FlipFlopCruiser

On the 6/13-21 sailing it was working the 1st day. We had some very windy conditions on, I believe day 2 and they closed it for safety reasons. I was told something broke while it was closed because of the crazy winds we had.

I set up a group cruise for every summer and always use a TA.

Once our group picks the next cruise, I visit my TA and she sets up the group. She prints flyers for us to hand out with all the cruise info on it and anyone interested calls her to book.

The TA handles the booking end of it and I set up all of the group activities. Like slot pull, bar hopper, scavenger hunt. I buy prizes for our events too. The TA does the booking work and I do the fun part.

You get 1 free berth for every 8 cabins/16 people booked. The berth is the base rate, before taxes and port charges.

Most people have already posted that they receive the credit after the cruise, but I have always gotten a check from the TA before the cruise.

I don't know why it's different TA vs Carnival booking but I have never had to wait until after the cruise for my credit.

We also have group t-shirts made and get group pics taken in the shirts. customink dot com is great! You can design your own and they have a nice selection of sizes and colors. Inexpensive too! And in some of the shirts....no minimum order.

I'm sorry, I tried to search the threads for a good thread on this subject and wasn't able to find one.

 

We are going on our next cruise next month, and did not do auto tipping so I wanted to see what is an average recommended tip for all areas of work, and then what a great or exceptional tip would be.

 

Thank you for your help!

OH You're Brave!!!!

This should get interesting!

Good Luck!! :D

It's free and ask as you exit where the pick up zone is located.

Awesome! Thank You!

The last time we were in Nassau I stayed on the ship with my mom. She's in her 70's and has arthritis, bad knees, etc. There was a bunch of ships there that day and we were docked at the far end of the pier. It would have been a really tough walk for her just to get to the welcome center building. At one point during the day we were walking around outside on the top decks of the ship and we saw what seemed to be a shuttle van drive right up to the ship and drop off some people.

Do they have a shuttle like that? Or was it not what it seemed to be?

If they do offer shuttle service on the pier in those cases, does anyone know how I would set that up? And the cost?

They don't actually remove the doors, the door swings open and gets fastened to the railing. Even though it's nice to have them opened up and have a nice long balcony, keep in mind that each door then blocks half of your view.

When we planned on doing this on the Miracle, I made sure all 3 times that I booked the most aft balcony because they swing forward. So it didn't block my view from inside the room. But shhhhhh don't tell the rest of my group! LOL

And even though you DO have to pay for the pastries at the coffee shop, they are really delicious, huge servings and very inexpensive.

The trick to 4 people in an inside is to keep the lower beds separated.

You will have more space to move around.

We did it a few times and it's very doable. And cheaper than 2 rooms.

no.

If anyone remembers correctly, Carnival announced the "FunShip 2.0" upgrades in New York several years ago. Maybe they will be building upon the 2.0?

Kind of ironic, since we still don't have a ship in NY with 2.0 upgrades.

There was talk of a Splendor dry dock including 2.0 over a year ago, and then it was postponed until ...........never? Still nothing.

We use customink dotcom

You can use your own artwork or use their pictures and design your own shirt.

And when you get stuck with design ideas or color choices, you can get free help from them either on the phone or in an online chat.

They are easy to work with and last year our shirts were so nice that people on the ship were asking us where we bought them because they wanted one.

Our group did one last summer for the first time.

I just talked to the casino host the day before we planned on doing it to make sure the time we chose would be ok.

He told me to hold on a minute and went in the room behind the cage.

I thought he was checking a schedule or something before he agreed it was ok, but he came out with a few t-shirts and coupons for the vault game to use as prizes!

We gave shirts to the top spinners and then gave one to the person who hit the least amount too....just to be funny, it was the big loser prize.

We had so much fun that the group asked me to set it up again for later in the cruise also. And he supplied prizes again too!

Yes we did go to the upstairs Rotisserie and it was packed too. We did enjoy sail away, yes it was cold but not -36 like it is here today. I too enjoy the waves and can sleep like a baby with 12 ft. Waves but 20ft. is a different story. When the ship is shaking and sounding like it is breaking apart you can't sleep unless you wear ear plugs. My point is that I would rather spend a bit extra or go at a different time of year and I know now for the future. If I had been aware prior to booking I would have taken a different vacation. Why is it that when someone gives an honest opinion they get blasted. The OP asked for info, if what we experienced doesn't bother them then by all means go. Are we only supposed to post positives on here regardless of our experience?

I wasn't blasting you or anyone else.

I was giving MY opinion!

Bad day at work? Maybe you need a cruise! :D

Wow, so many negative comments about the cold, the choppy seas, itinerary, etc.

If I could get off of work during the school year, I would definitely go on this cruise!

Anyone who has ever sailed from NYC knows it's an incredible price.

We pay over $3000. for 3 of us every summer, so this would be a nice break for the bank account.

Too cold? I would rather be cold, standing on the balcony of a cruise ship, sailing out of the harbor than being cold, scraping ice off my car to go to work.

