maryred

My advice is treat any port as if you were staying at a local hotel instead. You don't tend count on the property to provide all your daily activities unless they are advertising as an all inclusive (like Breezes) or destination resort (like Disney).

In all honesty the best and least expensive choices are always available pre-embarkation. Regardless of if you book through the cruise line, with a tour consolidator, or directly with the venue or tour company. The price matching not only applies to tours booked through a cruise line but the other 2 options will generally honor any lower rate for the same service.

In fact all of the best tours I've been on have been booked direct with the attraction, resort, boat owner, or tour operator. For many they offer personalized options for a private to semi-private tour for not much more than their "canned" tours. By booking in advance you can, the majority of the time, communicate with the owner/operator to get exactly what you want.

Con- don't know if the weather will be good ahead of time.

 

A beach day excursion is not enjoyable in the bad weather.

A beach day is the easiest do on your own thing in almost any vacation spot. At 98% you just grab a cab and tell them which beach you want. In most cases this is much, much less expensive than what the cruise line or resort would charge. A little investment of time researching what beach fits your need would be the only thing you would really invest in pre-vacation.

So if I am understanding this correctly.... There are readily available shuttles to take you back and forth from the dock to Lucaya?? Do you make arrangements to be picked up and brought back to ship or do,you just hop on the next one available? Obviously don't want to be a dock runner trying to get on ship before it leaves port ;)

The shuttles run continuously on a bout a 1/2 hour loop, so yes you just hop on the next available one.

Other options are to do some of the resorts for the day, like Cove Beach Resort has their own shuttle.

There are differences, but it's all based on what ship you're on.

Cloud 9 Spa cabins. On Sunshine, Vista, Horizon, Panorama, and quite possibly the Sunrise you get a cruise long access to the thermal suite and adjacent relaxation room for the first 2 adults in the cabin. The tremal suites consists of 4 saunas and steam rooms each with a different therapeutic temperature. 2 rainforest showers with aromatherapy are along the wall with the saunas and steam rooms. There are also 8-12 heated countured loungers to relax in and a small hot tub. 2 freespin or yoga classes for 2 adults along with your welcome ritual, which is a personal rather than group tour of the spa. Additionally you will get to design for the cabin a salt or sugar scrub.

In the cabin you will have sample sizes of the spa's shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, hand soap, and pillow aromatherapy spray, sorry no refills unless you have a generous steward. For your personal use there will be 2 pairs of spa slippers, that fit some people well, others not so much. You will also have upgrades robes and pool towel for use during the cruise.

Splendor, Dream, Breeze, and Magic you get all that except the design your own scrub, they have pre-packaged ones. Aslo missing is the small hot tub which instead is replaced by a large Thalassotherapy Pool with in water loungers and overhead shoulder and neck jets across the hall from the thermal suite. Opposite the loungers is a barre to do in water stretches. In the thermal suites are a mixture of heater loungers, beds, and seats in each room. My personal favorite is the foremost room with a dry temperate setting as there is a lounger positioned facing the windows giving a 180 view of what's in front of the ship.

On the other ship of the line a spa cabin is nothing more than a cabin located on the Spa Deck. If a ship does not have the Cloud 9 spa there is nothing special to offer those staying close to the spa area.

Up until Cheers and cruise cash started to be offered fleet wide you used to be able to pre-purchase drink coupons/tickets. A strip of 5 used to be about $26 and you would use a coupon to get $5.75 off your bar order. The great thing on this, beyond the about $0.45 per ticket savings was the auto-grat was calculated only on the overage.

We've gotten letters like that on both NCL and Carnival. The one on Carnival even included a photo of the type of luggage they were looking for. We were told by our room steward later that it was found.

 

Now here's a question in reverse -- has anyone ever put their luggage outside for debarkation the next day, and get to the terminal and have their luggage not be there? I always fear someone will walk off with it since neither customs nor the port checks for names on the luggage.

