shloink1

Trying to book an XL balcony cabin.  The app and desktop keep defaulting me to the 14th floor.  I have read many noise issues about this floor and would prefer to be on any deck below in that cabin category. We are booking far enough out I doubt it is availability issue and our friends just book that same category on deck 9 yesterday.   Opinions?

Also, does the bar credit include Bimini?

Thanks in advance.    

8:30am, still have not been cleared. 

Due to political rioting the Prime Minister has cancelled all cruise stops to the island until further notice.  

Thanks for checking in and posting your boarding times and experience. We wll be on board in 12 days in an SS category as well (6096) and found that information very helpful.

Could I bother you for these details as well;

Who is your cruise director?

Is the pool area overly crowded on your sea day and are the cabanas around the pool being used?   

-Wife loves to spend all day at the pool on sea days and we are trying to decide if it is wise just to spend some additional monies for some guaranteed space (cabana) up on the pool deck.

Thank you in advance for this and any additional info you can provide.   : )

On 11/17/2019 at 11:41 AM, bEwAbG said:

 

I hope the poster will come back and clarify, but I read it as if they used OBC to pay for part of it, so the net out of pocket cost was that much lower. 

- The package offered/posted was purchased and then the $50pp OBC was added onto my documents under guest information on our guest booking confirmation. 

FYI.

Just was offered Club Orange on our December 7th sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam @$350 for the week, with $100 of that being OBC. This breaks down to $17.86 per person, per day for the cruise. 

I just watched a video showing that the Lobster Shack on Half Moon Cay was closed.

Does anyone know if this is a permanent action or just something that happened that week/that individual's cruise? 

Thanks in advance. 

On 7/25/2019 at 1:59 PM, Tutontow said:

As a side note if you play at $25.00 a hand switch to NCL.  After your first cruise you will get an inside cabin anytime to anywhere anytime you want to go.  You just call up the players club and they will take care of you.

I find the NCL info very interesting... Thanks for the heads up on that! 

The July/familes angle is something I hadn't taken into consideration as well.

Pre-paid our parking with Park connect. Super easy booking. Plug in your cruise date and it confirms your days away.

7 nights parking was $49.00 for our July 12th  Carnival Miracle cruise.

The parking garage is they direct you to use is the  Channelside Parking Garage which is directly across the street from the terminals. (369 S.12th St is the address)

Our boat was docked at terminal 3 so it was maybe a 2 minute longer walk from car to boat compared to if the boat was at terminal 2.

I dropped off family and luggage, parked and was back with them in 7 minutes.

On the return you go to the gate, hit the call button and tell them your order number and the gate opens and you are on your way.

- Very easy process from beginning to end and the rate for how close you are to your boat really is respectable.     

Have read so many different times of day and things regarding this excursion I thought I should document our day:

Highly recommend this tour through Carnival.

Here is the lowdown

Exotic shore excursions is the company that Carnival charters. Fantastic service.

7:30am meeting in theatre

We were on 1st tender loading starting at 8:00

pull away from ship, 8:20

Belize City, 8:50

had to wait for guests who couldnt get up in time for the 8:20 pull away :/ so the 50 person boat to Cay Caulker didn't leave till 9:35

Cay Caulker, 10:25

food order put in for when you get back, bathroom break and equipment pick up at the lazy lizard done at this time.

back out 11:00am

2 stops for rays and sharks about 20 min total out and 20 back

1 hour and 20 minutes snorkling. heavy currents in ocean. 

back to lizard @1:00pm

lunch at 1:30

loading boat back to Belize City 2:15 

pull out 2:30

Back to Belize City 3:20

shopped for trinkets for 15 minutes

tender boat back to ship 3:35

back on boat 3:55

last tender was 4:15

- 10 of us went on this excursion. 2 of us stayed back on Cay Caulker (my wife and I)

All 8 said the reef tour AND the staff were unbelievable. Jose, Edna, Louis, Kareem and Henry. Edna stayed with the youngest one in our group (11)  the whole time in water. Fantastic service she was give is what I was told. 

My wife and I stayed and explored what I would consider one of the last truly untouched islands in the Caribbean. Rented a golf cart (delivered to us at the Lizard) for $12.50 US an hour (kept it all 4 hours-$50 cash, bring a drivers licenses) so when my friends came back from their snorkling they could take a quick runabout of the island as well. Went and had crepes at a little breakfast shop and drove around while the others were on reef. Youtube can give you a vibe of what a laid back, simple island in the middle of nowhere is to see if it is something that interests you. We also did this to decide if this is an island we would like to come back to and visit for a few days in the future.

We are quite the adventurous types and have done many excursions on our own. I would only recommend getting to Cay Caulker on this Carnival run tour. There are to many variables that could go sideways through this longf day for you to not get back to the ship on time. Besides, the staff is fantastic and very knowledgable. Lunch is not included in your fare but once you see how long it takes and the fuel they burn up getting you out and back from these reefs it is actually a fair rate in my opinion. 

