ineed-a-vacation

My brother is taking a cruise in July and had planned on taking two of his kids. The final payment date is tomorrow. One of the kids had something to come up and isn't gonna be able to make the trip. As nearly as he found out that information, his other kid that wasn't going originally decided they wanted to go. He called me and asked if I knew how this would all work out. I told him I think I can recall in the past one of my kids decided not to go and I received onboard credit for their cruise fare, but things could have changed since then. Does anyone know how this would handled? I know you can't just change names, but does the cruise fare of the person not going go into onboard credit, a cruise voucher, or is it lost forever? Also, the kid that isn't going was bringing two friends with them that also decided not to go and those two had their own cabin. Both cabins are booked under my brother's name. No one will be using that cabin now. What happens to that cruise fare? I know, this is all a mess. He's gonna call Carnival today, but I was just wanting to know what the options might be on this.

The free bottle of water actually begins at Red level. On my last cruise we used our two bottles of water and our room steward replaced them and we used those as well. There were 4 of us in the cabin and I was never charged for any of them. It sounds like one of those policies that is being interpreted differently by whoever is following it.

This is not true. I have been a long time Carnival cruiser and they do send out reminders. I received several for my last cruise and I do recall once in the past I missed a final payment deadline by 1 day and received an email from them letting me know that I needed to make the payment or the booking would be cancelled. And as far as the light bill goes, but I also receive a notification reminding me that payment is coming up. I don't know if that's something that is automatic or if I set it up in the communications that way, but I get one every month a week before the bill is due.

I recently ate at the steakhouse. We were allowed to order multiple appetizers and desserts. As for the bar, it is like any other bar on the ship. People seem to think it is just for those eating in the restaurant, but you can go there at any time that they are open.

It really is that easy. You can check everyone in that is associated with your party through the app. We expected it to be harder as well. We would check in for a table as we left our cabin and usually by the time we arrived at the restaurant, our table was ready. It even shows the table number on the app. We had another group associated with us and all made reservations at Fahrenheit 555, but because we were all associated, we didn't even have to go ahead of time to request to sit together.

We took masks, but did not wear them. The hub app stated they were required in Amber Cove, but when we got off the ship we found that they weren't required. We have become very good at social distancing over the past 2 years and never congregated and stayed together, but when you're seated next to people in a theatre or in an elevator, we could have taken better precautions.

@crewsweeper Thank you! Virtual hugs back at you. I agree. Enjoy cruising, but everyone stay safe.

Same here. This was our third cruise this year. We knew there was a chance of it happening. That's why we took the tests with us. Still planning to take another one for Labor Day.

We are all sick. Not sure who gave it to whom, but on Day 5 of the cruise our youngest daughter became sick. It only last a day so we thought it was just a stomach bug. One Day 6 I became sick. I had fever and chills and spent the next two days in our cabin. We took several covid tests with us just in case we needed them. My test came back negative. On the ride home my wife was sick the entire ride and experienced the fever and chills. Once we got home Saturday night we all tested and 3 of the 4 came back positive. My older daughter tested positive on Tuesday. We all have had congestion, trouble breathing and coughs, but only my wife and I have had the fever and chills.

