said it was the cut off for boarding. I was nearly panicked and because of the sightseeing really had no idea where we were or how close to the ship we were. A few of us were literally arguing with the driver to take us back to the ship immediately. The driver is actually irritated with us! I was considering jumping out and trying to get a cab. A few minutes after our heated discussion with the driver a call goes out on the CB to the excursion driver to immediately return to the ship! It's now about 20 minutes until the ship sails and we are speeding toward the ship. At sail away we are still driving! The driver won't say how far we are from the ship and we quit asking and the entire van is quiet.

We pulled into port long after sail away (1/2 hr I think) and there are at least 100 people waiting to get on!!! I've never been so happy to see a line in all my life!

We board, get ready and go to dinner.. The ship sailed an hour late. Our servers tell us that over 400 people were missing at sail away! The Carnival and private excursion operators were all confused over the DST change and the ship had no option but to wait. The servers said that the Captain announced that they would stay until all passengers were on board no matter what time, ship sponsored or private excursion because of the confusion. (I'm sure the thought of CNN covering a story on 400 stranded ship passengers entered their minds, too...lol)

So now I make absolutely sure the excursion operators ship time is the same as what I know it to be. I've never run into this situation again but I would never leave on an excursion again if the operator doesn't agree with me as to what time it is...it was way too stressful!

I was on the Freedom 2 weeks ago. I got the Tervis tumbler.

We were about a half an hour late one time because of daylight savings time. The tour operator insisted they knew the correct time and we did not! It was very stressful! I thought for sure that the ship would be gone when we got back to port.

There were 20 or so on the tour and when we arrived back at the port there were about 400 people waiting to get back on the ship! Apparently all of the tour operators were confused.

No don't bother with that. Call Carnival or your TA if you used one and have them link the booking numbers together. That's the only way to be sure you will be seated together.

THIS

Linked bookings on 2 cruises in the past. Works perfectly and you will be seated together for dinner.

This was a big group.There were probably 10 free cabins so the group leaders took 2 cabins and the other 8 were available, so someone pocketed my cash and put me in the free one.

This is how TA's offer cruise fares for less money. Technically, there are free cabins but in reality the TA just divides the savings for the free cabins with everyone in the group. (The money you and the others assigned to the free cabins paid was just divided up in the form of a savings to everyone else - you included).

It's unfortunate that some won't get credit for these types of cruise fares.

Now I wonder if all of the people getting the free cruisers earlier this year are getting credit for those cruises. I bet not.

I just got back last weekend from the free cruise and got the points. We did not upgrade but I did have a 2 cat upgrade available to use and was put on a higher floor. We booked a HC room but I think those are considered inside cabins despite the window.

Really, I have never herd of Carnival paying for a hotel and shuttle pre cruise even if you book the flight with them. If they did that is great!!!!!.

I've been on 32 cruises with CCL and I used Carnival for the air once that was enough!!!!!

 

Gary

The Carnival rep said that if you live west of the Mississippi that they fly people in the day before usually. I assume she was talking about people who live in podunk like us. She said that if they fly you in a day early then they comp the hotel. I assumed they provided transportation to the port only because they flew us to FLL. We paid for our own cab to MIA for the return flight.

We always have at least one connection and would never make it to the port the same day.

I made a mistake and booked our flights out of MCO way too early one time - forgetting the drive from the port was so long. We hired a guy named Ed Korgan http://taxi-mco.com/Drivers/Edward%20A.%20Korgan%20Jr.htm to pick us up from the port. He was our savior that day! He has a quite a few recommendations on here and on the disboards.

We bought Carnival air during Spring Break for a cruise out of Miami one year. They flew us into FLL the day before and paid for a hotel room for one night (we live in Iowa) and shuttled us to Miami the next morning. No problems.