kool_kat

6 hours ago, lynnber said:

We're on 7/11 - less than a month away now, and when I look at the Cruise Planner it still says Indy. I don't care if I'm in crews quarters, I want to be on that damned ship!

 

I’m with you. Still waiting fir 7/11 assignment. Was yours a comped casino cruise or full pay?

I sail in 29 days and still haven’t been changed over. I really don’t get their method of not doing cruises in July first and I’m trying so hard to be patient but ugh. 

4 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Your new favorite is 225,000 tons,  you bad mouth a ship that is 135,000 tons, yet it wasn't the size.....🤔🤔🤔

Vista is Carnival’s largest ships, so people may argue I just don’t need to sail the bigger ships. My argument was simply to state it was not that it was a larger ship (as I have no issues with other large ships) but just a very poorly designed ship. 

On 9/4/2019 at 10:12 PM, beachbum53 said:

The Vista. I didn't like the way the theater is designed. We had Anytime Dining, which is held in the Horizon Restaurant, in the Aft of the ship on Deck 3. Because the entrance to the MDR is on Deck 3, right off of the elevator lobby, there is very little room for people to line up to wait to be seated. Instead, you have to go to a little kiosk on Deck 5  and get a ticket with your check in time to be seated, then make your way down two decks to the MDR when it's time to go eat dinner. A major design flaw in my opinion. Also not real fond of the Atrium design. These, along with a few other minor things that I didn't like, are the reasons we won't be cruising again on the Vista. And, since the sister ship the Horizon  is built the same way, we won't be cruising on it either.

I 100% agree on the Vista. I think the whole thing was poorly designed. Huge lines every time we went anywhere. We sailed on it in 2017 because it was Carnival’s latest and greatest and nobody liked the ship. Felt so crowded. Meanwhile, my new favorite is royal Caribbean’s oasis class so I know it was the layout of the Vista, not the size. 

We bought 200 shares at right under 10. My goal is to sell 100 shares if it hits 20 then keep my other 100 for basically free. 

Yep booked Thursday - 4 day on Elation on 3/26. I couldn’t pass up 2 ocean view rooms for 6 people for 1,300 total with 200 obc. Next day they announced the additional obc for not canceling so now it’s 400 which will cover all gratuities and then some. 

I received an e-mail with this offer (O1H) this morning.  I've got a 4 day on hold on the Elation for the end of March.  Waiting to get confirmation everyone can go.  I've got 2 OV rooms on the Empress deck for 6 people total for under 1300 all in + 200 OBC & drinks on us.

21 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

You do not need to move you or your husband into the children's stateroom.  Royal will let you book minors into their own stateroom as long as that stateroom is next to or across the hall from yours.  You have to call to do this, you cannot do this via the website.

 

Also, you cannot change from non-refundable to redundable wthout paying the penalty for cancelling.

This is exactly what I needed to know.  Thank you!

Hi all,

My extended family is booked for a cruise on the Harmony of the Seas in May, 2020.  So far, we have 4 rooms side by side.  In my room is just me and my husband.  We became foster parents at the beginning of this year.  We are currently transitioning 3 little girls (ages 4, 2, & 1) into our house as a pre-adoptive house.  What this means is that their plan has changed from being reunited to their parents to being adopted.  There is still some red tape to get through before they are free to adopt.

Obviously, if they are still part of our family (which it appears they will be) in May 2020 we want them to go on the cruise.  The room beside our room is open and is a connecting room to our room, so we would like to book this room (because I'm assuming all 5 can't share a normal balcony room).  My current reservation is a non-refundable room.  I need their reservation to be fully refundable due to the situation.

I know I will need to move either me or my husband into the new room and then book the girls.  Before I called, I was trying to get an idea of how best to do this/what I'm actually requesting.

Can I change a non-refundable into refundable?  Can I move my husband and add the kids as refundable.  What's my best options here?

Thanks in advance!

9 hours ago, RobinCruiser said:

Question that I'm sure has been asked before - If I have cups from previous cruises, will they work on the freestyle machines if I bring them with me on my cruise? Just curious. I actually have several sets of cups, all unopened and see them listed on Ebay so wondering if I sell mine, would someone be able to use them for free soda?

If the cup has never been used at all at the machine, it will work on another cruise.  The cup is good for 14 days after activation.  Activation occurs when the cup is first used in the freestyle machine.

That will be great on the way there. I don't know anything about your flight time on the way home' date=' so can't comment there. For an 8:00 pick up, you'll want to be off the ship by about 7:30 so you have time to go thru Customs. The lines are a bit longer first thing after the doors open, that's why the 30 minutes. Normally I'd suggest about 15 minutes for Customs.

 

You'll not only save the $100 on the van cost, but you'll save by getting whatever you pick up. Remember the alcohol amounts permitted in your carry ons. No limits on water, but again must be in carry on luggage. 12:30 is an excellent PAT.[/quote']

 

We are actually going back to Bay Lake for a couple more days, so flights are not an issue. We have no major plans that day other than dinner reservations at 5:00 and some pirate something that evening. I'm wondering if I should back our time up until 9:00 am. That's the latest they would let you pick.

 

We are definitely stopping to pick up our limits...and our grandmother's limits, and non-drinking parents limits lol.

While I don't know of any companies to suggest, perhaps you can tell the family my experience with DCL transfers from Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

They picked us up around 12:30. It took a while for them to load everything. We made several stops on the way, each taking a while to load.

