tropicbird

You should be able to go online, under your booking, where the sell the "extras". Under food and beverage are the bottles.

I think the difference between these most recent notices and the ones that folks are referring to as an attempt to "spread out the crowds" is that the DEPARTURE time is DELAYED.

If they were just trying to keep the 11 a.m. rush down, they would not be delaying the departure of the ship for up to 2 hours. 2 hour delay means burning more fuel to get to the first port on time, or delaying arrival, neither of which they are going to do just to try and spread out the arrivals.

For example, Dream normally leaves PC at 4 p.m. On Saturday she will not leave prior to 5:30. This indicates an actual delay.

IMO deep cleaning of the ship as we are hitting NoroSeason, but I have nothing to back that up. Once we start to hear from folks on this week's cruises we should know more.

We just got the same notice for the 1/4 Dream departure, minus the Belize line (Dream is on the eastern run this week). Otherwise, same info. Folks are reporting the same from at least one other ship departing this weekend.

The scuttlebutt is that there have been Norovirus outbreaks and the ships are getting a deeper cleaning than would otherwise be the case, but that's just rumour so far as I can tell.

Whatever it is requires all passengers to be off the ship, so that suggests cleaning versus some sort of systems test or paperwork requirement.

In the past Carnival has sent notes asking people to arrive later, likely to spread out the mass of embarking passengers, but this appears to be a "real" delay since the sailing time is being delayed from 4 to no earlier than 5:30.

Cozumel sports two types of endemic hummingbirds, Cozumel Emerald and Green-breasted Mango. The emerald is common, but small and fast, so getting good looks is difficult. The mango is much larger, but not as common, and less likely to be seen at the tourist spots. The optimum scenario would be to find a hummingbird feeder, but while common in the United States, I cannot recall seeing any in Mexico, at least in Cozumel. So you are basically left with trying to see one "in the wild". Flowering trees and shrubs are a start, but hummers spend most of their time eating small bugs, so they can be seen anywhere with numbers of small, flying insects.

We've seen the emerald at Parque Chankanaab and Paradise Beach (especially in the landscaping shrubbery) and both at Punta Sur.

Good luck!

So I've been reading the recent posts about upsells, and, separately, on how Carnival handles guarantee cabins. Carnival appears to wait until much closer to sail date to assign guarantee cabins than some lines (for example in many cases RCCL assigns guarantee cabins just after final payment is made), and also is known for upsell calls that seem to occur about the same time that the guarantees are assigned.

So I wonder, does Carnival identify cabins that it needs for guarantees, and then contact those already booked in them with an upsell offer? If the originally booked folks take the offer, they are effetively buying up to a higher category while allowing Carnival to place a guarantee into that cabin. So instead of "losing money" (from an opportunity cost perspective) by assigning a guarantee to a more expensive cabin type than booked, Carnival gets the incremental increase in the price of the upsell. It would also, over time, encourage folks to book specific cabins, and thus pay more, than to book a guarantee with an expectation of at least some upgrade.

This would have the effect of making guarantees less likely to get categorical upgrades (inside to outside, etc.) and result in increased revenue by not having to elevate folks to cabins or categories above what they paid in to. Pretty clever really.

The shareholder benefit document states "This benefit is not transferable and cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account."

Now it's possible that a) the previous poster was under an older set of rules, b) they weren't supposed to but did anyway, c) the daily service charge is not considered a gratuity but a "service charge", or d) ????

Mainly though, I'm interested in knowing if there any any other restrictions other than what's noted in the first sentance? Sounds like there are no other restrictions, though I suspect this is a use it or lose it credit although it's not specifically stated in the offer.

For an upcoming cruise we have $200 in onboard credit (OBC). $100 is shareholder benefit and the other $100 is from a Next Cruise certificate.

I understand the the shareholder portion cannot be used for tips charged to the onboard account. No issues there, I'm sure we can find something to buy :-) But I am wondering what other restrictions there might be, especially on the Next Cruise portion. I presume that all of this OBC is use it or lose it and that it will apply to charges for merchandise, beverages and shore excursions, and that none of the credit can be used for casino chips. Can anyone correct me if I'm wrong?

I'm all checked out out on RCL OBC rules, but am new to the Carnival way of doing things!

As far as crowded... most Florida based cruise ships sail full every time. It's just a matter of how much you pay to ride. Slower times of the year mean lower fares, but they fill each ship every time. The last time I recall sailing on a ship that was not full was two weeks after 9/11 (and we cruise 2-3x per year). So the number of people on board should be about the same each week of the year. The cruisers at slow times just pay a heck of a lot less than the cruisers over the holidays or in June-August. There should be fewer kids either way. At the time I write this, CCL is offering Dream in January for $300/person (interior guarantee) so you know they will fill up!

As far as Roatan... the ship has to back into a narrow channel and if the wind is too high (especially the larger ships like Dream) have to pass. Higher winds are more common in the western Caribbean in the northern hemisphere's winter months, ergo it's more likely to miss Roatan in Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar than other months. The locals call these stronger winter winds "nortes" (beacuse they blow from the north). They are common, but impossible to predict in advance.

Oasis is way up in the stratosphere as far as WOW! factor and ship design.

Breeze is typical of a Carnival build. Chopped up inside, poor passenger flow in some areas, the ship feels much smaller than it really is because there are fewer large open spaces and long sightlines.

Carnival still has not figured out how to build showrooms without annoying support posts scattered throughout the venue, creating sight issues from some seats. RCL has had open showrooms without support pillars since the Vision ships.

So as you can tell, I think the RCL ships in general are much better designed than CCL ships, but even then, Oasis is on another planet compared to the rest.

That said, you can have a really nice time on Carnival, we enjoyed Dream last spring quite a bit. I will admit the CCL pool deck is nicer, the kids love the slides and the movie screen was fun at night.

Big caveat... Oasis will probably cost a lot more than Breeze. If you can get them for the same price, run to Oasis.

Gatun is the largest set of locks (3 stages) with Miraflores next (2 stages).

Gatun is of course just a few minutes from Colon while Miraflores is at least an hour ride each way.

Miraflores has the advantage of a nice visitor center with displays and "museum stuff" along with multiple covered viewing decks and a restaurant.

Gatun's visitor center is more or less a viewing platform, and it's not quite as close to the action as Miraflores, but again, a heck of a lot closer to Colon.

I agree with Richard in that if your interest is in the canal, and it is spectacular, the shore excursion offering a boat ride through the Culebra/Galliard Cut and Pacific locks is the superior way to go.