Builder31

We will be in SJ noon - 9pm with a large group of 25+ with ages 10-75. Any suggestions? We were thinking a sunset cruise might be nice since we will be there after dark. But they seem to be fairly expensive at $60-95pp for a 1.5-2 hour boat ride. Also trying to find something to do during the day. Need suggestions. Thanks.

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I've looked at their websites. That's where I got the pricing. I usually don't do the ships excursions, but there's not even a discover scuba course offered. Just seems strange that they are all double other ports I've looked at and was wondering why. Lack of competition I guess?

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My son and I are looking to do a Discover Scuba course on our upcoming cruise. GT would be a great place to do it since there isn't that much else to do. But the dive companies I've looked at are all $200-$250pp. That's double what it costs in other ports.

Anyone have any insight as to why? Are there any dive shops in GT that are a bit more reasonable?

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It's 10% off. I use them to pay for the cruise. Who doesn't want to pay 10% less for their cruise?

Yep. I just bought 7 $500 cards. Saving $350 on my upcoming cruise. Almost pays for my cheers program [emoji6]

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They let our daughter move up when she was several weeks away from being 15. Wasn't on the Vista, but I think it's always up to the staff whether they allow it or not. In our case it was no problem.

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Checking back in on this thread...is anyone getting check in times for Vista out of Miami yet? We sail in December.

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I read that the cost will be slightly less than on land. I doubt it will be 4d. They have the thrill theater for that.

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We were among the last off the Valor a few weeks ago. We put out bags the night before and slept until the announcements got too annoying. Left the cabin around 9 and got breakfast on the lido. No one in line at the buffet. Went out and sat in lounge chairs in the sun on lido until 10:30. Didn't head down until 10 minutes after they had called all numbers. Walked off the ship and didn't see another passenger until we got to customs. Found bags easily because they were the only ones there. And had 1 person in front of us in customs. It was by far the best debark we've had in 6 cruises. Will do it this way every time from now on. Only downside was seeing all the new people checking in starting their week and feeling jealous

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So we are booked on the Vista on 12/17/16 out of Miami. I've read that Miami has assigned check in times so I'm wondering if I should do online check in now? Or is 9 months too early?? Do they assign times based on when you do online check in? Thx

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We were on the last cruise of the freedom before dd. It was funny because they were dismantling things and tearing stuff off the walls as we were waiting to debark. But otherwise the debark was the same as always.

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Water on the ship is fine. We drink it in MDR and Lido every cruise. Tastes fine to me. We get a pack of bottled water but mostly to bring into ports for excursions.

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I don't know if you are aware but there is a "camp Carnival" that your daughter would be able to frequent, to meet up and have fun with children of her age group.

Camp Carnival is only up to 11. Circle C is 12-14 and Club O2 is 15-17. My kids love finding kids their own age and hanging out with them. They've made many friends on cruises that they keep in touch with.

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We recently parked at the cruise terminal. I like having my car in a covered space and not having to depend on a shuttle. We've done the shuttles several times at various ports and many times they are fine but a couple times we've had to wait or had some type of hassle. You can drop your bags and passengers right in the lot and then park less than 100 yards away. Quick and easy and worth it to me. I'm pretty sure there is no discount for booking ahead of time. Local hotels offer a discount voucher for the cruise parking after a stay but it doesn't sound like that will help you.

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Has anyone ever tried walking to Blue Kay? According to Google maps, it would only be a 22 minute walk from the cruise pier. I was thinking about trying to walk there with my family of 7 to save the taxi fare since it's so close, but didn't know if the path they show is good for pedestrians or not.

It's a $2 taxi ride. Actually one of the few things I've experienced in any port that I thought was a bargain. Yes I think it could be walked but is it worth having 7 people walk for 20+ minutes to save $14? There wasn't much to see on the way either. If there were shops or buildings or something interesting maybe. But there's not.

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We got the social media package for us and the kids a couple weeks ago on valor so we could keep in contact on the ship. No hub available in valor. It was $25 each for the 7 day. $60/week for full internet (no skype) and $99 for premium (faster) Internet.