Indeed there was. Another passenger's granddaughter grabbed mine not thinking to check the zone tag for a name. Luckily they lived local to the port and within an hour was reporting the mistake (by phone). We helped the port employees identify his correct bag but by then we had to leave. The bag was overnighted to us at no expense (Thank-you Cruise Maryland).

Moral being if you have a popular style or color of luggage do something to make it radically noticeable from others.

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First off just a word of caution about flying after surgery, I just had surgery (to remove a temporary implant) the end of June. Part of the both the pre-surgical and post op discussions with the surgeon was about an upcoming (2 hour) flight at the end off Sept. Normally the Doc would have suggested no extreme altitude changes for a minimum 4 months afterwards, but is letting me go as long as I wear surgical compression hose starting at least 3 hours prior to the flight time and do an aspirin regiment the week before each flight to prevent thrombosis. Your surgeon may have different advice for you specific surgery, age and general health condition.

With that said I would go with the cruise that is going to ports that I would not regret not seeing if I can not venture much further out than the immediate port area or worst case couldn't get off the ship due to tendering. Secondly I would pick the ship that minimizes how many "footsteps" between my favorite areas on board and my preferred cabin location. Another thing I would consider is which ship has bigger cabins in case I needed to rent a scooter or wheelchair for the duration.

Actually, it is just the opposite. DST ends on 11/4/18 and we go back to standard time. EM

Oops, sorry I should know that.

Daylight savings in the USA starts 11/4/18, for next year it's 11/3/19.

“Authentic Eats” is a cooking demo given by a locally renowned chef on port of call days. In some cases, when the chef is allowed to remain on board till the next port, that guest chef will have a special or 2 menu items added to the port of call selections on the standard American Table menu.

If the bottle is plastic there is a good chance security will want see the contents of the gift bags opening each one to inspect and potentially dispose of the "offensive" product. Also security might not be too careful about how they go about this process. If you read the FAQs concerning gift wrapping items, they recommend waiting till on board to wrap the gifts up even when using gift bags. This doesn't matter if he items are in your carry-on or in your checked luggage.

Perhaps the better pick-me-up product to include are the 12oz canned energy drinks available at most dollar stores or on Amazon.

I'm a Yoo-Hoo addict and our last cruise there was a new security person doing the bag checks in the terminal. She was about to throw out my tetra (juice) boxes of it, luckily I told her to stop (nicely) and ask for the supervisor's determination. While waiting I pulled up the FAQ page about beverages and types of packaging allowed at check-in, just in case I needed it in my defense. Luckily the supervisor just said they were no different than a kids juice box and are allowed.

Thanks for the tips, cheese sandwich! What kind of stateroom did you have? Did you use a pack n play? My l/o will be 17 months, and that's my plan. I'm really hoping to embrace the "family nap" while the 4y/o is in Club Ocean. I know turn taking with DH is inevitable with nap time and the early hours of bed time. We're both super cool with scheduled down time. MDR - idk if we'll make it! �� Will try though. But if it doesn't work out, that's okay.

I want to mention the ports are Gramd Cayman and Cozumel (plus). Anybody care to weigh in on what we should do? Does Playa Mia allow swim diapers? That's the one with the fun little kid water stuff, right?

 

Also, we are in an interior cabin. Is that bad? ����

 

Plus - My son turns 5 on our second sea day!! ����

Pretty sure green eggs and ham is on his birthday, too. I'm so excited for him!!

If you didn't already request it during the booking process, ask them to have the porta-crib, it's really a pack-n-play, set-up in your cabin. That way being in an interior if there is furniture (snack table and chair, and maybe the night stands) that needs to be removed it will already be done. In fact to fit the pack-n-play they may need to leave the 2 twin sized beds separated, instead of in the king bed configuration. Though listed as about 180 square feet once you take away the area for the bathroom, the closets, and the on the wall desk area you are left with a room that is about 10'x12' with 2 dorm style twin beds.

Interior cabin when the lights are shut off are completely pitch black. Though great for anytime sleeping with how much floor space you will lose to the porta-crib being used, you will want to bring at least 1 nightlight. Preferably a battery operated one as there is only 1 outlet in the cabin at the desk area which is kind of in a corner. Another item to bring is a travel clock, again with how dark the cabin gets it's can be very discerning to wake-up from a nap or a night's sleep and not realize if you've been down for 1 hour or 8.

