tea4ular

I've never minded kids on a cruise. I actually prefer the babies and toddlers to the older kids who run crazy on board being annoying and with nary a parent in sight.

I notice those freaky videos of brawls, crazy antics, screaming matches, and even chair hog stories never have a baby or toddler as the main perpetrator. So yeah, me too...;p:p

We put a sign up (at least a sign, we've also decorated our door) - a few we've done:

On our Alaska cruise we made a sign with beach chairs and the turquoise ocean that read Hawaii or Bust

For our friend's 70th birthday we had Warning: Geezer Crossing

On a Caribbean cruise we had: Don't Worry, We're With the Band

Decorated doors were for my husband's graduation for his doctorate, which we included a card for fellow passengers to write their congratulations (he received many really nice sentiments); a Halloween theme; and an Earth Day theme.

I know there are some who don't like the door decorating, and to each their own. We enjoy doing it and we enjoy seeing how others decorate.

I was thinking once to create a 'window' that makes it look like you're seeing directly into the cabin.

Enjoy being creative OP.

I use the one with fish in its name.

Any that have a true Cloud 9 spa.

...because prices are comparable to a land vacation, with less flexibility, so we cancelled the future cruise and are going to Maui instead. We will cruise again, just not our next trip.

I never gave it a second thought. My H & I booked 2 separate cabins, on different floors - in fact the adult "kids" room was booked as a guarantee, and they landed 2 floors away in a suite. At the time they were 19 and 21.

Welcome "home" Splendor!

I don't wash it every day, I just use a heavy duty conditioner - I maybe wash it 3 of 7 nights. Sometimes I leave a small amount of conditioner on without rinsing it out. The water on the ships makes my hair feel like straw. ☹️

Did you do any snorkeling in Cozumel? I am reluctant to book snorkeling there because the reefs are so far offshore. ----Rene

Rene, no, we haven't snorkeled in Cozumel. In fact I've not snorkeled Mexico at all. Wherever you snorkel in Roatan, it'll be wonderful. I was truly surprised at how beautiful the ocean is there.

Roatan. No doubt about it. The second largest barrier reef in the world, second to Australia. Look up Roatan Ocean Adventures, Herbert at ROA is a treat of a young man. He took us out to snorkel and it was the highlight of our cruise. You can follow them on FB.

This is what I wrote in my journal about Roatan:

Roatan is a “walk off” port so once we were done eating wegrabbed our stuff and headed off the ship. We independently booked Sightseeingand Snorkel the Barrier Reef with Roatan Ocean Adventures (ROA) which we readabout on Cruise Critic. Reviews there and on Trip Advisor were all positive andafter a few e-mails with Herbert, the owner, we booked. We received a detailede-mail with exact walking directions to meet the tour. We followed, and walkedup one area, down another, across even another, and finally up a small hillroad, at the top, when we looked down the other side, there was a line ofpeople along the right side of the road, with signs announcing who they wereand what tour they were picking up for! Apparently Carnival will only allow“their” excursions to pick up at the actual pier. It was no big deal - the walktook all of maybe 10 minutes. As soon as we got to the checkpoint, 2 guys witha different tour group asked us who we were looking for, and called out forthem. With more than 50 people picking up for as many tours, ROA wasn’t there.We were assured they would be there shortly. We sat and watched this physicalsymphony. It was a lot of fun watching locals picking up their visitors for theday. A few minutes later a young man came over and said my name. He was holdinga cell phone. He had Herbert on the phone. He was minutes away and heapologized several times in the 1 minute call we had. The young man was hiscousin.

Herbert arrived and had parked and walked over to collectus. His car was clean and air conditioned and as he drove he shared with us allsorts of interesting things about his life, and life on the island. At 27Herbert is a devout ecologist. He is very concerned about the reef system andhas taken matters into his own hands…literally. He has taken 86 species ofcoral that he has seen being damaged by storms, pollution and humans andcreated a coral garden. He is re-growing the coral and when it is mature enoughhe will take each piece and reintroduce it to the reef with the expectation ofre-growing endangered reef coral. In addition he is preparing to add solarpanels to the house he lives in with his dad in French Harbor. Herbert has aton of business ideas and shared many of them with us, asking what we thought.To me, I felt like I was visiting with a relative I don’t see frequently ratherthan a stranger. He is smart and very personable. As we drove he pointed outvarious things to us, and we 3 chatted as friends. We were fortunate in that wehad a private tour with Herbert.

Along the sightseeing way we stopped at various beachvistas (beautiful) and at one we were among mangroves and Herbert taught us theright way to replant the pods that we found on the ground (he said “come backnext year and I’ll show you your trees!”). We also stopped at the iguana parkand we both bought a few trinkets in the shop there. Many items werelocally made and prices reasonable. Then we made a stop at his cousin’s animalsanctuary where we played with little monkeys, saw beautiful scarlet macaws,some local tapirs and I got to hold a very friendly sloth. Those are words Inever thought I’d say in my life….I held a sloth.

