Out to sea!

Thank you so much for the ship tour! Can't wait until we sail on Ecstasy in December. :)

Same here. First time on the Ecstasy but sailed the Fantasy in 2003.

When you sailing in December?

Ive never had a "countdown" from a bartender, but did hit my 15 drinks one day. From that point on you can buy drinks at the going rate. Or with a good bartender you can just add your drinks over #15 to your significant others card, if they have not reached the limit.

You mean a bartender who doesn't care about his job and violates the rules. One of those bartenders.

If I recall correctly, the match play is stamped onto your receipt and you then show it at the casino for your 5 dollar match, but the stamps were only given out for certain drinks, like the classic cocktail list and only given out at certain bars at specific times. I think it was in the comedy club at night and maybe some other times as well, but it would not make sense for them to do it at the pool bar in the heat of the day when people are drinking the most.

Is there any way to find out ahead of time when and where this could be found (such as which bars and at what time)? She doesn't drink much and she doesn't gamble much but if she could get a little extra by combining the two, why not?

I just finished a breeze cruise and did the cheers program and it was almost free, well if you are a casino patron. Any of the 6 classic cocktails give you a $5.00 match play, even when using cheers. So 6 or 7 Long Islands and 3 or 4 cruisers equaled out to 50-60 in match play every day. So I think between winning and losing on the match plays cheers cost me about 20 a day. I'm fine with that price

I've never heard this before. Are you saying if you buy a classic cocktail at the pool bar and you go to the casino, you get $5 match play because you bought a drink? If this is true, my DW will be tickled pink!!!

I believe the latest one got killed because someone complained.:rolleyes:

Actually, IMO, any thread that encourages or provides tips on how to violate a cruise ships policies should be killed from the get go.

On our Splendor cruise in July we got to the terminal just before 12 and never stopped moving until we were on the Lido deck. Less than 20 minutes I'd guess. It was our first Carnival cruise, so we were nothing special, no FTTF. We walked in, did security, checked in, got on. No stopping. It was perfect. My mom and sister arrived around 1:30 and didn't get on board until almost 3.

FTTF allows even first time cruisers to be special! :D

I have that all done and dusted two weeks before I check-in at the pier.

 

It's called Deck Plans -available on the internet. So easy to avail oneself of.

 

Start here:

http://www.cruisecheap.com/ships/all-cruise-ships.html

 

.

Know all about deck plans. Study them as well prior to arrival. But deck plans don't have landmarks so that I can tell my spatially-challenged DW "go until you see the two fakes palms and the bathroom will be on the right". :rolleyes:

Never figured out what the big rush to board the ship so early..

Gotta put towels down on all the chairs by the pool!!!!! :D:D

Seriously, the first thing we did was go to our cabin to get rid of our stuff, grabbed a Guy's burger before it got crowded and then went to check out the ship. I want the ship layout committed to memory before 1800! :)

In January DD and I were able to board at about 11:15. For some reason, we weren't given a boarding number at check-in, and when we asked one of the terminal workers about it, she waved us on through to board.

 

I think it helped that DD had on a Happy Birthday crown. :)

 

It was really fun being one of the first ones on board!

Same happened to us in June on the Liberty out of Miami. Walked into the terminal about 1110, went through security and then the check-in line and once check-in was complete we could go ahead. I asked for our boarding number and she smiled and said we didn't need one, just go ahead and proceed onto the ship on we were on board at 1130. loved it! :D

1103 on the Glory with FTTF. 1130 on the Liberty without FTTF.

Wonder if anyone was ever brazen enough to have rum runner bags in their cargo shorts pockets and they just walked onto the ship?

Please refer to one of the hundreds of smuggling threads. ;)

I was on in March. Looked fine. Booked again for Oct 2014. Will be a three-peat. My favorite ship so far!

Glad to hear this. I'm travelling her for the first time in Nov 2014. Take good care of her for me! ;)

Anyone know anything about Milburn Dumas on the Ecstasy and will he still be there in December? Would love to have James Quigley again but he is enjoying his time off too much. James is by far the best piano man I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

To me too!

 

See attachment.

As an FYI, the parts you wanted to show through didn't and the parts you didn't want to show through did. You might want to remove the PDF. ;)

Do you have to join a Player's Club while on board or is the fact that your card is in the slot with your info on it good enough???

seriously? nobody asked for a lesson in ethics. :rolleyes:

Seriously?

It's one thing to do the wrong thing and get away with it and even pat yourself on the back for doing so. It's a completely different thing to tell the whole world what you got away with and when the world says what a crock, you shouldn't be surprised. Same with smugglers. You want to smuggle, that's between you, Carnival, and your conscious. You want to blab here about it and drag the rest of us into it, I'm going to tell you just how wrong you are.