Another word of caution concerning an interior cabin, rarely will the 3rd or 4th berth be a sofa bed, and with the porta-crib there will be no room for them to bring in a trundle or camp bed. What is there already is usually a Pullman bed or 2, in other words a bed that folds out of the wall or drops from the ceiling. It will be at the height of the upper bunk of a bunk bed. It will have a ladder to access the bed but only a 2-3 inch lip to prevent roll-out so check getting a folding travel safety rail that is held in place by the weight of the mattress and the occupant. But more concerning is if the 4 soon to be 5 year old, will s/he stay in the bed all night. So you may want to call your travel professional and very carefully go over the cabin's bed configuration. Then if there are only pullman beds as the option start teaching the older child to not use the ladder unless a parent is awake and watching them.

As for the Dr Seuss Green Eggs and Ham breakfast that happens on your last full sea day on board the ship. So depending on your port schedule if may be the last full day aboard the ship or earlier in the cruise if that's your only seaday.

I am in a 4K in September. I thought someone wrote the pride door still opens until drydock in 2019. I will let everyone know when I get back.

When we sailed the Pride last in a 4K, Sept'16, the doors were screwed shut. Talking to others in our hall they said they just brought a screwdriver to undo them. From what I understand they are replacing them as a safety issue per their insurance company.

We will be cruising on the Glory in February - a 12 day Journeys cruise. Has anyone been on a Journeys cruise? What are the menus like? Can anyone explain the different themes/events on such a cruise? Thanks!

Depending on how many sea days the cruise has between ports the normal seaday brunch will alternate with the old breakfast only and lunch only MDR open seating. The dinner menus for the first 7-8 days will be the typical American Table and Feast menus they normally have. After that they just start mixing up popular entrees from several previous menus then add in something newish or a guest chef's special to try to keep it from seeming to repeat. The one really different menu will be on the Throwback Seaday where they pull out one of the formal night menus from that era.

There is really no themes to the cruise except for the 80's Throwback Seaday, at least that are evident by people wearing special clothing for the day. The Electric White Dance party will still be a happy hour in the dance club, the Glow party will still only be an hour long Lido Deck party.

For the Throwback seaday you might see officers and entertainment staff (& select service crew) wearing uniforms styles from the 1980's, and many of the passengers will pick fashions from then as well. In the FunTimes much of the normal trivia, name that tune, and other current activities will be done centering around that decade. Little odd activities like the big hair do-up might be offered in the atrium. Also deck games like horse racing will be listed on a special edition of the Carnival Capers. It will also be The Captain's Gala Formal Night complete with the midnight grand buffet in the MDR. Viewing starts at 11pm (with passengers lining up as early as 10:30), and buffet service following promptly at midnight.

To spread out the activities they tend to split things like the Fun On Board, Fun On Ashore seminars into 2 different segments. (In part with the added ports it would be way too long.) They will also hold free enrichment classes, like marine astro navigation, improving your social media presence, and better digital photograph w/ your own phone or camera. For once these are not sales pitches for on board services, though the speaker may offer a book they wrote or additional online classes for sale before or after the seminar. They will also offer more of some things like the cooking demos and dance classes.

When you talk to the maitre'D, if he can not accommodate switching your group to early dining, as there are a limited number of tables for groups at set time dining, you may want to ask that they hold a big enough YTD at a specific time each night. Normally the YTD dining does not take reservations, but if you are sure your party will eat every night at roughly the same time they might do it, especially if you are looking to eat early. This way it will almost be like traditional set time dining, same table, service team, and little to no wait to be seated.

Like I said it's only a possibility and if the maitre'D does come through, a cash tip by the end of the cruise directly given to him would be customary. Even with a table being held they may ask that each night about 15-20 minutes prior to the time arranged that at least one member of the party gets in line to check-in with the hostess.

We've heard of them and have sailed their "grandparent company" back in the 90s.

