cruzincat50

Is this the Panorama?

Thanks for the information, i've made an appointment at the miami office, will have to drive the 5 hours to get it done, but i want to be sure it's done, gotta stop and get passport photos on the way down. I am not looking forward to the 10 hour trip. But, it is what... it is as they say.

Just went through it with my wife, whose Passport was more than 15 years old. Had to go through the complete thing with BC.

From: https://www.usa.gov/passport#item-34907

"You can renew your current or expired U.S. passport unless your passport was:

• Issued before your 16th birthday
  
• Issued 15 or more years ago
  
• Damaged, lost, or stolen
  
• Issued in your previous name and you don’t have a legal document like a marriage license to prove your legal name change"
  

If you still have your old passport, you can take it to a passport office and expedite it.

If your passport only recently expired, it can still be renewed, and you won't need your BC.

I wouldn't do short B2B's of 3 or 4 days if I could do a 7 day cruise. Esp. if the 3 and 4 day cruises repeat ports.

 

I also wouldn't do B2B's of 7 days if there was a 14 day sailing available.

 

I do like the alternate itineraries of a 7 day eastern and then a 7 day western. But as the OP said, turnover day is pretty much a non eventful day with Customs and muster drill thrown in.

I've noticed that some of the other cruise lines list (on VTG) their sailings as 7 days and 14 days for a B2B, where the second half is a different itinerary. You have to watch for it, if you are looking for a "true" 14 day cruise.

Because I haven't even seen where FTTF is purchased for a long time now, can I confirm that it is listed under Port 1 of the Excursions Page? That's where I keep looking.

We've always been able to board early without FTTF. We show up around 10 a.m. and are on the ship by 11 a.m. However, you can't always get in the rooms that early (I've never had to wait until 1 p.m.). My motivation for getting FTTF is to avoid the long lines for tendering (which can be brutal with the 2 hour wait times) and to avoid the long lines at customer service desk (also brutal and a big waste of vacation time).

According to your Sig, You haven't cruised on CCL since 2015. You don't think things have changed since then? Have you done the online checkin yet for your 2019 cruise? You'll find out you have to select a checkin time. That is new.

I originally used a debit card in the online checkin, but I plan to edit that to add about $200 in AARP rewards cards, and then add cash on the day we board. If we have both the cards and cash in the account, will they debit from the cards before they touch the cash? I'd rather not have to wait on them to send a card with balance owed, if they have taken the cash first.

I have never been able to latch on to a FTTF for any of my past cruises, after I found out about it. I have a problem where standing around causes my legs and back to start aching. No problem walking or sitting. I would have loved it. Now I have one more cruise in three weeks that we booked last minute, so FTTF is again not available. After that though, our next booked cruise will be as Platinum and we won't need it. If anyone is going to relinquish their FTTF on the Bermuda Cruise in my Sig below, let me know just before you do it, so I can jump on it!

If your first cruise is a little ways away, check out the AARP Rewards for Good thread, and save yourself some money. All you would probably need for your tips and other small charges onboard is about $300, and that would cost you roughly $270.

Does it matter if or which TA you use? Does it work better if you v=book direct with carnival?

For those of you who stalk the website 20 times a day everyday for months to finally get the privilege of shelling out $90, have you ever compared the time that you spent trying to get this with the actual amount of time you saved on board?

I am retired and I can't afford to live on a Cruiseship, but I can afford to make the few cruises I do go on a little more enjoyable.

That is a very unique piece of luggage, the ship even resembles an older Carnival ship. Very cool.

As an aside, I notice the luggage dimensions technically make it larger than most airlines maximum size of 62 inches, unless you're driving to the port?

We're driving. About 12 miles I would guess!;p

There are three different sizes available. It is some kind of plastic that has some give to it, probably so it won't crack when banged up. Has a ten year guarantee. We'll see...

Sadly almost impossible,its my sisters birthday:mad::mad::loudcry::loudcry:

We plan to stay one day after the cruise in New Orleans

Well, then you should investigate availability and cost of airfare to the first port the cruise stops at so you won't miss out on the whole cruise if you get delayed. Or else check with your sister to see if it matters all that much.

