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We were on the Conquest last October and received the Platinum gift about half way through the cruise. Only received one gift. We are both Platinum. The Steward said he had to go "see". He finally came back with the second gift.

Thank you. I think my last cruise (1 year ago) was my first plat cruise, and this is my wife's first plat cruise, and I couldn't remember when I received it last year.

Let me start off with saying this is not a major complaint or rant. This is me simply telling my story and expressing my little bit of frustration from my experience. No one is threatening to remove gratuities (yet, lol).

Boarded Conquest today, got to the room about 12:30pm, grabbed some grub on lido, returned to the room for awhile longer, luggage arrived, unpacked, went to the pool for about 30min, muster, then back to room until we left at 6pm for dinner. The point of this timeline is that we were in the room for the vast majority of time between boarding and dinner, plenty of opportunity for our steward to pop in and introduce himself. We did not see or hear from him by the time we left for dinner. Not a big deal. Although I think have only had 1 other cruise (out of 13-14) where I hadn't met the steward prior to leaving for dinner.

Again, this was not a huge deal and I figured we'd meet him sometime tomorrow. Well, we get back to the room about 8pm and much to my disappointment, it was clear he never came by at all. Wet pool and bath towels on floor, which I could have lived with until tomorrow, but the no turndown service was unacceptable. The main reason is that we are in a scenic ocean view room with a double pullout sofa, so both my kids had to sleep on this sofa bed. The fact that this was not pulled out and made was not ok in my book. I figured I would just call the steward phone and ask him to come by, but when I dialed, it did not ring. I then called guest services, that just put me in a never ending loop of options, none of which actually get you to a guest services employee. (Steakhouse, shore excursions, etc. All revenue items. Shocker there.) At this point I realized that I was going to have to go down to guest services myself. This irked me a bit more, as it was a long travel day and I just wanted to get our kids to bed.

Guest services attendant gets a hold of steward and says he'll be there asap. I let her know I was frustrated based on the bed not being pulled out. She then tells me that it is a new thing that you either get morning service OR evening service. Never does she mention both as an option. I tell her that excuse doesn't really make sense as we have not yet even met him let alone been given the choices. I also inform her that we will require both evening and morning, she then tells me to tell our steward that when I speak to him. Okie dokie.

Steward shows up about 15min later, I ask him to please make up the pullout and that we will need 2x/day service. He acknowledges and proceeds to pull out the sofa bed, and in said sofa bed is the old linens from previous cruise. That is a little gross in and of itself. Bed gets made and he lets us know he'll bring fresh pool towels tomorrow.

So a few points:

I just don't understand how they think it's ok, especially on the 1st night, to not convert the sofa bed. What if I had an upper pullman that needed to be unlocked?

The old bedding still inside the pullout is pretty gross. So you want me to make up the sofa bed myself AND remove the old linens? I don't think so. Do you ever just have the thought cross your mind where you wonder just what if a place didn't change out sheets between guests? Just makes me wonder more now. So many rooms to turnover in such a short time.

I also just didn't appreciate having the GS woman try and pass it off as part of the 1x/day service, ESPECIALLY when I had yet to even make this mythical choice.

Is this the end of the world, will it ruin my cruise? No

It's not going to make me remove tips, but we will have to see how the next 8 days go.

On a side note, as he had not yet been to our room, we had no Welcome Back letters, pins, waters, or platinum gifts. When he finally came, he brought all but the gifts. I can't recall if those are usually delivered on day 1. If anyone could remind me, I would appreciate it.

I realize this is long winded, but we turned in early tonight and I have nothing but time. Lol.

Anyone know if buying gift cards through Carnival will work to get the credit?

Was the grab a ticket to enter the dining room thing, for anytime dining?

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So is it the Pig's Anchor BBQ?

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They can be removed. They have a button like connection that isn't easy to be popped, but it can be done. Worst case, you just cut them off before pictures and then swing by camp ocean and they will put new ones on the kids. Done it many times.

