cruisecraze96

No cocktails in the hot tubs...sorry. (although I have seen people sneak them)...Shhhhhhhh:eek:

Whoops...I remember bringing my drink into the hot tub one night and watched the movie. No one else was there but I forgot that was a no no. :)

Sneakers...I wanted to workout but forgot to bring shoes to do it in :)

Also, I packed way to many clothes, when we go in March I am going to significantly reduce the amount of clothing items I bring. At least that is what I am telling myself now :)

I did bring an extention strip, but silly me brought one that did not work in the room. Remember there is only 1 outlet.

Had this happen, I had a 50 OBC for military and when looking at changing to a balcony somehow it disappeared. Called Carnival and they said it was still showing but it was not on my confirmation page anymore. When I got onboard I checked my account and it was not posted, had to make a call to guest services to get it all sorted out and in the end they put the 50 back on where I could see it, first was told that it was behind the scenes and did not believe that :)

Hi There,

So I was wondering the reality of these scenarios:

 

For those who purchased it and got on board- what time did boarding start for FTTF? Got to the port around 11:30 and they called for FTTF about a minute after I go through the check in line. I would say if I didn't wait on my mom i would have been on the ship by 11:45.

 

 

If you did not have it and sailed recently- what time did you being to board?My mom did not have it but she was through the line and we were on the ship about 11:50 that same day. Now that was not her normal boarding number but they were already on group 6 or 7 when we went on and so I would say it would not have been more than another 30 minutes.

 

For the Eastern Caribbean itinerary: Was the FTTF worth it for the HMC tender?We had a tender at the Caymans and did not need it. But we also went in November so I don't know how that would have worked out. We also are early people so was on the first tender out that morning. I would say with the pp the couple might have waited until later that morning and then got stuck in the crowd trying to get off :(

 

If you had FTTF- did you use the extra guest service line?

kinda...I never had a real issue but did use it twice. Did not have any bill issues but did see the last 2 days of the cruise the line getting pretty long so if I would have needed it then that would have been handy to not wait in.

 

Did FTTF seem worth the purchase?YES!! Got it again for our upcoming March cruise and since I think we have 2 tenders I bet I will have more use for that part.

:D see cmmts above

I haven't cruised in a while and just booked a cruise and purchased FTTF. My question is my son and his family are considering joining us (their first cruise). If all the FTTFs are gone by the time they decide can I have all the luggage go to my cabin? Can I take my 1 year old granddaughter with me for early boarding even if she is booked in their cabin? The didn't have FTTF last time I cruised so this is new for us. I really only bought it so I could go to my cabin early.

 

Thanks for any info.

I have the same problem, we have 3 cabins. Mine that has me and DD (4), Aunt and DD (11) and then my sister and mom. My mom got a suite so when I was booking the FTTF I selected her cabin (stupid me) and not my Aunts and they can't change it.

I just keep checking but worst case have to go through the regular line to check in but get the priority pass to get on the ship and they can go with me then. Last cruise my mom was unable to get a suite since it was last minute and they allowed her to board with me after she went through the regular check in line.

This makes me HAPPY :) we are going on her in less than 60 days and super excited!

So far only negative about this booking is I messed up and booked the FTTF rooms on mine and my mom's instead of mine and my Aunts so now that my oldest DD is in my Aunt's room I don't know how that will work (mom has suite). Worst case we get there early and hope for short lines :).

Not all the time does it show there I found out, on my last cruise I had all the paperwork and had to call the front desk because at check in I was missing some of my OBC. They found it and posted it to my bill. Just saying to double check your account once you get onboard to make sure it is there.

We booked the Radisson as well for our March cruise, did the senior rate for 2 rooms without parking and 1 room with parking for my mom's car :)

What I did was google Port Canaveral park and stay and it brought up several options. A good comparison site I found was

http://www.parkingstay.com/p/port-canaveral-area-hotels-view-port.html

Usually Priority Embarkation is included when you get a suite not FTTF. Maybe your TA worked out something or maybe he is getting confused because you do get some of the same perks.

Let's see, you get on before the FTTF group so unless you walk really slow and the FTTF people sprinted I don't see how you could get trampled :) Heck, before FTTF you would have been trampled by that pesky first boarding group that went on after you .

Those that purchase it don't get a t-shirt that says haha I paid for FTTF and you didn't. At least I didn't see where they sold it, so there might be one.

