tea4ular

That may have been me, we've had to do it twice, once on Carnival's Elation and the other on HAL's something-dam.

I'll briefly explain...

My husband is a quadriplegic and uses an electric wheelchair. For our first cruise together we booked the Elation back in 1998 - the ship's 3rd sailing. We booked a fully accessible cabin, and when we got to the cabin, the layout was so poorly designed my H couldn't open or close the bathroom, or pass the beds. This would make for a verrrrry long week (especially the bathroom). He went down to the purser's desk and they sent the head of engineering to our cabin. My H showed the gentleman the issue(s) and he asked my H what a better layout would be. Within 15 minutes 2 ship workers in overalls and wearing tool belts were in our cabin and using electric screwdrivers (I assume they were drills) did some masterful handiwork. A few pieces of unneeded furniture were removed, beds were moved to a new configuration, and as there was nothing that could be done about the bathroom door...off it went! Two guys carrying it under their arms! (we still call that moment Lauel and Hardy remove a bathroom door on a cruise ship) Luckily I'm not shy around my H or THAT could have made for a verrrrryyyy looonnnnggg week!

The second on HAL, was similar, too much furniture and the beds in a configuration that allowed for zero turning of the wheelchair. Off he went to the purser's desk, engineers came up, zip, zip, zip, beds moved (now our feet faced the balcony door, which I loved!) extra furniture gone (bathroom door remained intact - whew!), and away we went!

Now, I'm not sure how often the ships have to deal with this kind of thing but I will say we were never looked at cross-eyed. and the engineering team certainly went out of their way to make it right for us.

YMMV

$12.95 per day, per person - so $90.65 per person for a 7 day.

A wee bit of patience will go a very long way. I imagine they're working as quickly as they can.

Their website says you'll need to call - they are there 24/7 so just keep trying.

So sorry you're dealing with a cancelled vacation.

💔

I bought a fujifilm finepix xp for about $190 last year for a land trip to Hawaii and was very happy with it. The key to keeping an underwater camera happy (so to speak) is seriously rinsing it in clear fresh water (I soak mine) after it's been in the ocean. I also did not open it once on the trip, in order to ensure it was bone dry - one drop of water, or one grain of sand/salt can ruin any underwater camera. I had no issues and used it again for a cruise in April of this year (following my own advice again).

Quite honestly, there is no alternative except to cancel THEM (not you and grandma). Once you get to the port there's the need for a cash deposit or credit card for expenses. Trust me, you'll be on the hook for that too.

Lowlifes who are trying to get a free cruise out of you.

Cut your losses TODAY. Simply cancel them. Period.

The Splendor was the first to have the Cloud 9 Spa. We loved it and have booked ships with Cloud 9 exclusively since. We'll be sailing on her again when she returns to Los Angeles next year! Cannot wait We've needed Cloud 9 out of LA for a few years now.

This was an assault an a male passenger by a female, wielding a knife. She hit an artery. They were requesting passengers to donate O negative blood. A passenger on the ship stated that she saw two women in handcuffs. Evidently he was too unstable to be able to airlift off of the ship.

Jeeze! Really? Where'd ya hear that?

If you have a favorite game to play (ours is Scrabble) bring that, set up in the shade, outside, where you can enjoy people watching but not worry about getting baked in the sun.

Cucina del Capitano - https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/cucina-del-capitano

While there is a charge at dinner ($15 p/p) it is free at lunch. The food is pretty good too. Enjoy!

Just not a fan of this card. I signed up last year when there was a $175 bonus ($100 + $75 gift card) which when combined with my purchases over several months amounted to a nice Carnival purchase "eraser" - but then I saw you could only redeem in 5,000 point increments, only towards Carnival purchases, and the meager points build up, all made for a wimpy card.

I finally just built up to 5,000 points again (I've been using a more lucrative points card) and put the $50 towards my FTTF purchase -

Now I'll just put this card to bed.

And "buy" a porter to get through customs! They have their own line & will get you through on record time. Tip well, it'll be the best $ you'll spend!

Well dang... I would suggest you call the special needs number and explain your problem one more time. You can also email icare@carnival.com and explain your frustrations. Could help.

Thank you for the suggestion - basically now when I cruise it's with my best friend, and my honey holds down the fort.

I might try again but we've sort of given up hope. :o

Different cruise line but we had a cabin just like it on the Celebrity Mercury in Alaska. Amazing views. Bet you'll love it!

How does it work if you have FTTF? I want to have access to my cabin upon entering the ship.

We've tried calling "special needs" - the only cruise line we've found to date that has been helpful was not Carnival - it was either NCL or Royal, I've forgotten which, but we had to complete a form which detailed his rwquirement(s) and then provided for a great cabin.

What we need is a GOOD PVP, but we've yet to score one of those either! And we aren't allowed to get referrals on the boards.

