tweak89

I have booked all of the cruises for my wife and I and yet, she gets all the really good VIFP offers.   I wasn't aware that being platinum had any effect on the offers you get.  I mean you should be super mad because we are Gold and sailed with an RU2 Cheers! promotion on our last cruise!   And we have a Cheers! offer right now (not a good one though) 🤣😁🤣

1 hour ago, KarmaCruisers said:

REALLY!? I love Dr Pepper but it’s NEVER been on a cruise ship..if you’re saying Carnival out of Galveston has it..I’m sold!

That is correct.  Only regular Dr. Pepper (no diet).  

So, we just got home form a sailing on the Vista (this will not be a ship review) on the Vista on a 7-day itinerary.  We picked up FTTF and sailed under a Cheers!  RU1 VIFP promotion.  Just wanted to post some thoughts as a multi-FTTF uses and first time Cheers! user.

FTTF:  We've sailed with this on 3 of our pre-covid sailings.   Post-Covid we sailed on the Breeze before they re-instated it.  Personally, I'm so glad to have it back.  We walked right on. This was the Galveston terminal and the FTTF/Priority lanes were clearly marked.  We got to access our room with no issues so we dropped our carry on bag off.  Our luggage made it to our floor about 30 minutes after we boarded.  We ended up just grabbing it and taking it to our room.  If I had to guess it would have been delivered right around the 1:30pm general room availability time.  We used the priority guest service line about 3 times this trip and it really short or empty each time.  This itinerary had a tender port so we used that feature as well.  I would say we were on the 3rd tender (people with Carnival excursions that started early got off first).  To use priority tender there was a staging area in the lower level of the forward MDR.  The last "feature" we used was priority self disembark where we carried all out luggage off ourselves.  This was staged on the 4th level in the Liquid Lounge.  It appeared pretty chaotic, but it went smoothly.  From the moment we were told to line up with our luggage to waiting on the curb to be picked up was not more than 15 minutes.   We were big fans of FTTF already, and this trip only reinforced that.  I can see why it might not work for everyone, but it does for us.

Cheers!:  I will preface this by saying that my wife and I are not big drinkers, but the RU1 promotion was at a great price so we thought we'd try it out.  We did enjoy the convenience of it and the fact that it included coffee, soft drinks and water.  On sea days I came close or got to a break-even point with a combination of spiked coffees, waters and mixed drinks.  My wife, not so much lol.  But she did have several cocktails each day that she normally wouldn't have.  She also had several soft drinks and bottled waters.  I tipped every other drink and we never had any really long waits (and we got drinks at almost all the spots on the ship where you could order them).   Would we do Cheers! at full price?  No.  It just doesn't make sense for us now that we've had practical experience with it.  We had 2 long port days (where we had excursions) where we'd be plastered if we tried to reach break-even, lol.  Would we do it under another promotion, for sure.  

So, there you have it.  Two things that are not for everyone.  FTTF we will do everytime we can, Cheers!  only under a promotional fare.

Didn't want to start another Cheers thread so I'll ask here.  Do the tips you leave for bar/coffee bar purchases go directly to the bar staff or do they go into the giant "tip jar" that is payed to everyone?  

The only thing that counts towards you daily Cheers limits are indivual drinks (mixed/beer/shots/spiked coffees).  The other drinks included in Cheers DO NOT count towards the 15 which includes soda, energy drinks, fancy coffee and bottled water.  Pre purchased liquor/alcohol have nothing to do with Cheers as far as your limit, but you do get a 25% discount on wine bottle purchases.

Officially no.  They want to make sure that the drink that is ordered is going with the person it belongs to.   Unofficially, it happens, depends on the bartender.  Maybe order drinks together to put a face with the card (and tip) and try to deal with the same bartender.

Can you clarify your dining comment? I assume you are My Time Dining?  We depart in 10 days and have Your Time for the first time.

And this is where FTTF has proven invaluable, at least to us, with the dedicated line!  Our last cruise on the Breeze (just before they brought back FTTF) the line for guest services always seemed to be at least 15 people deep whenever we passed by.  Sometimes it's just a simple question, but it's nice to be able to get an answer when the question/issue arises and not the next morning when the line is short.

