CruisingSoon88

No we are on the Magic 25th cruise.

12 hours ago, evandbob said:

Are you on Nov 11 Magic Ultra sailing?  Might see you on board if you are, either at the M&G or in the casino.  Didn't see you on that roll call though.

Thanks so much everyone for the tips and suggestions. I would have never thought to tell guest services. Luckily, since we will be driving, we thought we would just walk back to our car and switch out some luggage and then move it if the 2nd ship is far away. We are excited to try this side to side. The Magic cruise was scheduled first as an Ultra cruise and then we received a cruise play repeat offer after we sailed on the Horizon last month. It was a good deal so we jumped at the chance to go back on her again. Anyway, thanks again for the responses.

We have a side by side scheduled next month on the Horizon and the Magic. While we have done a back to back before, this will be our first side by side. I was just wondering if anyone had any nuggets of wisdom that they would like to share from experience. Our current plan is to get a higher luggage tag number and take our time getting off of the ship. Normally we self assist so it will be different not trying to get off the ship early. With no long drive ahead and just a short stroll to the parking lot to rearrange a few things in our luggage, no need to hurry off. Please let me know of any tips for packing or anything else that you may have learned. Thanks in advance!

Ok. Please help me make sure that we have planned this correctly. DH’s 25th cruise will be on our 14 day Hawaii cruise in January 2019. We chose this to be his 25th cruise because when I called Carnival, they said that you get OBC for 25% of your 25th cruise amount paid. You must call them before your 25th cruise and let them know that you want to receive the 25%. We thought that this would be one of our higher priced cruises so we should make it his milestone. Will he get the 25% on that cruise or will it be given on a cruise after his 25th, but be in the amount paid for the 25th one? It sounds so confusing and the girl at Carnival put me on hold several times because she really had no idea how it worked. Thanks in advance for any clarification.

My husband and I both received bounce back offers at the end of our December cruise. I called the day after we got off the ship. I did not ask her to limit the month as our schedule was very flexible. She informed me that there were NO cruises available. Not on any ship, any date, period. This was even with 2 offers. I asked her why the casino would give an offer that they could not honor. She said that they only give the casino so many cruises to give away. Since almost all sailings are selling out pretty far in advance, there are none left to give away. She said that she had heard that the program was going to be discontinued because they simply didn't have the inventory available to honor the cruises.

Now I know that this may not be true in any way. I'm simply stating what the girl in the casino dept. told me. Regardless, mine and my husband's bounce back offers were not honored.

I have been on both. The Breeze was our favorite ship until we sailed on the Vista. I would say definitely try the Vista since you have been on the Breeze. It is a fantastic ship. Not perfect, but fantastic.

We were on the 11 day re positioning cruise on the Vista. I'll admit that it took a few days to form my opinion on the ship. It just seemed so different from any other Carnival ship. Prior to this cruise, the Breeze was our favorite ship. Slowly we decided that the Vista is now our favorite. There are just so many new neat innovations and honestly we were running out of things to get excited about on Carnival ships. Don't get me wrong, we love cruising, but we were starting to feel like been there done that.

There are definitely issues with the theater-no denying that. We are not show people though so it is not a deal breaker for me. I also felt like because there were so many different areas to congregate on the ship, it never felt crowded at all. It seems like some people felt that to be the chopped up feeling. I can understand that, I just didn't interpret it that way. The reduction in cabin storage space is very real. This was our 6th cruise in a cove balcony and we could tell a big difference in space. It was more difficult, but we found a way to make everything fit.

I would just say try the Vista for yourself. What is important to you is not the same as what someone else values. As I said, we liked Dream class ships the most before trying the Vista. Some people don't enjoy that class. I heard for years that the Spirit class was best. We sailed on the Legend and absolutely hated it. I would never consider sailing on this class again no matter the itinerary. Obviously, everyone has different things that float their boats.(pun intended:D)

Anyone heard any good or bad about Mike Pack? It looks like he will be ours on the Breeze in Oct...

We loved Mike Pack! He was very funny. I never get excited about music trivia, but he was hilarious and we tried to attend whenever we could.

Based on my conversations with the casino host on the Sunshine last month, it seems that Carnival is moving to a "don't ask, don't receive philosophy." I am not the kind of person who likes to buddy up to the hosts to receive perks. I feel that if I am entitled to something based on my play, I shouldn't have to ask for it. I did write to the casino before our cruise and was told that DH and I did not qualify for anything. We are not whales by any means, but we do cruise about 5 times per year and average about 4,000 points per cruise.

By shear accident, DH found out that they had $50 in casino cash for him. I asked if they would have told him. They said no that is our responsibility to ask. They also said that if you do have another cruise already booked, you are supposed to call after your cruise to see if you qualify for a bounce back. Having said that, I was given a letter to call because I already did have another cruise booked , but it said that I qualified for an offer.

