theplanner2010

Worthless for international flights. Good for Driving across the borders into and out of Canada and Mexico.

You are correct ...good for cruising ID ...but not if you need to catch an international flight for any reason.

"The passport card is a wallet-size travel document that can only be used to re-enter the United States at land border-crossings or ports-of-entry by sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda

If you save file as a pdf and attach it to post vs. posting as a photo others should be able to click on and open the menu links 😉 Have a great cruise!

There is also a passport card ... Sort of like a drivers license ... It is much cheaper than a full passport although I don't remember all the details it might be a good middle option between passport and birth certificate.

Nice spreadsheet, I think I will do something like this for Glory because it would be very handy!!. Thanks for sharing!

 

 

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I tried to post the original excel sheet so people could save it and edit for themselves but it would not let me attach an excel file. If someone knows how to do this I will be happy to post it and save you some legwork 😉

Thanks for posting!!!!

 

Couple of questions, did I read somewhere about a place where you could get free empanadas, etc for breakfast? Thinking it was on Magic but may be wrong.

 

 

 

 

Also, I have a feeling they will not have a burrito bar and a separate blue iguana cantina since you can get burritos and tacos at cantina at lunch.

You are probably right about that! I think I will take off the burrito bar!

I saw that on the Sunshine I think - Cuban eatery or something fie empanadas ??Thanks

Hi all, over-planner and 1st time Carnival Cruiser here!

I have attached an excel spreadsheet I made to familiarize myself with the dining options for the Magic since we will be cruising on her post dry dock on July 9th for the Western itinerary.

Everyone please free to use it for your own Magic cruise if you think it would be helpful however be aware that some information (especially some of the times) are speculation based on other ships time - especially for the new venues.

I tried to be pretty accurate, but I'm sure you Carnival experts will find some mistakes. Please let me know if there is anything I should add or correct.

MAGIC DINING.pdf

I believe The aft balconies that border the aft wrap balconies have a larger balcony than the other ones

My favorite part was when we temporarily put off our headlamps and sat in the incredible dark, quiet cave. .

When we did this at this part in total darkness our 6 year old accidentally rubbed her wetsuit the wrong way and it sounded just like the loudest burst of flatulence you ever heard. :eek::eek: First you heard (in the complete dark) small giggles begin from several people and then the whole group began belly laughing in the dark like teenagers. :D It did kill that deeply reflective moment but is one of my favorite all time cruise memories and we still laugh about it several years later!

OP - We booked on our own because several years ago it was not offered as a Cruise tour through RC, lunch was served, we bought the photos and it was a great day!!

Secret River in Cozumel

https://www.riosecreto.com/natural_reserve/testimonials.asp

Jungle River Tubing in Falmouth

https://www.riverrapidsja.com/tubing.html

Both were EXCELLENT!!

they played it on day 6 and 7, June 27th and 28th

The most recent I could find was from February - would that one still be accurate? Thanks!

What card gives you 2 percent? Is there a yearly fee to use the card?

Barclay Arrival World Plus MasterCard; earn 2 point per dollar and when you redeem for travel you get a 10% bonus credit. This one also gives you a bonus of 40,000 points ($400 toward travel) when you spend 3k in the first 3 months on the card. This does have a fee as well.

1. a reservation for the next cruise

2. foreign money

3. hundreds of pictures

thanks for the feedback!

I just booked connecting balconies 9586 and 9588 on the Oasis. On all of the deck plans I saw online they were listed as D2s, but when I went to book them with RC they were priced and categorized as D7s. The price difference for my cruise is a $150 per cabin/$300 total savings. The RC agent even said that his book vs. computer showed the 2 different prices so it took him a little while to sort it out also. There were several other sets of cabins that had this same category change. I mention this in part to relay this info to you experts out there who might find it useful, but also to see if anyone knows why these cabins would change from D2 to D7 - I hope nothing is wrong with them because I feel like I got a pretty good deal on them ;)

Also, if anyone has any opinions on these cabins/location in general I would appreciate it. My second choice was connecting boardwalk balconies 9311-9313 with the thought that I might have a view of the diving show and a bit of open ocean, but in the end I chose the starboard ocean view instead. If anyone has any opinions on this feel free to chime in too.