The current incorporation started off as Imperial Majesty Cruise Line, then became the Celebration Cruise Line, and is now known as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. Not sure if the actual people that are owners have changed, but either way they seems to favor changing the corporation name frequently.

If you notice my signature I do not count these as cruises. This company is tied into timeshares and travel clubs for their "Win a Cruise Vacation" raffles that everyone that enters seems to win and as a cheap add-on for their property owners. To fill the ship on any given sailing they do open cabins to anyone wishing to pay "normal prices" for the cruise. Usually the people that received it as a freebie find themselves stuck in high pressure seminars on the seaday trying to get them to buy the timeshare they will be shown once in the Bahamas or to buy into a Travel Club to get supposed discount on lodging worldwide.

The general public that does buy the cruise will be approached several times to have their cabin fare refunded and a free resort day if they wish to go through the same seminars the "Free Cruise Winners" are experiencing. As long as you can say no repeatedly it's an OK diversional cruise. But to us it was never more than just a oversized, overnight ferry to the Bahamas.

Last time I was in St. Thomas the expected weather was unclear as to which way it would go. We decided simply to go with the flow and use a taxi. For $25/hour we had a driver/guide, we simply requested a scenic drive then to go to Coral World and Coki beach. We told the driver we would spend 3 hours at the attraction and beach then to come back for another 1 hour ride around to see other things. The total for 2 of us was under $125 with 2 hours of scenic guided touring, admission to Coral world, the sea lion show, lunch and the semi-sub add-on at the attraction. (Just to note the cab was a full size sedan and could of fit 2 more adults comfortably for the same per hour price.)

Returning to the ship, w e asked to be dropped off at the skyride planning to do that as well, but after a little over an hour in the air conditioned cab, it felt too humid to go to the peak, but if we had done this it would of been another $21/adult for unlimited rides. It would have been a simple 15 minute walk back from the skyride to the ship if we didn't stop inside stores every few doors to enjoy their AC and browse.

If you do it once onboard there are penalties

 

Onboard: After the pre-sails cut off time, cancellations must be handled on board and cancellation charges are as follows:

 

25% charge once onboard

 

100% charge if cancellation within 24 hours of arrival in port

 

Refunds less cancellation charges will be applied in the form of a credit to the guest's Sail & Sign account.

 

Sail & Sign credit balances will be paid to the guest in the form of a Carnival check at the end of the voyage.

 

 

https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2866/~/shore-excursion-faqs

 

How do I make changes to shore excursion orders after the Pre-Sail cut-off time?

 

Unfortunately, we no longer have access to any shore excursion orders after the cut-off time (11:30pm ET, the evening prior to the cruise departure). Keep in mind that you will have up until this time, unless otherwise noted in the excursion description, to make new shore excursion bookings, cancel all or part of existing shore excursion orders or change the designated contact person. In order to make any change to your shore excursion orders after the cut-off time, you will need to see the Shore Excursion Manager once you are onboard the ship. In the event of a cruise booking cancellation within the cut-off window, a full refund will automatically be posted to the form of payment used to pay for the order.

 

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This is the policy, but to foster a good sense of customer service when a passenger changes their mind, at least where they are purchasing a different excursion, the Excursion desk clerks will often waiver the penalty. on the other hand if you ahead and just cancel the tickets without opting in for a different tour in the same transaction, they do assess the full penalty.

This just shows the misinformation out there. I believe you, but I read another post a while back that stated the casino didn't open until the ship was out in the ocean (which means hours after setting sail).

Cruise ship casinos has the choice to purchase the River Boat Gambling License to be able to open their casinos while on the river in LA. Some cruise lines choose not take on the extra expense and inspections. Carnival does tend to get the license even for 1 off cruises, so the casino can open within the hour of departure.

Thank you. I see my check-in date as September 24th on the Carnival website. I have that in my calendar, LOL. I know that's when I select Port arrival. Do I need passport or birth certificates or other documents available for when I complete the online check-in? I thought that was what OP was referring to...

