CoconutJD

Yes. It should be the first sea day.

Does FareViewer include taxes/fees? Whereas a Mock booking will have this. Can this be the difference?

That's the difference. Fare viewer just lists the base fare, before any taxes/fees.

You can use the wifi for free on the ship to access the Carnival website. You can cancel it whenever the desk does open.

Interesting itinerary, but why only staying in Coz until 4:00 PM? That's a short run to Progreso, they should let you stay in Coz later.

I guess this was our first time to bring booze back from Galveston. Be warned the state of Texas will charge you taxes on each bottle you buy if your honest and stop when they ask if you bought any (which we did/are). Tobacco too.

I was under the understanding that those taxes were only to be paid by Texas residents, and not by anyone residing outside of Texas, unless you were staying in Texas for longer than 48 hours post-cruise.

As I said earlier, the price dropped $130 total for the two of us, but I just noticed the taxes, port charges, etc. stayed the same. I know around here my taxes are based on the dollar amount spent so why didn't the tax portion of this cruise actually drop a little too?

It's not a sales tax. It's the taxes and fees the various ports charge Carnival for berthing the ship.

But hat has been Carnival's model. Put ships within a 3 hour drive to attract new cruisers. It has been extremely successful for Galveston. Seeing that the Galveston port has limited space (one Carnival ship at a time....at least that is what I recall), this would give them another weekend home port in the area. What I don't know is whether CC would offer a different port radius for a 7 day cruise.

There was talk not too long ago about them expanding the Galveston port to be able to berth more ships. Not sure what the final verdict was though.

You will get OBC if your cruise is paid off. The OBC you get from price drops is refunded back to you in the form of a check if you don't use it on the ship. I believe they mail it to you now? It used to come with your final statement on the day of debarkation.

Technically, the OBC you get from price drops is non-refundable, however many people have reported getting it back afterwards.

From the ES conditions:

To submit a Price Protection claim, visit carnival.com/earlysaver. When requesting a cruise fare adjustment, you must provide the lower rate amount and where the rate can be found. Requests will be accepted up to two business days prior to sailing. Lower rate must be: (i) for the same ship, sail date, stateroom category and number of guests; (ii) a qualifying Carnival advertised rate (iii) available for booking at the time the request is reviewed by Carnival's reservation agents. Verified rate difference is issued as an on-board credit. The on-board credit is non-refundable, non-transferable and has no cash value. Any unused portion of the onboard credit will be forfeited.

It might be a stretch, but you can contact the Player's Club for information.

(800)522-7466 or at playersclubfeedback@carnival.com

You might find what you're looking for in the ports of call section: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131

I don't think that you can make that analogy. Carnival could not fill the Splendor in LA without severely discounting the rates (we will see how the do with the Miracle). It's not simply a "how many people" you have, it is who will cruise. I strongly believe that Texas can support three ships, whereas the LA area (no matter how many people there are) can support two ships - and one of those ws a small 3,4,5 day cruise.

Part of the problem (as I see it) is that there's no variety from L.A. There's pretty much just one itinerary that ships can do there. Whereas from Galveston, there's a lot of Caribbean to see, from Key West to the Bahamas, to Belize, Jamaica, etc.

I am confused. We went to Hawaii on the Splendor. We left from and returned to Long Beach. We stopped at Ensenada for 5 hours. We were told we had to stop there to meet the requirements of the Jones Act. Ensenada was the only foreign port we stopped at during the cruise that left from and returned to a US port. If that is not considered a distant foreign port how did we meet the requirements of this law?

If your ship leaves and returns to the same U.S. port, it only needs to call on a foreign port, not a distant foreign port.

The ship has to visit a distant foreign port, when it leaves from one U.S. port, and returns to another (example would be a repo cruise that goes from Miami to L.A.).

No one has mentioned the fact that it could be a great place for a competitor to Carnival to get a foothold in the Texas Market.

 

It doesn't have to be Carnival that starts up in Corpus…Maybe it is NCL?

I'm pretty sure NCL already sails (or is about to start) from Houston.

It's not a US government requirement, but some foreign governments (Mexico comes to mind) require it, to assure that one parent isn't trying to abduct the child and escape US law enforcement.

On cruises, it's usually more lenient, as you don't really deal with customs in foreign countries, but I would sure have it to be safe.

The airport might be more accessible to and from the cruise port, but it would likely be less accessible for people to fly there. It's not a major airport by any stretch. I think there's only 2-3 airlines that fly there.

Convenience to whatever place on the ship you're most likely to frequent is a consideration. If you're going to spend a lot of time on the Lido, for example, it might behoove you to book closer to the Lido, so you don't have to wait for elevators or whatnot.

I'm assuming that they are referring to the PVSA or Passenger Vessel Service Act.

 

What's the rest of your itinerary like? Getting off the ship at one port and rejoining at another splits your cruise into two segments. If one of the segments begins at one US port returning to another US port without visiting any foreign port, then you may be in violation of the PVSA, with some pretty hefty fines.

And the "foreign port" must be what is called a distant foreign port, not just any foreign port will work.

I imagine what the OP is considering would be a violation, I think the minimum fine is $300 (per person) and expect Carnival to pass those fines on to you.

I'm a big fan of Panasonic's cameras. I have a lower-end model that works great. TS20 maybe?

The Puerta Maya port schedule is here: http://www.puertamaya.com/port-schedule.aspx

I don't like tendering, so I would prefer more private islands with piers to dock like Castaway Cay and Labadee:)

Labadee is private, but it's not an island :p. It's a part of Haiti.

I've been on 25+ cruises and every ship changed to match local time. If in doubt look at the ship clocks before deboarding at the port.

Carnival does not do this. The ship will stay on the time zone of the embarkation port, at least for the Caribbean cruises. Longer cruises, say to Hawaii, the ship will change times. I'm not sure how it works for European cruises.

If you haven't made the final payment yet, Carnival will just lower the amount you owe.

No. The ship will stay on CST for the entire cruise.

Thanks.

Just toying with the idea..booking something large

and then a nearby inside...for adult kids.

 

So we have plenty of room if we did a holiday again. Unless there are other perks like dining/room service/butler etc... it may be better to just do 2 large connecting balconies.

 

The view from that Capt suite looks amazing

The only perk you'd get with a suite on Carnival is priority boarding/debarking.

Our last cruise on the Magic, we carried on a 1L bottle of margarita mix no problem. We ordered tequila from BV.

We had powdered stuff as a backup, just in case they wouldn't let us bring it on, but they didn't even bat an eye at it.