I think it has become more and more frustrating to figure out how to qualify for offers or perks. John Heald posted last year that you need to earn 7500 points over a 12 month period to qualify for a premier offer. The casino host told me that was no longer true. It also said on the ultra invite that you must have sailed on a premier cruise during that year to qualify. My FIL got the ultra offer and booked it despite NEVER having been on a premier sailing. It feels like they constantly change the rules in the middle of the game.

Don't get me wrong, we don't cruise just for casino perks, but they do help. It is frustrating when the website never properly loads the sailing dates and despite repeated calls to them about it, it happens all over again at the next offering. I am a travel agent and I still can't see the dates for myself or my clients. Everyone knows that when you call Carnival and talk to 2 different people, you get 2 different answers. I called Friday to get the dates for this new offer and the girl told me that they would be loading dates for February and March by Monday. I called again to check on something else and mentioned there being more dates added and that girl said that there would NOT be more dates added. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

The shuttle was with a car service. Our price was included with our park and cruise rate. I would suspect that they would divide you into 2 cars. To my knowledge, the car service's largest car was a Honda mini van.

I recently looked on the hotel's website and it does look like they are now only including your transportation to the port with this offer and no longer round trip. Our cruise in November is a re positioning cruise so we will not be returning to New York and is this not an issue. I am honestly not surprised at them doing this because our driver ended up waiting on us forever. He came an hour earlier than what we scheduled and then they forgot to let us off the ship so we were really late.

I would call the hotel to make sure that you are booked with the correct rate to include transportation. Get the person's name that you speak with in case you have any issues.

It was very apparent that this was something new that the hotel was offering. Most employees didn't know anything about this package. I felt they still did a good job. Hopefully, they will have all of the bugs worked out for you by January. HTH

We just did this cruise last month so I would expect your temperatures to be cooler in October. While we were able to wear shorts during the day, once the sun set, it was very cold. The wind was always howling. There were many people wearing hoodies and this was June.

In fact, we had been on an Alaskan cruise in June last year and the New England cruise was MUCH cooler. I would plan on having layers as others have said. I can't overstate how high the winds were and how much colder it got after the sun went down.

I also received a BBC6 offer on my last cruise. We already had 2 more cruises booked this year, but I still got a letter. When I called, I had until the end of December to sail and they gave me at least 12 different cruises to choose from. Unfortunately, we just couldn't make the dates line up to sail again. The lady that I spoke with told me to e-mail casino@carnival.com because I was still entitled to a gift on my next cruise that was already booked.

It only took 1 day to hear back and they requested me to send a copy of my letter. I sent a picture and heard back again the next day. They said that I will receive some casino cash on my November cruise. Its not as much as a free cruise, but I'm not complaining.

We just did a 4 day and the amount needed is 2500. Just remember that your points for the entire cruise do not count. They only use your points accrued up to the next to last night of your cruise. It stops at midnight on that night. This was something new to me. It makes sense so they have time to print the letters, but I just never had anyone tell me that before.

CheerMom15 How was pick up after the cruise ? That's my fear is having to wait and wait. We have a long ride home and I like to get on the road.

We used this hotel for our back to back cruise from 6-21-16 through 6-30-16. Our pick up was scheduled when we checked in. Since we are platinum and are usually off the ship fast, I scheduled the driver for 8am. He was calling by 7:05am saying that he was there waiting. Unfortunately, debarkation was very slow. They forgot to come and get the platinums out of the lounge that they told us to wait in. The self assists were called and they just all of a sudden released zones 1-6.

Our driver called probably 4 times to get an update. He was out there driving around in circles. We finally got off the ship at 9:30. Its just really hard to give an exact time because you never know how fast things will be. As we were driving out of the city back towards New Jersey, there was a bad wreck and traffic was backed up for miles. Our driver said that it was a good thing that he came early or he could have been stuck sitting in that mess. The whole thing is hard to time between the ship and the traffic there.

They give you a card for the car service so you can call them directly if you need to adjust your time. I hate that we made him wait so long, but I was happy that he was right there when we finally got off the ship.

We used the offer for this hotel for a back to back cruise from 6-21-16 through 6-30-16. I was very happy with our stay there. We stayed for 3 nights prior to our departure to do some sightseeing. They allowed us to have 2 different reservations so that we only paid the higher park and cruise rate for one night. My in-laws also stayed there for 3 nights, but they flew in so they did not have to pay for the parking rate. When we booked the rooms, we had asked how much extra it would cost for them to also get transportation with us to the port. They told us that they would not charge any extra so we had 4 adults and 2 kids that were included.