I am really upset now that I would have to pay for FTTF to get the perks but I don't get laundry or BOGO slots....not fair

I guess you are also upset that those silly people who get suites get to board early too...dang them. Wait! They board the suites after you go....they must have trampled you on the way on the ship, sorry about that it might have been me.

Was on the Freedom in November and I thought the lido buffet was great. I just loved the Tandoori station, it was pretty awesome and they had some great selections. I did grab pizza a couple nights since they are open late and just had a beer and slice of pizza :).

I see the same thing on the DIS boards, where people call CS and get different responses. :) Many of those answering the phones have never even been on the boats and they are reading from scripts or prompts on a screen. If they type in the info wrong they could be prompted with wrong results ( such as I can't find it so I will tell you no.

I was just on in November and here is what I saw

1. Yes you can purchase cheers the 2nd night (last time to buy) it will charge for all your cruise days still so the same price as if you bought it on the first night but if you did get drinks the first day it will credit those up to the amounts allowed.

2. Camp Carnival is not open on the first night, it is family night so kids must have their guardian with them. They have activities and orientation for you to attend. Sucks because of course first night is free bottle of wine in the steak house night and I personally would not take my DD (4) in there :)

Hope you have a great cruise!

xxx

DH and I each have a cabin booked on our 2/8/14 sailing. I was only able to get FTTF on my cabin before it sold out, can the 4 of us still board together?

My mom decided last minute (about 3 days before) to go with me on my November cruise. I had FTTF in my cabin but not in hers. When we got to the port they allowed us both to go through the first line but after security they made her go to the normal line to check in while I went over to FTTF line. I pretty much got checked in and got my boarding card and waited by the door until she got there. After she got there they took my card (they didn't even give her one since told them I was waiting) and let us both on. It was after the FTTF boarding and they were on group 5 or 6 but still if not no clue what number she would have been.

Now my March cruise I screwed up and got FTTF for her cabin and mine, she is in a suite and did not need it, and forgot to put it on my cabin and my Aunt's (whose has my 11 yr old on the room booking). They said I could try and cancel and quickly rebook the FTTF under the other cabin but there is no warm and fuzzy it will even pop up :( Still waiting but hopefully they don't make DD go through the long line. At least as soon as we do board we can go to my room and drop stuff off :)

I took my first cruise last November and had a great time!

1. I took $100 per port (we had 3) and then an extra $100 for other tips and the casino since I prepaid my onboard tips. I did have a CC on file for drinks and a spa day :) I had $100 onboard credit and that got used up on the spa day pretty fast but my final bill was not that bad with the drinks on it.

2. I don't smoke but my mom does and was in her own balcony room. She just brought enough with her for the week and did not need to buy more. They did have some sales on the boat but you did have to buy like 5 cartons at a time to get the price and it was the $105 which is pretty good.

3. I tried not to overpack but I did, I ended up wearing more sundresses than anything else so next cruise I will pack those and leave out the stuff I don't tend to wear. I also forgot tennis shoes for the gym and I forgot to bring glide for walking. There was lots of walking on port days :)

I was looking at bz and the different tours, what it says on the combo one with zoo, etc is that the cave tubing is shortened...not the tub part but all the stops to discuss the flora and things on the way to the cave...so the tour part is shortened so you can go to the zoo or zip line, etc.

We are looking to do the zip line and cave tubing combo and will be booking with them. Looking forward to it!

When I had to this this before I always cancel the excursions first and then the cruise, did not have a problem.

Was on the Freedom, I guess I was on the no to little dance cruise becase the night club was pretty empty :( But many people were in their in jeans, some girls in dresses etc. Not to many people were dressed up.

I brought some dressy tops and then jeans...that is my go to outfit going out and easy to pack :)

Shoot wish they expired end of March then I would have bought them off you :)

Thanks guys, I sent this to my TA and she got me the $80 bar credit and a price reduction of $200. I made sure I didn't lose my ES promo since if the price drops I would like the additional OBC :)

I also think your reviews are great, we are going on the Dream in March and I did check the Cruise TT site and we look to be lucky that most ports there are 1 maybe 2 ships in port with us. Hopefully that helps with the crowds.

I think we are going to do the Chankanaab over Playa Mia just because with our group it gives everyone more options. My sister and oldest DD can do the dolphin swim and I can take the youngest one to the beach or the encounter.

Your review did make me book Little French Key :)

I usually never use my phone on the ship for anything but photos.

In fact, I turn off the data so I dont pay the ship rates.

 

If I have to make a call to the states, I call from the cabin phone.

