Questions about longer cruises

[nunuc2000]

We'll be on the Triumph in February for an 11 day and 10 day B2B. I have a few questions:

• we will hit 77 days sailed on Carnival by the end of the second leg, so am I correct in assuming we will be granted platinum status for the entire second leg?
  
• any clue how much cheers will cost for each leg of that cruise?
  
• any ideas on how many cruise elegant nights there will be for each leg of the cruise?
  
• can we look forward to an 11 day and 10 day menu, meaning different items each night?
  
• can anyone provide insight on how the entertainment would work for those cruises, meaning will there be more variety?
  

That's all for now, folks... thanks for any assistance you can provide. :)

 

Celine

 

P.S. I DID ask the Carnival rep I booked with, but she had no idea... and it seems that more often than not, our Cruise Critic community has more info than the original source! :rolleyes:

[gone_cruisin]

We will be joining you for the first leg of this journey. Interested to hear what the menu would be like. Hopefully they won't repeat the same choices over and over again.

[jsmac3]

My response is based on my experiences on 2 Carnival 9-day cruises, and a 14 and 15-day Panama Canal cruise.

 

If you will meet the requirements for platinum status during a cruise, then you should be in platinum status for the entire cruise.

 

Just like a 7 day cruise, our 14 and 15 day cruises had only two elegant nights.

 

The menu should be different every night - however, the meals served during the 2nd leg most likely will be the same and in the same sequence as the 1st leg.

 

Don't know about cheers.

 

Hopefully, this is helpful.

[mortonmc]

Unless they changed the rules. If both of your bookings are tied together you should be Plat on the first leg. The downside for our last B2B was that the shows were just a repeat of what happened on the first leg. You should get a bottle of bubbly and strawberries with the start of the second leg and two Plat gifts, one each at the start of each leg. Have fun!!!

[jsmac3]

Sorry - double post.

Edited September 10, 2014 by jsmac3
Double post.

[barbatkins]

Unless they changed the rules. If both of your bookings are tied together you should be Plat on the first leg. The downside for our last B2B was that the shows were just a repeat of what happened on the first leg. You should get a bottle of bubbly and strawberries with the start of the second leg and two Plat gifts, one each at the start of each leg. Have fun!!!

 

I'm Diamond and have never gotten a bottle of bubbly.... Have over 250 nights on Carnival..

 

Are you saying you get complimentary champagne as platinum?

[Disconnections]

We'll be on the Triumph in February for an 11 day and 10 day B2B. I have a few questions:

• we will hit 77 days sailed on Carnival by the end of the second leg, so am I correct in assuming we will be granted platinum status for the entire second leg?I'm not 100% sure how it works with the addition of the VIFP Club. Some have reported they had been extended Platinum status for their first cruise also, but that obviously is not a guarantee. Prior to the start of the VIFP Club, you had to wait a day or two for the cruise to be reflected in your account. Someone will be along soon who knows exactly how this works to answer your question.
  
• any clue how much cheers will cost for each leg of that cruise?Carnival has not determined a price for cruises longer than 8 days, based on the new pricing structure. Pricing can change at the time of embarkation and any advertised price prior to the cruise may not be honored.
  
• any ideas on how many cruise elegant nights there will be for each leg of the cruise?Two on each leg of the cruise, as per our Magic Transatlantic.
  
• can we look forward to an 11 day and 10 day menu, meaning different items each night?There will be a 10 day menu and an 11 day menu. However, they will repeat themselves on turnaround day. The 11 day menu will be the same as the 10 day menu, except it will have one more day.
  
• can anyone provide insight on how the entertainment would work for those cruises, meaning will there be more variety?Less variety because the production shows will repeat. However, there will be fly-ons who will perform and the Cruise Director will schedule plenty of activities for the sea days.
  

That's all for now, folks... thanks for any assistance you can provide. :)

 

Celine

 

P.S. I DID ask the Carnival rep I booked with, but she had no idea... and it seems that more often than not, our Cruise Critic community has more info than the original source! No surprise here. Carnival associates in the call center are only able to search a knowledgebase. Many of them have never been on a cruise and you would think some of them have never even heard of a cruise ship!

 

Hope that helps!

[Smiling Cruiser]

The bubbly is for back to back not platinum.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mizLORInj]

I'm Diamond and have never gotten a bottle of bubbly.... Have over 250 nights on Carnival..

 

Are you saying you get complimentary champagne as platinum?