We chose our transportation time to the port when we checked in. They asked us how many pieces of luggage that we had and got everything scheduled. The only hiccup that we had was when the driver showed up in a mini-van that was supposed to hold him plus 6 people and 8 pieces of luggage. Obviously that was not going to work. The hotel was right on top of it and told the driver that he needed to call his supervisor and work it out because they had given them all of the correct information. The driver agreed that he knew the number of people, but the hotel only requested 1 car so that's all that was sent. In a matter of minutes, they sent another car and we were on our way.

Fausto was one of the managers at the hotel and I felt that he really went out of his way to make sure that we were taken care of. Everyone there was very friendly, but I will say that some of the desk clerks had some language barriers. It just took a little patience sometimes to find out what you needed.

We have another cruise booked out of Manhattan in November and have already booked this hotel again. I would be happy to answer any specific questions that you may have.

We have reservations at this hotel this month. When we booked, the hotel told us that not only were the four of us(2 adults 2 kids) included, they would also throw in transportation for my in laws. They are staying at the hotel, but did not book the park and cruise rate because they are flying. Hopefully we won't have any problems getting them to honor that.

We did call and speak to them several times asking various questions. One question was about the type of transportation that they use to get you to the port. Our concern was that it would be a vehicle large enough for 6 people and our luggage. They said that they would let the company know how large our party was when they called to schedule them at our arrival.

Fortunately, we will be staying 3 nights with them prior to leaving on our cruise so we can make sure that everything is set.

I'll be sure to come back and post to let everyone know how it went since not many have used this offer,yet.

They used to send a plate for each platinum member, now just one per cabin.

I'm glad they changed it. We received 4 plates on the Splendor in March.

We have 4 people in our cabin that are platinum so we get everything x4. Usually I just give them away to neighbors. This month we are doing a back to back so we will get 8 plates of strawberries. Oh joy. OP who did you ask to get the cookies instead? I would love to have options or just ask them to please not bring 4 plates of them.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

How are you planning to do your sightseeing in NYC from the Hilton Garden in Ridgefield Park?

They told us that there is a bus terminal literally in their parking lot that would take us into Manhatten for around $3 per person. I'm hoping this is true.

This is another reason that I am anxious to hear some details from others who have already stayed there.

I did also read on a review on another site that talked about the desk at the hotel being very helpful in telling them the bus routes that they needed to get to their sightseeing destinations.

Fingers crossed that this is as good as it sounds.

We have also booked this hotel for a June cruise. They were very helpful when we called them. We are coming a few days early to do some sightseeing so they booked us with 2 different rates so that we only pay the park and cruise rate for one night. Although it states that you get 7 nights of parking, we are doing a back to back that will total 9 days. They said it was no problem. My in laws are also cruising with us, but are flying in. The hotel said that they could ride to the port with us for no extra charge.

I think it is a private car instead of a taxi because when we asked about having a vehicle that was large enough to accommodate 4 adults and 2 kids with 9 days worth of luggage, they said that they tell the company how big of a vehicle to bring based on our needs.

I will be excited to see some reports come back after some of you complete your trips.

My drink of choice is Grey Goose and ginger ale. I have never had a problem getting it free on any cruise whether it was a Premier or even a regular cruise after hitting 1500 points. You shouldn't have any issues.:)

We loved Ji Ji's and ate there twice on our cruise. The food was served family style so you get to try different dishes. My kids were 5 and 8 when we went and they loved it. They do not have a kids menu, but my boys loved everything that they ate there.

Thanks for the review. I love it when someone does a cruise line comparison and they actually use comparable ships. For instance, I always cringe when you see a review where the Fantasy is compared with Allure of the Seas. We prefer Carnival's newer, larger ships and I am always curious about trying other lines. I feel like NCL would probably be what we would try first.

We don't do shows so entertainment is just not important to us. One thing that I did find interesting when we looked at NCL is that we could not find a cabin with a king size bed unless we booked a suite. That may not be a big deal to some, but I have had a king size bed since I was 10 and have had to share it with DH for almost 11 years now. That was hard enough. I can't imagine spending a week in a queen size bed.

In the end, we have always had great cruises with Carnival so its hard to "chance" trying something new. I'm sure we'll venture out soon enough and I do enjoy seeing the comparisons.

We have been on 2 premier cruises and the 1st one was before we were platinum. I still got FTTF and I was glad that I did. Although you are supposed to get early boarding, this did not happen on either of my premier cruises. I know this because we were with another couple that are not platinum and did not get FTTF. I also wanted it so that I could have the separate phone line and waiting line for guest services. Not to having to wait forever in line was always worth it for me.

So having my luggage early and the faster guest services line was always enough incentive for me to get FTTF.

I echo that the camp gates are very safe. Our kids first cruised when they were 2 and 5. They used to get very carsick and I still have the very rare seasick occurrence. We use the Seabands brand ginger gum. Their pediatrician approved it and it has been very helpful for us. I hate the seasickness meds because they all knock me out and I hate to lose an entire day of our cruise. The gum helps instantly and has no side effects. I usually get mine at CVS. HTH