belkin

Have a good time. Hope the rain stops and you have smooth sailing.

We will be getting on next Saturday as you are getting off.

TY....I'm leaving on the Celebrity Summit this Saturday. Tortola, Martinique, St Kitts, Dominica, St Thomas are the ports out of San Juan.

I have been to all of these ports and that's a really nice itinerary. We will be on the Glory 2/2 cruise with you as well.

This thread is based on John Heald saying this would be rolled out fleet wide in 2016.

 

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Opps... I guess I need a vacation from all the vacations I am planning, lol.

Was just talking with my husband yesterday wondering how long it would be before Carnival decided to roll this program out to other ships.

So what is on my Facebook... today an article from Cruise Fever stating that Carnival will be rolling this out in 2016. I have not seen anything from Carnival yet.

Here is the link to the article

http://cruisefever.net/11291-carnival-rolling-out-staggered-embarkation-in-2016/

Which is slow on Alligator Alley.

I will agree with that. I drive it often and people fly by me going at least 90mph. Takes us about 2 hours and 15 minutes from the port in Miami to home in Fort Myers.

When I was on the Breeze last January I booked 2 cruises with gift cards.

I had several e-cards and they just entered the card number by hand from my print with no issues. I don't think it would be a problem but it is up to you if you want to take that chance.

You shouldn't need the card at the kiosk as you just put the numbers in by the touch screen unless something has changed. We always set up our account with a credit card and then put money on with the gift card in $100 increments as we spend using the kiosk. So if our bill is $315 I put in $300 and just let the $15 go on my credit card.

We have 2 cruises booked for December so I will find out soon enough if there are changes.

I wouldn't mind a call from the upsell fairy for an OS for our January Glory cruise. We're currently in a balcony that I would be happy to keep, but an OS at the right price might be nice. $518 is not the right price for me either, and it's just the two of us as well. I would've passed on that too. I have a target price in mind, let's see if Carnival can match or beat it if the upsell fairy does call :cool:

I think the last upsell we took was on the Victory and we went from a Lido deck balcony to a Grand Suite. It was a 5 night cruise and the price was $520 total. Cant say it was a good deal but we wanted the extra space and were happy with it.

Hope you get the call and the price is right!

Got the call. Upgrade from aft extended to grand suite extended balcony.

 

Sigh....while the price was decent turned it down (399 for the two of us), bad time of year. Have 3 birthdays, our anniversary and Christmas to get through in the next few months.

 

I will dream of sailing in this nice room and huge balcony tonight.

 

Thank you for listening!

I have taken that upsell before on the Ecstasy and loved the balcony on the extended GS.

But I feel your pain I turned down an upsell yesterday for our 7 day Glory cruise. We are in a Lido deck balcony and they wanted $518 (total for 2) to upgrade to an Ocean Suite. Wanted to save the extra money for Christmas.

It is too far away to go back to the ship for lunch. You first ride in a van then you get on a boat to get there.

I have been buying these cards for well over a year now and have purchased $11,000 in gift cards in that time. I have never had a problem getting them or using them.

In the beginning I would call my PVP to pay off the cruise with them but now I just do it all myself online.

I have taken them onboard the ship and had them applied at Guest Services and have also applied them myself at the kiosk. You can also use them when booking excursions online.

They are a little extra work for the PVPs when they have to enter multiple numbers but so what. That is what they are getting paid for.

Would have liked to get $500 cards but beggars cant be chosers :D :D

Got 5 $100 cards from Verizon and 5 from AARP.

I found this at a University Medical Center site:

 

"Normal body temperature varies by person, age, activity, and time of day. The average normal body temperature is generally accepted as 98.6°F (37°C). Some studies have shown that the "normal" body temperature can have a wide range, from 97°F (36.1°C) to 99°F (37.2°C). "

 

"A temperature over 100.4°F (38°C) usually means you have a fever caused by an infection or illness."

 

I'm not saying the child doesn't have a cold. Nor am I saying the child does have a cold. It does seem, however, that a temp of 99.1 falls short of being an automatic indicator of infection or illness.

 

Just trying to inject a little fact here, among all the opinion. If the doctor does diagnose the child with a cold, or anything contagious, obviously the child shouldn't cruise. But lets let the doctor make that call. OP, I hope your child is okay and you get to cruise. But if your child does prove to have something contagious, please think of others. I'm hoping the best for you.

I agree with quote above about the fever. I am a nurse and send information to Medicare (CMS) and they define a temp as being 100.4 and above. There is also such a thing as a baseline temp. Some people run higher than 98.6 and some run lower. I always take daily temps on my patients to get a baseline.

My wife and I used the Carnival Mastercard for about a year and a half until I learned about the Barclay Arrival Mastercard. Barclay is the same bank which hosts the Carnival card, yet the rewards are more than double what you'll get with the Carnival card! Here are the perks:

 

*One time $400 statement credit (40,000 'miles') with new account if you put $3,000 on the card in the first four months of use

*2 'miles'/points per dollar spent, regardless of whether or not it's on travel

*10% of all points you redeem are returned to you... that makes the total cash back to you 2.2% on every purchase.

