Kimberlyr22

Noticed it once at brunch on the first sea day when we were seated at a table next to an aft window but dat in the aft several times for dinner and didn't feel it. Our 7th floor aft cabin had a very gentle vibration that was actually very relaxing.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

That is the exact 7-day menu we had on the Carnival Pride last week.

I found the best thing on that menu to be the St. Louis style ribs on the first cruise elegant night. Prime rib isn't my thing and I planned to have surf and turf in the steakhouse the next night, so I didn't really want the lobster. The five tables around me, and my husband and stepson, were very jealous when they saw my huge platter of ribs. I think my husband ate half of them, and a guy at the next table asked his waiter if he could order a plate of the ribs! Delicious.

It's the only thing on NBC that night, and every cabin has NBC, so the game will be available. I'm sure it will be on, at the very least, in the sports bar which also has NBC --- on our cruise we were stuck with tennis and golf in the sports bar.

I agree with the $1-2. I don't think $5 is really needed unless you are a large family and are ordering a ton of food.

 

Are you really able to tip on the sign an sail card? I always brought a bunch of $1's for this purpose but someone above muse said you could put it on your card. I guess I've never noticed this. Can anyone confirm?

Last week on the Pride we had to sign a receipt for every room service order, even if there was no charge ($0.00) which gives you the option of writing in a tip. I wrote in a tip one time because it came really fast and my ones were in the safe.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Agree with you completely on the food on this cruise -- Lido deck was uninspiring, and the everything made to order (especially the pizza, cheeseburgers, etc) was just frustrating at times. I'm not a picky eater, but when I'm on a cruise I like to go simple (cheeseburgers and fruit) -- on my first cruise with RCL I was able to get a cheeseburger (favorite food) 24/7 -- on the Pride it was almost always a 20 minute line to get one, and that was when the grill was actually open. It made me sad -- but didn't ruin the cruise!

My husband, stepson, and I turned into anti-social balcony hogs when we saw our aft-wrap room and I think we only left the cabin for trivia, food, and two excursions -- like you, we did not make it to any of the shows. Staff was fantastic. I was hoping my stepson would like Circle C, but he said there were too many girls and decided hanging out on the balcony with strawberry smoothies was more fun.

I just sailed on Pride last week and was wondering if we get a survey to fill out when we get back. I haven't received anything yet.

I received mine from that sailing (8/3 Pride) last night at 10pm....

I purchased gift cards through the Father's Day promo for our on-board expenses on the Carnival Pride last week. I applied $1,010 with no issue -- did everything at the self-serve Kiosk. Super simple.

$1100, which was 10% over budget. Balmoral excursion extras were pricey, $300 bar tab (including a ton of strawberry smoothies for my stepson), internet pkg so I could keep up with school, a decent loss in casino, arcade, a last minute excursion, steakhouse for three, a bingo game, and a few gifts.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Just did Balmoral on Thursday, and based on the replies here and my research prior to our trip, the excursion is hit or miss.

One major note - we were the only ship in port, so this excursion wasn't packed.

We had a fantastic time - my stepson and I swam with dolphins for an hour and then did pictures with them ($70/cd - only photo option). My husband did the beach day with lunch. The staff said he could come with us to the dolphin side and watch, but he wanted food so went to the beach side. He loved the food (cheeseburgers and fries) and bought a bucket of beers with s&s card ($49/six beers).

After the dolphins, we joined my husband, bought some lunch ($15-$18/person), and played in the ocean for another hour before heading back to the boat.

The beach is rocky - but $5 water shoes from Walmart takes care of that issue. Everyone at the excursion was pleasant. It takes a little patience to get there - my 13 year old stepson looked miserable by the time we got to the island, but he has zero patience. By the end of the excursion we couldn't get him to stop talking about the dolphins. If you're just looking for beach time, there may be a better option, but if your group is looking for different options (dolphins, sting rays, etc) balmoral is a great option.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Thanks for being a teacher. I am a parent, and ironically, I have exactly the same issue!!!! As a parent, we need to plan our vacations around kids, just like a teacher. For example, we go on school breaks, and summer breaks.