We got it because we were planning to use FB messenger but iMessage worked so we used that. We could even iMessage people at home. My son also noticed that he got all his push notifications for his various apps. So he got sports and news updates etc even though he couldn't use the apps. My daughter said snap chat wouldn't work however. The connection was very slow. But our main reason to get it was to communicate with others on the ship so it wasn't a big deal (for me anyway).

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If the photographers would leave everyone alone, the lines would move much quicker.

Amen. This annoys me more than anything else. Not posing on the gang plank would cut wait time in half. They should just do the pics once you are on the pier.

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The Vista should be great for kids. The 15-17 club is called Club O2. My kids love going to Circle C and Club O2. They always meet a lot of friends and stay in touch even after the cruise is over. Mostly they hang out but they do plan activities like scavenger hunts and t shirt making to get the to interact. They also do a great job in camp carnival for the under 11 kids. Planned activities most of the time.

The sports square includes a ropes course where you get harnessed in and walk along obstacles about 10-15' above the deck. My kids and I did it in the Breeze several times and loved it. The water works, slides, putt putt are always free and I believe sky ride will be free as well. I'm wondering what the sky ride wait will be like since it can only accommodate 2 riders at a time, whereas the ropes course can handle many.

As another said the imax and thrill theaters (4d) are extra charge. On the breeze you could pay per movie for the thrill theatre (maybe $4-5) or I think the pass for the whole week was around $12-15. I read that the imax will be slightly less than they are on land.

We are booked in Dec and my kids can't wait.

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Matt Mitcham will be the CD on the Vista and he is awesome! Had him on the Breeze last year and my kids still talk about him.

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I've seen them enforce it and other times they don't. It depends on how many kids are in each program and the attitude of the instructors.

This has been our experience as well. A couple times it's been no problem and others they haven't allowed it. I think it also depends on how close they are.

I was told they can't age kids up, but your 12 year old can age down to the 11 year old group.

They've let our daughter bump up to an older group a couple of times.

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If you make reservations ahead of time and then decide not to go, do they still charge you? I'm sailing with a large family group on vista in December and I'd like to book for others. But I'm sure there's a chance some will change their mind.

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Just went last week. We're a family of 5 and overall it was good. But the main reason we went was because my kids wanted to do the ocean obstacle course and the day we went it was windy and the course was pulled up on the beach and closed. So it was somewhat of a downer for us. And they offered us no discount on the price.

We had friends that did the AI and said the food was pretty good and drinks were decent. I mostly drink beer so just ordered off the menu. $14 for a bucket of 5 Mexican beers. And a la carte food prices were pretty reasonable.

They had beach games (football throw and water balloon toss) that was fun. And we had fun on the volleyball court as well. The day we were there a group of college kids were there having fun.

There are 2 pools and lots of lounge chairs. And the beach was very nice. I think on a sunny and hot day the place would be a lot of fun and a big party. We just didn't have ideal weather.

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Just went there a few days ago. You buy the ticket at a stand as you exit the port area. Think it only goes 1 way and so you need a taxi in the way back. Taxis are $2pp and the tram is $1 more at $3pp. But we took the tram because it was interesting.

It no longer stops at Blue Kay. The 1st stop was about 500 yards past Blue Kay and we had to walk back. When I asked the guy he said they don't stop at Blue Kay. There are other stops along the beach but we got off at the 1st because we were headed to Blue Kay.

Btw- Blue Kay was a great spot. As others have said it was $5 for a beach chair and it included a drink. A great day for $10pp including transportation.

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We're booked for next week with Charlie's cave tubing. Have had good communication from them thus far. They carry the tubes and have the tubes with head rests and mesh. But I think most of the companies now carry them from what I've seen.

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Asked this in another thread but didn't get an answer.

When you get the social media plan how do you access the services? Can you just use each app from your phone? Or do you have to go online with your phone browser and login?

I'm asking because my family can't remember their passwords (since they are already logged in via the app) and they would need to reset them before we sail.

We will be in the Valor which doesn't have the Carnival hub app if that makes a difference. Thx.

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Matt Micham posted this a few days ago. Not sure if she was heading out to sea or just moving docks?

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