Moosevilleco

On 10/23/2022 at 7:41 AM, thinicer said:

Hello. Thanks for replying. Where did you go to purchase the HMC beverage package? When did you purchase it?

I bought this online on September 17th.  I believe it had been listed under beverages.  I just looked and I do not see it any longer.  They haven't removed it from my itinerary though, so I am guessing they sold what they wanted and stopped selling it.

This is interesting to me because I did purchase the HMC beverage package for our upcoming thanksgiving cruise.  I paid about $118 for 4 and I did buy the thermal passes.  They were $150 per person for 7 days.

Thank you!

Hi - we have been Grand Turk several times and looking for something new.  Has anyone done the HAL excursion called "Beach House Escape?  There are no reviews so curious if anyone has done this yet?  Thanks!

Great feedback - thanks to all!

Are vaccinated passengers sticking with the Carnival offered excursions or is anyone booking their own excursions outside of Carnival?  In the past we always booked our own - but not sure now.

17 hours ago, Computer Nerd said:

Just came off the Freedom and our St Kitts port was changed to St Thomas.

Thanks- can’t go wrong with St Thomas!

1 hour ago, tw67 said:

Grand Turk is welcoming ships back in December. 

Thanks! That is great news!

Hi- can anyone give a list of those islands that are on our itineraries but still aren’t allowing ships?  I am pretty sure Grand Turk is not- and I am not sure about St. Kitts- both on our New Year’s Freedom cruise.

19 hours ago, CruiseJB said:

I have found with cabana rentals, I don't see them listed in the excursions but if I google them say by saying Cabana, *the port* and carnival, I find a link that is carnival cruises and then book into that way.  I don't remember which port on last cruise had Cabanas but they never showed in the excursions and I booked that way.  I also found one for my cruise next Feb, which I haven't booked yet, but found it that way and then put in my cart as a saved item.

Thanks! I will try that!

Hi - does anyone know the status of Margaritaville?  I know they only open when the ships are in port and of course that hasn't happened for quite awhile.  We are hoping our ship sails Jan 1, 2022 (Carnival Freedom).  In the past, we always booked a poolside cabana, but they are not showing as an option in the Carnival excursions.  I am hoping if the ships start sailing this option will show up.  Just curious if anyone has any additional information?

We booked an Eastern Caribbean out of Miami for New Year's Day, 2022 on the Freedom! Surely this one will sail! 

 

 

 

There are two different AC systems in use on the ship. One is like a window AC unit at home, that merely takes the cabin air and cools it while recirculating it back to the cabin. This is what is controlled by the cabin thermostat, and by the balcony door interlock, if fitted. This system is designed to recirculate 80% of the cabin's volume each hour.

 

 

 

The second AC system is the one that is affected by the balcony door being open, and that affects the cabins around yours when you leave the door open. This system is not controllable from the cabin, and can not be shut off. This system is designed to bring fresh air into the cabin, about 20% of the volume per hour, and is balanced by the bathroom exhaust vent, which removes about 20% per hour. This system takes outside fresh air, cools it in a large air handler (in those big white spaces down the middle of most cabin decks), and supplies this air to all of the cabins in a particular fire zone (between those pesky doors in the passageway) for one or two decks, meaning one fan and cooler handles 30-50 cabins. Now, this air is sent to the cabin at a higher pressure than normal HVAC systems, for one reason. This "overpressures" the cabins, forcing any leakage at the door to go out into the passageway, not the other way around. This prevents any possible smoke ingress to your cabin in an emergency.

 

 

 

Now, what happens when you open your balcony door? You replace the 2" diameter bathroom vent, and the 3/4" x 3' crack under the door that maintains the pressure balance in the cabin, with a 3' x 6' opening to outside. This immediately drops the cabin pressure to atmospheric, and the fresh air supply AC system sends all of the air to your cabin trying to rebuild the over pressure. This means that the other cabins lose much of their supply of fresh air (cooled), and also their overpressure safety feature, and now air is drawn back into their cabins from under the door, from the passageway (warmer). Therefore, the other cabins in the zone lose some of their AC capacity, and start getting warmer air supplied to the cabin.

 

 

 

How can you tell if this is happening? Real simple. I used to do it daily when I worked on cruise ships. You walk down the passageway, and listen for the air whistling under a door. 99 times out of 100, I would find the balcony door open in that cabin. Also, if it is your cabin with the door open, when you open the door to the passageway, you will create a wind tunnel, that blows everything out of your cabin. It doesn't do this when the balcony door is closed, so the door being open obviously has an effect on the AC balance in other areas than your cabin.

 

 

 

Your humble opinion may think it is BS, but I've worked on ships for 42 years as an engineer, 35 as Chief Engineer, and I have intimate knowledge of shipboard AC systems. Yes, there is a proven effect on others from having your balcony door open, and I've had to deal with it constantly over the years I worked cruise ships, when we would get whole banks of cabins complaining about their AC.

