Drazil65

Very strange CCL saying they cannot see the agent who authorized the cancel check and change of address. Anyone that has worked in a finance or accounting department knows that there are many quality control points when issuing refunds especially in form of real check. There is more than likely a digital trail (and in this case being a real check possibly a paper trail) that leads back to someone. Changing an address when a check is involved is typically a security priority and handled as such. Documentation in some form (notes, chat transcript, phone transcript etc.) would note where and who made the request to change the address. Seems a little coincidental that an address change (which apparently was not requested) was made just as a refund check was issued and timely enough so that it could be cancelled before it was cashed. It kind of seems that something doesn't pass the smell test somewhere along the line. Have you thought about sending certified letters to CCL corporation with copies sent to several different departments (dept. heads of finance, accounting, customer service, legal etc.) to see if you get a response from someone?

E-cards, usually receive an email with the instructions (link) to get the E-card within 15 mins or so.

So Nice! Enjoy the HC balcony, we loved ours on MG a couple of months ago. The patio was great and then the balcony off the patio was wonderful. It was so nice not to look for lounge chairs and be right outside our patio (great for making drinks in our cabin and our own restroom when hanging outside.

I agree with sticking to the bigger, newer ships especially if you are a regular sailing RCCL. I would choose Celebration out of Miami, I also agree with you to skip the Galveston port. That being said, my 2nd choice would be Horizon if you want to try something a little smaller and you are inclined to visit Aruba again. Have a blast on Mardi Gras, we love that ship!

I have a small, crossbody phone purse type of thing which fits my phone (which I also keep on me for pictures) and has a card area where I slip my S&S card into. The strap also has a clip on end (where it attaches to purse) that also can accommodate the S&S card and will hang outside the purse. I use it both ways being that it is a crossbody strap makes it very easy to wear and not worry about.

Absolutely hate the candy straws, we bring reusable straws as we use same at home so no big deal. On our last cruise in December on MG we watched a small child (maybe 4 or 5) going from empty glass to empty glass left on tables in center stage area. She was crunching and eating the straws before her parents (assumed they were) saw her and ran over to yank her away from another empty table. By then she must have had at least 3 or 4 discarded straws left in the glasses😱. Guess her parents should have been paying more attention to where she ran off to while they were talking to their group at another table. Thank goodness they didnt have those straws when DS (now 21) was young.

Whatever snacks they do come out with in the future just make sure it is not a community bowl thing. We have seen some disgusting habits on cruise ships when it comes to food and I mean by adults not just kids. We solve the lite snack thing by bringing our own gold fish crackers, pretzels and oyster crackers in the little snack bags. Great for grabbing something with a drink in the cabin or if one of us just needs a little bite of something before bed.

I think you have the right answer, I would not take an offer for a cabin right below lido.

Not sure this would help, under your profile on settings page, scroll to bottom of page. There is a drop down listed as "International sites", see if yours is on Australia (mine is on United States, maybe that is default or intentional for me?). Maybe changing it will help, if not then you probably need to call to see if CCL can assist. Good Luck as I know this would be a little annoying each time.

mmmm...dim sum in Chinatown, yes please!

We would choose MG or Celebration, love the excel class and if you haven't sailed on one yet, you should if you are interested. I would go for PC over Miami for sure as PC for MG is very easy on and off the ship (and parking is great for MG). Good luck with your options, these are good problems to have 😉.

We are not fans after trying one several years ago, way too close to water and salt/sea spray all over everything out on balcony every day (had to be wiped down each time we wanted to use it). I can def see how they would need to close them up if waves were big enough, even with what I would call regular size waves we could feel a mist when sitting out there. Just didnt enjoy it like a regular or suite balcony (we use our balconies) and def want to be several decks higher for the view. Just our perspective, we would never book one again.

We tend to stick with YTD (way more flexibility with some of the venues that require a reservation, we like to eat earlier) as we plan out our evenings with the events going on. We were on MG again last month and never ate in the MDR but if we had wanted to it would be easy to work around our evening plans with an early dinner. Our wait times were never more than 10-15 mins at the worst.

You can drop off for the most part (we have not had any issue with dropping our carry on items very early) but they say cabins not available to stay until 1:30. That being said, on our cruise on MG last month we had intended to drop off and go eat but our key cards were ready and in mailbox, cabin done and door locked. We grabbed the cards and left to eat anyway, just dont count on staying but can be possible cabin is ready.

Posted last November on CC, you can just do a search on CC for British Isle cruise reviews to get others...

Also, we had wifi in port as well so can figure those days into the decision.

More than likely if you search for images of Mardi Gras or Celebration (they have same layout as this new ship) you can pretty much see how the central stage area (3 decks high) is used at different times.

Thanks for the update and look forward to the rest of your review. MG our fav ship and we have been able to sail her twice in the past year, you will have a blast!

Many retail stores also sell EFFY, mixed reviews through out the years on the quality. I agree, expensive for what it is and the reviews across the board.

The other sodas are regular size cans but the ginger ale is in the smaller size can. This has been the case for a little while now, sailed 3 times in the last year and it was like that all 3 times.

