oldrailfan

APDMOM:

After all these years I'm back on the boards for a minute... I just wanted to let you know that I'm suing OOPS - "Using" not "Suing" :eek: an image of yours, one of the ship-abeam photos you took in May of 2012, as my wallpaper on 2 PC's now running Win-10, a Chrome-Book, and three tablets of various parentage.

I had hoped to re-paste it here, or to go back through the files and bring it forward, but no such luck. The metadata shows it was taken May 13, 2012, and was your file number DSC_0058.jpeg. I hope that's enough information to look it up, so you know which one I'm using.

Which ships or is it a "secret":)

Fantasy class, for one. ON the Atlantic deck go all the way forward to the stage in the main theater. Turn either way and go all the way to the shell of the ship on either side, then turn forward again. You'll come to a semi-concealed door with an "EXIT" sign and go through it. There will be a second door that is normally open, go on through it and you'll be on the "secret" deck. If that second door is closed, DO NOT open it, it has been closed for a reason! (The weather is too rough or too windy for instance)

I open the files and save the PDF's locally before printing them out, then use Adobe instead of the reader in IE or Firefox or Chrome to open and print them out. No distortions or partial letters and no 6666666666 or 88888888888. ("Browser" - that's the word I wanted... darn senior moments)

Also, as others noted, old printer drivers can mess up the printout, so make sure your drivers are up-to-date.

Guess that is your gift. Actually would be happy to get such a coupon the ship instead of the gift.

If we were planning to cruise again maybe, but my declining health may make that impossible.

Did you not receive you "gift" on the last cruise?

NO, the ship hadn't received a shipment, and had us fill out a form instead. It was during the time-frame when they were going from the "Nike" caps to the coolers.

Today in the mail, (actually FedEx) we received two "flats" from Carnival. Inside of each was a letter with a $10.00 Gift Card attached. The letter had the Whale-Tail and the "Carnival all for fun, fun for all" slogan, and said "Amount $10.00" "From The VIFP Club", and "Hope you had a wonderful cruise on board Carnival Fascination," and our address. No other information.

Is this the replacement for the Platinum Gifts that the ship didn't have, or is it something else? If it's a Platinum Gift, it's a pretty sad replacement for whatever we should have received... Ten bucks that we can only spend if we go for another cruise by the end of 2014... but what else can it be?

Bring your prescription meds, especially opiates and narcotics, in their original bottles with labels and current dates... put them in carry-on luggage and keep track of that bag! Don't take them ashore in ports-of-call unless you absolutely must take (consume) one during the visit.

As Platinum :D, we go to our cabin to drop off our carry-on stuff, and then head to Lido for our first Reuben of the cruise.

What KroozFoolz said...

There are a couple of things here:

1. On-ship walkie talkie communications will not be digital, you should be able to pick them up between 100 and 200MHz, or 400 to 500MHz FM, maybe narrow band, but I doubt it.

2. Ship-to-ship radio is single sideband somewhere in the vicinity of 29 MHz, but could be as low as 1MHz to 50MHz. The down side of this is they mostly monitor this and only use it during maritime incidents or when communicating with ships in the area to find out if they intend to make any moves.

3. Ship-to-shore is probably mostly done on satellite now and will be digital and/or encrypted. They probably have an HF or MF radio on the ship that allows long distance communications for times when Satellite is either over the horizon or other impairments.

 

I know about #2 because I am a ham and during the behind the fun tour, while on the bridge I looked at the comminications station and made a mental note of what areas they had the radios set to. I do not remember exact frequencies, but I bet if you look up maritime sideband frequencies you will find them.

On item 2 - don't forget Marine VHF-FM, in the 156-158 MHz range... however, those will mostly be used near the coast for tug/pilot traffic, communication with the Port Captain or other officials, drawbridge calls, and Marine radiotelephone. Ships do use certain VHF channels to communicate with each other while in the channels. try this: http://www.hf-antenna.com/docs/US_VHF_Marine_Frequency_List.pdf I would imagine the ships and tenders communicate on these channels also, at tendering ports.

You might also find some VHF or UHF traffic on the business band frequencies, as the crew members and shore-side line handlers moor the ship or get it under-way. I doubt they use digital communication for this...

ADDED: The SSB channels and frequeincies are listed at: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtHighFrequency

I stayed at a HOliday Inn Express last night?

 

Or I could have some sort of medical licensure.

OR you could even be a [former] Coastie with some experience in the matter...

Well, in our case, it's backfiring - we've decided to try other vacations for the next few years... We aren't moving up, we're bugging out! Maybe if more of us voted with our feet...

"Truffled Potato Puree" Give me a break!!! That's mashed potatoes with mushrooms. If there's a genuine truffle (at over $300.00 a pound) I'll eat my hat!

Cut it out already! You're losing it Carnival!

BTW, I can't even open many of the menus on this list...

PAY ATTENTION....the table cloth will still be there for elegant night. How do you people keep missing this?

Didn't miss it - haven't seen it!

So does that mean we can dress any way we want to on the other nights? I'll bring my 67-year-old, 275lb body to dinner in a tank-top and speedo!

PS -- I don't like my silverware sitting on a table that has been wiped with probably a dirty rag.

Germs -- UGH

JMO

DITTO!!! What's next? Roll the plastic tableware in a paper napkin?

No table cloth? No elegant night! You can't have one without the other... If I have to eat on bare wood, "elegant" is jeans, boots, flannel shirts, and cowboy hats!