Rough seas? I would sleep like a baby! The more the ship rocks, the more I like it. I always hope for at least one bad weather sea day on our summer cruises.

Not great itinerary? Much better than staying home! And not everyone cruises for the ports anyway. Personally I wouldn't care if the ship went out to sea and just went in circles for 8 days before taking us back.

I do have my favorite ports, but I wouldn't pass this up just because of the ports.

As far as everything being crowded inside and nowhere to sit to eat.....I wonder if that poster went above the buffet to the rotisserie area?

We cruised in June, full ship and it was never busy up there. Plus the chicken and corn on the cob was delicious!

Limoguy, watch for the Quest in the funtimes. It's a late night "show" for adults only. FUNNY doesn't quite cover it! LOL

I use customink for our group shirts.

You can design your own and it's really pretty easy.

And not expensive.

And even though it's an online thing, you can call or message with a live person and get help with your designs whenever you need it.

In fact, I have an awesome design ready to go but was having a problem getting the colors right. The other night I got frustrated with it and sent a message asking for color help. The guy spent over an hour changing my colors and showing me my designs on different shirt colors with different print colors. I was fussy and he was patient! LOL

On one of our cruises, whoever was in the cabin before us apparently locked the safe with their card again after they cleaned it out.

So we couldn't open it to use it.

We told the cabin steward and asked if he could open it for us.

He said he doesn't have access to the safe and he would make a call to have it opened.

About an hour later 2 men in white uniforms showed up.

My son thought we were in trouble for something! LOL

Anyway, we had been on our way out, and they made us stay while they opened it. They both looked inside before they left to make sure it was empty.

They take this kind of thing seriously and we were impressed.

So I seriously doubt the earrings were stolen from the safe.

Not saying that NO steward has ever stolen anything from a cabin. They're not saints, they're people, but I do believe if something is missing from a safe....it was lost or removed by the guest or cabin mates of the guest. Not stolen.

I'm wondering if the op even "considered" the notion that she LOST or FORGOT them before accusing the most obvious {to her} suspect as a thief.

Thanks so much for the responses.

I love the poker run/pub crawl combo idea!

Thanks for your reply!

Sorry, I should have mentioned, it will be onboard the Splendor

Would someone please explain to me exactly what a pub crawl is?

I know that may sound like a silly question, but I've never been a big drinker and never did a pub crawl.

We do a group cruise every summer with family and friends which I organize and try to plan group activities for us. This time it was suggested we add a pub crawl but I have no idea what to really do.

When I was talking to someone about it one day, she said she couldn't afford to buy a drink in every club just to join the group. I said well then don't buy one in every club, just come along. She said she couldn't do that because you Have to buy one in every club.

So, help me.....are there rules to this?

I thought you just get together and go from club to club and have a good time, ordering a drink when you want one.

I came back to see if anyone had seen the article that was mentioned on JH's FB page, you know, the one I asked about in the original post.

Funny thing, I spent forever looking for my thread because the title of it had been changed and a poll added to it! Thanks for that btw.

So I guess that means that no one saw the NY Daily News article that was mentioned on fb?

You'll know if it's not going to NYC once the basic design is revealed. If it doesn't have a retractable dome over a pool like a Conquest, Spirit, or Concordia class ship, then it won't be in NYC. If it looks more like a Dream class ship, then you can bet large sums of money that it won't be homeported in NYC.

Yes I realize that.

I just wanted to see if anyone else saw the article that the person on JH's fb claims to have seen.

I saw that someone posted on JH's fb page today, that they saw in the NY Daily News, Vista will or may {I don't remember which word they used} be home ported in NY.

I did a search on the Daily News website and can't find anything about it.

Has anyone else seen the article?

The whole bacon thing is funny!

We're just off the Splendor a few days ago and they even have HAM police now!

Yes, the ham was right next to the bacon and the bacon police also served the ham. One little half slice. But you could ask for more and they didn't hesitate to hand out as much as you wanted.

I guess by next summer's cruise they will be handing out the sausage too! LOL

We've been to both HMC and GT a few times and love them both.

HMC is simply beautiful and peaceful. While they do offer a few excursions there, we always just hang out all day in the water.

We rented a cabana last time and actually spent very little time in it. But it was nice to use as a meeting place for our group of over 30 people. And we had a good place to keep our stuff all day.

Grand Turk is more "alive". Some good shopping right at the end of the pier and Margaritaville with the huge pool and flowrider. Or you can step onto the beach and relax there. They have a few more excursions than HMC offers and some other bar options down the beach.

What i love most about both places is, you can have the best day of your cruise on either island, and do it without spending a dime if you wish.

Just returned from a B2B on the Glory. The Casino Vault game is a major rip off. I never once played it but found it interesting how Carnival would take one iPad and some money out of the machine halfway through each cruise to give the appearance that someone won something. If people are winning as Carnival says they are, that means on back to back cruises on the Glory, they gave away 2 iPads and about $3000 in 9 days.

Did i miss it when the OP came back to answer the question about whether or not he actually SAW what he claims Carnival does?

Did you SEE someone remove it?