ABCGreys

53 minutes ago, Erikup said:

Every time I'm in the funshops section (logged in or not) it never shows me a booking lookup. What am I missing? 😉 

As you go through the check out process, the second or third step is for delivery and gift options. But you have to go into and partially through the check out to see it.

Thank you! Even with gray days, the colors pop off the pages. 

We normally stay forward with the preferred location being Lido and usually don't have any issues. But, we once stayed in room R1 on one of the Fantasy class ships (can't remember which one) and hit some rough seas. We were literally getting rolled out of bed and it sounded as if someone was hitting the bow with chains. Once we cleared the weather, it was fine.

It depends, really. Where on the Veranda deck? If up front, that's OK because the Lido deck staterooms are above you. But if it's in the middle/rear you'll be underneath the pool and buffet. People have reported noise from deck cleaning during the night, dragging chairs, deck parties. Plus, the kitchen will crank up early in the morning to start getting breakfast ready. 

You say it's for your family but didn't say how old your kids are. Is it possible to get more flexibility with room choice if they're not right next door? Carnival does have some restrictions though but I can't find them on the website.

Hard to pick just 3!

1. Calabaza Catamaran in Barbados. We've done this twice and the second time, chartered the boat for just my family (there were 13 of us, so basically full +1). Amazing service, food, and snorkeling. If we're ever back in Barbados, we'll do it again.

2. Helicopter tour in Hilo, Hawaii over the volcano. Gorgeous views especially the lava flow into the ocean.

3. Seavis Tours, La Romana DR. Just an all around great day. Speed boat, beach, lunch, mangroves, and starfish. With all the rum punch you can drink!

Yes. We have the same situation as you - I drink, my husband does not. So, I book myself and underage daughter into one cabin and my husband and son into the other. I get Cheers for myself and my husband pays by the drink. At boarding, we go to guest services to get extra keys for the rooms. The only down side is the need to keep up with two keys.

Test

11 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

I never understand this. You won't get an hour massage at home for $60, but will get $120 massage on the ship? 

Sometimes, in day to day life at home, it's hard to get the time to be able to get a massage. Weekdays are spent working, ferrying kids to sports and music lessons. The weekends include fun stuff like meal planning and grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc. A vacation offers free time to indulge in something that can feel selfish at home. 

2 hours ago, Indytraveler83 said:

Next up: Cozumel- Mr. Sanchos nearly made us pier runners!

Don't leave us hanging! 🙂

It depends on the cruise, for us. A short 4 day, we normally eat exclusively at the buffet with a night in the steakhouse. For longer cruises, we'll try the dining room the first or second night (we get ATD) and if the food is good and the service good, we'll eat more in the dining room. On our Paradise cruise in September, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food and service in the dining room and ate there every night, requesting the same team. Over Thanksgiving, we ended up at the dining on the last night and had a blast with the people sitting around us and the serving team. We actually regretted not going earlier in the cruise. If we're traveling with family - kids or extended - we enjoy the dining room and use the time as a way to catch up on everyone's days.

We select both. We tried morning only on a 4-day and it didn't work since we didn't get turndown service and we were constantly out of towels. We shower at least 2x a day - after the gym and before dinner. It feels like the towels never dry, so even when we try to reuse them, they're damp. So, now we just get both and we're assured of clean towels when we need them.

I've done this itinerary twice. I'd recommend tours in St. Lucia and St. Kitts. There are more DIY options in St. Thomas, Barbados, and St. Maarten. For St. Lucia, check out Cosol Tours or Spencer Ambrose and Thenford Grey in St. Kitts.

We've had to do this in the past and just got extra keys once we got on board. The four of us were on the same account, so it didn't matter. 

We stayed in an aft wrap on deck 6, 6452. It was right above the lounge where the comedy shows were held but we didn't find the noise a problem. That's not to say that we didn't hear any noise. There was some noise but nothing that kept us up at night. Much less noisy than our recent Fantasy cruise that had an overwhelming amount of door slammers in our general vicinity. I'd imagine a level up from that would be even quieter.

We sail in interior rooms depending on the cruise length or the itinerary. We don't get a balcony on anything less than a 7 day cruise. We find we just don't have enough time to enjoy it. Also, if it's a port heavy itinerary (Southern Caribbean on Fantasy with only one port day and our 2020 European cruise where we'll be off the ship for long days) we'll do an inside. Saves money for the next cruise and we use the TV on the ship's camera for "light" and to check the weather. And, like others have mentioned, we sleep great in insides!

13 minutes ago, zeph918 said:

Glad I found this site... maybe you guys can help me out.  

In September 2019, It will be our 20th anniversary.    She THINKS I only have a trip to the beach planned.   But no, I have a cruse to Bermuda already booked up.   Im doing all the planning pretty much on my own.   I got a flight booked, transfer service scheduled, and even a shore excursion planned.   Im doing it solo because I want it to be a surprise for her that Ill reveal a week or two before we go.  

 

With this being our first cruise, I had some questions.   We are going to be on the Carnival Breeze by the way.   

 

1 - Our trip makes a stop at the Grand Turk where I have already booked a entry level snorkeling excursion.   But Im not sure how I am going to find where to go for the excursion once we dock at grand turk.   Depending on how you booked the excursion, your meet up directions will vary. If you booked through the ship, there will be instructions with your tickets which will be in your stateroom a day or two before your port date. Generally, you'll most likely walk off the ship, down the pier and into the "square". Tour guides will be holding signs. Find your guide and you're good to go. 