I have commented on several topics since returning from my Mardi Gras cruise last Saturday, but have not sat down to write a review. At first I wasn't going to, then I read several reviews on other sites that were a little on the negative side so I decided I'd just give my two cents even though no one asked for it. It's been many years since I have sailed Carnival. My two cruises this year have been on MSC and Royal Caribbean. Although I found many things great on both of them, I also found a few bad things as well. I really can't say that about the Mardi Gras. From embarkation, ease of migrating the ship, cabin size, food, lines, there were very few things that we found lacking. This was a full ship and from the time we arrived at the port to walking through Grand Central took us probably 45 minutes. We never experienced lines anywhere. Some of the shows filled up really fast and that could be disappointing but when you have 5200 people on board, you have to expect that. We never ate at the buffet, but I can say for the MDR, Guys Burgers, Guys Pig & Anchor, Shaq's, Chibang, Cucina del Capitano and Fahrenheit 555 I did not have a bad meal. Dinner at Cucina and one of the MDR meals was a little meh, but nothing was bad. The only disappointing meal was I bought a lobster tail at the Seafood Shack and it didn't seem worth $15 to me. There was very little lobster and it was more roll than anything. Although the ship is large, we never got lost and were able to find our way around from the first day because the layout is very manageable. We always joke that it will take us days to find our cabins easily, but we never had any issues with that. We really enjoyed the game shows Family Feud and Deal or no Deal. All the comedians were very funny and we saw multiple shows both PG and R rated. The Broadway shows would probably be my only negative of those. I only saw the one with the Broadway hits. It was very hit or miss. It was odd that they didn't sing some of the bigger songs from the shows. As for the second show I didn't get to see it due to being sick in the room but others told me it wasn't even as good as the first show so I wasn't disappointed that I missed it. As for my souvenir, the test came back negative on the ship, but by the time we made it home, my entire family ended up having covid. But for anyone considering going on Mardi Gras and hesitant because of the full ships right now, people are so spread out that you really don't notice the number of people, and you will have a great time. I definitely want a do over for the two days that I missed out on, but with the uptick in cases, be weary that you could come home with a souvenir like we did. Just very glad that we are all vaccinated.

We have taken one on every cruise or flight that we have taken outside of the country. I have never been asked for it once, but the one time we decide not to get one, that will be the time that they ask for it. It's better to be safe than sorry. They are a pain to deal with it, but to know you have it if you need it will be a relief to you.

I would go for the 8 day on Celebration especially since you say you have never done a southern caribbean itinerary. I just got off a 7 day on Mardi Gras that went to Amber Cove and Grand Turk and spent very little time in those ports. I would definitely choose the ABC's over them if given the choice.

Just got back from a cruise Saturday where I used them for the second time in a row. First time as I mentioned above was the Fly Snooze Cruise package. I had no issues. This time I drove to the port and used them for parking and shuttle back and forth to the port. We waited about 45 minutes before we were able to board the shuttle and it took maybe 15 minutes to get to the port. On the way back there was a little longer wait after boarding while they waited for other passengers that had booked. If you are on Carnival you are picked up first. Then they go to Royal. We experienced that the last time because we had to wait a little bit before they got us. There were a few other people in our party that chose to carry their bags off and used Go Port as well and they also said they had no issues getting from port to their cars. I even read some bad reviews on them talking about how bags got dropped at wrong terminal. They give you a tag for all your bags that has your terminal on it so I'm not sure how that happened unless the tags is something new. I have one more cruise this year out of that port and will use them again.

I would like to know the answer to this as well. Obviously not needing the room, but can you get your credentials as soon as you arrive and head over to Atlantis?

I flew into there last month for my cruise. It was a late night flight so everything was closed. Seemed like a nice, little airport. Was going to be in airport for 4 hours on my trip back though, so I chose to fly back out of MCO. Didn't want to sit there that long and only option for food was Dunkin.

I used Go Port for my cruise last month and had no issues at all. Traffic caused them to be late to pick us up but they called and let us know ahead of time. We had the shuttle to ourselves on the way to the port and still arrived at our scheduled check in time. On the ride back to the airport we were on their bus and it picked up from all the terminals that were in port that day and took us straight to the airport. I booked the hotel and transfers all together on their site. When I checked prices, the package was about the same price as if I just booked the hotel by itself so it was a no brainer for me. For my cruise next month we are driving this time, but I booked with them to park my car instead of at the terminal. Price is much cheaper. I would definitely recommend them.

I agree. I've eaten hibachi at several restaurants. The show is usually the same at most of the places I've been to. This one was a little different. It was very entertaining and the food is amazing. Truly one of the best that I've ever had. Taking another cruise is a couple of weeks and wasn't really considering doing it again, but because of this experience I am really considering it now.

We actually did. After the waitress brought the bill and I saw the charges, I told her that we had the unlimited dining. She wrote that on top of the bill and said she would take care of it. It wasn't until about 4 or 5hrs later when we noticed it on our account summary that we went to Guest Services to inquire about it.

