geneparmesan

I finally made it through the calling system. The representative went through the same steps as I did, and came to the same conclusion (the max booking is 8, and the restaurant only accepts one group of that size). I know I've read reviews on here where groups larger than 8 go to Giovanni's - maybe they always make the reservation while on the ship. I think what I'll do is try to make a 8-person, 4-person, and 3-person reservation. I'll email RCLdining@rccl.com to see if the tables can be combined, and then speak to the restaurant when I board (whether or not I get an email reply). I'm not sure what other options I have besides waiting until we board.

I tried having my brother-in-law make the second reservation, but as soon as I had the first reservation in my cart, that time disappeared for him. I might just wait out the hold time or send an email as suggested above.

I searched this forum, but couldn't find an answer easily... How do you make a specialty dining reservation for a group of more than 8 people? I have 15 people in my group. The website will only let me make a reservation for 8 people. I figured I would just make two separate reservations (one with 8 and one with 7), but once I make the first reservation, that dining time isn't available anymore. I've tried this on different days and times,, so it seems like the restaurant (Giovanni's on the Oasis) is either only allowing one large group at a time, or the dining is already close to full. I've attempted to call Royal to ask this question, but I've been on hold for an hour so far... I'm hoping it's faster to ask the community here. 😄

Carnival felt the need to emphasize that statement by making it red (not me). I don't think they would do that if they just meant you need to select a fake appointment time as the online check-in process would make you do that anyways. I'm not "reaching" for anything; I'm just curious if FTTF means you need to arrive in your scheduled window or not. I'm not sailing until the end of Dec, so hopefully I'll hear about how it works before I go.

From Carnival's FAQ on FTTF. They emphasize twice that you need to "select" an Arrival Appointment, but it doesn't say if you must adhere to it.

I've been following the beverage package prices for my cruise next June. It's been $72.99/day for some months now. Last week, it moved to $77.99/day. The Black Friday sale has taken it down to $72.99/day. 😄

Hopefully it's a smooth tender! We are trying a NYE cruise this year for the first time. Thanks all for the posts describing what it's like - I'm excited for it!

I never carried on my own luggage until my last cruise (Alaska in May 2022). The Seattle porters were still taking luggage off the Spirit as it was late coming into port that morning. The port check-in employees kept telling those of us in line to give our luggage to the porters, and the porters kept saying that they weren't taking any luggage. No way were we just going to drop our luggage off to someone who was refusing to take it, so we carried on. It wasn't that bad (besides some of the elevators on the ship not being available), and we might continue to carry it on in the future.

I'm going there for the first time as well next week. I have similar plans as you! Maybe this thread is as good a place as any to ask - we are scheduled to be in port at 7am. What time would the pool start to get busy? Do I have to run out there at 7am if I want one of those water loungers?

So you didn't actually go to (or even really see) any of the beaches or the pool, and you were disappointed? I'm sure I would be disappointed with Coco Cay as well if all I did was the tram ride.

Agreed. I think part of the problem though is that they don't universally enforce the rules. If people knew Carnival would remove belongings from chairs that were sitting unattended for 60 mins consistently and without exceptions, then it would be hard to argue. I posted this here before, but when I was in Waikiki last summer, the hotel I was at would periodically go around and put a time card on every unattended chair. You had to physically go to your chair and then return the time card to the towel stand before it expired. If not, the staff would go around and remove the belongings when the time expired. They were strict about it, and since everyone knew the rules after seeing a card the first time, it would make most people at least go to their chairs once an hour.

We changed time (an hour back) on our recent Alaska cruise. It happened overnight on the first night, so it was super confusing. The ships clocks didn't change until mid-day for some reason, and our phones remained on the previous time the entire day as we weren't "physically" in the new time zone until Day 3. I think they did it that way because we were in port on Day 3, and they didn't want to change the day we were arriving somewhere?

You're welcome! Thankfully, it was easy to walk off the ship with the self-disembarkation process and step right into a taxi to the airport (there was a long line of taxis waiting). I arrived at the airport around 8:40, I believe.

In case it helps anyone - my wife and I just used the "Document of Recovery" to board the Carnival Spirit in Seattle on May 10th. We had both the positive test result and letters from each of our doctors. Our pre-cruise health assessment was flagged since we had symptoms within the last 14 days (we tested positive 13 days out from sailing), so the fun started at the first scan of our boarding passes at the health check. We presented the positive test result, and the employee checking us asked for the doctor's letter. I'm glad we actually had that, as I've read a few times on here that other people haven't been asked for this! What followed was a 20-min discussion between that employee and a Carnival Manager - I think because we had symptoms within the last 14 days. The manager pulled up the policy on his phone and was showing the employee, but the employee didn't seem to agree with him. We were getting pretty nervous. Finally the employee was convinced, but then didn't know how to clear us, so she had to go find the manager again, and he showed her how. When we went to do the actual check-in, we were flagged again when our passports were scanned, so that employee had to do another override. The final boarding pass scan to get on the ship worked though.

My Carnival Spirit cruise ended yesterday (May 18th). I did not receive any Port Valet information or luggage tags on my last night (even though I received the reminder email two days before), so I assume that means Carnival is still not participating. We ended up carrying our luggage off ourselves.

It's weird that the Health Assessment asks about having symptoms or exposure to Covid in the last 14 days... But it's OK to have a positive Covid test as long as it's >10 days from sailing. Why don't they have the Health Assessment be about your experience in the last 10 days? I had a positive Covid test 13 days from sailing, so I answered yes to two of the questions, and now I'm flagged. 😀

No, at least not in my experience. After I created my traveller profiles and uploaded my vax card photos (done earlier), I just had to pick the cruise ship, sailing date, Canadian port location, and agree to the test requirements.

Thanks! I just hit 72 hours before my cruise and can confirm that you do not upload test results in the app.

As my cruise is more than 3 days out, I can't try this in the ArriveCAN app - but are you able to also upload a positive test result of >10 days ago instead of the negative test result? It seems that meets the Canadian requirements, but I'm curious if the app supports it (as Verifly does not from what I hear).

I had Covid recently, with fever, chills, congestion. I actually tested negative with an at-home test on my second day of symptoms (when my fever was the worst). I tested again on Day 3, and was positive. So as you say, even that scenario may not be enough. Unless I'm bad at testing. 🙂

Glad you're feeling better! That check-in process sounds terrible! I can't imagine the feeling when Carnival told you about booster requirements only 2.5 weeks before the cruise.

I'll be trying to use it on my Carnival cruise returning to Seattle in two weeks... I'll post an update if it works or not.

Yikes, that sounds like a mess. I can see how they would be overwhelmed, but not giving any food for a day and not communicating/organizing debarkation should have been handled much better. I hope you and your family are doing alright. Can you expand on the pre-boarding requirements issues?