WildBlueYonder64

I have cruised out of Galveston several times, and the best piece of advice I received is that upon disembarkation, find the porter line and get a porter to handle your baggage. Last year they had a special line reserved just for them. It took us about 15 minutes to get up to the CBP desk, versus nearly an hour in the main line. Best $15 we ever spent (for 2 of us)! We'll be cruising on the Breeze in June, and are hoping that system is still in place.

Also, for the older child...

 

When we traveled with our kids several times, we asked for the kids meals with our appetizers. Then, at 7:00 when the kids club opens back up, one of us would take the kiddos up to the kids club so they could run around. Usually, it ended up being in between appetizers and entrees for us.

This is an excellent idea. On the subject of dining with a large group, we also are a group of 9, the youngest being 4 years old. We were initially assigned early dining, but after much discussion, decided to switch to YTD. The primary reason was that with fixed dining, everyone HAS to eat at the same time. Switching to YTD also gives the adult couples a chance to have dinner for 2 any night in the MDR without having to go to a specialty restaurant and paying extra. We do anticipate that we may have a wait on those nights that we all do dine together, so will plan accordingly, and will probably go down early so we can get our name on the list when they open the dining room that evening.

I apologize in advance for hijacking this thread, but hope it's okay as it looks like the OP's question was answered. My question has to do with Galveston departures. i know Cheers isn't available until the second day, but will liquor and other beverages that were pre-ordered through the Fun Shops be waiting for you in your cabin upon embarkation, or do you have to wait on those, as well? Thanks in advance.

Congratulations! Am I correct that any upgrade call would have a 305 area code?

We have done several B2B with the turn around port as Barcelona. We have always been able to treat it just like any other port day. No special gathering or need to do anything special. The requirement to have the ship cleared on a B2B is a US requirement and only applies in US ports.

Thanks for responding, good to know!

Since the schedule is unknown I think we will do the Hop On Hop Off tour. No pressure and we can relax and enjoy the sites and some Tapas!

That sounds like a plan! Are the buses readily available near the port area?

We have Galveston Express booked for our upcoming June cruise. We are a party of 9, and the rate quoted was $600. That may seem like a lot, but that includes pickup at Hobby on Friday with drop off at a rental house in Galveston, pickup at rental house and drop off at port on Sunday, and pickup from port post cruise and return to Hobby. Works out to a little over $66 per person total, which seemed like a good deal to me.

We will be doing a B2B, the Oct 11th and TA cruise. I would like to do a day tour when we dock in Barcelona, and understand that there is a process first thing for those that will be continuing on the TA portion. What time would you estimate we would be free to disembark the ship to sightsee in Barcelona? Should we just plan on a DIY day? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. We decided to switch everyone to Anytime dining, we were hesitant to do so initially as we were worried a table for 9 could end up being a long wait. But we'll try our luck and not stress about it!

We are a family of 9, grandparents, parents, and kids. Our bookings are linked for dining, and we have early seating. The adults would like to have the option to dine separately as a couple a night or two, in the MDR. Could they utilize the Anytime dining room and walk up and request a table for 2? I know that specialty dining is an option, but wanted to use the MDR if possible. Thanks.

WOW great!

Is there a maximum you can buy?

Yes, on Verizon there is a max of 5 cards per denomination per day. I purchased 5 of the $500 cards, and 5 of the $100 cards today!

We've also utilized the metal mailboxes by the door to leave messages for others - we would always check for 'tree mail' anytime we returned to our cabin.

You would switch rooms before you purchase cheers

I guess I wasn't clear in what l was asking. You put guys in one room and gals in another. Guys purchase Cheers. Once on board you would then go to GS to switch occupants so a guy and gal are in each room. My question was if it would pop up on the computer at GS that there were now 2 adults in the room with only one Cheers package purchased?

I've been wondering, when you go to Guest Services after boarding to switch folks around, if it would pop up on the computer that one had purchased the Cheers package. Would they then make the second person purchase Cheers before a new Sail and Sign card is issued?

We are using miles, or would have definitely looked into this option. From what I've read from others that have booked, the advantages were: prices were competitive, not having to pay in full up front, and being able to use Carnival Verizon/AARP gift cards when you do pay, therefore saving an additional 10 percent on the fare!

That price was the total. The fun 2 fly program is pretty good I think for this cruise anyway. My only problem is that you have to call carnival to book it

What airlines were you able to book with? Did you have a choice when booking?

As other have said... The only downside is that a 7 day single cruise is really hard to go back to! I've done three of them. Recommend booking the same cabin. Each one of those B2B's I've added on the second cruise later so have had to change cabins. Once we went from an OV to a GS and I wished we had just stayed in the OV- the packing was a needless hassle.

 

Have fun!

We will also be switching cabins on our B2B cruise. Do you pack up the night before or the morning of the switch? Do you carry your bags yourself to the new cabin, or will your cabin steward take care of it for you? Assuming an extra tip would be in order if they do!

We WISH we had great stories to tell, we have always been so envious of those who say they now have friends for life because of a random table assignment. We are 'younger' retirees, and have always been sat with families with small children. One little one whined almost nonstop, while another time, we had to be entertained by a 6 year old know-it-all, to the delight of his parents. Don't get us wrong, we love kids and travel with our adult children and grandchildren, but parents, please be mindful that not everyone wants their dinner conversation to revolve around the interests of a toddler. As a result, as soon as anytime dining became an option, we jumped on it.

We are booked on the Magic from Galveston for 6-12-16 and were just told its swapping with the Breeze in Port Canavaral. So now we're on the Breeze out of Galveston and yes our 50.00 OBC PER ROOM came with us! We did the magic in2013 so now we're excited to try the Breeze, & because it's in the same dream class we have our exact same 4 rooms on the Verandah deck!

 

Tim

We were booked on the Magic for the June 5 sailing, and received the email that we were being switched to the Breeze. We also had the same rooms assigned to us on the Breeze that we had on the Magic. However, my email didn't say anything about being eligible for the $50pp OBC for changing ships. Did you have to call and request this?

Quick question regarding the OBC. Does anyone know if everyone affected by the Breeze/Magic switch was supposed to receive the $50pp OBC? We were originally on the Magic and now will be sailing on the Breeze. Very happy, as we have sailed on and loved them both, and it's definitely not a downgrade. That being said, if we are eligible for the OBC, we want to make sure we get it! Thanks in advance!

We will qualify to move up to Platinum on the second leg of our B2B cruise. Just wondering if these will be considered 2 separate cruises, and if we will be Gold for the first leg, and Platinum for the second. Thinking primarily of initial boarding, and whether we will need to try and purchase Faster to the Fun. Looking for advice from others who have been in this situation. Thanks in advance!

You won't regret it, New Year's cruises are the best! The ship is still decorated for the holidays, and everyone is generally still in the holiday spirit. We are in our late 50's and have celebrated New Year's on both Carnival and Royal, and much prefer Carnival's atmosphere. Loved the multiple parties going on throughout the ship, we liked the fact that we could move around from party to party throughout the evening. On Royal (Explorer), the celebration was limited to the packed Promenade, except for a for $$ private party in the Solarium.

I'm pretty sure it's 6pm daily.

Our cruise last month was the first since they replaced the drink coupon with the gift. The free water wasn't in our room when we boarded, and not knowing any different, assumed that the tall bottles that are usually there were free for us. Wrong! We were charged for that bottle, and the free ones showed up during the evening turn-down service.

We found that overall, there were much fewer young people on board, and mostly European families. The kids tended to be young teens and up.