Yes, the OBC from booking onboard is more flexible than the WOW OBC. You can also combine that OBC with balcony or C&A discount. You can add the balcony discount to existing cruises, but I believe they are re-priciing cruises when you do that now.

Thanks. Hopefully if I call back to add the balcony discount it will only be a day or two after the cruise and prices won't change that much.

sorry duplicate post

I was planning on booking a couple of cruises during this sale to get both the WOW and the BOGO, but since WOW is not combinable with any other discounts and you will lose the benefits if you change anything, I think I will wait and book onboard during our June 22nd sail. The BOGO gimmick will still be active and I believe the benefits for booking onboard of reduced deposit and OBC will be the same as the WOW benefits...only combinable and changeable. Is this right? Also we will turn platinum after this sail, so does anyone know whether or not we can call up after booking and get the balcony discount applied?

I collect ship models too and perhaps the rarest in my collection is a ceramic Nordic Prince.

 

I also can't bear to throw away my copies of the Cruise Compass. :)

Enchantment and Navigator are on ebay right now.

What a great deal! Enjoy that balcony - it may be tough going back ;)

 

 

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That is my only fear!

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes!!

The story of how one budget-stretcher inside cabin girl is finally going to get a balcony!

Our family of 4 has taken 4 inside cabin cruises on the Freedom and after finally saving up a lot of Visa points that we could apply, we decided to splurge and try out the Allure. Since the points promotion on the card required a minimum ocean view cabin, I booked two connecting Central Park Window view cabins last year for our first trip on the Allure for June. We travel with our two daughters and always do inside connecting cabins for privacy, safety, comfort and 2 bathrooms! I always dream about the balconies, but 2 connecting balconies have always just been too much for the family budget.

Thanks to a heads up on Cruise Critic I was able to apply my 125,000 RC Visa points that I had saved for a free cruise for 2 before the terms changed that now omit the Allure and Oasis class at this price. So this gave me a nice $2500 credit on one cabin.

Then, again thanks to tips on this board 6 months ago I was able to catch a price change that saved me another $350 per cabin (which made the VISA points cabin virtually free!!) I was very excited, but still pining for that balcony that was always just out of reach even with sales.

Fast forward to this week. Just out of curiosity I decided to check rates and lo and behold rates had dropped for balconies on my cruise....a lot...and there was a residency discount...and...and...and...there was unbelievably a set of connecting D1 balconies available!!!! Thinking it would be unlikely that I would be allowed to upgrade given the fact that final payment was made and one of the cabins was paid mostly with points that carry their own set of restrictions, I put them on 24 hour hold and called my TA. She was skeptical that I would be able to get it too, but said she would call for me and let me know. She called me back with good news! For a whopping $43 total for both cabins I was able to do the upgrade to the connecting D1s.

So to recap I am paying less than 3K for 4 people to cruise on the Allure in a D1 balcony in June!! I am not even going to tell the family...just surprise them! Thanks Royal and thanks Cruise Critic posters for always alerting others to price breaks and sharing your genius with us novices! So my advice would be to always make the call...you never know what might happen!

Moby Dick tours...did it twice it was awesome!!

Two years ago when we were in Coco Cay in June there was a little section of the beach where there were tons of small sharks (1-2 ft maybe) swimming around in the surf. I would have loved to have been able to see them with snorkel gear as they were really hard to see from above until they were right on you. Not sure what kind they were but we had a blast looking for them and trying to snap pictures. Spent over an hour there. I am not sure if this is a regular occurrence there or not, but it was really neat.

I had a free cruise for 2 and lost all credit from my TA, so yes, I imagine it comes out of their commission.

Swim with the dolphins

 

here moo moo