mistycruiser

St. Thomas isn't the only port that requires picture ID and your S&S card, Nassau I know does. You don't get past Port Security without showing ID and your card. Also, all ports we went to in Hawaii, Security boarded the buses as they returned to the port and the authorities did an ID and S&S check before the bus was allowed to enter the port area. Normally the Funtimes will tell you to be sure to have ID with you as well as your S&S plus to bring the Funtimes with you into port since they print the port contact name and phone number on it in case you run into problems.

I'm pretty sure the ice machines are in "Crew Only" areas so the passengers aren't supposed to be there and contamination would be a real issue if the passengers came and went as they please. The room stewards are more than capable of bringing and filling your ice bucket twice a day, just ask.

Regarding the clock, I bring a battery operated clock that I bought for about $10 at Walmart, works great and doesn't use up an electrical plug plus I can put it on the nightstand next to the bed.

Also, for those who want to use a cell phone, they don't recommend that because I've heard that the time resets to local time which may or may not be ship's time.

My daughter received a similar upgrade offer on her last cruise. It was from an OV to Balcony and they had preselected the balcony cabin. She wasn't happy with the selected balcony so when she called they offered several other balconies and she was able to select one more to her liking. May want to call and see if there are multiple cabins to pick from and have the deckplans open on your device so you can check the location of the upgrade.

Last week on the Miracle ship's time was PST and PV was 2 hours later, CST.

I was on the Miracle and we didn't leave late. Maybe the confusion is that we stayed on PST so 9 pm ships time was 11 pm local time. We were some of the last onboard though because we went to Rthyms of the Night but we were back onboard around 8:15 ships time.

OMG. That is the funniest picture I've seen in a long time. BTW, I vote for balcony so you can step outside for Naps and in the evening.

I've never tipped the room steward at the beginning. Usually some extra at the end. Plus I prepay my tips before I leave so it's taken care of before I even leave. I also bring extra one's for room service.

Donny-jo A no show is fine if the person doesn't have insurance. But if the person who's the no-show has insurance, they have to cancel in order for them to receive reimbursement from the insurance and then the passenger who decides to take the trip anyway ends up paying the single supplement.

Thank you for this clarification, that a 3rd party travel insurance would have a different effect than HAL insurance. So even if my companion cancelled, with 3rd party insurance I would be allowed to cruise alone in the cabin without having to pay the solo supplement. Got it!

 

I guess substitution companion could be a long shot on a case-by-case basis. m--

I'm not sure this your assumption is correct. I buy 3rd party insurance and here's the statement re: single supplement "Benefits will be paid up to the Maximum Benefit amount for the additional cost incurred as a result of a change in the per person occupancy for Prepaid travel arrangements."

So the way I interpret this is that for me to be reimbursed for the single supplement, I'd first have to pay it and then file for reimbursement.

You're welcome.

The alcohol pick up policy changed about 2-3 months ago. They don't deliver the alcohol from the onboard shops or those bought onshore anymore. Have to go pick up debark morning. Most aren't too happy about this new policy.

Since your son will be in a cabin with a platinum member his boarding pass will also say "priority" so he'll have no problem checking in or boarding with the rest of you. We currently have 2 cabins booked on the Magic in Galveston and we have 1 platinum cruiser per stateroom but all of the individual boarding passes indicate "priority" even for those who aren't platinum.

We usually stay in FLL and shuttle over in the morning. We use SAS for transportation. Go to their website and it lists the different hotels they pick up from and try to book one of those hotels.

We didn't book any of the Select cruise mainly because we're on the West coast and we don't usually book short cruises since we have to fly and usually we want a longer cruise when we have to fly to the East Coast. But we have booked several Premier cruises in the past and also have a 7 day cruise on the Magic in January that's from a different casino offer. Have fun on the Paradise.

My husband received the Select Cruise offer via snail mail. It appeared on-line prior to receiving the mailing. It appears similar to some of the amenities received with Premier Cruises. His invite indicates a Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, Special events and tournaments and includes the Drinks on Us Card. Instead of money, his indicates $50 in funplay chips. His offer includes 6 different 4-5 day sailings with reduced fares for the booking. Not sure if yours is the same offer or not.

Have you checked Delta's website? Anytime they've changed my times, I've checked their flights and been able to change (no charge) to a flight that works better for me. Usually on the confirmation when you pull it up it has a note that times have changed and that you may qualify to make a change.

I faxed mine last week and received confirmation on Monday so about 3 bus days.

Just a thought. But if you prepay your gratuities and you look at the booking, you'll notice that they include the prepaid gratuities in the taxes, port fees etc. column but don't make any reference to that. If you go to your cruise documents where things are itemized, the prepaid gratuities are separated out as a separate item. Might want to check and see if that's the case in this instance.

Unfortunately the named person on the offer has to be present. Not any different than special offers from the Casino, named person has to be present. My daughter is platinum and her husband has gotten several different offers with reduced or free fares (not casino related cause they don't gamble) and she doesn't understand it either but it's no big deal in her case cause she's also on the cruise with him.

I just went to the SWA website and I would guess that the reason on-line check in didn't work was because SWA requires that age verification has been obtained prior to issuing a boarding pass. I wouldn't imagine that the onboard Princess personnel would be familiar with all of the airlines rules as it relates to all of the different fares passengers could book. You might want to go to SWA's website and do a search for Senior Fares and read the faq's. JMHO

Blondieschick, yes I believe you will lose the original $50 obc but the part that I would be investigating is whether or not you now need to pay the full deposit not just the 50% deposit that you booked under. Normally that is the case when ES matches to a different fare whether it's a casino rate or not. If the new fare you match too requires a full regular deposit and you don't pay the difference they can cancel your cruise. Also I would think you'd both get the casino cash since you indicated you both got the offer. If you got the notice via snail or e-mail bring that with you so you can show that to the Casino cashier if you need to.

I have an upcoming cruise on the Magic where we have 2 staterooms booked, one for us and one for family. On the e-mail confirmation that I received in the section titled "Guest Notes" it displays that our booking is linked with the other booking number for "Dining". So it is visible on the booking confirmation e-mail but I don't know if it's visible at "Manage My Cruise". I always print copies of my e-mail confirmation to refer too. Just my thing, like my paper backups. LOL

You don't have to pay in full when you originally book, just the deposit. Like someone mentioned, if you book past guest all amounts are fully refundable up until final payment date which would be approximately 75 days before the cruise on a 7 day cruise I think. I don't remember off the top of my head the exact timeframes for final payment dates. You can check Carnival's website for the final payment timelines. The final payment date varies by cruise length and so do the deposit amounts.

Have you checked with Southwest? They fly to FLL not MIA but it's easy to get a shuttle over to the cruiseport from FLL. Also, going to MCO isn't a bad idea either. We found lots more flight options and prices going to MCO and as others have mentioned it really wasn't a bad drive as long as you can build an extra day or days into the schedule. Plus Southwest doesn't charge for bags or change fees. They also fly to Tampa.

I've always been told that the person named on the offer must be present in order for the rate to be honored so I would suspect that Carnival could rerate the fare if you're a no-show. But who knows what would actually happen. JMHO