This is what I saw for explanation...(if you plan on buying EFFY items) Effy Cruise Cash provides an immediate credit to a guest's Sail & Sign account. This credit is only good for any Effy charge made to their account

Never sailed out of NYC port and I am from there (grew up outside the city but grandparents lived in Brooklyn so spent a lot of time in the city and am very comfortable when in the city), that said, we would probably never choose to sail from there for many reasons. We have had many invites to join family on cruises from there over the years and have declined every time. Also, for the record, we are not interested in sailing on the Venezia so this would not even be on our radar regardless of port. running wildly around the ship at all hours, totally blocking stairways so you literally had to climb over them, etc. By the end of the cruise security was posted outside the clubs to try to control the issues. Unfortunately some parents seem to think they (parents) are on vacation and let their kids run wild and do not supervise them. First, I guess addressing the teens (mostly preteen to mid teen age range I would say from our observations) running wild on the ships, we sail both CCL (mostly) and RCCL (occasionally) for 20 plus years. So a lot of observation time and also DS was in this age group at one time so closer observation with the kids he interacted with. Have observed this behavior (running wild, unsupervised and rude) on just about every cruise we have sailed on in some manner (lido pool, on deck movie time, arcade, running through halls, pushing and shoving on sports deck and sitting on stairways etc.). This has happened on both cruise lines (we also sailed NCL one time 10 yrs ago, same). The pounding on cabin doors around midnight is a constant it seems and especially if you have the "sleep/snooze" sign on door. We do not like or think this behavior is appropriate and absolutely do not condone it, we place the blame solidly on the parents, period. DS was not allowed to run wild and certainly was not out and about after we were back in the cabin (truthfully he had to be in cabin by 10:00 and was checked on), he did not hang with the kids that acted out like this (in life in general, never been his crowd not even in college now). This account of what happened to that young girl is horrible (and sad) and we believe some action should be taken by way of consequences to the parents (banned from CCL), if they can prove etc. (another conversation totally). That being said, I am not going to lie, one of my questions after reading about the incident was "why was a 13 yr old (with some special needs it appears) girl around a group of teens that obviously were not a good fit for hanging out or being around?". To be clear, this was not to blame her parents/whomever (I am sure I would have been the worst helicopter mom especially for a girl child if I had one), its hard for me to process what situation would lead me to let my 13 yr old (girl) end up in a place where she was that vulnerable on a cruise ship full of strangers. It's like letting your kids roam around a small city basically, probably worse since security is practically non existent on a cruise ship. According to the OP, the mother had stated that these same kids had already been bullying her daughter (and apparently her 9 year old was also being bullied as well?). I cannot for the life of me figure out how the 13 year old is even allowed near this group of teens unattended and alone long enough for her to end up on ground unresponsive, cant lie, it baffles me. My school aged children were taught to say yes m'am, no m'am, etc. So, you are right in that growing in NY we were not required to say "yes, m'am and no m'am but we were taught to address all adults (outside our family) as Mr. (last name) and Ms/Mrs. (last name). Being that I grew up in NY and DH is from Midwest (Columbus, OH) and we moved to NC when DS was almost 4 (he is 21 now so def raised in the south), I can attest to the fact that those words do not make the kid a "good or polite" kid. It is all the "other words" that are spoken AFTER the "M'am" in the south that you should pay attention to, none of them would come out of DS mouth... We have a good mix of regional cultures in our home obviously, and we did not raise our son to say "m'am, as that was not the part of being in the south that we felt would be a benefit to him in the future. He was raised with manners and to be respectful and polite to all people including his peers. We are lucky that we travel often and live in a smaller, tourist town that has a population made up of all regions of the country but truthfully probably more residents from the north than anyone else. DS has been exposed and knows how to interact and respect all cultures and people and that should serve him well as he enters law school next year and begins his career. With all that being said, I do agree that NY is way too cold!

Very similar layouts (venues have different names) to Celebration and Mardi Gras (all excel class sister ships). If you google the same cabin type for Celebration or even MG (oldest of the 3 excel ships) , you will get not only pix and video links for the other 2 ships but reviews that could help you with your question for excel class ships. There were a couple of great live reviews this past week with a lot of pix of cabins, food and venues on Celebration, you should check those out.

Thank you for the great ride this trip, many times it felt like I was right there walking along with you (especially OSJ), it was a pleasure my friend! Safe travels and the best going forward 👍...

We tend to favor the bigger, newer CCL ships with the Sunshine being the exception. We love the Sunshine and Charleston. Charleston itself is a great city to visit whether you are cruising or not and since its a little over 3 hr drive from home its an easy port for us (we have another cruise scheduled on Sunshine end of this year and will miss her being in Charleston for sure). Sunshine has one of the best serenity areas (adult only area) of the fleet IMHO and being a midsize ship there are plenty of venues for things to do. Someone mentioned the shuttle at debarkation back to the port parking but we walk with our luggage to our car, its easy and quicker than the whole shuttle thing (for us anyway). We have also sailed on RCCL occasionally in addition to CCL but we by far choose CCL and are rarely disappointed with our choice. Its a fun time every time but a lot of that is attitude and seeing the positive of being able to cruise as often as we do and appreciating that fact. Have a blast and enjoy!