hpugirl27

Excited to hear about the rest of the trip, my family will be on the NYE cruise on this ship!

My family and I agree.   Low deck, mid ship and Bonine all the way.  We start taking Bonine the night before we cruise and my son and I need one everyday on the ship (it also helps to take it for a day after as well).  It has helped us while we were already motion sick as well as preventing it.  We've sailed through really rough water and none of us have ever gotten sick with Bonine.

I went on an Alaskan cruise on carnival 3 or 4 years ago with a stop in Victoria.  You didn't need a passport for the cruise, but I do remember needing to show ours to get off the ship in Victoria specifically.  Seems I'm the odd one out on this thread, but just wanted to point out that we did experience that.  You'll be fine for the rest of the cruise, the only time it may matter is if you want to get off the ship in Victoria.

I agree.  A 3 day is a great way to start.  I will say try to get a room in the middle of the ship (not forward or aft) if your family is prone to sea sickness.  My son and I get seasick and we take Bonine (over the counter, non drowsy) and it works wonders!  Cruised to Alaska and near hurricanes and we never felt sick!

We looked into these as well and chose the Mardi Gras NYE cruise.  If you book that one my soon to be (jan) 13 year old son will be in it as well!  We're hoping for lots of kids his age too. Its a Christmas present for him.  GL, you can't go wrong no matter which one you pick!

We went on that same itinerary when my son was that age. It was amazing. We took the tour.  You definitely get much closer and thought it was worth the money.  We saw a big calving happen that they had been waiting on for a month they said, we saw seals on ice bergs, we got some great pictures of the ship as well while we were nearing the glacier.  Either way, you'll have a great time!!

Yes, I was supposed to be sailing for a Valentines cruise a few days from now and just switched it to a New Year's cruise....no penalties.

3 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

That is a great suggestion.  I was hoping for some cookies and cake.  I guess I will have to plan better on day 2 and smuggle cookies to the room lol.

I believe they still have chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake on the room service menu for free.  That might be an option?

The Cucumber Sunrise was good, but my favorite from Alchemy, since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, is the Restorative Basil Drop.  Soooo good.  This is what it says on the menu:

RESTORATIVE BASIL DROP Sure to stimulate, soothe and restore your senses. Belvedere Vodka, fresh basil, simple syrup and fresh citrus.

I'm wondering about some of these questions too, but we are thinking of just going on the 2nd segment, not the whole thing.  We will have our son with us, but sounds like he would be older than your kids.  My son is 11 now and we're homeschooling at the moment and plan to continue so that would make the schooling aspect not an issue at least.  Also wondering how many kids might be on...

My suggestion would be to buy the rapid tests now so you'll have them.   Take one soon-ish (you can just do it yourself w/o the online dr appt) to see if you come back positive. I hear the antigen tests are less sensitive than the pcr ones.  You have another month until you go, so you may not test positive by then?  At least of you take one ahead of time you can ease your nerves and plan better.  I'm in the same situation with just having recovered....but my cruise is in Feb.

I would like to try a Great Lakes cruise.  I'm from upstate NY, close to Niagara Falls (so, also a Great Lake and cool Canadian city for a stop).  But I'm also in the subset of cruisers who really doesn't love the hot weather of the Caribbean Islands (but do it and love it anyways for the cruising experience!)  There's tons of great cities around the lakes...wine tours are big in my area which could be another shore excursion  😉

We sailed on her in Jan 2020 and yes, they had the food menu!

I've always booked my cruise online then call and have them add it for you. 

I got the email as well.  Does anyone know if it's good to use with the $600 OBC from cancelled cruises?

22 hours ago, Chelle621 said:

I just looked and my $600 isn't listed.  My travel agent told me that I would see it when I board.  Just wondering about that!

This is what I was told when I was on the phone with Carnival.  Then I came to the boards and saw posts similar to this one.  I called back and just mentioned the previous agent had forgotten to attach the $600 to my booking and they fixed it right away and I was able to see it.

4 hours ago, Johnc3211 said:

I also took the FCC and OBC for my cancelled May 10 cruise. I just booked the same cruise next year with a PVP. I will get my excursions, prepaid liquor, and part of last cruise refunded to me. She applied the FCC to my new booking right then. Don't know when I will see the refund, but when I use it for the new cruise I will be at 100%. I see the applied FCC on my new booking but not the OBC at this time. The PVP was great.