 

Of course there is an $89 annual fee with the Arrival card, but that's waived the first year AND as long as you spend more than $4,040 a year with the card you'll break even on that with the points you'll receive.

 

Bottom line... I'm much happier with the Arrival card than the Carnival card.

I agree with you. We switched over to the Arrival Card and have never looked back. Best thing we could have done as far as credit cards go.

One thing that is different is that a few months ago we got a notice that stated starting in November the will only be returning 5% of your points when you redeem.

I would use luggage express if you can and that would make things so much easier.

It did occur to me (after reading your posts) that the Miracle (and maybe Splendor) could repo through the Canal in March 2017 versus January. I've just been too focused on that January time frame but March would be OK as well.

That's what I think is going to happen. The hold up may be that they waiting to see how the canal expansion goes. Then they can bring the Splendor through the new canal.

If it happens I would love to be on both so hoping they are not at the same time.

I just noticed this morning that a 15 day Journeys cruise to Hawaii for Miracle on January 14, 2007 (ending up in Long Beach on day 16, January 29) has been scheduled. Earlier in this thread that was the speculated next step for Miracle with the follow up a Canal transit from LA to the East Coast (likely Tampa). Still hoping for that Canal crossing cruise on the Miracle in late January 2017. :)

We have been hoping for a Panama Canal cruise on the Miracle for 2017.

My PVP told me last week that Miracle now has a schedule for January and February showing. I told her I was not giving hope that it was still going to happen, lol.

I was planning on going on our upcoming Glory cruise. I seen the pictures of Orange Fever and all the seaweed on the beach not so sure.

Guess I will watch for recent reviews and see what is said as I have some time yet.

So you HAVE been there lately Belkin? I did look at trip advisor (love that site :) ) and all the reviews are great but no one talked about the construction as for now...

Not recently but am going again soon.

I just looked at their page on social media and am shocked. Apparently a whole section of beach bars have been bull dozed down and are in the process of being rebuilt. They say they are going to reopen but no mention of when.

Now I am looking for a new place too!

Looks like Kakao Beach Club is still open. There are pictures from yesterday on their social media site. I will be watching for more info on this construction.

Trying to decide where to land our butts on Orient Bay in St Maarten. Can someone who has been there recently give me some input please? KonTiki, Kakoa, Or Orange Fever-(this one may be closed for construction) I've read to tell the taxi where to drop you off at and they will do so, as we have two people that can not walk very far. Thanks

Kakao and Orange Fever are good. You may want to try looking on the ports of call board. Chose Caribbean and then St. Maarten. Here is the link

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93

I also use trip advisor which is also very helpful

Thank you Terry for your Updates. One question though. These sites were uneffected by the storm, but how are the roads to get there?? When the cruise ships arrive, how will the tourists be brought to These Areas? Any Information?

I am wondering the same thing. Just hoping that once October gets here some of the cruisers will post their experiences.

Does anyone know the screen name for Paul Owen. I know his comments to John Heald were deleted off this page, but now someone is claiming that I am Paul Owen.

Who are they telling?

I am not sure that anybody will answer that question this board. Maybe to JH or your email?

Awesome job on the review and your pictures are great.

Now you have me thinking about going back.

One last question....is there a fee if have them mailed to me? Is it less expensive to get ecards and is there a downside to doing so?

 

(Apologies....that was more than one last question!)

I have purchased several thousand dollars of these cards over the past year. Maybe I have been lucky but I have had no issues in buying, receiving or using the cards.

I have paid off cruises online and through my PVP. I have applied for OBC at guest services and at the kiosks.

Good luck!

The airfare is being refunded to my understanding. I won't count on anything until I see it.

 

When the paper work was handed out there was not a place to indicate wishes or preferred plans. When they handed it to us - it was "in the rare event they needed to fly us home" at that time they still made it sound like we would be sailing Back to San Juan.

 

We spent plenty of money on the trip- not that I feel like I need to justify that to anyone. I used vacation that I won't have for this "do-over" vacation any time soon. Same with my husband who doesn't even receive paid vacation.

 

If you'll refer back to my first post- I have stated that I am thankful for what Carnival and its crew has done to try to right a wrong. Again- my chief complaint was that we were separated from our group even after I asked not to be.

Make sure you keep all of the documentation you have on your airfare and any documentation that you may have where Carnival states that they will refund your air.

I would definitely call them and find out how you can go about getting a refund for it. You may have to call them a few times but hopefully they will refund you.

I was booked to be on the Splendor and she caught on fire about 2 weeks before our cruise. Carnival did refund my air but if I remember correctly it took a few phone calls and I had to relinquish our tickets to Carnival. Maybe they got something out of them from the airlines.

Good luck :)