Simply put, when you do something wrong and then go on a public site and run your mouth about it you have completely and fully asked for a lesson in ethics. And probably a lesson in keeping secrets as well. :rolleyes:

Cheers Program: DH was listed in another stateroom than I was so he was able to purchase the CHeers program by himself. If we were both listed in the same room, we both would have had to purchase the program, and it would not have been worth it in that instance. However, it worked for us having just one of us purchase it. DH figured out he paid $4 per drink on the program, and he orders all top-shelf liquor. You are not supposed to share drinks purchased on the program, but no one really kept track, so we were able to share the 15 drinks per day. Very worth it for us. Unlimited sodas and smoothies too on the program!

Nice review until I got to this part. It's bad enough you can't follow the rules that you clearly understand (in essence, you stole but just didn't get caught stealing) but I wonder if you also shared those sodas and smoothies with your kids and made them accomplices is your illegal activities? Great ethics to be teaching them......"kids, it's okay to steal as long as you don't get caught"...... :mad:

A few weeks ago on the 6 day Breeze in Miami we arrived at our normal time of 11am and found people still getting off the ship. In fact that lasted until 12:15, then they escorted some back to back cruisers, then let two wedding parties on board followed by platinum and diamond, then FTTF then regular, which we were, and had boarding zone 9, they went as high as zone 30. The place was packed but we were called right after the FTTF, so glad we did not waste $50/pp on that option.

Just an FYI, there is a whole lot more to FTTF other than early boarding of the ship.

I just printed out our boarding passes and saw the embarkation time of 1-3 pm and wondered about it. I did purchase the FTTF package and so I guess expected the time to be earlier because of that. It sounds like from what I'm reading here though that we could show up at 11 if we like and still board just ignoring the time printed on the passes. Is that correct?

Yes ma'am. The earlier, the better (more time on ship).

You're so silly, I knew you would come up with some funny, holier that thou quote.:rolleyes: Don't worry, I'm still counseling SNCO's (and a few O's) as a civil servant. I know many airman that I supervised that are now E-7's, E-8's and E-9's, a few I now work for. They have told me how much my mentoring helped them. I even have a few prior enlisted that I mentored, that are now O's flying heavy's.

The subject was Cheers and a remark on RR's. You made your point on breaking the rules and I made a joke about it. Lighten up son, you'll live longer and those around you will probably appreciate you more.

Considering my father never made E-7 (went from E-3 to O-1 and eventually O-3), I know you're not my father so kindly don't call me "son". In no way, shape, fashion or form is it close to being true in any since of the word. And I have to wonder if the degradation of the military has to do with this so-called mentoring??? Hope they are not listening or following your belief that it is okay to break the rules when you feel like it. BTW, I'm about as "light" as I'm going to get, maybe you should start getting a little "heavier" and understand that rules are there for a reason and are meant to be respected and followed. :rolleyes:

We're thinking of using Cheers on our Dream cruise this Nov. Glad to hear that there is no tax added to the program when purchased the first day in port. We enjoy the adult beverages while cruising and although I don't think we'll make it the 15 drink minimum, we'll save money.

We've never tried rum runners, but have used other means to bring alcohol on board.

I'm sure there will be repercussions for using rum runners. Increase in fun, money in pocket, increase in exercise if you leave the RR in your room, and if used too much, a headache. Carnival does loose some income when rum runners are used, but most people that illegally bring alcohol on board, still purchase drinks.

When I see the other AF stripes in a thread, I know there's probably a lecture taking place.:eek:

And I find it hard to believe that anyone who advocates breaking the rules ever made it to SNCO status. I feel for the troops who had to endure your leadership style ("Do as I say, not as I do"). :(

Thank you. I'm going to consider that. I think it's about time they make a ship designated strictly for young party people. That would be extremely hazardous with possibility of high risk low reward.

Why? For the most part, young party people (as you put them) have little to no money, so why would any cruise line do that???

I'm thinking Silver Seas Cruise line for him and the gang.....;)

I was thinking a Holland America cruise.

It's Disney, of course! They can start a congo line to "It's A Small World"! :D

Do a search on the boards....rum runners.....happy reading. :)

It would have been nice for you to note with your suggestion that Rum Runners are a violation of Carnival rules and can have repercussions if used.

The OP's question was about "pretty pricey" drinks...not beer. So the question asked was answered.

And you don't think $5.75 for a Bud Light isn't "pretty pricey"? Why don't you quit assuming things and just provide helpful info as I have done?