salinator

As of 2 weeks ago on the Breeze ... Mike Pack . Soon to be CD on the Horizon.

I was on the Breeze out of Galveston on 9/10. Just at that time, Irma was rolling up the coast of Florida, and then on the 11th, in to Georgia.

The relative position of the Breeze (sister ship to the Magic) , i estimated, was about 400-500 miles from Galveston to Irma.

The night of the 10th, and most of the day the 11th, it was very windy, and the seas were NOT calm ... so we did get some rocking, but it was not as bad as i have felt on other cruises. It was not bad enough to make you walk side to side down the hallways.

I was on the Fantasy once about 5 years ago, and we sailed THROUGH a tropical storm out of Charleston. Now, there was some rocking and rolling ... we had to hang on to the walls walking down the corridors. I have some pretty good sea legs, so i had fun with it ... however others in my group ... not so much.

Thanks for the thoughts ... we were not just able to check in ahead of our time, we were literally escorted through a second door by a guide with a ping pong paddle (like an excursion), right to literally the front of the line. I am not griping about it ... i had just never expected that. Points to Carnival !!!

Just a general interest question. I was on the Sept 10th Breeze Cruise out of Galveston. It was a great time (CD Mike Pack was awesome), and the boat was not full- obviously due to some cancelling because of the hurricanes in Texas and then again in Florida.

Due to Hurricane Harvey, my party elected that we were going to arrive a day early (saturday), and then report back to the airport on Sunday to catch a carnival transfer to the port, since we could not really count on knowing if we were going to be able to trust independent carriers to get us to port on time.

The transfer was great - a little more $$ than a private driver , but well worth it.

What was unexpected was that when we arrived at the port, a Carnival rep got on the bus, and then announced that we were to follow him into the terminal for check in. We literally skipped a line that was 1.5 hours long (my estimate) - it was almost like FTTF.

Are all port transfers treated this way, or was this a one off case?

There is little information on transfers, and I was fully expecting to get dropped off and stand in line for Check in. Didn't think we would be moved to head of the line.

if its standard ... port transfers are in my future from now on ...

Thanks!

Just off the Breeze yesterday .... i can confirm they were an appetizer for exactly 1 night ... and i can confirm they were good :-)

Please contact me by dm! We are on the same cruise, live in san antonio, and if you decide to do this we will help out! While we can offer you free transport from SA to the ship, we will be staying in the Houston area to help a elderly aunt for 3 days AFTERWARDS, so please be advised this is a ONE WAY offer!

That is incredibly generous offer in a very trying time for everyone. I truly appreciate the offer, but i do have a larger party (not simply my wife and I - i was trying to generalize for the post) :-)

God Bless you for the offer ... we will make it part of our vacation experience, and drag all along for the ride !!!

A.

With Carnival and Royal Caribbean not cancelling cruises out of Port Galveston for Sept (2nd and onward), does anyone know the hotel and car rental situation in the city and what (if anything) they are saying on local news ?

My wife and I are scheduled to go out on the Breeze Sept10th cruise, and we are seriously considering changing our flight to go into San Antonio rather than Houston because we just do not know if our Hotel and Car Rental would be honored.

If we fly into Houston and have a Hotel ... that is not an issue. I do not need a car for that. But if we fly into houston and the hotel does not have our reserved room due to the housing situation in the city, and we cannot get a car because they too are all rented out ... we, and probably thousands of other cruisers are in deep trouble for a night.

Has anyone in the area heard about Hotel availability and Car Rental availability? I am really not trying to sound petty with the human toll Harvey has taken ... I just do not want to be temporarily hotel-less for an evening if i can prevent it.

Just want to add to those who "will be" trying to rent cars from Houston- on the local news today they announced that all rental car companies are significantly dwindling down their inventories to make cars available for people impacted by the storm with flooded out vehicles. Those who are cruising soon that have rentals scheduled may want to double check with their company that their rental is still valid/guaranteed. Would hate for people to get to the airports to think they have a rental and be stressed out trying to find a last minute shuttle/cab. Have a back up plan just in case.

I rather suspected that any car rental was going to be out of the question with 500k cars damaged in the Houston area ... I rather figured that I would have to count the car out and either UBER it, or Hotel Shuttle.

Well i guess this brings another question then regarding the hotel ... obviously there is hardly one to be had anywhere right now. Anyone think there will be concerns with getting 'locked out' of your hotel reservation when you arrive for your cruise the day before? No car and no hotel, could mean big trouble for many. I am considering flying in to San Antonio rather than houston now ....

Is there any precedence to offloading passengers and then moving the ship temporarily to another port for boarding (obviously cancelling a voyage to do it) ? I am on the September 10th Breeze cruise, and right now i am thinking that I am going to find it really hard to make the journey from Houston to Galveston, see the hardship of everyone around me, only to get on a party boat for 8 days and forget MY rather insignificant worries. My prayers are for the people of the area and for those that are risking their lives to ensure the safety of others.

There's a 100% chance that if there is a hurricane, it will be windy!

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Out of general interest, is it Texas law?

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To ensure your debarkation order... Buy some #1 tags for your bags off of ebay.

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I can understand people's paranoia, but if you do not like the system, you are able to go down to guest services and have your key reissued. Don't do it immediately when you get on the ship, do it sometime that afternoon when Guest Services is not as bog down with people who actually cannot get into their room. For those of you that are worried about extra charges on your sign and sail, just make sure you look at your account after the first 24 hours. I noticed times in the past when people will buy something down in the comedy clubs, and it's assigned to a room number, and they don't even use a sign and sail card. I don't drink, so I know immediately when the drink is not mine and it appears. If a charge is fraudulent, Carnival will remove it.

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Not sure when your cruise is leaving, but I have been stuck in the later dining option for my next Cruise in September. My PVP put us on the waitlist for any time, and she said she is never seen somebody not get the anytime option. I am not sure whether I believe her or not. Make sure you're on the waitlist for your preferred dining option. People do cancel their cruises at the last minute.

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Muster stations vary. There are some that are in dining rooms and other areas too.

Nassau .... Excursion to Atlantis ... Do not think carnival has one ... But you can make your way there for a 20$ cab ride.

My take on the cash option is put everything you can on your sign and sail account. Keep only the cash in your safe that you think you need at ports. You can always get it back at the end of the cruise, and I agree with the previous commenter, do it the night before and do not wait for the final morning. Also remember to keep money for tips for your cabin steward, or wait staff in the dining room.

he should take three pairs of sport socks, and three pairs of dress socks. Can include the pair that you wear on the boat.

I would say Freeport is a good place to stay on board.

Verizon has an international data package that is 100 Mb of data for 25$ . I I used that on the cruise I took earlier this year, & I had plenty of data left over when I enabled and disabled the data function on my phone over the course of the cruise . I did not leave data on all the time, because you could possibly receive an update from Verizon for any number of things for your phone, and you would be charged against the 100 MB limit.

I was on the Pride earlier this year in May, and we had a wheelchair / handicap room. We had actually picked that room, not sure why. We knew we would be moved if there was a need for a room for someone in a wheelchair. In the past, I have had the need for a handicap room for a family member and it never bothered me, but with the room on the Pride, and probably other ships as well, the washroom IS the shower. This means that every shower you take, you have to clean the whole bathroom floor if you do not want wet feet. The balcony was great, as it was a double wide. Had a great view, so I can't complain about that. You just have to make sure that if you get a room such as this, you will need to expect some differences versus your normal room configuration.

Ahhhh. Never thought about that.

I would say ...

Vista to Miami ...

Liberty to Baltimore

Pride to Charleston

Decommissioning the Fantasy

... But I am not mgmt ..