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Ya, the cat was let out of the bag like a week ago when Carnival, THEMSELVES, announced that the Vista was would relocating to Galveston.

This was posted a few weeks back in the Facebook group for my next Cruise.

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The Wok is being replaced on many ships with the new barbecue joint, which sadly is only open in sea days. Poor move in my opinion.

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We did that whole day on our own. The dune buggy was rented from a place right across the street when you walk out of the port. I rented mopeds from them last year. That was actually the plan this year, but when we got over there my dad saw the dune buggy and wanted it. It's literally across the street. We were going to get 4 mopeds at $35 a day. Instead we got the dune buggy for like $125 for the day with insurance. Boyfriend owns a limo company and insisted on insurance. I think it was under $100 without insurance. They take cash or credit. I actually used my debit card to pay. They keep the drivers license of the drivers. We could have paid them $20 to fill the tank up when we returned, but we went to the gas station a few doors down and filled it up with $8.

 

We had enough time to take the route where you go all the way around the island. It was beautiful and a really fun ride! I highly recommend it. The dune buggy was a stick shift.

Just out of curiosity, was your original plan to rent mopeds and put the 4yr on one?

Only the Serenity hot tubs are adults only. Was that your objection?

 

There are some concerns about putting kids who are too young into hot tubs, but I've never found that those on Carnival were really hot enough to be concerned.

Some ships have an aft pool and hot tub that are both adult only.

I assume the restaurants are open for breakfast only on port days? Do they really not open until 8am?

They are negotiable. We were going to buy 1 pic, but then the guy said he'd do all the digital pics for like $150 (maybe even a few $ less). At first they were asking like $300 for all the digitals.

So I've never had to opt for this "convenience" because we are so close to port we drive and are always early. Our next trip is different. We'll be flying into Houston and ground transferring to Galveston. Doing a bunch of research, I think there's value in this program for this trip.

 

Here's my question having never done this before...I'm on Carnival's website, logged in, etc., but when I go to purchase it says "Not available for purchase"

 

Can someone with experience in this program explain this? Thanks in advance!

Does it say, "Sold Out"? If so, keep watching it daily, or even several times a day. Often times more will open up, or someone may cancel which would open up a slot. It has been said, if I recall, that they typically release them in increments of 15, until truly sold out.

It will be on your next cruise. :(

How do you have 1700+ posts on here, along with 15 Carnival Cruises, and give the incorrect answer to this?

#4- NO. This is not a platinum perk. Priority boarding is. Having your room ready early isn't

That is strictly FTTF.

It is pretty nasty. Being that it was most likely not a health hazard, I would try to get a 50% refund, and settle for 30%-ish.

What did it look like after they cleaned it? I think that's the bigger question. They did attempt to remedy it, so what did it look like after? (Don't think that was mentioned in the original post, but not going to read 1 giant paragraph again to double check. Lol)

We did a suite on the Ecstasy over Thanksgiving because we got a pretty good upgrade offer. I was a little disappointed. The curtains we so gaudy and just dirty looking. It reminded me of like a Holiday Inn from the 1980's.

I chalked it up to that just must be the fact of life regarding these older non-refurbished ships.

I now know not to waste money on a suite upgrade ever again, no matter the cost. At least on any ship over 5 years old.

Many times I disagree with your posts, but this time you are right on! I don't understand why someone/anyone feels they are more important than others and they are entitled to getting what they want while the poor sap who has been waiting and doesn't have the nerve or whatever to email the Maitre D', which shouldn't be encouraged in the first place, gets stuck. It's just not fair to them.

 

I know life isn't fair, but just because you cruised on another line 10,000 times doesn't mean you should be ahead of me if I am waitlisted. I don't think that writing to John to be given what you want isn't right either. He does a lot of things to accommodate people but at what expense to others? Why can't people stand in line like all the others? Why are YOU more important than I am? Is it just because YOU think so? Ok, flame away, but if you were the one who didn't get what you wanted because someone else wrote or emailed, you would be complaining on here.

