jcearth

No - that would be an overreaction. They don't even release they specific circumstances regarding why people go overboard. Don't jump to conclusions.

The last time I was in Vegas, one of the trendier casinos (I think it was the Encore or Wynn) was using the following strategy regarding table minimums: If the tables were empty, the would lower the minimums to $10. As soon as someone sat down, the would almost immediately raise the minimum to $25. The originally person who sat down would be grandfathered in to the $10, but every person who sat down after him would have to bet at least $25. This strategy is based upon the notion that gamblers prefer to gamble at a full table rather than an empty, but the casino was having a hard time attracting people to the empty tables at $25 minimums.

On the cruises I have been on, I find that the casino will test the waters on the 1st night -- putting out some higher minimum tables. If they get any traction, they will remain with the higher minimums. But if it is danger of becoming a ghost town, the minimums will drop fairly quickly. If you prefer to have lower minimums, don't get suckered in to playing above where you feel comfortable. The minimum bet will either come down eventually, or your lungs and bank account will thank you for staying away from the casino.

IMO, this is a great location - you are right by the forward elevators so you can get anywhere on the ship relatively quickly. Riviera is very quiet, not a lot of motion, and the oceanview rooms are bigger than the inside portion of the balconies (220 sq ft vs 185 sq ft). I was on the riviera deck oceanview midship of the Conquest back in September, and I thought it was a very good room choice.

Looks like you are in luck. John Heald will post the movies periodically on his facebook page.

Here are March’s Dive In Movies shown on the 13 ships with e Lido big screens followed by the complimentary in cabin movies and the pay per view selections

BIG SCREEN LIDO DECK DIVE IN MOVIES WITH COMPLIMENTARY POPCORN

INTERSTELLAR PG‐13

A team of explorers travel through a

wormhole in an attempt to ensure

humanity's survival.

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF

EXTINCTION

PG‐13

A mechanic and his family join the Autobots

as they are targeted by a bounty hunter

from another world.

Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz

THE HUNGER GAMES:

MOCKINGJAY PART 1

PG‐13 2014

Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she

shatters the games forever. Under the

leadership of President Coin and the advice

of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her

wings as she fights to save Peeta and a

nation moved by her courage.

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson

Philip Seymour Hoffman,

BIG HERO 6 PG

The special bond that develops between

plus‐sized inflatable robot Baymax, and

prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a

group of friends to form a band of high‐tech

heroes.

Voices of: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit

MALEFICENT PG 2014

The untold story of the villain from "Sleeping

Beauty" reveals the events that hardened

Maleficent's heart and drove her to curse

the baby, Aurora, only to later realize that

the child may hold the key to peace in the

land.

SWANK Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning

THE OTHER WOMAN PG‐13

After discovering her boyfriend is married, a

woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her

ruined life back on track. But when she

accidentally meets the wife he’s been

cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they

have much in common, and her sworn

enemy becomes her greatest friend. When

yet another affair is discovered (Kate

Upton), all three women team up to plot

mutual revenge on their cheating, lying,

three‐timing SOB.

Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton

THE VOW PG‐13 2012 HD YES 1:44 $125M

A car accident puts Paige in a coma, and

when she wakes up with severe memory

loss, her husband Leo works to win her heart

again.

Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS PG‐13

Hazel and Gus are two extraordinary

teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a

disdain for the conventional, and a love that

sweeps them ‐ and us ‐ on an unforgettable

journey. Their relationship is all the more

miraculous, given that they met and fell in

love at a cancer support group. THE FAULT

IN OUR STARS, based upon the number‐one

bestselling novel by John Green, explores

the funny, thrilling and tragic business of

being alive and in love.

Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort

GROWN UPS 2 PG‐13

After moving his family back to his

hometown to be with his friends and their

kids, Lenny finds out that between old

bullies, new bullies, schizo bus drivers, drunk

cops on skis, and 400 costumed party

crashers sometimes crazy follows you.

Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock,

David Spade

RIDE ALONG

Fast‐talking security guard Ben joins his cop

brother‐in‐law James on a 24‐hour patrol of

Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of

marrying Angela, James' sister.

Starring: Ice Tea, Kevin Hart

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA

TURTLES

PG‐13 When a kingpin threatens New York City, a

news reporter find a quad of mutants which

makes an alliance to unravel Shredder's plan

as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Starring: Megan Fox’s Bottom

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE

APES

PG‐13

10 Years after a disease that spread around

the globe, Apes who have survived the

disease go head‐to‐head with a group of

human survivors and a traitor who is hell

bent on destroying humans and apes,

triggering the unbalanced war for peace.

Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell,

CAPTAIN AMERICA:

THE WINTER SOLDIER

PG‐13

Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in

the modern world and battles a new threat

from old history: the Soviet agent known as

the Winter Soldier.

Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett

Johansson

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY PG‐13

In the far reaches of space, an American

pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the

object of a manhunt after stealing an orb

coveted by the villainous Ronan.

STARRING Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel

Overall, the food on Carnival is good. Carnival actually excels in a few areas: the first is at lunchtime. Even though they do not have lunch in the dining room (excluding the sea day "brunch"), the Lido deck options are wide and varied, and most importantly, very tasty. The lunch time buffet is only so-so, but the other stations are where the action is. From Guy's Burgers (best burgers at sea), to the Blue Iguana Cantina, to the Pasta Bar, Fish & Chips, Mongolian Wok, Pizzeria, Deli, and even Fat Jimmy's C-side BBQ, you will have trouble deciding where to go each day, and if you are like me, have to eat multiple luches. At night, avoid the buffet, and go to either the MDR, or one of the pay restaurants (the Steakhouse and Cucina del Capitano both get lots of compliments). For breakfast, I would hit the Seaday Brunch if at sea, and if in port, the best part of the lido deck buffet is the mad to order omelets.

On the last cruise I was on, the last sea day had a bunch of activities - following are the ones that I participated in:

Amazing Race

Super Trivia Finals (3 day team event)

Family Scavenger Hunt

Movie Lines Trivia

Marriage Show

In addition to this, we hit up the water slides, pool, and hot tubs, went to the arcade, played basketball and mini golf, ran a few miles on the track in the morning.

After dinner, we went to the piano bar, comedy show, and then the casino before calling it a night. During all of this, we found time to max out the Cheers program for the day, pack all of our suitcases, and go to guest services to cash out all of our OBC accounts.

If you are bored, it is your fault.

I went to Calica once in 2009 on the Holiday out of Mobile. As others have said, there was nothing at port, but a 20 minute taxi ride into Playa del Carmen yielded beautiful white sand beaches. The setup was similar to Mahahual out of Costa Maya, where there were restaurants that would set you up on the beach and get you whatever you needed (drinks, food, excursions, etc.) I do remember that the taxis did drop you off a few blocks from the beach, which i though was strange.

I was midship riviera and we had the conference room on deck 4 as our muster station -- pretty painless.

This is the setup as far as I can tell for the ships that have gone to Playlist Productions:

1) Party Band - playing different themed sets every night (90s, 80s, Motown, etc.)

2) Latin duo or trio

3 & 4) Two different guitar soloists

5) Piano Bar player

Not a ton of choices, but to say that live music on the ships is dead is a bit of hyperbole.

I had 1331 and 1335 (midship riviera) on the Conquest in September. This was a great location. Rooms were very quiet, and spacious (220 sq ft).

You will receive a coupon in your room at embarkation with a voucher for a beverage valued up to $9.00, I believe. Bring it with you to the brunch and hand it to your server when ordering to receive the free drink. Also, if you want the drink without attending brunch, they will have a makeshift bar setup outside the dining room that you can order from.

I used about 60 of them on the Conquest in September, until I could no longer stand to drink another Classic Cocktail. Won enough money to cover the cost of the Cheers Program.

Others will be able to answer this better, but from what I've read in other posts, they are VERY strict about the ages in Camp Carnival. My daughter will be six weeks shy of her ninth birthday and she will have an older sister in the 9-11 age group, but from what I read, it isn't worth the effort to get her moved up. They just don't do it.

 

Again... if anybody has other info, please post! :) I'm just going off of what I read. And if things have changed, I will definitely try to move her since she would be happier in the older group.

Completely disagree - I got my son who was 3 weeks shy of his 6th birthday moved up to the 6-8 group with no problem. This was 2 months ago on the Conquest. My request was taken care of at orientation, and they said they would allow it on a trial basis. Everything went well and he spent the week in the 6-8 class. Again, it is a ship dependent question. There were not a lot of kids on board for this sailing, so the Camp was a little more relaxed.

Also, on most 5 night or less sailings, Camp will open on the first night before Night Owls.

From what I understand, the balconies on the Junior Suites on Fantasy class ships are notoriously small (think 20 sq ft or so as opposed to 35sq ft for the regular balcony room), so you may want to take that into consideration.

We usually cruise with a large group of extended family and friends, and we all enjoy eating dinner together. Last cruise we had 21 people and dined at 2 separate tables (switching out each night to have different dining partners.) I just am not sure how this can be accommodated on NCL or the new Royal ships. I last cruised on NCL 11 years ago, right after they introduced the freestyle concept. We had a group of 8 people, and our average wait time for a table at dinner was in excess of 30 minutes (that I can still remember this fact gives light to how much I did not enjoy waiting). I haven't cruised on NCL since, and will only do so in the future if it is with just my immediate family.

