Pre-cruise Ramblings...

[Foxinspace]

I have not read through all of the replies, so this has probably been mentioned... Even though you are in Canada, there must be deals for Carnival Gift Cards, offering a discount.

I get mine through Verizon, but they are offered through AARP, AAA, and many other outlets... You pay 10% less than the face value, and with the size of your crew it will not take long to add up... and it makes it easier to be on a "payment plan"

The only problem you are going to have is that you will really be hooked after the first cruise!! ENJOY!!!

 

I have looked ALL over for this! No one sells Carnival gift cards here in Canada for face or discounted price. We also can't get the Carnival MasterCard, I know I've tried.

 

If anyone has heard of anything, please post it.

[canadaman111]

I have looked ALL over for this! No one sells Carnival gift cards here in Canada for face or discounted price. We also can't get the Carnival MasterCard, I know I've tried.

 

If anyone has heard of anything, please post it.

 

I agree. I have looked here in Canada as well.....

[drerickson77]

I have looked ALL over for this! No one sells Carnival gift cards here in Canada for face or discounted price. We also can't get the Carnival MasterCard, I know I've tried.

 

If anyone has heard of anything, please post it.

 

But, you have Tim Horton's.

 

TIMBIT NATION!!!

[silverpenguin]

I vowed to never book more than 60 days out again, because I obsess over the planning and the anticipation is horrible! My husband also refuses to talk about it. But, here we are...91 days out again...

I feel you. I don't know what I'd do if I had to wait a year and a half. Keep posting and researching if it gets you through! :D

[khewston]

We booked at 295 days out! We are now down to 225, and the time has really passed faster than I expected it to. We have not been on a cruise since 2002 and I'm so excited that all I do is talk about it. I think my husband is getting really, really sick of hearing about it EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I have also been doing a lot of planning and everyday I change things, like...should we fly or drive, should I cancel the hotel we booked or not. My husband will come home from work ask me 'so, today, have you decided if we are going to drive or fly". Booking so far in advance is not such a good thing for me :)

 

Once when I went to get a new pair of eyeglasses, the sales person keep trying to sell me some kind of special lenses. First I said, no...than I said, ok...than I said, no. I told her not to ask me anymore questions because I change my mind all the time, and that once I booked 3 different vacations at the same time and had to cancel 2 of them. She gave me a strange look, so I assume she did not think that was funny.

 

BTW.....I've been married 3 times :D

Edited September 15, 2016 by khewston

[jbhcw]

We booked at 295 days out! We are now down to 225, and the time has really passed faster than I expected it to. We have not been on a cruise since 2002 and I'm so excited that all I do is talk about it. I think my husband is getting really, really sick of hearing about it EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I have also been doing a lot of planning and everyday I change things, like...should we fly or drive, should I cancel the hotel we booked or not. My husband will come home from work ask me 'so, today, have you decided if we are going to drive or fly". Booking so far in advance is not such a good thing for me :)

 

Once when I went to get a new pair of eyeglasses, the sales person keep trying to sell me some kind of special lenses. First I said, no...than I said, ok...than I said, no. I told her not to ask me anymore questions because I change my mind all the time, and that once I booked 3 different vacations at the same time and had to cancel 2 of them. She gave me a strange look, so I assume she did not think that was funny.

 

BTW.....I've been married 3 times :D

 

Love your post!! I have two hotels rooms booked for the same date in FLL for January....have to cancel one..but I keep procrastinating....we have booked cruises more than a year out...only problem if it's too far out you end up booking more than one...LOL

[soccersharon]

I have looked ALL over for this! No one sells Carnival gift cards here in Canada for face or discounted price. We also can't get the Carnival MasterCard, I know I've tried.

 

 

 

If anyone has heard of anything, please post it.

 

 

I am Canadian, and not a senior citizen. I joined AARP, to take advantage of the CCL discount cards. The only caveat is you need a US address to ship them too :). Google AARP Rewards For Good, and register!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[khewston]

Love your post!! I have two hotels rooms booked for the same date in FLL for January....have to cancel one..but I keep procrastinating....we have booked cruises more than a year out...only problem if it's too far out you end up booking more than one...LOL

 

Jane, yes I know what you mean. I booked another cruise about 2 weeks after booking the one for 2017! The other one isn't until 2018, but I may book something in between the 2 cruises.