 

 

 

Great info! Thanks for the explanation!

 

 

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It's quite possible one of your "it's MY vacation" self-entitled neighbors pinned their balcony door open wreaking havoc on a/c in all the surrounding rooms.

Interesting thought. Thanks for sharing

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I am in a FB group and someone posted from the boat that it is on schedule to be fixed by tomorrow. They said it’s hot because it’s hot outside but all is well otherwise.

Believe me, I was on the June 9th sailing and my room was hot! First time in 7 cruises I’ve experienced that. It’s pretty much the same temps in the Caribbean year round. There were parts of the ship that were cool - MDR, parts of the lido and parts of the casino. It felt fine in the comedy club and showroom and piano bar. But my cabin on the 8th deck was hot.

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I’m on the Magic now and news is we will arrive at about 6:30am.

We are definitely not going very fast (no way we’re even close to 15 knots).

Definitely something wrong with the ship and have no idea when they’ll fix it. Heard from many passengers that they’re A/C is not working and not enough fans to go around. We have A/C and it’s comfortable but not crazy cold.

Hot tubs seemed to work on and off as I’m sure they were conserving energy.

General consensus is $50 OBC not enough to compensate for the premier port stop being cancelled but not much you can do.

Will do brief cruise review next week.

 

 

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We were on the June 9th sailing and exact same issues. While we had a great cruise and enjoyed the ports, food and entertainment, we did struggle every night with sleeping since the cabin was so warm. I’d be curious how many people would wait for their cruise if they knew the AC wasn’t going to work very well. I probably would have sailed anyway.

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I was in Nassau in Feb. on the Pride and was having early morning coffee and reading a book on Deck 9. I met a woman and we started talking and I told her I was staying on the ship since I'd been to Nassau many times and just wanted to hang out and not do anything.

 

 

 

She said she was doing an excursion and would be gone about 4 hours but was concerned that when she got back on the ship that all the chairs by the pool would be taken and she wanted the first row in front of the pool for her and the six others she was with.

 

 

 

I told her not to worry and that the time she was coming back would be OK and there would be plenty of chairs. She insisted that it had to be the front row and then said, "If you're not getting off the ship, I'll give you $100 to watch MY chairs." She pulled out a $100 bill.

 

 

 

I told her your'e not suppossed to save chairs and I wasn't planning on sitting there all day anyway.

 

 

 

She started dropping F Bombs at me and told me I was pathetic....LOL

 

 

 

Thankfully, never saw her again after that.:o:o:o:o

 

 

 

Some people are scary....:D

Wow! That’s crazy!! I can’t even process her thinking!

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I was on the June 9th sailing. I can tell you I felt like the ship had mechanical issues all along primarily because the HVAC didn’t work well. This was my 7th cruise and the first time I’ve ever experienced a hot room! There were also areas in the casino and on the lido that felt really warm! Other issue was the WiFi. I had the value package and it really did not work at all. After reading some of these comments I would also add that we really loved our day in Costa Maya! We booked with Native Choice and went to Chacchoben ruins and had a Mayan lunch. It was terrific!

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Now I'm hearing that Carnival is giving a credit not cash for flight delays. Not happy about that

 

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Actually I received an email today telling me they were mailing me a check! Our plane changes amounted to $175.

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We sailed on the Glory last June and had a fabulous time. I thought the ship looked great and also enjoyed the shows, comedy club and piano bar. That was number 7 for us and one of my favorites and we started cruising in 2010. I still say vacations are dependent on your own expectations and attitude and for me it’s about making great family memories in the Caribbean. You can’t beat it!

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It's the one I'm booked on at the end of the summer in 2019. Horizon Southern Caribbean for 8 days booked in a Havana area inside cabin, visiting Aruba, Curacao, La Romana and Grand Turk, with a sea day on the front and two sea days on the back. It will do this itinerary 22 times in 2019.

We booked this one as well for June 2019! Never been to Aruba, Curaçao or the Dominican and we get to see the Horizon!

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Love the review! I have been really curious about this line and you are doing a great job covering all areas!!

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I use Allianz. They have 3 levels of coverage. I suggest you plug in your info to Allianz and Travel guard and get quotes. It’s easy and free to get quotes online. I have used Allianz classic plan for my last 4 Carnival Cruises.

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I was not thrilled with the new menu but didnt cancel our reservation a few weeks ago on the Vista. My husband and I actually enjoyed it more than we thought we would. They seem to really be going for presentation. That was the big change we saw. Everything was delicious. Still worth the small upcharge fee to have a special quiet experience.

What did you like best? We have a reservation in June. Any good desserts?

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your choices should be limited to the following as these are the ones with offices near the port

 

Hertz, National, Alamo, Enterprise, Payless, Budget, Avis, Dollar, Thrifty

 

Thank you!

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