And then the time had come…itwas time to snorkel the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world! We had broughtour own mask and snorkel and Herbert had fins and vests for us. He also has masksand snorkels to use. I’m not a very good swimmer and Herbert suggested I simplyhold the vest against myself and basically use it as a floating device. Itworked brilliantly! Herbert also keeps a stash of “reef safe” sunscreen. Webrought our own, and lathered up! We met Justin, our entrepreneurial and lovely16-year old pontoon boat driver (he works during the week and goes to school onweekends and will be graduating in a month and then going to university) – heis also very concerned for the reef and will do whatever he can to preserveand/or make it better. The sounds from the “party” on Little French Cay wasloud enough for us to hear and Herbert wanted to take us away from it. Heguided Justin and before long we were in an isolated area of the reef. Theylowered a sloping ladder and in we went. The water was warm, calm and the mostexquisite color of green and blue I’d ever seen. One thing to note with ROA isthat Herbert carries an underwater camera (so you don’t have to) and takespictures while you snorkel (he was in the water with us, while Justin quietlyfollowed along). Within a few days Herbert e-mails hi-resolution pictures toyou at no extra charge. We got about 20 and each one is more beautiful than thenext! We snorkeled a very long section of the reef (maybe a mile) all the whileseeing every variation of fish, sea life and so much coral that was so colorfuland unusual it almost looked like an underwater movie set! At one area wesnorkeled over a submerged 185’ ship, something that scuba divers enjoyexploring. I would say we snorkeled about an hour or so. We could have donemore, but we knew we were on limited time. We boated around a bit more beforeheading back to shore. After drying off we got back in the car and Herbert tookus down the highway and drove us through Coxen Hole before taking us back tothe ship pier. We sadly said good -bye to our new friend and told him we wouldsee him again.

Make sure you adjust your tips. You're basically paying for two meals; there's no need to tip for both of them.

Sheesh, really? You're talking about a measly $6.39 per person for a 3 day cruise. The "dining staff" receives $6.40 of your $13.95 gratuity each day. Assume 3 meals a day, that's $2.13 per meal gratuity, and since it's a 3 day cruise, $2.13 x 3 = $6.39 or $12.78 for the couple - for the 3 days!

OP - PLEASE don't be as stingy as is being suggested. You've stated this is a special event for you, therefore the entire staff will likely go above and beyond to make your trip special.

If there's a chance that someone (or more) may back out, do not book early saver, and be sure to make those cancellations prior to the penalty periods.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3401/kw/cancellation

We recently had a standard (not early saver) booking we'd been making payments on, and cancelled (we opted on a land trip instead). Within 3 days of cancellation 100% of all money paid, was credited back to our original form of payment.

I didn't start buying travel insurance until I turned 50, however with 3 little ones traveling, I would buy it with zero hesitation! Check into insure my trip and compare the rates. As I book any trip now, I just budget the cost of the insurance. It's worth it for peace of mind.

We don't pay them upon booking, but we do pay them in advance. We're going to pay them anyway, so it's just one more thing to get out of the way (like Cheers, Bottomless Bubbles, or whatever else someone chooses to prepay).

I've done both. They were both beautiful. Bermuda itself was a bit boring (to me), although beautiful (I'd never really seen turquoise water before) while Alaska had so much to offer, and the sights of Alaska are out of this world.

If I had a choice between doing them again, I would go to Alaska hands down.

We went to Bermuda in the month of May, and Alaska in the month of May (different years). The weather was perfect for both (Alaska of course being chillier and requiring layers).

I hope you get it back! I've learned on trick that works for me when I'm traveling with electronics. If I have to charge my phone or Kindle, I plug it into the wall, then place the item in my purse. That way in the morning as I'm running around, I'm NOT going to forget my purse and the charging item is tethered to it. Good luck!

My "trick" is similar, I lay the item(s) on top of the shoes I'll be wearing - never left anything behind.

Ironic that the OPs user name is "spyingeyes"

Doing mock bookings you have to search deck plans for the category . Say an 8E. Fare viewer cabin categories were on a grid, plain as day.

 

Mock booking forward/mid/aft and deck all changes pricing on cabins.

 

I was one who did mock bookings before a CC posters told me about fare viewer. And like many can/will adjust again. It's just fare viewer was easier.

This is what I was trying to say. Thank you "beerman2" :)

There are pros and cons to everything.

That said, as many of us have noticed the Fare Viewer is no longer available on the Carnival website. Many of us used the Fare Viewer regularly to be able to see what current fares and special discount fares were being offered and using it to compare to booked rates.

Today I received written confirmation that the Fare Viewer is no longer available.

That being the case, comparing rates becomes more and more difficult if not impossible. The only real benefit to booking "early saver" was to be able to receive price matching up to three days before sailing. But if you can no longer use a Fare Viewer, finding current rates is a more difficult and time-consuming task.

My current booking was only $20 per person more booked as past guest versus early saver. The $20 difference is not worth the aggravation to try to find specials and other fares. To me. YMMV.

I'm disappointed that Carnival did away with the Fare Viewer -

Back in Oct 2005 I did white water rafting in Acapulco (Papagayo River). I didn't even know there was such a thing in Mexico. It was an all day excursion, purchased through Carnival, and was amazing!

I'm actually impressed with the gyms on board. Plenty of free weights, plenty of machines most with an ocean view and the elliptical and treadmills have headphone adapters to watch tv. The free weight area is small (not much room to spread out) but the equipment is up to date. I do yoga and unfortunately there's really no room for that on board (unless you take the class) so I'm the one searching for a quiet spot on a top deck somewhere.

Not yet.

I also read about smoke drifting in from a smoking area (maybe deck 5?). I don't want to smell smoke!

If not wanting to smell smoke (potential) you will want to book your cabin on the starboard side the port side has the deck 5 smoking area, and you (potentially) could catch smoke drifting. We have booked 11225 (twice) and been very happy, both with the cabin, and its location. No noise from above, a quiet zone, great view to the ocean (glass front, not metal).

Deck 9 forward has the coolest "wings" over the bridge - I would think the sail away from there would be awesome. We've gone out there at night and it's a great stargazing spot.

I could see if the balcony cabin is on the port side (left, facing forward) as the port side has an outdoor smoking area below (deck 5 maybe?). We always choose the starboard side and have never had an issue.