 

I have been looking at reviews for the pre-cruise hotel (we are going down 2 days early, although I've been thinking of adding an extra day) and I don't think I'm going to be happy with it. I may just have to book something else.

[drerickson77]

 

BTW.....I've been married 3 times :D

 

I've heard the third time is a charm.

[pyropoodle]

• Fun Toddler Activity (Which Way?): After the rough beginning on embarkation day (DD hated the muster drill, than fell asleep during dinner in the MDR) I decided to make sure our 1st morning was very slow paced. I also wanted to give her back a bit of control, to feel more empowered and part of decision making rather than just being dragged along. .

 

seriously, what a neat idea! I'm gonna have a 2 1/2 year old on our upcoming cruise, and this will really make his day. He loves to be in charge.

 

thanks for the other tips as well, I will be sure to ask about that coloring book menu.

[khewston]

I've heard the third time is a charm.

 

It's been 31 years so far! My family is so surprised!!! :D

[pumpkin1172]

A fellow Cancuck here ( Alberta ). I feel your enthusiasm. I have been planning our trip for 289 days! I'm down to 67 now!!!

We were gifted the cruise by the dh's Dad. So I was able to upgrade our room and a few other things which is great. But he has since decided he doesn't want to go. He is not much of a traveler, so we decided that since we never got to take the dd ( 22 ) on any big vacations like this growing up, She could go with me. Of course she is thrilled.

 

We are sailing from Miami...but we are stopping in Orlando do to Disney and Universal before we go onto the cruise. We might as well try to fit as many things into our trip as possible, since it costs so much to get there:mad:

 

I'm trying to do this as cheaply as we can ( of course ). We also have 2 ds who still live at home, and we are an active outdoorsy family. We do quading and boating in the spring, summer and fall. And they do snowmobiling in the mountains in the winter ( We are close to Japser :o ). So those activites cost $$$ and we wouldn't trade those trips for anything :D

 

I was reading about the gift cards. I have gotten friends in the US to purchase the cards for me ( which I send them money for ) and they are sending me the cards in the mail. I'm just trying to stop some of the fees of using credit cards for American purchases. Which they charge the 2.5%:eek:

 

So far...that is the one tip I have. I also purchased our airline tickets through our rewards miles with our one credit card...and used my AirMiles for all our hotels for the trip!!! Might be something to look into. You can collect airmiles really fast with groceries at Safeway/ Sobey's

[Shirleybird]

We are 625 days out to our first ever cruise on the Breeze from Galveston. We leave Feb. 25th 2018. Actually we leave 3 days before that because we are driving from small town Ontario Canada to Texas:eek: Even though we are that far out from our cruise I am addicted. I have these boards open all day at work checking every now and then just to see if there is anything new that I didn't know before. And most days I learn something new to help plan this cruise. My wife is not into planning at all, so it kind of leaves me lonely in planning. Every once in awhile I can get her to look at something with me. Her point of view is that it is so far away there is no need to be planning yet. She could be right but I enjoy it, a lot!! The trip is already making me excited this far out, and I am sure it will just keep getting more and more exciting as it gets closer I am sure!!!

 

Here is some background on how this trip came to be...

 

I have wanted to cruise forever. I remember when Destiny came out in 1996. I was 16 and want to cruise so much. I got my first job that year and went to a travel agency to learn more. I came out with nothing more then one of those big old school brochures showing all Carnival had to offer. Nothing ever came of that. I had my first son in 2001, and my second son in 2002 and travel got put on the back burner. In 2008 my wife at the time and 2 sons took the kids to Disney world. We drove to Florida. I really enjoyed the driving part. It really was part of the vacation. The boys were 7 and 5 at the time and had a great time.

 

The boys mom decided she didn't want to live with us anymore in 2009 and moved out. In 2010 I found someone new who had a 4 year old daughter. We moved in together and in 2011 we took the 3 kids to Disney World. The second time for the boys, but the first for my step-daughter. We flew to Florida this time. I really do enjoy flying as well. We found a great deal and the five of us flew to Florida from Buffalo for $99 each way.

 

In 2013 we had a baby. So that put us up to 4 kids. With the youngest being 8 years younger then the next youngest kid. That has made it really hard to do any family trips, they are just at such different ages.