 

2 - Whats the point of having a "dining time"?   I was under the impression you could eat 24/7 as much as you wanted to on a cruise (aside from obvious signature dining locations).  Part of a cruise was staying stuffed with food all the time right?  😃    Am I wrong in thinking that you can eat at any of the included diners anytime, and as often, as you would like?   The dining times are for dinner. There's early, late or any time. Any time is similar to going out on land. Show up when you're hungry and you'll be seated based on table availability. For the two fixed dining times, you go to the main dining room to your assigned table. In addition to the dining room, the Lido buffet is open for dinner. There is also pizza 24 hrs, a deli, and other venues depending on your ship. For the most part, pizza and ice cream are always available.

 

3 - Are there Ice machines that you can get access to or like a mini fridge in the rooms?   Just thinking about being out on the balcony (we have an aft balcony room) and getting thirsty.   There aren't any ice machines, but you can ask your stateroom attendant to provide you with ice. Some ships have fridges, it depends. 

 

4- Room service is....really free?   First time cruiser so I honestly dont know.  So If I want some food or a sweet treat at 9PM I just call room service and they bring it to me all included?    This seems so foreign to me  since normally not only do you pay for the food they bring, but you also pay for the service of them bringing it to you.  Room service seems to be in flux right now. Carnival recently announced plans to charge for room service and then rolled it back a couple of days later. As it stands today, room service has both free and pay for items, which are reasonably priced.

 

5 - How is luggage handled?    When we get off the plane with our bags, we find the transfer service.  But what then?   Im sure they will let us know but figured I would ask.   Do we carry our bags to our room right away or do they have some kind of service like an airport that does it for you or what? When you get to the port, big bags are dropped with porters and then they're delivered over the next couple of hours, normally by dinner time. 

 

 

Sorry to be so ignorant.  Ive been researching so much on the internet regarding cruises.   Watched countless youtube videos and read even more websites.    I still have 9 months before we depart but Im the type that likes to have his ducks in a row as early as possible.   

 

I appreciate all the help.   Im gonna prod around on this site to see if I can find some answers in previous posts here.  

 

 

I hope this helps!

We try and get it every time we cruise. For us, the value is in being able to arrive to check in early and having our room ready right away. It gives us a minute to unwind before heading out to lunch. It's also really handy for tender ports since we don't do Carnival excursions. 

We stayed beneath the dining room on the Fantasy on our last cruise and never heard any noise from it. It's carpeted and only open set hours. We had a lot more noise from the hallway.

2 hours ago, OceansOfTravels said:

I think you could prolong getting your luggage, be as slow as possible, and then just take a taxi like most would into OSJ. Get dropped off at a restaurant or bar near the ship, and just hang out there. Drink some coffee, get some breakfast, you'll be tired. Hold out until 10:30-11 when the ship begins its first rounds of boarding, and then go ahead and board the ship. If you pack a bathing suit in your backpack, you'll be able to hang by the pool and eat some lunch until rooms open between 1-1:30PM, and then you'll have your room to likely take the needed power nap. I don't think you need to splurge on a hotel like many others are suggesting, I know about this 4AM flight and chances are, you wouldn't have taken it if money wasn't a factor somewhere in the equation.

 

This sounds like a perfect plan!

We were just notified via text from Carnival that the Fantasy had a medical deviation and will be docking late in Mobile tomorrow. Does anyone know what's happening? I hope everyone is OK and that the ship doesn't arrive too late for those of us embarking on her tomorrow. The text said we'd have an update no later than 7:00 PM tonight.

We just got off the Paradise Monday morning. We've sailed a bunch of times with Carnival 10+, a couple of times w NCL and once with Celebrity and this Paradise cruise was one of our best ever! The food in the main dining room was great and the Lido was good. The crew was friendly and helpful and the ship is in great shape. There was always someone cleaning something. That combined with Cuba made for a fantastic time. We wouldn't hesitate to sail her again.

DH and I have used it on previous cruises and my entire family (15 of us) used it on the Fascination in July, 2017. We had the delayed texts issue that others have mentioned above. Not sure if this is part of the issue, but I'm an android (Samsung Galaxy) user and DH and most other family members are Iphone users. On the family cruise, I found I wasn't receiving texts that other people were. One night in the dining room as a test, my brother texted me and I didn't receive it until several hours later. It's OK for DH and I on our own though and we're normally together or have a predetermined meeting place/time.

When we first started cruising my husband wasn't a fan of sea days either. Now though, he loves them! He does enjoy all of the trivia games and attends those types of activities while I lay out in the sun. But his new favorite, especially on Fantasy class ships is to sit in the shade on the Serenity deck and watch the wake while reading/dozing. There is a lot to do! So much that you'll have to decide one thing over the other.

DH and I rarely eat in the main dining room on our shorter cruises (4-5 days). We usually dine in the DR on the first night and then let our table mates and servers know that if we're not there within 5 minutes of the doors opening, we won't be there. It's just a courtesy. I'd hate to think of the waiters holding service for the table if we're not there.

I drink, my husband doesn't other than an occasional glass of wine or Margarita. On one of our Norwegian cruises, we had the beverage package "included" (had to pay taxes and service charges, maybe around $120?). Any way, we tracked what we both drank just to see if the package was worth it for us. It wasn't, my consumption overall wasn't enough to cover his costs.

On a recent Carnival cruise I was booked in a room with my daughter who was 18, and DH booked in with my son. I bought Cheers and definitely got my money's worth from morning specialty coffees and mimosas, to frozen drinks at the pool, wine with dinner, and cocktails after along with bottled water through the day. But, when it's just DH and I, we'll just pay as we go which makes more sense for us. There's no way I'd spend $840 on my own.