Just got off the Indy yesterday. Had good time because I was on vacation, but there were definitely some issues. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but but weary if you win a Royal Up bid. I bid the absolute lowest amount so I was not expecting an upgrade. On our way to Florida, I received an email stating my bid had been accepted and we won an upgrade to a Balcony cabin. So when we got to the hotel, we reprinted the boarding information with the new cabin number. The next day when we went to check in for the cruise, they couldn't find us under the new cabin number. They searched our names and found us listed under the original cabin number. When we asked what was going on we were told we had to go to Guest Services. Nothing puts a bad taste in your mouth like having to visit Guest Services right after getting onboard instead of enjoying your vacation. We spent an hour in line because there were many people with issues after first arriving. We were then assured our upgraded cabin was the correct one so we went to enjoy ourselves. Several hours later everyone had received cabin keys but we did not. So once again we had to spend 30-45 min in line in order to get cabin keys. The ship hasn't left port yet and we've already visited Guest Services twice. The rest of this day turned out good other than several times we ordered drinks only to be told that they were out of several things. The things we know they were out of was white wine, Johnny Walker, all draft beer except Heineken and ingredients to make a mojito which I'm assuming was just the mint. Maybe it's just me, but if you know you are out of so many drink items, should you still be charging people full price for drink packages? Day 2 we go to Playmakers and enjoy some appetizers. We didn't know to tell them that we have Unlimited Dining because every other restaurant had that information in the computer. We ended up getting charged for our food. Well now here's a third visit to Guest Services in order to get that fixed. Luckily there wasn't a line this time but the lady helping us thought Playmakers wasn't included and had to ask a supervisor. The supervisor assured her it was and instead of just taking off the charge she called Playmakers to find out why they charged us. We were told it was our fault for not stating we had the Unlimited Dining. 10 minutes later, and it was fixed. We also had several other issues with meals at the paid dining venues. Johnny Rockets was understaffed and extremely slow. Nothing like immediately getting your fries and onion rings, but having to wait 30 minutes just for water. 10 minutes after the water the burgers came and another 10 minutes we finally got melted milk shakes. Chops and Giovanni's was not worth the money paid. If I didn't have the Unlimited Dining I would have been even more upset about those meals. We only ate in the MDR once and that was after the bad meal at Giovanni's and it was really good. We wished we had just ate in there all weekend as opposed to eating at some of the paid options. Izumi and the last night in the MDR were the two best meals we had. Izumi was probably the best hibachi meal we've ever eaten. We didn't ever make it to see the ice skating show, but we did catch the juggling comedian Scotty Cavanaugh and the production of Grease. Both of those were definitely worth watching and I highly recommend them. It was vacation, so we made the best of it, but just know they are short staffed and having lots of supply chain issues so experiences may not be what you are used to having.

Nice. I bought a 6 pack and my insurance company reimbursed me a whopping $12 total. Invoice shows it was for 6 tests and on paperwork I stated 6 tests, but I only got covered for 1.

Love your attitude @Mike Dante. Enjoy your cruise. Drink one for me and I'll return the favor in a week when I hopefully am on my next one.

You can have more than one reservation per night, your reservations just cant lapse. I think they block off 2hrs per dinner reservation. If you're able to get the times you want, just make one early and one late.

I found a couple bottles of it in Cancun's duty free shop as well. When I took a cruise to Cuba back in 2017, I bought a few bottles and had been very stingy with it thinking it would be hard to get more until I ran across it in Cancun. Now I check every duty free shop I go in to see if they have it as well.

That sounds like an episode of The Love Boat.

Thanks for that. That answered a question that I was wondering. I was trying to figure out when I could work out going to Johnny Rockets or Playmakers in when I don't have any sea days and didn't want to eat there on Embarkation Day. Is it possible to make a reservation before boarding though? I know they suggest making dinner reservations as soon as you get on board, but I'm concerned with times I'm wanting to go will already be taken. On the app it has a number you can call to change your reservations, can all the reservations be made before getting on board?