 

Some friends of ours gave their kids a cruise for Christmas this past year, and that is when the cruise topic came up for me again. It has came up many times over the years for me but it always just kind of went away. This time I kept on it an was researching all the time trying to find a way for us to do a cruise. My wife was not interested saying we couldn't afford it and she didn't want to cruise and everything she could think of. I was persistent and soon broke her down.:D The biggest thing for me is that we don't have a lot of time left with the kids. We have kids in grade 9, grade 8, and grade 5, plus a 2 year old. My oldest son will be off to college in 3 years, and the chances of getting everyone together for a vacation will be even harder.

 

The wife finally ok'ed doing this and we got to picking a date. We decided on 2018 because with 4 kids there isn't a lot of extra money and we really didn't want to through it on a credit card and have more debt. This way allows us to slowly over a long period of time make small payments. Our final payment date isn't until December 12th of 2017. Also with the exchange rate our dollar only buys about 77 cents US. So paying it over that long time frame kind of makes that not seem like such a big hit. Also when ever the $ goes up we can make a payment and save a little coin!!

 

Around the end of February we booked our cruise using a Carnival PVP. Now it is time to plan!! I have been planning the drive mostly. My wife thought we should do it over 3 days. I originally wanted to do 2 days. But after talking about it she was right (aren't they always...:p) With 4 kids, and especially the little one (4 when we go) we may have to stop more then we wanted to. So I am pretty sure we are going to go with 3 days driving, getting to Galveston the afternoon before our cruise.

 

So that pretty much gets us to today. I don't know if this thread is interesting to anyone. I din't even talk about cruising for most of it and just talked about myself. I hope people like it, and if people do I will keep it updated with my random planning thoughts.

 

Thanks everyone!!

 

Awww, your family's story is so heartwarming. I actually made me tear up a little. (But I have been known to be a mush) I think I am actually am as excited for you as I am for myself. Like your wife my husband is not much of a planner either. which is fine by me. I enjoy it. The cruise I booked is for June of 2017. It will be our first cruise in 15 years! And yup on the boards everyday too :)

[canadaman111]

Awww, your family's story is so heartwarming. I actually made me tear up a little. (But I have been known to be a mush) I think I am actually am as excited for you as I am for myself. Like your wife my husband is not much of a planner either. which is fine by me. I enjoy it. The cruise I booked is for June of 2017. It will be our first cruise in 15 years! And yup on the boards everyday too :)

 

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

 

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[BigDozer66]

Congrats on the first cruise! :)

 

My wife and I are going on our first cruise in January and we are doing it to celebrate our 25th Anniversary! :cool:

 

If you are driving down then you might very well drive right through our little hometown on the way South. :D

[canadaman111]

Congrats on the first cruise! :)

 

My wife and I are going on our first cruise in January and we are doing it to celebrate our 25th Anniversary! :cool:

 

If you are driving down then you might very well drive right through our little hometown on the way South. :D

 

Yep we will head through Lufkin on our way. How bad is traffic in Houston? I don't see anything good about it. Would you take the loop around houston or go right in and get on i45 there?

[BigDozer66]

Yep we will head through Lufkin on our way. How bad is traffic in Houston? I don't see anything good about it. Would you take the loop around houston or go right in and get on i45 there?

 

Every time we go to Galveston we stay on 59S all the way to 45 and get on it there. :)

 

It is according to what time of the day and what day it is that dictates how bad the traffic is. The weekends aren't as bad as workdays/schooldays when everyone is going somewhere.

[canadaman111]

Every time we go to Galveston we stay on 59S all the way to 45 and get on it there. :)

 

It is according to what time of the day and what day it is that dictates how bad the traffic is. The weekends aren't as bad as workdays/schooldays when everyone is going somewhere.

 

We are likely to go through in the early afternoon on a saturday.

[ekajun1957]

In one way you Canadians have a advantage on us with this long way out cruise bookings. I live less than 1/2 hour from the New Orleans port. If I plan a cruise that far out anywhere in the world I would start planning, get the cruising itch and be booking a last minute booking out of New Orleans to offset the wait for the big one. 2018??? heck that could mean two or three other cruises to keep the itch away.

[pearose]

We are 625 days out to our first ever cruise on the Breeze from Galveston. We leave Feb. 25th 2018. Actually we leave 3 days before that because we are driving from small town Ontario Canada to Texas:eek: Even though we are that far out from our cruise I am addicted. I have these boards open all day at work checking every now and then just to see if there is anything new that I didn't know before. And most days I learn something new to help plan this cruise. My wife is not into planning at all, so it kind of leaves me lonely in planning. Every once in awhile I can get her to look at something with me. Her point of view is that it is so far away there is no need to be planning yet. She could be right but I enjoy it, a lot!! The trip is already making me excited this far out, and I am sure it will just keep getting more and more exciting as it gets closer I am sure!!!