It's a catch 22 and unfortunately for us we're in it!

One positive (among a few) for prepaying gratuities is if the price goes up you're grandfathered.

Passes for the cruise duration can be purchased on board at the Cloud 9 Spa or pre-purchased online by accessing 'Manage My Booking' from the Carnival.com home page. Daily passes can only be purchased on board at the Cloud 9 Spa.

Price Per Guest*

Daily Pass: $40

4 day cruise $79

5 day cruise $99

6 day cruise: $119

7 day cruise: $139

8 day cruise: $159

9 day cruise: $179

10 day cruise: $199

12 day cruise: $239

13 day cruise: $259

14 day cruise: $279

My H is a quadriplegic, and exclusively uses an electric wheelchair. He loves going on cruises for the "only need to pack once" (we pack A LOT for his "just in case" needs) as well as the getting to go to many places while still having a home base. Also, most (not all) of the public spaces are wheelchair accessible.

All that said...the frustration of trying to book an actual wheelchair accessible cabin is the most painful of any we've ever experienced! Able-bodied or even those who may "only" need a modified cabin snatch up what few truly accessible cabins there are (I've even seen on the boards, able-bodied bragging about the big cabin they just scored, and even wondering (worrying?) whether or not they could be bumped if a "need" came up). The ratio of fully accessible cabins is minuscule, and as I want a balcony, that ratio is even smaller! (again, people bragging about snagging the "bowling alley" balconies) -- We literally have to be ready to book, no less than 12 months out and even that is getting further and further (we just looked (for this message) and the ship we would sail on, is 100% accessible cabin booked until November of 2018 (he doesn't want to fly...it's a hassle!). I want to take him to Alaska...nope, not a wheelchair accessible cabin to be found for 24 months!

Back to the positive...we truly enjoy cruising together. It's relaxing and fun.

Every cruise I've been on (except the Alaska trip) people have been in the pool and hot tubs (kids and adults) - we don't...but I was thinking the bathrooms at the gym have great changing areas. If you're traveling with others, you could take turns keeping an eye on carry ons while changing if you don't want to wear your swim suit under your clothes.

Maybe we don't experience the line issues and crowding issues because we have a balcony. But we have found when there are SLOW lines (I'm talking to you, Mongolian BBQ & omelet station!) it's due to food being prepared fresh, and so we don't mind the wait. We take that opportunity to chat with others in line, and we know from the get go that some lines will be longer than others, some will take longer than others, and that if we're feeling impatient that would not be the time to get in a long/slow moving line. There are options: go later/earlier; chose a different food option...It's like grocery shopping on a Sunday. If you're in a rush, Sunday is NOT the day to grocery shop. As seasoned cruisers (and we're not nearly as seasoned as others) we've learned some of the get-arounds.

No, the full blame does not go to the parents. While I do often tell people, "It always starts at home," I also recognize when people are capable of taking responsibility for their own actions. This kid is old enough to understand what he's doing is wrong, against the rules, and dangerous. Both he and his parents need to be held accountable.

Of course he is, the clip even highlights the "do not" sign - I'm another who truly hopes the family is banned from all of the cruise lines.

We prepay as much as we can, over as long a period of time as we can. No coming home from vacation to a bill that needs to be paid off. Taxes, tips, insurance and other items that can be prepaid.

I don't because frankly there's not thing I can do about it. I do however check the weather when heading on a land trip.

As I was reading this thread, I was thinking "nope, never happened to us" and my H said, "hello! Remember RCI and the missing cases of water?" - back in the days when you could take water, we sailed from Ensenada to Hawaii - there were 3 cabins of us sailing together. We live in So Cal, and booked with RCI transportation from LA International airport (we drove and parked there) for a bus ride to Ensenada, Mexico. All our luggage and 3 cases of water were loaded into the belly of the bus, and we had a group photo taken (this as it turns out would be our Detective Columbo moment) - many hours later as we set sail for our 14 day trip across the sea, our luggage was delivered, but no cases of water. A trip to guest services resulted in being told "you probably didn't put them in the cargo hold, on the bus" and "I'd bet they got left on the sidewalk at the airport" and finally "are you sure you had "3" cases of water?" -- and we were handed 3 bottles of water in compensation...my MIL isn't one to take "no" very well, and was in her cabin, pacing the floor and ready to ruin the trip for us all (I personally was thinking, thankfully it's only the water that's missing!) -- anyway, that evening my MIL (still steaming mind you) was reviewing her pictures on her camera, and voila! The group picture is in front of the open belly of the bus, and clear as day...3 cases of water...in the belly! She went down to guest services and showed them the picture and insisted we receive 3 cases of water. We did. We also received some OBC and some beverage coupons for our troubles.

By the way, the cruise was amazing!