They're called aircraft carriers.

 

 

And speaking of aircraft carriers...

how come OASIS and ALLURE didn't get nuclear engines?? :confused:

 

.

Private operators can't afford it... Aircraft Carriers are funded by us, the taxpayers!

I agree. It is my favorite too. It became my Facebook cover :)

WOW! Fantastic sunset, fantastic photo!

I tried the site. I cannot even find Caribbean to start with. Thanks for the advice, but very difficult site to navigate...

On the first page you get to, they list "Ports of Departure," then "Ports of Call" further down the page. Both are listed by country rather than region - for example, Roatan is listed under "Honduras" in the P-O-C area, not Caribbean, Belize is in "Belize," and Costa Maya and Cozumel are listed under "Mexico." You click on the port, and a calendar page opens, then click on the date of your visit. It shows the other ships in port that day.

Another way is to click on your Port of Departure, on the calendar for your departure date, then click on your ship. It will give your itinerary with a clickable link for each of your ports of call. When you click on that link, it opens to the page that shows the other ships in port and their arrival and departure times. Not easier or harder than TT, just different, IMO.

Our one time in an owner's suite was on the Inspiration in 2010. Although the room was fabulous, we found the service from the cabin steward, normally a high point of our cruise, the worst of any of our 11 cruises by far.

 

Not sure if it means anything, but it might be a pattern. It would be interesting to hear from others who have sailed in that cabin. The two owner's suites are certainly far removed from any other cabin that needs service, and I doubt the stewards only are assigned the two cabins.

 

Kevin C

Actually, the Owner's Suites are only one deck up from the Verandah cabins, so the same stewards probably do the Suites as well. We had no complaint about the steward service, he went above-and-beyond for us. It was only those things that someone "upstream" from him was supposed to take care of that fell short. i.e., if they didn't get things like the letters and the pins to him, how could he deliver them to us? The letters that he DID deliver to the Suite were placed on the credenza under the television. Why would he have placed the other things somewhere else? ...and it's Room Service that is supposed to deliver the "goodies" to the cabin, based on past experience...

ADDED: They sent me a survey request after the cruise, and I responded to it... I put these same complaints in the "Did anything fall short of your expectation?" Block... I hope someone actually reads them.

Yeah, they probably conveniently forgot to deliver to your cabin. They probably figure people won't notice but some of us....

 

I actually did not see any place that had chocolate covered strawberries on the Imagination this week. As a matter of fact, the dessert selection seems to be shrinking. And we all know what the beards did to the future mdr experience this week.

The only place that had chocolate-covered strawberries on Fascination was the coffee bar on the Promenade Deck. Couldn't even order them from "Formalities." (or whatever they're calling it now)

Isnt the choc covered strawberries only for 7 day or longer criuses?

 

But platinum aint what it used to be.

Up until my Nov 11th cruise, I had received "Chocolate Delight" plates on every cruise since we made Platinum - all but one of which were 5-day cruises.

O/T: After seeing the new menus that JH has been posting, we may have taken our last cruise anyway... WTH is wrong with good ol' American food? These darn chefs are getting too fancy-schmancy! My digestive system can't handle a lot of the sauces and sides, and even some of the main courses they're coming up with - if I wanted French Cuisine, I'd go to France! (...and I told Heald that on FB and the blog...)

Last time I was aboard, they'd already changed the menus enough that I had to order the flatiron steak with a baked potato most of the time anyway... Now I'll probably have to order it on elegant night, if they even still have it!

Just off Fascination yesterday and received 2 Tervis Tumbles with red tops. Received 2 Tumblers in June on Fascination with blue tops.

 

BTW, did not receive any snacks or chocolate covered strawberries this time. I guess CCL can't afford Platinum perks any more, although thee aren't that many left. :(

I'd gladly take the red-top Tervis tumblers, or even some more of the blue-tops. I'd just like SOMEthing. Still waiting on the mails.

Go to http://www.cruisetimetables.com - it's been more accurate that cruisett lately...

So we sail out on the Dream on 1/18/2014, Cant wait. I was looking at other sailings of other ships and it looks to me like the Dream will be the only ship in the ports on the specific days we are in each different port. Does anyone else know how to check this a easier way. to see if Im correct.? Im kinda excited that we may be the only ship! Cozumel on the 20th Belize on the 21st Roatan the 22nd and Costa on the 23rd:)

 

Thanks All!

Sorry, there's at least one other ship in every port with you... 4 others in Roatan! :eek:

Saw them two weeks ago on Fascination.

Got off the Fascination two weeks ago - all we got was a letter saying their shipment hadn't been received in time and asking us to give our names VIFP numbers and a mailing address. Still waiting for whatever they'll be sending.

NO plate of sweets, no drink coupon, no invitation to the celebration, and I had to go to Guest Services to ask about the gift (that's when I got the letter) and the pins. Was it because I was in the Owner's Suite? Something's wrong... I've never had this kind of slipshod service before!

Got off of the Fascination on the 16th. We were told thy hadn't received a shipment of Platinum gifts, so they had us fill out a form with our VIFP numbers, booking number, names, and an address where they could mail the gifts to us. They didn't say what they would be...

DW and I each have three hats, so I hope it will be something (ANYthing!) else.

DW and I made it - DD got to Gold this summer, DSIL and DGK's are Red, but GK's will go Gold on their next cruise...