 

Here is some background on how this trip came to be...

 

I have wanted to cruise forever. I remember when Destiny came out in 1996. I was 16 and want to cruise so much. I got my first job that year and went to a travel agency to learn more. I came out with nothing more then one of those big old school brochures showing all Carnival had to offer. Nothing ever came of that. I had my first son in 2001, and my second son in 2002 and travel got put on the back burner. In 2008 my wife at the time and 2 sons took the kids to Disney world. We drove to Florida. I really enjoyed the driving part. It really was part of the vacation. The boys were 7 and 5 at the time and had a great time.

 

The boys mom decided she didn't want to live with us anymore in 2009 and moved out. In 2010 I found someone new who had a 4 year old daughter. We moved in together and in 2011 we took the 3 kids to Disney World. The second time for the boys, but the first for my step-daughter. We flew to Florida this time. I really do enjoy flying as well. We found a great deal and the five of us flew to Florida from Buffalo for $99 each way.

 

In 2013 we had a baby. So that put us up to 4 kids. With the youngest being 8 years younger then the next youngest kid. That has made it really hard to do any family trips, they are just at such different ages.

 

Some friends of ours gave their kids a cruise for Christmas this past year, and that is when the cruise topic came up for me again. It has came up many times over the years for me but it always just kind of went away. This time I kept on it an was researching all the time trying to find a way for us to do a cruise. My wife was not interested saying we couldn't afford it and she didn't want to cruise and everything she could think of. I was persistent and soon broke her down.:D The biggest thing for me is that we don't have a lot of time left with the kids. We have kids in grade 9, grade 8, and grade 5, plus a 2 year old. My oldest son will be off to college in 3 years, and the chances of getting everyone together for a vacation will be even harder.

 

The wife finally ok'ed doing this and we got to picking a date. We decided on 2018 because with 4 kids there isn't a lot of extra money and we really didn't want to through it on a credit card and have more debt. This way allows us to slowly over a long period of time make small payments. Our final payment date isn't until December 12th of 2017. Also with the exchange rate our dollar only buys about 77 cents US. So paying it over that long time frame kind of makes that not seem like such a big hit. Also when ever the $ goes up we can make a payment and save a little coin!!

 

Around the end of February we booked our cruise using a Carnival PVP. Now it is time to plan!! I have been planning the drive mostly. My wife thought we should do it over 3 days. I originally wanted to do 2 days. But after talking about it she was right (aren't they always...:p) With 4 kids, and especially the little one (4 when we go) we may have to stop more then we wanted to. So I am pretty sure we are going to go with 3 days driving, getting to Galveston the afternoon before our cruise.

 

So that pretty much gets us to today. I don't know if this thread is interesting to anyone. I din't even talk about cruising for most of it and just talked about myself. I hope people like it, and if people do I will keep it updated with my random planning thoughts.

 

Thanks everyone!!

 

 

I totally understand! This is not my first cruise, but we are now 385 days out. We started at over 500, and this is the furthest out I have ever booked one. But ever since I discovered these boards, once I book one I am here every day. Learning something new, asking questions. I am like you, and everyone else going with me is "it's too far out to get excited yet" Well.....no it's not! lol. Half the fun for me is the anticipation, learning, and planning.

 

Here is something else, if you have not already discovered it here elsewhere: http://www.galveston.com/webcams/ That is a link to the webcams in Galveston. The "Cruise Cam" sits on top of the Harbor House Hotel on Pier 21, and you can watch the ships come in once you know their schedule. We are sailing on the Freedom, which is a 7 day from Saturday to Saturday. One of my favorite things to do is be up in time every Saturday morning to watch her come into port in Galveston. Me and my future daughter-in-law, who will be sailing with me. She's the only other one as obsessed and excited as me in our group. Everyone else will be but not til it gets closer.

 

Yes, I am obsessed. No I don't want a cure! Other than stepping on the next Carnival ship ASAP.

 

Good luck with your planning and please write a review about your trip once you get back!

[Foxinspace]

seriously, what a neat idea! I'm gonna have a 2 1/2 year old on our upcoming cruise, and this will really make his day. He loves to be in charge.