You don't need them to start the process, but until you do fill in the info correctly you can not print the individual boarding passes. You have until the night before the departure day to complete or edit the online check-in process and print out your boarding passes.

If traveling with others not in your household I would strongly suggest as long as they are adults is to have them do their own online check-in. They just need to register at Carnival.com. Also make sure if issued separate booking #s that 1 person, as the group or family coordinator, has all the bookings linked to theirs.

On our last Pride cruise, January 2018, they rotated the movies on the free channels during the 24hr period. On our previous cruises they played the same move for a 24hr period as stated above.

Just got off the Paradise and they no longer run a single movie per day. They had a rotation of about 6 movies that were looped throughout the cruise, with 30 minutes intermission between each successive movie. Off the top of my head, the movies were Sherlock Gnomes, Ferdinand, The Commuter, Murder on the Orient Express, Midnight Sun and one other movie (which I can't remember off the top of my head.)

They must of changed it just after we disembarked from our last Pride cruise on 1/7/18

I believe the Bahamian's are now charging a VAT tax on purchases. I was there New Years day and was charged a tax on all purchases in the gift shops. I guess this fee applies to ships in their port as well.

Might have something to do Brexit. Would be interesting to hear from some recent cruisers to the British Virgin Island to see if the same thing is happening there.

I believe prices also vary by departure port.

 

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Not really, but the on board price does depend on the ports of calls on the itinerary. Since the on board shops match prices on exact products, they do try to make a bit more profit when visiting islands with a higher price on tobacco products than others. The best prices we have seen is when an itinerary involves the USVI. The worst prices are when sailing to Bermuda or Canada.

Nope.

 

 

You can, on paper, move her to a cabin with someone else who is purchasing the package (if possible) but that's about it. You'd go to guest services when on board and get an extra room key to give to her.

 

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Thank you all, I was hopeful, but didn't think it would be a possibility. We can't switch her to a different room, because we are in a suite, and the others are in ocean view. I tried that, and they won't allow the switch, one because of time frame, we sail in 45 days, and two because it is considered a downgrade.

 

I do appreciate the responses :)

Did you talk to a call service representative to to an actual PVP?

There are very few rates, guaranteed cabin categories and pack-n-go come to mind, that completely disallow name changes or rearrangements of passengers already named in a booking to a different cabin on the same (or linked) booking.

Good PVP, even if you booked under early saver, should be able to do the switch around possibly even waiving the $50 per passenger changed administrative fee for making a alteration to the booking. once on board keys to the other linked cabin can be had so you can return to the original sleeping arrangements.

Now if all the other adults is the other cabin do not want Cheers as well, your future DIL will have to bite the bullet and pay for her drinks at menu price, switching is a mote point. She may even be surprised to find out in many cases because of the 15 alcoholic drink per limit that she is better off this way especially if you have more port days than seadays.

Cheers generally only favors those that drink the higher end offerings like premium martinis. The passenger that is more or a beer or wine drinker does better with the multi-bottle packages available on board for a discounted bar purchase, Well and shot drinkers generally find their best savings from in the in cabin bottled liquor deliveries. Though much higher than what a local liquor store would charge for the same 1 liter bottle it still represents a great savings over the per pour price at the bar and lounges.

The FunShop call center person informed you incorrectly. Just like Cheers and Bottomless Bubbles the 15% auto-gratuity us charged, regardless of when purchased. And if you purchase it through Portside Retail (aka the online FunShops) and indicate aa activation time that the ship is still expected to be within a state's water boundary, that state's sales tax will be added at the time of the phone order.

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We don't have FTTF for our next cruise and our check in day is coming in a few weeks. Are people jumping on there at midnight eastern for the earliest times? I'm wondering about this too.

Others wait till morning their time, and some have found the early arrival appointments still there others have found them booked up.

Online check-in day is also a good time to see if FttF opens back up. Some passengers as they secure early arrival appointments, will cancel their FttF. ( that's all they wanted it for.) The computer does not immediately return the available FttF back to the excursion page. But do check every couple of hours as it is done in batches, every few hours, if FttF privileges are important to you.

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