 

We are platinum and get the strawberries/sweets plate and platinum gift. Have not gotten champagne (or sparkling wine) as platinum on Carnival.

[nunuc2000]

Unless they changed the rules. If both of your bookings are tied together you should be Plat on the first leg. The downside for our last B2B was that the shows were just a repeat of what happened on the first leg. You should get a bottle of bubbly and strawberries with the start of the second leg and two Plat gifts, one each at the start of each leg. Have fun!!!

 

We have done B2B before, and yes, the bubbly and fruit basket (not strawberries for us, anyway) were delivered on the first day of the second leg as a welcome back gift from the hotel director. (not a platinum gift)

 

We have two different booking numbers for each leg, though we are booked into the same room for each leg, so I'm not certain if we will be considered platinum for both legs or only the second leg... I assume only for the second leg.

 

Really looking forwad to finally reaching that elusive platinum status... if we lived in Florida, we would have reached it more than a year ago with the ability to jump on those really short cruises! Oh well.. it's been lots of fun getting to it the "hard" way too! :)

 

Celine

Edited September 10, 2014 by nunuc2000

[nunuc2000]

After having spoken with 2 different Carnival reps, and both stating we will only receive platinum benefits during the second leg of our B2B, we have decided to get FTTF for the first leg. Love those perks! :)

 

Thanks for the info everyone, and happy cruising!

 

Celine

[Fun, Fun 44]

After having spoken with 2 different Carnival reps, and both stating we will only receive platinum benefits during the second leg of our B2B, we have decided to get FTTF for the first leg. Love those perks! :)

 

Thanks for the info everyone, and happy cruising!

 

Celine

 

 

Sign into Carnival and check your documents. Where it says to print docs, but you don't have to print to look at them. If you become Plat on the second leg, your probably Plat on the first leg. Docs will say gold or Plat.

 

Enjoy!

Kat

[serene56]

the cheers program is per day costs.

 

consider visiting the store and buying your own beverages for the second leg. Go the night before disembaration when you can take the bottles with you.

 

 

your menus will be the same the second week. It is a seperate cruise.

your entertainment will be exactly the same as the first week

if you are cruising out of galveston one week and san juan the following week you are going to need passports.

[ready2cruzagain]

We'll be on the Triumph in February for an 11 day and 10 day B2B. I have a few questions:

• we will hit 77 days sailed on Carnival by the end of the second leg, so am I correct in assuming we will be granted platinum status for the entire second leg?
  
• any clue how much cheers will cost for each leg of that cruise?
  
• any ideas on how many cruise elegant nights there will be for each leg of the cruise?
  
• can we look forward to an 11 day and 10 day menu, meaning different items each night?
  
• can anyone provide insight on how the entertainment would work for those cruises, meaning will there be more variety?
  

That's all for now, folks... thanks for any assistance you can provide. :)

 

Celine

 

P.S. I DID ask the Carnival rep I booked with, but she had no idea... and it seems that more often than not, our Cruise Critic community has more info than the original source! :rolleyes:

I turned platinum on the third leg of a b2b2b last year. When I got my card for the third cruise it was not Platinum...guest services said they had no way of knowing in advance since it takes several weeks to go into the system. I showed them my cruise history which I had printed out and taken with me and my cards for the two previous weeks and they then issued me my Platinum card. Of course, I received no Platinum gift since on the cabin stewards list, dh was the only one showed as being Platinum. I went to guest services and received my gift.

 

Menus are the same, shows are the same, fly on guests?...that depends on if there are fly on guests. Lately, only flyon guests have been the comedians from what I have been seeing.

Edited September 15, 2014 by ready2cruzagain

[Bookbug53]

the cheers program is per day costs.

 

consider visiting the store and buying your own beverages for the second leg. Go the night before disembaration when you can take the bottles with you.

 

 

your menus will be the same the second week. It is a seperate cruise.

your entertainment will be exactly the same as the first week

if you are cruising out of galveston one week and san juan the following week you are going to need passports.

 

Why?

[RuthlessBoss]

the cheers program is per day costs.

 

consider visiting the store and buying your own beverages for the second leg. Go the night before disembaration when you can take the bottles with you.

 

 

your menus will be the same the second week. It is a seperate cruise.

your entertainment will be exactly the same as the first week

if you are cruising out of galveston one week and san juan the following week you are going to need passports.

 

Sounds logical to me. They won't be changing menus and entertainment for a few back to back people.

[ready2cruzagain]

Why?