 

We always try to book immediately after the last week of school. If you live in the South, pick the first week of June. If up North, than pick the last week of Summer. Both weeks have "less" kids on vacation.

 

Generally speaking, you questions is a good question, buy why did you tell us you are a teacher? We all have the same issues and many others have other work issues to work around.

Agree -- parents who don't take their kids out of school for vacation have the same exact issue. My stepson is 13 and has perfect attendance and we don't intend to change that any time soon...plus he's my step son...which means I not only have to work around school, but also his mom's schedule; so first or second week of August it is! Ideal - nope. Pricey - yep. Full of kids, hot as heck, and threats of hurricanes -- absolutely. But I love to cruise and want my stepson to experience fun family vacations.

The WCMC is not for me either ... but then again I don't like chocolate, so I guess I never gave it a fair shake. Hoping Carnival has more non-chocolate dessert options than I've found on other lines.

My husband says I must like planning more than the actual cruising, because I do so much planning that there's no way I can have fun on the cruise because nothing is a surprise. So not true -- I have to plan so much because my husband is a nervous traveler, and I need to have all the answers to his questions so he feels comfortable! Plus, I just love planning and organizing anything. Put the final touches on my glitter cruise binder last night -- less than six days till sailaway! Then I'll spend the next 12 months planning for next summer's cruise.

My husband and I just booked our 2nd Carnival Cruise. We are not real experienced cruisers.

 

We have booked an ocean suite which gives us VIP boarding, however, I have been reading about FTTF and I am confused about whether I should book that as well for us?

 

We are older, and have no intentions of leaving the ship - we actually look forward to enjoying the cruise itself and have little interest in the ports.

 

Do we need FTTF as well as VIP boarding?

 

Thank you much in advance.

We are much like you -- we booked a Suite and plan on spending all but one port on the ship. We purchased FTTF for the simple purpose of being able to go to our room immediately upon boarding. We are planning to spend a good deal of time on our Aft Wrap balcony and didn't want to wait to get to the room to start enjoying it! We don't envision using the other FTTF perks -- no tender ports on our itinerary, and I don't foresee using the special guest services line as the kiosks work just fine for us -- but having the option is nice. If any of the FTTF perks are worth $50 to you, I'd go for it.

This makes the decision for our next cruise a little easier. We were debating between NCL out of New York or the Pride out of Baltimore after its upgrades. Looks like we will be sticking with Carnival!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I don't know much about the Captain's Suite because I only sail out of Baltimore or New York; but I would think, like others have said, if you're okay spending $7500 for a room on a cruise and you want perks, it would be easier to just go to another cruise line than trying to get more out of Carnival.

We are room people on a cruise -- my husband borders on anti-social and just likes to have a nice room and balcony to relax in for seven days -- so we love the Aft Vista Suites on Carnival. In planning for next August I compared Carnival, RCL, and NCL out of Baltimore or New York. We are three cruisers, and our need to haves are large bathroom, balcony, and separate room for my stepson so we all have our own space (and he has his own television). For a 7-night to the Bahamas, RCL is $6,000, NCL is $6,700, and Carnival is $4,200. I would say that is quite a perk in itself --we can have an affordable suite that fulfills all our wants and a HUGE balcony.

2. Ride the Ducks of Seattle - this is one of those duck boat tours that take you all over the city and then a tour of Union Lake area. It was tremendous fun. Not your usual tour. More of a driving/floating sing-along and comedy show. It last approx. 2.5 hours , was very reasonable price , saw the sights , and was just great fun. Definitely give it a try

Right behind cruising, my favorite vacation thing to do is visit a new city and ride the ducks, and Seattle has the best I've ever been on, followed by Halifax (which was a cruise excursion). I wish my upcoming cruise had a port with Duck boats! A lot of people think they're just for the kids, but it's truly a fantastic way to explore a new city!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Pride, 7 day cruise, this August. I knew we would take a hit because of cruising out of Baltimore and it being summer (have to do summer vacation because of the kid). Booked Early Saver last year, 3 people in a Vista Suite, including taxes and gratuity was $4400. Was able to get a small price drop on the Kids Sail Free Promo which lowered our total price to $4230. Paid off the balance of the cruise with the recent gift card promo, so taking advantage of the $310 in free promo gift cards, we paid a total of $3920.