I always buy my son a BB card for our trips. I also not not let him have charging privileges.

 

 

Wonder what will happen when he tries to get a pop while still in port? Be denied? I would assume that would be the case if he could not cover the tax.

That is a great question that Carnival has not thought through yet. Both in Miami and San Juan, the bartenders had to run my card through for the tax on my kids' BB sodas. Now, my children are 8,6, and 4, and were with me at the time, but I am not sure what they would do with an 11 or even a 14 year old with a BB sticker and no charging privileges who is not with their parents -- I can see how this could cause a problem.

I have gotten a price drop every time that I have used it. The biggest drop was on the cruise I took last month. On two oceanview cabins, I received about $900 in OBC for price drops.

Hate that Hasbro is the only evening entertainment in main lounge twice during cruise.

 

Epic Rock was very good others not so good.

My wife and I both got picked to be on stage the only time we went, which was a lot of fun, so I don't know how much fun it would be to watch from the audience.

It was really strange - 5 nights with tons of entertainment options, one pretty dead night, and one night where it didn't seem like there was anything going on at all.

I only watched Epic Rock and it was pretty good - others in our group saw Divas and The Brits and generally liked them.

Looking at the program, it seems like you get a better deal buying the gift cards and using them to purchase your cruise through carnival. The rates quoted weren't quite 10% off -- not sure if you could purchase the gift cards and then book through verizon rewards for additional savings. It would make Early Saver requests a nightmare, however, as now you would be going through a travel agent.

Would still love to see someone consume 15 Foster's Oil Cans or 15 Long Island Iced Teas in a day.

I drank 15 Long Islands a few weeks ago on the Conquest - not my favorite drink in the world, but I was running through all of the classic cocktails (I was accumulating match plays for the casino) -- by day 6, I couldn't drink any more of them (too much syrup and sugar).

My brother and father maxed out Cheers every day (plus had more drinks that the casino manager bought for them). I averaged 10-11 drinks per day, and only maxed it out the day I was drinking the Long Islands.

Also, there were 2 Hasbro show - both at 7:30 PM, so you had to rush from Dinner to make it.

For anyone that has been on the Conquest recently, do you recall what the playlist shows were? Have been searching for Fun Times for this ship for the eastern itinerary with no success :( Anyone have any current information? Thanks!

Show order was: Latin Nights (Nights 1&2), Epic Rock (Nights 2&4), Divas (Nights 4&6), and The Brits! (Nights 6&7)

Elegant Nights were the first sea day, and Puerto Rico day

Comedy: nights 1 (late night only), 2, 3, 5, & 7 (open mike night night 6 late night)

Both deck parties night there wasn't much entertainment going on.

The best addition to entertainment that I saw were the night trivia parties by the casino bar - these were hosted by the CD and the ACD (so it was a big deal), and were a combination of trivia and dance party. The different themes were: Motown, the 80s, the 90s, Classic Rock, TV and Movies, and the Brits.

The showed football games last year, but made the decision to move sports to the sports bar this year, and concentrate on showing movies on the big screen. From John Heald:

Here are the movies will be playing in October on the 12 ships that have the Dive In Movie big screens;

MALEFICENT

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MOTHER IN LAW ( DRAGON) 2

GODZILLA

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

DIVERGENT

TRANSFORMERS – AGE OF EXTINCTION

THE OTHER WOMAN

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

GROWN UPS 2

RIDE ALONG

And on October 31st, the movie HALLOWEEN

Enjoy…………with complimentary popcorn

We were able to get 3+ drinks each night in the MDR a few weeks ago with the Cheers program, but we had a great bar server (and we took care of him - and no, it was not sad - the guy was just back on the ship after 2 months with his wife and kids, and he said it brightened his day being around our families - we had 5 kids under the age of 9 on the ship)

Just back from the Conquest with my 4, 6, and 8 year old sons. Sorry, I didn't bring the activity schedule with me, but I can give you the highlights:

Sea Days: Open from 10am to 10pm - Night Owls from 10pm to 1am ($6.75 + gratuity per hour) - (closed around 4 or 5 in the afternoon until dinner)

Port Days: Open from docking time to 10pm - Night Owls from 10pm to 1am ($6.75 + gratuity per hour)

Port Day mornings was supervised free play (They would have movies playing, and other kids were playing video games and board games.)

My kids loved Wax Museum, Bowling (they had a GIANT bowling set for the little guys), playing basketball on the court (6-8 year olds), the volcano eruption, the magician, Scavenger Hunt (family activity), and just about every other activity.

One night I walked in there and they were doing an educational lesson on conservation - I thought overall it was a well rounded program, and my kids were blessed with GREAT counselors.

I can try to answer any questions you have.