This is called "using your resources". It's not a DYKWIA situation. Not like they are saying "I am PLT, I want early dinner. Move me!"

Nothing wrong with sending the email or asking John. I would consider it the perk/advantage of investing time in resources like CC.

Hello, I will be on the Magic this upcoming March on the special 6 day itnierary. Below is our itinerary and am wondering if anyone knows when the formal night might be? I have never been on a 6 day cruise.

Thanks.

3/9/2015 Galveston, TX ---- 4:00 PM

3/10/2015 Fun Day At Sea

3/11/2015 Costa Maya, Mexico 1:00 PM - 8:00 PM

3/12/2015 Cozumel, Mexico 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

3/13/2015 Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

3/14/2015 Fun Day At Sea

3/15/2015 Galveston, TX 8:00 AM ----

I liked "Breeze", with a couple of exceptions that probably won't make a "hill of beans" difference to most folks. I love karaoke, and they've gone to an ALL MP3, solid state karaoke machine, with very limited choice of songs, and artists, and they can no longer play the discs that the passengers bring along with their own music. :confused:

Ship was a bit crowded, IMO, but that too is to be expected with over 4000 passengers aboard.

I've noted that "Breeze", along with every other Carnival ship I've sailed in the last year has had "less than spectacular" service in the dining room. I have to believe that Carnival has cut back one too many times in the server area, or the kitchen area, on all of their ships. I hope this is taken care of in the future, and we can get back to the excellent service in the dining rooms. :D

 

"SKY"

For sure. Haven't been on the Breeze, but just got off the Ecstasy and did ATD for the first time. Service has always been on the slow side in my opinion, but this trip it was exceptionally slow. I'm talking 45 minutes before we even had out starters. It just shouldn't be this bad, plain and simple. I didn't know it was due to the ATD, or the particular ship, or if it's just gotten this bad.

For a few districts it is the week of the 9th, but most of Texas is the week of the 16th.

In fact, our district is one of the few starting the 9th, and when I priced out cruises a few months back, Carnival had not yet accounted for some schools being on break that week. We booked the Triumph, oceanview room for 4 people for $330ish/pp. The week after was going for $700ish/pp. About a month after we booked, our cruise price doubled. Then it was switched to the Magic and turned into a 6 day cruise!

We also booked for 2016, the week of March 7th, for $340/pp. Again, the week after is double that. I am not too certain though that the school will break that early in 2016. They typically break the 2nd Monday in March and in 2016, March starts on a Tuesday and so the 7th will be the 1st Monday.

Just to be safe I booked a fully refundable fare as opposed to the usual Early Saver. We'd never see a price drop anyways. Just like the one for 2015, once they figure out some schools are on break that week they will jack up the price anyways.

Truthfully, if you can't fly in the day before and stay in a hotel, booking airfare through Carnival it probably the next best thing.

Many things can happen flying into a port city day of a cruise, Weather delays, mechanical delays, tarmac delays, missed connections, etc. If you book on your own, you truly are on your own if something happens.

At least with airfare through Carnival you are protected in regards to getting to your ship. As many others have said, the amount of "extra" time you will incur flying into FLL is minimal due to the ease of that airport versus MIA.

Found this by googling 'Port of Galveston Shuttle".

http://www.galvestoncruisetips.com/how-to-get-to-the-galveston-port-without-a-car/

I think most ships have at most a table for 10. We are heading out on the Magic in March with a group of 12.

Anyone know if there is a table that can seat 12 on the Magic?

Thanks.

Wow! $21.50 for a case you can get at wal-mart for $3!!

The 8 pack of the 50oz bottles is actually a decent price. Thats about what you'd pay for a bottle that size at the gas station.