I am guessing here but would it be because they are not closed loop cruises.

[serene56]

Why?

 

you are leaving from one port and arriving home at another port.

 

BC are only good for closed loop cruises-- a cruise that leaves and arrives back to the same port is a closed loop cruise

[Bookbug53]

the cheers program is per day costs.

 

consider visiting the store and buying your own beverages for the second leg. Go the night before disembaration when you can take the bottles with you.

 

 

your menus will be the same the second week. It is a seperate cruise.

your entertainment will be exactly the same as the first week

if you are cruising out of galveston one week and san juan the following week you are going to need passports.

 

I am guessing here but would it be because they are not closed loop cruises.

 

But Carnival says they are not needed. Puerto Rico is a US territory and has some exemptions under PSA regulations:

 

CRUISE TRAVEL FOR U.S CITIZENS

Carnival highly recommends that all guests travel with a passport (valid for at least six months beyond completion of travel-unless otherwise noted differently). This will enhance the debarkation experience as delays may be expected upon return to the United States for those without one. Additionally, this will enable guests to fly from the U.S. to meet their ship at a foreign port should they miss their scheduled port of embarkation and allow guests that must disembark the ship before their cruise ends due to an emergency to fly back to the U.S without significant delays and complications.

 

 

 

Cruises that begin and end in the same U.S port

 

For cruises that begin and end in the same U.S port, ALL guests are required to carry proof of citizenship AND proof of identification.

 

 

 

Cruises that begin and end in a different U.S ports

 

For these cruises that begin and end in a different U.S port, ALL guests are required to carry proof of citizenship AND proof of identification.

 

◦Carnival Legend cruise : Tampa/Long Beach

◦Carnival Splendor cruise New York/San Juan

◦Carnival Splendor cruise San Juan/Miami

◦Carnival Splendor cruise San Juan/New York

◦Carnival Pride cruise Tampa/Baltimore

◦Carnival Triumph cruise San Juan/Galveston

◦Carnival Triumph cruise: Galveston/San Juan

◦Carnival Freedom cruise Fort Lauderdale/Galveston

 

 

 

Proof of Citizenship: A birth certificate or any of the WHTI-Compliant Documents listed below are acceptable.

 

Proof of Identification (I.D): A non-expired government-issued photo I.D is required of all guests 16 years of age and older.

[serene56]

Cruises that begin and end in a different U.S ports

 

For these cruises that begin and end in a different U.S port, ALL guests are required to carry proof of citizenship AND proof of identification.

 

◦Carnival Splendor cruise San Juan/New York

 

Proof of Citizenship: A birth certificate or any of the WHTI-Compliant Documents listed below are acceptable.

 

Proof of Identification (I.D): A non-expired government-issued photo I.D is required of all guests 16 years of age and older.

 

We tried to take the B2B on Splendor out of New York and had multiple agents tell me I needed a passport for each cruise. (since it isn't going back to the same port. not even that its a US territory-- its two different ports.

 

I think I will be quite upset if what I was told by numerous carnival agents was not true.. and I didn't book that cruise because of that information.

[Disconnections]

We tried to take the B2B on Splendor out of New York and had multiple agents tell me I needed a passport for each cruise. (since it isn't going back to the same port. not even that its a US territory-- its two different ports.

 

I think I will be quite upset if what I was told by numerous carnival agents was not true.. and I didn't book that cruise because of that information.

 

Technically, your B2B of two one way transits [New York -> San Juan -> New York] would make your voyage closed loop.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139/kw/closed%20loop

Edited September 15, 2014 by Disconnections

[Bookbug53]

We tried to take the B2B on Splendor out of New York and had multiple agents tell me I needed a passport for each cruise. (since it isn't going back to the same port. not even that its a US territory-- its two different ports.

 

I think I will be quite upset if what I was told by numerous carnival agents was not true.. and I didn't book that cruise because of that information.

 

I am not an expert and this came straight off Carnival's site. It may have something to do with the ports they are visiting while on the cruise.

 

I am not going to even try to get into all the ins and outs of 'near foreign ports' and 'far foreign ports' or whatever. Since there is a specific list of cruises this applies to possibly your cruise of interest did not qualify for the exemption. Call the state department and discuss it with them. They probably have better info than a Carnival agent. ;)

 

But keep in mind Carnival can require additional documents above and beyond what the law says anytime they want to.

 

Or just get a passport. It is not just for cruising. :p

Edited September 16, 2014 by Bookbug53