Carnival_Brides

This is from John Heald.

Thank you for the kind words and here is the number I am sure your family will never have to use to contact you. 1-877-225-7447. The caller must be able to provide the following information on the passenger(s) they are trying to contact:

· Name of the person(s) to be contacted

· Name of the ship

· Date(s) of travel

· Booking Number

· Cabin Number

There is no email address for a contact on board so please let them know this number. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Best wishes.

It's also important to note that it is $10 A MINUTE for land to sea calls. The caller must have a valid credit card and the charges start the minute the call is picked up. Our dog got sick on our b2b over the summer and it was $70 for a "quick phone call" from my sister-in-law to our cabin.

I assume you're cruising to Port Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport? Remember, you can use your cell phone nearly all the way down and up the Chesapeake (we turn them on/off at the Bay Bridge and Tunnel in Norfolk) and the entire day you're in Port Canaveral.

You can also call your family for $2 A MINUTE from your cabin.

If they go up you're responsible for paying the difference. QUOTE]

 

This is such incorrect information without the full explanation!!

 

IF you book your cruise and then call for a price adjustment and the taxes have gone up then YES you will pay the current rate.

 

IF you book your cruise and make no changes at all, if the taxes have gone up you will NOT be required to pay the higher rate.

 

Actually, it's in the cruise contract that you're liable for the higher tax rate. If you plan a cruise to a certain locale and they raise the taxes right before your visit CCL RESERVES the right to pass the higher fees on to you. I'm not sure they would and I've never heard of them doing it because I'd imagine it'd be like the time they implemented the fuel surcharge and people came out with pitchforks.

We budgeted $750, spent $800.

it can change. A couple times, we've boarded a ship to find OBC on our account. Didn't know what it was, and found out that it was a tax adjustment. Don't know how it would work in reverse though.

If they go up you're responsible for paying the difference. Carnival tries to make a conservative guess on the cost of the taxes in order to prevent this. They'd obviously rather give you OBC than demand more $$ at check-in. If a difference does exist, they'll give you the OBC onboard like a PP said. I've gotten as much as $20pp and as little as $.11.

I can't vouch for recent cruises, but out of my four cruises on the Pride in wintertime we've been late returning twice. The first time we were nearly three hours late getting back and the second time it wasn't that big of a time difference.

You need to put those crabby environmental people in their place. Lol love charleston because it is an easy drive to port. I long for the day when you can park your car and walk to the cruise terminal.

We just returned from a cruise out of Charleston and we aren't likely to cruise from that port again just because of the embarkation and debarkation procedures. The cruise otherwise was nice though.

I don't think it's the brand, but the ship and holiday. Imagination only does short cruises which makes it more affordable for people to cruise--add in that it was likely a weekend cruise and pile on Thanksgiving and voile. I normally do 5-9 day cruises out of the northeast and haven't run into problems like you experienced.

We got off the Fantasy a week ago. We got the tumblers with red tops. We would have loved to get one of the cooler totes, but we wouldn't be able to use it for school because of the bar logos at the bottom.

We don't enjoy the hassle of carrying soda onboard and having to go back to the cabin every time we want a soda, so we purchase BB. We can justify it because we drink enough sodas to break even. They'll also let us order Cherry Cokes and Shirley Temples which is a nice change up.

I really wish they'd install the Freestyle machines like some of the other lines have.

CCL doesn't really do a Black Friday or Cyber Monday flash sale. They used to run 12 days of Christmas (details are in the previously posted thread), but that stopped about 6 years ago.

You hadn't paid for airfare already, did you? Sometimes they reimburse the change fees. With proper documentation, of course.

They usually won't reimburse for travel and hotel expenses for cancellations a year out, unless it's an extreme situation.

We just got off the Fantasy and we had a bill slid under our door. It wasn't on the typical S&S bill paper, just plain white with the charges printed.

It IS true. No cameras or cell phones. We met in the Library. Before we left there to start the tour, security checked each of us with the handheld detector. They don't mess around!

Security for the tour was more strenuous than security to get on the ship. We had a guard with us the entire time we were on the tour. No one brought a phone to the tour meeting, but two people in our group did walk around with Tervis' full of coffee for the whole tour. I was surprised they got to take them.

Can you book the tour beforehand, or only onboard the ship?

You can only book on the ship. The best thing to do is book as soon as you get on board because it does fill up. If they get enough interest, they'll do two tours with 16 people, but it's not guaranteed.

We are just off the Fantasy and did the BTF tour.

We went to the:

crew bar/library area

the bow of the ship (where the bell is)

the bridge (the captain and senior staff)

the dressing rooms (Playlist Production Dance Captain)

the stage (the show tech)

the wine/beer storage area

the food prep area below deck

the galley (with chef)

the laundry (crew member in charge of laundry)

crew galley

crew resource center (Human Resources)

I-95

We got a hat, picture with the captain on the bridge, a lanyard, and a plate of goodies from the chef.