I watched the prices over the last 9 months, and with the exception of a tiny price drop on Kids Sail Free, the price of suites for three travelers on this cruise never went down; pretty happy I was able to get the cabin I wanted at a comfy price.

Plus, compared to our off-season, 7-day RCL cruise in an Ocean View room in 2012 that was $2400 total for two people, I was pretty happy grabbing the VS for three people for that price. We only take one family vacation a year (husband hates vacations because he's nuts)...so I like to make sure it's good!

Their emails seem to have no rhyme or reason. I book our cruises under my main gmail acct but rarely get emails from them on that acct other than when I book a cruise or make a payment. I have my husbands VIFP number connected to our aol email acct and that is the only acct I get Carnival promo emails on. Our son's VIP number is connected to another aol email address and that acct only gets the monthly VIFP newsletter. Very weird.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

So glad I came here first before I purchased. I was waiting on my new credit card to purchase and it did come today. But won't be purchasing now. I agree that through means the whole day!

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread too. I bought my biggie last week, but I was going to grab another one to cover some excursions. The original email I have from Carnival advertising the promo says "Promo ends June 16th" which is very vague... oh well.

What makes deck 4 better than the other decks with Viata Suites. We prefer a deck between 2 passenger decks.

The balconies on Deck 4 have a full cover and the railing doesn't angle in as much. I wish the Deck 4 afts were available for 3 people, would have loved a fully covered balcony for our August cruise -- we ended up going with one on Deck 7 so that, to your point, we'd be between two passenger decks.

We booked our August 2014 cruise in September 2013, and will probably book next summer's cruise on our August cruise (a little OBC is better than no OBC). We only cruise once a year (kid can't miss school) so we know we have to choose somethng between mid-June and mid-August, and I like scoring the best possible cabin (particularly the aft-wrap on the Pride).

If it was just me and my husband, I'd probably be a last minute cruise booker, but he will only do one vacation a year and that's the family vacation...so unless I can find a cruise buddy, I'll be sticking with booking a year out.

Carnival is my favorite company today. I was just getting ready to make final payment, so instead of giving them $2700 to just pay off the cruise, I gave them $2700 in gift cards to pay off the cruise and now have $270 to use onboard in two months!

I am quite confused by your post but that is not hard to do with me .

How do you get a lower rate on a category that is sold out?

 

And if you canceled your room how would you know if when you rebooked it would be cheaper?

 

If all the rooms in your category are sold out there is no price to compare to?

 

Bill

 

 

Sent from Iphone 4S using Cruise Critic App

We booked an aft wrap suite on the pride. There are only four aft cabins that hold three passengers on that ship - all were sold out. The price of the triple occupancy aft wrap is base suite price plus $10/person per day. So when I checked the kids sail free promo, the price for three people in a base suite was $3400 compared to the $3677 base suite price we paid.

So essentially she price matched against the base suite.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Typically, I think the rule is if you book early saver and your category sells out, you're out of luck. That's what 4 out of 5 Carnival reps told me.

Then I got rep # 5. I'm in the same situation, booked early saver, category is sold out, and the category above is sold out. I discussed with this rep if I could cancel my booking (losing the $50/person fee) and rebook the same room at the cheaper rate. Rep #5 (I had attempted this with four others) looked at my info and told me I wouldn't have to do that. She got me the lower rate, moved my pmt date to 30 days before the cruise, didn't charge me the $50/person early saver change fee, and kept my rate as an early saver. She also gave me her direct line if I saw any future discounts.

As much as it shouldn't matter, it seems as though everything depends on who you get on the other end of the phone.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We are very much looking forward to room 7298 this summer on the Pride. Besides the balcony, the biggest plus for us is that my stepson (13) will have his own "room" and TV, and we'll have our own area and TV. A little extra space goes a long way!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app