Thanks for the post. I looked and they have clear plastic luggage tags that the printable luggage tags will fit in, for our new cruise themed luggage we just bought. I was going to have to get some tags anyway.

The luggage was from Amazon,

IT Luggage Virtuoso 32-Inch Hardside Spinner

But, please, No body else should buy it because it's easier for us to find ours on Debarkation if we are the only ones! ;)

That wouldn't make too much of a difference. You really should fly in at least 1 day prior to your cruise. This is common advise for Americans flying just from several states away, another country even adds to that. Depending on when you're cruising, the airline you're flying, the airport you're flying to, etc., your flight could be delayed many hours or several days. It's not uncommon at all.

Flying in one day early will give you a chance to see a little of New Orleans, if everything goes well. If something doesn't go well, you'll see a lot more of New Orleans. I think you want to minimize that risk.

Coming from Argentina and flying in the day of cruise?

 

Good Luck, you are cutting it very, very close.

 

And yes it's usually 1 -1/2 hours before departure you need to be on board.

You will have to come through customs at the airport as well. This might be the hang up that makes you miss your cruise! You should change your flight to the day before and book a hotel somewhere. Most hotels, even remotely near the port, will have a shuttle service that can take you to the port.

I just ordered 2 $100 cards for the first time. There was an additional $1.18 tacked on for shipping. Does anybody know if that is a fixed percentage of the value, an amount per card, or for shipping cost for more than one card no matter how many?

Wondering if anyone has tried streaming Sirius/XM through the Premium WIFI on board? We are heading to Bermuda in September and the Journeys in November. If no-one can answer I may try it for one day during the Bermuda Cruise, to see if it is worth taking my Bluetooth speaker (for the cabin only!) on the 14 day cruise.

I'm on the Feb. 1, 2020 San Diego to Miami full canal transit on the Miracle. Love the Miracle and the Spirit class ships in general. We don't know where the Miracle goes after Miami. She disappears from the schedule.

 

Roz

The Pride is also not on the schedule. Also a Spirit Class ship. The Pride sails out of Baltimore, which is limited in what ships can get under the bridges on the Chesapeake Bay. It would be nice to have them swap ships to give us frequent Pride passengers a chance for something different.

The ones they sent us are unused/unactivated. They sent them as a reimbursement for overpayment, since our total was now cheaper. They aren't the original cards we used to pay for them, we just got these in the mail.

Chances are they are tied to you for your use only and only good for CCL cruises, excursions and maybe goods purchased on Carnival.com

Parkwest did not renew their contract with Carnival.

I tried a search to confirm that, but I didn't find anything. One link actually went to a Carnival page that described the relationship between CCL and PW, but it may be an outdated page.

Do you have a source for the non-renewal? I am hoping they won't be there anymore. The wife likes to go to the Auctions and it has cost me a lot of $$ in the past. She is getting better about that, but I would like to avoid them altogether. In my search I did find a lot of info on people getting scammed, and one about PW getting sued for faking Dali prints.

I too bring a small fan on board. Though I need one for those wonderful hot flashes - I really need it for the white noise.

 

Can anyone recommend a small fan that makes noise? I keep seeing portable fans advertised as "quiet" - which is the last thing I want.

We have a fan that fits the bill. I don't think they make them anymore, but there may be some on Ebay. It is called Kool Operator Jr. Made by Lakewood. Look it up. It is not overly noisy, but it is good for white noise especially at the high setting. It moves air really well. It is not overly large either, and it is not deep, about 5 inches. Overall it is under 12x12 inches h/w.

Question from a new person. :) Can you pay for excursions with multiple gift cards? Or do you need to have ONE gift card with more than the excursion cost available? We need "about" $270 to cover our desired excursion and gratuities, so we'd prefer not to buy $500. Has anyone else dealt with this?

You would just deposit them into your sign and sail account when you get on board. Someone else might know if you can do that by online checkin before you board. I know you can set up a credit card to cover your charges that way.

I've received cards within 2-3 days after the cruise a couple different times. Not exactly sure on how long it was but it was very fast.

Thanks. As you can see from my sig, I have two cruises coming up fairly close. Well, within about two months anyway.