I want to go too!! :) Have you all decided which ship yet? I'm dying to sail on the sunshine. ;)

I want to go!! We moved to damn Texas, but 2015 should be doable. I don't know how I am going to lug that dress to Miami for my wedding yet, but I would bring my veil and another white dress for this cruise.

 

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Pop me an email and I'll add you guys to our group. We are all kind of all over the place about ships and itinerary. kitty[dot]cruiser[at]yahoo[dot]com

The ships that will accommodate five people in a balcony cabin are the Victory and the Triumph. Some of the other ships will accomodate five people if you booked categories that aren't balconies (Interiors, OVs and Suites).

I've done five women in a balcony cabin (it was a Girl Scout cruise) and never again. If possible, split up into two OVs or find a cruise where you can pull of two balconies.

Triumph

Victory

Carnival used to have a 12 days of Christmas sale every year, but they stopped doing it a few years ago. Here's an old post from 2006 that outlined what they offered. It was a different offer each day for 12 days. Part of Carnival's good ole days.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=453194

My first cruise was a 12 Days of Christmas cruise. We did a 4 day out of New Orleans for $129 (including tax) on the Fantasy. There were a handful of rooms and you had to get through first on the phone to get the deal. We also had free airline tickets thanks to a AirTran promotion so the whole shebang was less than $400 for three of us. Glorious!

I saw the Splendor for $399 a couple of weeks ago. However, you'd have to be willing to sail from New York in the middle of winter. The lowest one I've booked is $459pp for a 7 day from Baltimore--also the middle of winter.

They didn't edit any of your pictures?!?!

Our guy did nearly all of ours even though he knew we weren't going to purchase everything. He even included a couple of the before's so we could see the difference(s).

This is the invite and RSVP we used for our guests. When we booked Carnival had to have our guest list 30 days before the wedding which would have been December 15, so we made the RSVP December 1. That gave us 2 weeks to compile our list and contact those who were just coming to the ceremony. This doesn't apply to you, so ignore this, but sailing guests don't have to provide extra information (license and birthdate) they have to be on the guest list.

We weren't crazy about our non-sailing guests sending that information via the mail system in an open post card, so we were going to call, email, smoke signal, etc for that information.

We made the time on the invite 10 a.m since that's when we wanted them at the port for the check-in and for the place we put the Carnival Pride since we'd know specifics before we boarded. We probably could've put the McComas St. address, but we really wanted to have the ship's name on the invite.

You could check out Zazzle. We used them for our original wedding invites when we were going to have an embarkation wedding. You can personalize most of the writing on the cards and colors can be changed. They also run handy sales from time to time. Our wedding invites and RSVPs for 100 people on linen were 75% off with free shipping and we got to use a $10 off coupon for being a referral--so they came out to somewhere around $40.

Here's the one that Zazzle calls an Engagement Announcement

Just curious--is announcing your engagement via a postcard/card something that is done in your circle? My friends (and I) called our closest loved ones and posted it to FB for our peer group and extended family.

Must be because Carnival makes a tidy profit on weddings:rolleyes:

It's actually much simpler than that. Weddings board first because on a normal boarding day, you have 3-4 hours to get the guests (sailing and non-sailing) checked-in, boarded, get the happy couple dressed, have a wedding, attend a reception and get them off 30-45 minutes before the ship sets sail. This is all assuming that the ship isn't late getting back which is another set of problems.

Carnival also makes a tidy profit on that since many times family and friends will sail with the happy couple and they charge $$$ for a 60-90 minute reception.

FWIW--on our past cruises this June there were no weddings, so it went Plats/Diamonds (there was no FTTF) followed by those needing special assistance and ONE family member/friend to accompany them. The rest of the group had to wait to board with their zone.

Glad you had a decent first cruise! We almost booked that cruise, but couldn't make it work with our schedules--we also almost booked it for HMC. Sorry you guys missed out on that.

Thanks for the review!

As most of the PP's have said the cruises out of New York and Baltimore almost always fill. You *usually* don't see rock bottom last minute prices like you do for the Floridian ports--remember there are at least five ports in that one state.

We did a last minute booking (<20 hours) for the Pride during Snowmageddon and it was the most expensive cabin we have ever booked. We got the last cabin for three (it was a balcony) and it was a little over $700pp.

For our wedding on the Pride we managed to smuggle a small steamer on the ship in case one of our gown's got wrinkled in transit. We ended up not needing it, but it was nice to know it was an option. If it's just the shirt and pants you could send it out. Obviously, I wouldn't send your fiancee's gown. CCL will only cover a very small percentage for damage.