I think its about $2 bucks a min. Not bad for being in the middle of the ocean.

Yep that is what I did too...now on my phone I was able to pick and choose what to turn on/off so I turned off all data but left my cell on and blocked all but calls from family numbers. I got free incoming text messages on my plan when international so I left those on as well.

It was usually easier and less to use the phone in the cabin, and then I did buy a data plan onboard and was able to facetime the kids a couple nights when the internet wasn't crappy.

It doesn't matter if you have unlimited, you are on cellular at sea and that is not covered under normal plans. You will be charged for each outgoing text message, your inbound text messages will still be free.

Please please check out Verizon's travel abroad Q&A to know exactly what is covered. Sometimes they will not cover anything out of the US.

I have unlimited but for every text I sent when I was anywhere other than Key West I was billed for, I think it was $.50 a text for international and if you send a text with a picture/video it will cost more plus the data fee.

Please post a review.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1960936

done...I posted a trip review on the Carnival page but forgot to post one of just the Mountain Excursion here. Thanks for reminding me!

This was my first cruise and I just did not feel like going to Dunns Falls, originally when I booked I was going solo since MIL/FIL wanted to shop but about 3 days before cruise my mom decided to join me on the trip so I also purchased her just the Sky Explorer portion.

Since it was my first trip I booked the excursion through Carnival so I did not have to worry about transfers.

It was pouring rain this day but no big deal, we got off the boat early and headed toward the excursion building and after we received our wristbands was quickly directed to a van.

The trip over to mystic mountain was fairly quick, just a few minutes. Once we got off we headed down the ramp to wait our turn for the Sky Explorer.

The grounds are just amazing, feels and looks like a rain forest (especially since it was raining). The foliage was lush and it was a very pleasant wait. It took us about 5-10 minutes for our turn, and lucky for us the rain stopped right as we got on the lift. I have to tell you I am terrified of heights :eek: but the view from the lift is just amazing. I got lots of pictures (which I don't have to post) of the view and the cruise ship as we headed up the mountain. I don't know how long the ride was up to the top of the mountain, we did have a couple of stops so I am going to guess it was around 20+ minutes.

My mom hung out in the pavilion area as I went over to get ready for the zip line. Since I was solo they put me with a group that was getting ready to head out and I was quickly outfitted with the gear, including a pretty red hair net :p. The staff was wonderful, not once did I feel uncomfortable with them and they made sure everyone was fitted correctly.

I brought my camera and during each zip I just set it to video mode and got some great shots. The guides we had were very friendly and funny and everyone had a great time. I did gasp during the free fall but it really was a fun zip experience. The views were great, and it is pretty neat to be zipping through the trees.

At the end you would normally get on the sky lift to take it all the way to the bottom of the mountain and then back up again. The guides asked me if my mom was waiting up by herself and when I told them she was they said to follow them instead. They took me down a trail where a bobsled quickly showed up and they took me back up the mountain the way they go ;). We were quickly back up the mountain in just a few minutes so I got to do an additional 1/2 bobsled ride too where it was pretty much full blast.

After I made sure mom was doing okay, she was buying and talking so she was, I headed over to do the bobsled. I wish you got more than one try on the sled since I was pretty nervous and even though rode it with the guides I still was apprehensive to make it go full blast. The ride was tons of fun and I would do it again.

I did not realize until after we were heading down that you could ask for a trail tour, you have to be guided but that would have been fun. The wet stones and trails could have been a problem but when we headed down the mountain we did see a few groups doing it.

Because of the weather I did not get into the pool, but it did look like a very nice place to relax. I could see on a hot day spending lots of time there, it is small so if the place did get busy it could be too many people in one area.

We headed back to the Sky Explorer to head down, and no more than a few minutes into the trip down the sky opened up on us. We were drenched rats when we got to the bottom but it was still fun!

Mom and I got back on the bus and he took us back to the shopping area across from the port where we did pick up some shirts and items to bring back home.

I am glad that we did the mountain due to the weather, I think that it would have not been as fun trying to go up the falls in the rain. The next time we are on a cruise that stops in Jamaica and I have the kids with me I would take my oldest daughter on that trip, she loves to zip line and I think the who experience would be enjoyable for her. I would also like to do the falls, just to say I did but that gives me an excuse to go back.

I would recommend the excursion to others, and on one note my MIL/FIL did end up going and doing just the Sky Explorer and after taxis they paid more than what my mom did through Carnival.