 

thanks for the other tips as well, I will be sure to ask about that coloring book menu.

 

You're welcome. Hope it helps. We went through about 9 months where just about everything had to be DD's choice. Have a great time!

[Domino D]

553 days until cruise

 

We have been talking a lot about how we are going to get to Galveston lately. The wife is getting much more into it lately.

 

I have figured out driving will be around $1500 round trip. I break it down as follows..

 

$80-100 a night at comfort suites. 6 nights, 3 there, 3 home. Total $480-600

 

The closet place for us to get direct flights at a reasonable place is again to drive to Chuiago. We can get direct flights to Houston on southwest for $44 each on the way there, and $119 on the way home.

 

 

I'm enjoying your posts very much. Funny how in every family there is always the planner and the advisers. You have me beat planning this far out. A couple of things you might consider.

 

1. You should be able to get a decent fare out of Pittsburgh, and I think it's a little closer than Chicago. Although I have the feeling it will still be around that magic $1500 mark.

 

2. If you fly, or even if you drive through, check out http://www.parksleepfly.com or http://www.galveston.com/parkandcruise/ These sites list hotels that will let you leave your car parked while you are gone. At the Pittsburgh airport you can probably find a hotel with 14 days parking for around $100. There are other similar sites just use google.

 

3. We drive to Miami from Atlanta to cruise a fair amount, and enjoy the ride. If you decide to drive, don't forget about Priceline and Hotwire for hotels. If you use the Express Deals on Priceline or Hotwire Hot Rates you should beat those room rates easily. Hotwire for 2/2017 has rates at a 3 star hotel for $50.

 

Hope you guys have a great time.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Domino D

[canadaman111]

I'm enjoying your posts very much. Funny how in every family there is always the planner and the advisers. You have me beat planning this far out. A couple of things you might consider.

 

1. You should be able to get a decent fare out of Pittsburgh, and I think it's a little closer than Chicago. Although I have the feeling it will still be around that magic $1500 mark.

 

2. If you fly, or even if you drive through, check out http://www.parksleepfly.com or http://www.galveston.com/parkandcruise/ These sites list hotels that will let you leave your car parked while you are gone. At the Pittsburgh airport you can probably find a hotel with 14 days parking for around $100. There are other similar sites just use google.

 

3. We drive to Miami from Atlanta to cruise a fair amount, and enjoy the ride. If you decide to drive, don't forget about Priceline and Hotwire for hotels. If you use the Express Deals on Priceline or Hotwire Hot Rates you should beat those room rates easily. Hotwire for 2/2017 has rates at a 3 star hotel for $50.

 

Hope you guys have a great time.

 

I will look into Pittsburgh. It is probably a little under 7 hours from here. It could be an option.

[canadaman111]

510 days until cruise

 

We are into October already! The days are counting down.

 

Over the summer I have been having a pain in my gut every now and then. Normally I would have just left it but with a cruise in the future I wanted to get it looked at so I didn't have a problem on the cruise. My wife was pretty sure it was a hernia. So I had a few appts and sure enough I have a small umbilical hernia. So I have to go in for surgery on November 2nd. At least it will be taken care of.

 

Interestingly 3 of us are going in for some sort of procedure in the next while. Our oldest kid is going in to get his wisdom teeth out on the 13th of this month. I have my hernia surgery, and recently found out my wife needs to have her gall bladder removed.

 

At least all of these things will be done and not a problem for our cruise.

 

On another note, there are 2 excursions showing up on Carnivals wbsite now for our cruise!!

[dan4182]

We are likely to go through in the early afternoon on a saturday.

 

On a Saturday in February the traffic should not be too bad on any of the possible routes. Coming from the North on US59/I-69 your options are:

 

1. Take US59/I-69 all the way to I-45 in downtown Houston, then South on I-45 to Galveston.

 

2. Take US59/I-69 to Loop 610 North of downtown. Go east on Loop 610 over the Houston Ship Channel Bridge to I-45 South to Galveston.

 

3. Take US59/I-69 to the Sam Houston Toll Road, go East on the Toll Road to I-45 way South of downtown Houston.

 

The first two are toll free, minimum tolls on the 3rd option.

 

The Port of Galveston offers a parking lot at 33rd and Harborside drive for a pre-pay fee of app. $67/week. The lot offers free shuttles from the lot to the ship and back upon your return. Some of the parking is covered, other spots are open air.