Viajera7

I had been able to do 2 nights pre and 2 nights post cruise using the NCL air program but booking my own hotels which is cheaper.

Thanks for the photo. I will try this burger next time.

Were they placemats? I thought they were posters because of the nature of the paper material not suitable to put things on them unless you laminate them. I also got only one per cruise,

Something else to add to the list: On the last day of the cruise, the waiter would give you a poster of the ship in the MDR. I liked those. I don’t like to use my phone to make reservations for restaurants, to see the menu, to reserve shore excursions on board and to see the daily activities. I like to mark the activities on paper so I have to go to the coffee shop every morning to get the Fun Times because Guest Services usually has a line. Carnival was my first cruise line and the one that hooked me to cruising but I am an equal opportunity cruiser and I compare things. Carnival is charging for popcorn, It is still free on NCL ( back from the Joy about a week ago), the waiter still sweep the bread crumbs before the desert and coffee and the Freestyle Daily is still delivered in your cabin or by the door every night. I still like Carnival. That’s why I still have cruises booked with them in August- September and October-November but this thread is not about that but things that we miss.

After reading this thread, I was beginning to think that the beverage voucher was a Mardi Gras thing because I received it on my October sailing. Now that I see this post, I understand why. The “party” was crowded so it gives you another opportunity to get your drink.

On my Mardi Gras cruise in October, a lady won the $1,000. On theValor in March, I bought 2 cartons and won 2 bingo packages and $20 that I got in the casino. I also won the first bingo and won $100 and free internet for the length of the cruise.On NCL, I got $50 on the Breakaway and a photo on the Joy.

I was on the Joy for the 1/21 to 2/5/23 cruise and it has the dinner with the officers. I have done this in 3 ships the Sky, the Getaway and the Joy. The one at the Joy was my favorite because of the attention to details from the coordinator who did a follow up with chocolates and a card the following day,

Or the old school way. I write all my activities/ information: cruise related, pre and post cruise including flights, hotels, excursions, etc. on a regular calendar and take a picture of it. That way I can take a quick glance without having to take out my travel documents out of the envelope/ folder.

Sometimes there’s no place to sit at the WJ and you have to take your food to your cabin. Especially on the mega ships.

I agree. I was on the Jade for my birthday last year and I had ordered a no sugar added dessert while I was on Cagney’s. The waiters brought it and a cake and sang Happy Birthday. I ate the dessert that I ordered and only tried a little of the birthday cake. They offered to box it but we declined.

Yes. I would have done it after my June cruise but I want to do both. See the Everglades and the National Park.

Thanks for the information. This confirms that I should wait until I can spend more time after a cruise and rent a car to go to the National Park.

Everglades National Park Visitor Center which has a gift shop. I collect National Parks stamps which you get at the visitor center and that’s the reason why I would book this excursion. Otherwise, I would wait for another time and rent a car to go to this park. Thanks for answering.

Do you remember if you had extra time to go to the Visitor’s Center?

My Christmas cruise studio was cheaper than the inside on the Epic (12-23-22 to 12-30-22).

I have not been on the Gem yet but the Breakaway CD in September kept saying that it is different on the Breakaway, the Getaway and the Epic.

I would recommend to at least walk around the area if it’s your first time. If you repeat the port on another cruise then you will feel better if you decide to stay onboard. I rarely go to GSC and other ports that I have visited a lot of times. The ship still has some activities that I go to like trivia, other games, a different movie each day, dance lessons and other activities depending on the ship and season of the year. They have more activities for the Christmas season.

You can use the app. but they also had a box office place near the Spiegel tent (Last time there was 11 months ago so I don’t know if they have changed this or not).

I have been in a couple of cruises in which if the cruise staff member in charge of the trivia speaks Spanish he/ she has translated questions to Spanish if there are a few of Spanish only speaking cruisers but it is very rare.

If you had your vaccinations and boosters at Walgreens, you can get your cards replaced. They have a record that you can see on your Walgreens account and save to your wallet. I have had it replaced because of the amount of boosters.

I won a trophy on the Valor in March and it was for trivia (I already had a trophy from my first time on the Valor years ago). The fact that I won a game and a trivia on the MG and didn’t get a trophy bothers me because besides my first Carnival ship and cruise. I have won trophies in all the other Carnival ships except for MG. I f they are going to give trophies for games like Family Feud, I am doomed😉 because when I go on a Carnival cruise, I go solo so I cannot play Family Feud or games that you play in a group.

They gave them on MG but not for trivia. I was not happy because I won a trivia and a game and I got 2 medals. They gave the trophies for games at the end of the cruise.

I used the perk for the first time on the Mardi Gras and they damaged a light orange blouse that I was going to use for Halloween. I had taken out the tags and tried it on before I sent it but it was too wrinkled. The laundry came back late and the blouse was in the middle. When I unfolded it I saw stains on one of the sleeves and little holes. From now on I will only send underwear, socks and dark items like jeans.

I don’t know if Royal has big ships going to Santorini but one thing I noticed on my 3 European cruises this year was that all of them were in smaller and older ships. Brilliance of the Seas for the Greek Isles, NCL Dawn for the Baltic and NCL Jade for the Greek Isles ( and this one included Santorini).

I sailed the MG on October 22-29 and I did it for the ship since I have been to the Caribbean ports so many times. I loved the MG. I am accustomed to the big ships on NCL and RCI and I liked them because there are more things to see and do. It doesn’t bother me to walk from one side to the other because I consider it my exercise. I like all the options that you have to eat, all the activities and trivia, Grand Central and the shows there, the many comedy shows and the theater shows too. Two things I didn’t like were that to go to the theater you only had 2 options and most of the times from the places that I was at before going there I had to go through the casino. The second one was that the laundry damaged a new blouse that I sent there because it was wrinkled. Am I-not going to sail MG again because of that? No. I want to do it again and I already booked the Celebration for Halloween next year. One that I have to clarify is that I didn’t experienced the long lines because I rarely drink and only went to the bar once to get my free Platinum drink. One of the best Virgin pina coladas that I haves had.