I don't recall every seeing any.  You can browse the menus here:  Carnival 7 Day Dinner Menus, Updated November 2022 · Prof. Cruise (profcruise.com)

31 minutes ago, heziggy said:

I know Carnival offers Pepsi products on board.  However, I have a very soda picky son and will only drink certain flavors   can anyone let me know the soda flavors.  I am sure there is Pepsi, diet Pepsi, but what others?  Sorry, I am a Coke drinker.

 

Thank you

Click here for the list direct from Carnival.  Just remember, you can bring a 12 pack of CANNED sodas per cabin occupant if that list doesn't include someting he'd like.  I hate Pepsi, luckily I sail out of Galveston so they have Dr Pepper as well, lol.

It is supposed to start being implemented back starting in February.   We're hoping it will be active for our February 4th sailing.

So, this might work if it (or something like it) is around you.  This is actually how I proposed to my wife.  We took a trip to Vegas (and no, we didn't get married there, lol) with another couple (who knew I was doing it but not how, they were there to distract).  My original idea was to get a caricature drawing of us that had "Marry Me?" written in a text bubble without her knowing and pop the question once the artist turned it around.  But, as it so happens, they were not doing it that day, so luckily one of those 3D crystal etching places was there too.  We posed for out snapshot and I filled out the paperwork for it.  But, instead of the date, had them etch the proposal.  We came back for it a couple of hours later and I asked her to check it before we left to make sure they got the date right...and the rest is history.

So, you could do the same but have a caricature of ya'll with ship a sketched in the background and "Let's go cruising!"

We had a medical emergency on our last cruise on the Breeze.  Ambulance met the ship on the dock in Cozumel.

Maybe I've missed the "chaos" each time.  We've done both normal and FTTF and have never had any issues.  What problems are ya'll having?

We always bring snacks from home with us (Bevita, Kind Bars, Peanut M&M's and such) for excursion days.  Even though most escursions provide food of some sort, having snacks for the before and after is nice.

When we were on the Liberty they had to change out the itinerary pretty close to the sailing and ended up going to Cozumel and Costa Maya (losing one port and moving another and getting an extra sea day).  We got an onboard credit and they also brought in an apparently (judging from the young female crowd reaction, lol) an up and coming country singer to put on a special concert as part of the compensation.  

The current itinerary of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel is not the normal one for the ship.  I believe the original itinerary was Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel before the propulsion issues forced the change.  We booked after the change, but folks who booked before and kept their reservation are getting an onboard credit.

There is no information to confirm that the issue has been resloved.  That being said, some have noticed that the original itinerary is now available for booking in April.  So, they've either figured it out without having to dock for repairs or they haven't updated the itineraries for those cruises yet.  We are sailing on the Vista in a couple of weeks.

Worth it every time we have sailed with it.  Wasn't re-instated when we took our last cruise and we missed it.  Getting on the ship at your leisure is nice, but getting off in the first grouping is even better.  We also have gotten lots of use out of the priority Guest Services line in person and the dedicated line for guest services from your room (this can be a big time saver as that line can get long).  Tender priority is nice as well, but we have only had one cruise that had a tender port, our upcoming one has a tender port so we are glad to have FTTF.

The other part of the value of this that is often overlooked is that it is ONE price for all the cabin occupants.  So while the price has gone up, split it in two or four and it's still a great value.  And, that's the name of the game.  Read carefully what it offers, it's not useful for everyone like it is for us.

I will NEVER understand the space wasted on these ridiculous "art" galleries.  Do they really make enough money over other possible attractions (that would appeal to everyone) to justify it??

19 minutes ago, Hoosierpop said:

Yes. Which is why I tip every drink when I have the cheers through a casino deal. 

Thanks!

According to Carnival, you are out of luck.  Here is the official info for traveling with babies/toddlers on Carnival (scroll down to the watersports specific guidelines):  CLICK HERE

So, if you sail with a Cheers! promotional fare does Carnival foot the bill for the tip as well?  

We don't have kids so I don't have any tips but I am laughing because until we took care of our grand niece and nephew for almost a year while both parents were deployed (Army) I never would have believed in the "stinky boy syndrome".   It's like he had (and still has) a layer of smelly attached at all times, and don't get me started on having to make sure he uses soap/shampoo when he bathes instead of just getting wet.  🤣😁🤣

All the classes of ship we've been on have self-serve laundry.  Here's the info for self-service and paid laundry service straight from carnival: Click Here