This is my issue as well.  I chose the FCC and OBC, switched to the new cruise.  The FCC was applied, but I don't see the $600 OBC anywhere.  They just said I'd see it "onboard".  But it seems like a lot of you can see your OBC?

2 minutes ago, shof515 said:

i think it says current cruise length

It does, but didn't specify anything about the new booking so I wasn't sure

Does anyone know if it would still be $600 OBC if you book a shorter cruise for your next one?  (Canceled cruise was 9 days) or would they only give you the $300 if the next cruise you book is less than 6 days?

I don't think I've seen an actual "meet and greet", however if your kids go to the night time activities the first night, that's what matters most in our experience.  They get to make friends before the kids have already found little groups.

29 minutes ago, LoungingMcCoy said:

We'll be cruising to Alaska at some point.  Does an Alaska cruise still have all the activities like trivia contests, giant Jenga, giant Yahtzee, etc.?  If I don't have the opportunity to win a ship on a stick it would kind of be a bummer.  These activities are one of the highlights of cruising for us and we always make friends while participating.

Yes, they definitely still have all the trivia!  And I noticed A LOT more people played!  So you may have more competition, lol.  

We went on an Alaskan cruise in early June of 2018.  While it is port intensive and a bit more subdued as people are enjoying nature and looking for whales, etc....they still have the normal activities.  They had the mixologist challenge (my husband won!), the late night comedy and stage shows, people were out and about- my son still went to the kids club some nights and plenty of kids were there while parents were at comedy or shows, alchemy,  or enjoying a walk on the deck.  If I remember correctly, there were early port times so you did tend to go to bed a bit earlier, but by no means was everyone in bed at 10pm.  You'll have a great time!

On 7/6/2019 at 11:15 AM, jcool said:

I like pictures of the ports. And things that they did at the port and were it was.

I wasn't able to actually go on the cruise, just a tour of the ship, so unfortunately I don't have pictures of the different ports or what was done there.  

On 7/6/2019 at 11:34 AM, a,j,&fam said:

My questions

What being done to the ship during the upcoming drydock?

 

Also how you get lucky get do the tour?

The drydock is happening October 5th and will just be routine maintenance and minor cosmetic touch ups.  As for the tour, I'm a travel agent and we have a chance to go on ship inspections (tours) when days become available.

On 7/6/2019 at 11:15 AM, jcool said:

 

On 7/6/2019 at 3:41 PM, Bostwick girl said:

I'd like to see some pix of the balcony rooms that were added in the last drydock. Will make the difference for me in booking a cruise on her or not. The balcony rooms that were added to Elation were so small they didn't even have a chair to sit on! Had to bring one in from the balcony. Thanks.  

 

Hi, I was already off the ship when your question came through.  I looked at a few balcony rooms and they all had the sofa/bed, but I didn't really pay attention to if there was a chair at the desk....or if they were rooms that were added recently.  All the ones I saw were typical size of balcony rooms.

On 7/7/2019 at 12:19 AM, CheersPkg4Us said:

We would like to see a pic or 2 of where the Alchemy bar is located. Our last cruise on the Ecstacy did not have one at the time of our sailing. 

Hi!  I took a few pictures of the Alchemy bar but am having trouble uploading them here.  I am in the process of writing a blog post with my pictures from the ship tour that should be up today or tomorrow.  The Alchemy was located on deck 9 right outside the Starlight Lounge (where they do the comedy shows)

6 minutes ago, indygirl76 said:

My question as well! I'll be on board in November. Hoping (not holding my breath, but hoping) for a room refresh like the Paradise received. 

They are just doing routine maintenance and minor cosmetic touch ups during dry dock...so as far as anything major to the rooms, I don't believe that will be happening. 

I'm touring the Ecstasy in Jacksonville tomorrow and figured I'd ask if anyone has an upcoming trip that they might want pictures of certain areas or if you had any questions about the ship?  I'll try and find out for you and post back here after!

I've been wondering this as well.  We have one scheduled for 6/2020.