We arrived after 3:00pm. The lunch places on board were closed other than the fast food stuff by the pool. We were very hungry as we hadn't had anything since breakfast. The ship was jam packed with people, kids shoving in the lines for the food and we ended up just taking whatever we could and ducking into the adults only area. There were no available seats in the family areas at that time.

 

Having other transportation allows you to get to the ship a few hours before we did. You could have a nice lunch in one of the restaurants or at the buffet without gazillions of kids shoving their way to grab food at the fast food deck.

Thank you for this info. I brought it up and we ended up booking a van for

about $100 cheaper and it includes a stop to pick up items (we're going to get our carryon beer / water /wine).

Our PAT is 12:30, so I'm having them pick us up at 11:00am. I also said to pick us up for the return trip at 8:00 am. Hoping that will work.

OK' date=' departure from Animal Kingdom LODGE is as above. Silly is correct that the bus may make up to 3 stops before heading to the cruise terminal or your hotel may be the only stop--it depends on how many people staying at each hotel have booked DCL transfers.

 

THat brings me to a question....DCL transfers are easiest, but for 7 people, you could arrange a private towncar/limo service for about half the cost....is there a reason you are using DCL transfers? You can cancel them and use private transportation if desired. Yes, with private transportation you or the bellman will need to bring your luggage to the front of the hotel, but you will depart at a time YOU choose and go directly to the cruise terminal...and you won't be asked to be in the lobby 45 minutes early! It really depends on how you want to spend that morning. If taking DCL transportation, there is plenty of time to do a character breakfast at one of the other resorts (hint). On the other hand, if doing private transportation, you'll be on the ship earlier.

 

3 dining rooms is no issue at all. Your time and table number stay the same. Only the room changes. The rotation is listed on your KTTW card as well as the ticket in your cabin AND your server will remind you each night of where you will be the next evening.[/quote']

 

Honestly, because it's easier. If it were up to me, I would have looked at alternative arrangements, but I'm new to the family (we've been married 8 months) so I'm trying to just go with the flow. In their family, Disney hung the moon, so I don't want to suggest doing something different and it go wrong because the sentiment would be if we had done Disney it would have been better. I'm also dealing with a lot of personalities and age ranges. Though, if we could do a limo that would be pretty cool. Any suggestions on where to look for that?

Thank you everyone for your responses. We are staying at the animal kingdom lodge, so thank you for the detailed response of how the bus works.

This makes me feel better about my cruise knowledge still being helpful. It just sounded like a lot was different from the way you eat (rotating vs one dining) to free cokes, but no casino.

Hi all,

I am going to be on the 4 day Disney Magic March 13th with my husband and his family to celebrate his mamaw's 80th birthday. Family consists of us, his brother/sil & 2 children (3yo + 6month), mother, mamaw, and SIL's parents (one who works for Disney). I've cruised Carnival and RCCL numerous times so I'm the "cruise expert" in the family, though they are definitely more Disney experts. We've never done a Disney cruise before.

As I've been reading, I've realized Disney definitely does things a little differently than Carnival/RCCL who's process basically seemed the same. Is there anything specific I should know on the Disney process that is significantly different from Carnival / RCCL? I'm also looking for specific Disney first time cruiser tips / vs. just newbie cruise tips.

Also, a couple of specific questions

1) We paid for transportation from Animal Kingdom to Port Canaveral. I've verified the pick up, but we've received no information on when / where to meet and at what time. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

2) I read some Navigators and noticed it mentioned picking up tickets for meet and greets on the first day. Can someone give me more info on this? Is this for all characters? Does everyone need a ticket or can just one person go?

3) Shows - Are all shows first come / first serve? On the Allure, you actually reserved tickets but all others were just first come / first serve? How early do we need to get there to get decent seats for 7?

4) Gift Cards - My husband and I are planning on using gift cards to pay for all our onboard expenditures. Do I just set this up as a cash account and then pay it off the last night? Or can I actually give them a gift card at the front end?

5) Dinner Attire - Carnival/RCCL is a generally dressier dinner, but it looks like Disney is a casual attire - is that correct? Just no flip flops / tank tops?

Thanks in advance!

Really? Then that's a game changer for me. I must be thinking of carnival not including drinks in their island. Thanks for clearing that up!

So my husband and I are doing a 3 day cruise out of Port Canaveral. I've cruise multiple times, but he has never cruised (newly married). I have never done the drink package before as my drinking is really swayed by who I'm with and I can go either way - drink a little or drink a lot. I don't really care either way.

I originally thought we would do the drink package because we drank a fair amount on our honeymoon in Sandals and I enjoyed the freedom on ordering whatever. However, I realized we have zero sea days. We have embarkation day 1, Nassau day 2, and Coco Cay day 3 and then back to port. Now I'm really torn as we will be in Nassau most the day and I spend ALL day on the island, where drinks aren't included in the package (right).

So that basically means we would have to drink all our drinks at night. I'm a frozen cocktail lover with an occasional Baileys to put in my coffee. His main drink is Captain and Coke or beer. Can anyone give me their thoughts / opinions on doing /not doing the drink package when you have no sea days.

Thanks all!

Did Allure of the Seas May 25th sailing and there was no check-out period. For port day, the normal towel distribution area was open and no check-out required. Coming back on the ship, there was a towel bin to dump your used towels right outside before you entered back on the ship, but no check-in.