ibcnusoon

I thought someone posted a picture here last year of him, a photo of him in the distance crossing the street.

I am thinking of upgrading from a deck 14 balcony to an aft-facing for an extra $540. I have 2 cabins, total $1100 upgrade. I was aft-facing in a wrap on the Carnival Victory throughout the Caribbean and loved it. I would be happy in my BC 14th deck balcony but those afts look gorgeous, and there is availability in the HC cabin next door for my parents. Ugh, decisions!

I have an online businesss, although it would be nice to get away from "work" monitoring the website and doing simple daily tasks during vacation on a cruise ship is wonderful! Please do not judge because I am very interested in unlimited internet, especially since i paid close to $200 on the Victory for 400 minutes (or something like that, shared with my two DD's interested in Facebook and Instagram).

ANyway, would like Carnival to do this ACROSS THE BOARD, was upset when I got on the Victory, thinking I could get the $99 plan. :(

We took Thenford's tour on St. Kitts and really enjoyed it. The van was clean, new, had windows and air conditioning. Even when we stopped for a 1/2 hour at the Fort and my parents didn't want to get out so he kept the engine running with the A/C (on for them they have mobility issues and were just as happy to see the Fort from the window of the van). Thenford was so accomdating and would love to do another tour just to go back to Caribelle Batik.

It was great to come back from an excursion and know they were available without a line at the aft pool on the Victory.

Had chicken tenders, fries and honey mustard sauce (my yellow meal) on the Inspiration in Jan.

Had them on the Victory in November from the aft pool grill when we returned to the ship after an excursion in St. Thomas.

We had a deck 8 balcony cabin and our door was right there by the AFT elevators and stairs. We loved it, we'd hear the occasional conversation going on outside our door, but that didn't bother us, we loved the location! What a pleasure just a few steps up to the Lido buffet or adult pool and pizza! Would definitely book this area again.

Lido I'd book if I needed an interior room, not to crazy about Lido balcony. I could hear all the parties on Lido on deck 8 balcony aft, I can imagine the noise if we were closer to the main pool area.

good luck, OP! I hope you get what you want!

After starting out cruising on Carnival, we are making the switch to Norwegian Cruise Line this year and Royal Caribbean next year.

The reason being that yes, there are cheap Carnival cruises out of Florida but the airfare (and the pre- and post cruise hotels, meals, etc.) really take a bite out of cruising affordably from there.

We looked into Carnival in the New York and Baltimore are and until they start changing up the itinerary, we will sail NCL and RC from now on.

Please see the attached from Carnival's website.

 

There's a chair in 7442 because the capacity is listed as 2 people.

 

I stayed in 7444 and family in 7446, and both cabins had a couch.

There is a chair and table but NO couch in 7442, the reason being is that wall provides an access hatch to the suite next door's plumbing. Someone confirmed that in this thread: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1646439

are you talking about that funny shaped cabin? by the crew stairs?

No, that's the L-shaped side balcony cabins.

She's talking about the cabins with balconies that look out to the wake on the back of the ship.

here's an image, if you can move up to 8450, GREAT (notice the larger balcony?!)

If not, this is what you're cabin's deck will look like. The one thing good about your deck 7 balcony cabin is that the aft-wrap's balcony cabin door is no where near your deck, so if you're sitting out there you won't hear people coming in and out.

If you could move a little more centered you will be good. Deck 7 has a smaller aft-wrap deck than deck 6 or 8, that's so they can sandwich 2 more aft-extended's on that deck.

Can you move up to Verandah deck, cabin 8450? That is a regular aft-extended balcony that hasdeeper and wider deck space for the same price as the other aft-extended's.

We have booked an aft cabin next to the aft wrap. Would a cabin in the middle be a better choice??

Not necessarily. My parents had that cabin while we had the aft-wrap. Which deck?

We were looking at the angled balconies but decided to reserve a regular balcony. I read somewhere that people will be able to look into your balcony (and you theirs) in the angled balcony. Also, if the angle is facing forward, you'll be experiencing alot of wind.

We like our privacy, well, I like to go out in my robe sometimes, so we decided on reserving a regular balcony.

 

The waves were really pounding this day.... washing the sand up and over the road so this tractor had to keep cleaning it of the road.

 

When we stopped in St. Maarten on the Victory, we spent the day at Maho Beach. My teen iDD said that St. Maarten was her favorite island just because of the beach. When we were there the waves were not nearly as large as what you experienced, it's amazing how the water came up that far to the road and deposited all that sand!

So, when I was planning an upcoming land vacation for her Spring Break in March, I asked where she want to go. Her response, St. Maarten! Unfortunately the airfare is very high so I told her she'll have to wait until we cruise there again someday.

Love St. Maarten, would have like to have walked around Marigot and the French side, but I'll do that when and if we ever do go back, but we definately want to plan on land vacation there someday, too.

Yeah that would be nice also... how much did they charge for that one?

I think it was $65 for the Carnival snorkel excursion to the Pitons.

We also took Grey's Tour on St. Kitts. It was the most informative tour we took the entire cruise. we had Thenford's brother, who was very very knowledgeable and well spoken. I also highly recommend Thenford Grey. St Kitts was my favorite island because we visited the Caribelle Batik store (these items make great gifts to bring home) and then the Brimstone Fortress and then on Shipwreck Beach where we did some paddle boarding, swimming, and was fascinated by the monkeys.

When we were in St. Lucia, we went on the Snorkel the Pitons Carnival excursion. It was to and from Jalouise Beach with snorkeling under the Pitons. Just thought someone would like another option to snorkel and see the Pitons without having to do the land tour and want the assurance of having the ship wait for you.

We loved the tour, it was only 4 hours but gave us time to shop and enjoy the town. The rum punch on the way back from the Pitons is POTENT! WATCH OUT! :eek:

Yes, call SAS again. They probably don't open until 9am. I highly recommend them too, used them for a transport from hotel in FLL to POM. Excellent!

we did this same ship and itinerary in November 2012 and L-O-V-E-D it! My favorite island was St. Kitts, my DD's was watching the planes land on St. Maarten. I would do this itinerary again in a heartbeat! We had gorgeous weather every day, too. Beautiful islands!!

We are leaving in 3 days to board the Victory this Sunday.

I plan on doing a trip review but it will be based on the islands, not the ship. I booked this trip specifically for the amazing itinerary.

I've heard nothing but problems with every private tour operator in St. Lucia so we decided to just book a ship-sponsored tour to Jalouise beach and the Pitons and be done with it, if we have problems, we'll take it up with the cruise line.

Curious to hear who this tour operator was that you took in St. Lucia. I have an idea, there aren't that many that have Land and Sea excursions.

Great review, I'm subscribing! Looking forward to sailing her in 27 days!! :D

When we want to use a limo service we use Concorde, 732-577-0023, http://www.concordelimo.com/ . Exceptional service...but pricey.

 

As others have mentioned, if you want to use mass transit, there are NJ Transit trains to New York Penn Station and NJ Transit buses to Port Authority Bus Terminal...each a short taxi ride to the the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. NJ Transit buses are not very luggage-friendly however.

NJ Transit buses are VERY luggage-friendly. The bus driver will get out and open the storage area underneath the bus and will assist you with your luggage if needed.

We live down the shore. I'm planning on taking a NJ Transit bus into Port Authority NYC and taking a cab from there. It's quick, easy, and much more inexpensive than car service or driving in and parking.