Should mention- Our weather was perfect all day which really helped with the colors of the reefs and water. An overcast or rainy day could really hamper this excursion. I couldn't imagine riding out to the reefs at the speeds we were doing and getting hit by rain.  

hope the info was helpful  

Just got back from our July 12th cruise. Booked a decent casino rate with some perks but what a letdown.

- Craps table had 2 night's that were fun with some people playing for about an hour but my game of choice is 3/2 blackjack. 

- Only one table available every evening and I had to ask to have it opened. They didn't seem to mind but after awhile it was wondering, do they even want my action?! 

   I ended up being the only player on that table all week. (their words)

There are benefits to playing straight up but let's face it, hand counts rack up pretty quickly and at $25 a hand bankroll management must be controlled.

So I am curious, has anybody else had a similar experience like this lately? ($25 tables with no action) 

Thank you all very much for your opinions and insight. Reasonable thoughts win out over desired blue waters... Just have to wait till summer to book something.   Thanks again      

Port Canaveral to MCO

IF! everything would go on time;

- Ship is in port @8am  

-We would be on site parking and arriving early day of departure so a good exit spot should be had for the qucikest exit.

- 45 minute drive to Orlando airport.

-Rental car return is at terminal and we will not need to top off gas tank on drive over.

- We only have one flight that will work for us due to many reasons and that flight departs at 10:35am

    Do you book this cruise?

Have stayed at The Stanton (Marriott property) and arriving there tomorrow for the Vista sailing this Saturday. Property is close enough to SoBe yet far enough away and directly on the beach. Respectable rates can be had.

We have 2 Havana Cabana cabins (5238/5240) on the upcoming 12-17-16 cruise.

I booked those cabins 554 days ago. At that time I felt the rate was fair for what the photo's showed what the cabins would be and the perks that where going to come with it. Over that time I have watched our cruise week and others for that class of cabin incresse exponentially to that point that the last cabin I saw available for our a Havana Cabana category was over a 100% increase of the rate we locked into.

I think Carnival surprisingly underestimated the popularity of all these Havana cabins to the point that they added/changed cabin categories to the Havana class and it immediately allowed them to raise the rates on all these new class of cabins (these are the higher deck, aft cabins) about a full year ago.

Are these cabins worth it?! It is probably a personal opinion but the initial supply verses demand indicates yes.

Good info. Thanks!

Sorry if it has been posted but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Once you submit (fax) the required paperwork into the number provided do you get any kind of confirmation that it was received / processed / credited??

any insight is appreciated.

Don't let the folks from them other fancy cruise lines see that your drinking chilled red wine over here on Carnival. What will they think of us then

Now that's funny!!

We may be neighbors. We are in 5236 on the December 17th sailing; Mountain State Row in Little Havana!

Well I'll be darned, we will be... Hidey ho, neighbor.

I see your cruise is celebrating a 60th birthday "extravaganza." Ironically, this cruise is celebrating my wife's 50th.

Nice find on the comprehensive review. We will be staying in Havana cabins 5238 and 5240 on the Dec, 17th sailing and this answered plenty of questions. Thanks again.

We are booked on the 12-17-16 Vista sailing. We have 2 Havana Cabanas side by side with no interior access to each cabin. We are curious if any past Vista cruisers have noticed the wooden panel on these patio's opened to make one larger Lanai? This would also give us another easier access option to each cabin.

The divider looks similar in size to the cabin dividers we have requested to be open on past Carnival cruises so I am hopeful this may be an option as well.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Flying into FLL the day before cruise and staying in Miami/South Beach. We will pick up the rental car at FLL ($45.22 for an SUV) and keep it till the next morning. I am wanting to drop everyone/everything off at the port and then return the car to the 2nd Ave, downtown (Hyatt) location.

I am curious if anyone has ever done this and if it was smooth sailing, issues or tips they could share?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks again recent cruisers for the first hand information.

I understand I am a “newbie” on here when it comes to posting. I was not looking to cause any opinionated discussions regarding my original post. I was just trying to gain some insight, that is what a forum like this should be for I believe. (To educate, inform and share/enjoy the common interest we obviously all have.)

Anyways, I had no interest in going down any slide. I think after this discussion, I should give it a go!:) (if it’s open)

Safe waters and sunshine to all.

"These kinds of post puzzle me. What does it matter if it is broken or working today. What matters is the status when I am there."

Maybe it matters because Carnival used it in their marketing of the ship to entice consumers to cruise on it. ~ Again, not in my case but Carnival would have not put this in dry dock and upgraded that area had they not felt it was important in a consumer aspect and a financial one for them as well.

Maybe it simply matters so I can prepare the children for the possibility that it has not been working for some time it seems and that they should just be aware of that. (Wallyworld)

Maybe it matters because like other things that may be important to you on your vacation, you would like to know if there has been in an issue prior to your boarding. (Hurricanes and access to islands/shore excursions comes to mind on past cruises I have taken)

And obviously if the slide has been deemed unsafe, it should be closed. I didn't ask why it was not operational, just if it had been.

Thank You to the others for the information, it is appreciated.