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Carnival Secrets they usually don't tell you about

Cinderellie

By Cinderellie,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Jimnbigd

Jimnbigd

Posted
Posted

The amenities in the bathroom are free. On my January 18 Ecstasy, this was 2 small tubes of Crest-with-Scope toothpaste and a ladies razor. However, the drinks on the dresser are NOT free. The water is especially expensive -- something like $4 per liter.

 

You can bring your own water and soft drinks, and this can save you much moolah.

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bobsfamily

bobsfamily

Posted
Posted
Yes, the steward will remove them for you. Just tell him/her that you want to use the counters and fridge for other things and to please take them away.

If doing this I would suggest taking a picture of what is on the counter and then take a pic while he does it... seems like a lot BUT there are threads about being billed for stuff that you never used. Common sense.

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highbridge5

highbridge5

Posted
Posted
Will they remove the drinks if you request it?

 

On the Pride last week, my room steward unlocked the fridge and when I asked him to empty it and remove the contents from the room so I could use it, he claimed that he had nowhere to store it and that he could not empty it for me. He suggested that I empty it and store the contents and just put them back at the end.

 

I stored the mini-bottles in the little space between the safe and the wall of its little cabinet and stored the cans in the back of the top shelf of the closet. The morning we left (or the night before) I put it all back in the fridge. Someone probably had nice warm soda to drink on the day they got on the ship.

 

I still need to look at my final S&S charges to see if there is anything on there from the mini-bar that I did not use ...

 

Maybe different ships have different capacities to empty the fridge and store the contents. Or, maybe some ships have more problems with things disappearing from the mini-bars and customers claiming that they were not responsible so room stewards are forbidden from doing anything other than replacing used items.

 

hb5

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MrTenorio

MrTenorio

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Has anyone done an up-to-date summary of all the tips? I'm stressing out about trying to go through 140+ pages and not missing anything, but also worried about what might be out dated.

 

Unfortunately, many people get off topic and waste pages which have nothing to do with the thread. Your best bet is to stick to the first few pages when people are more likely to post to the topic and the last few pages where new posters like me show up.

 

I suggest to people unfamiliar with cruising to NEVER buy shore excursions online. You can often make your own excursions cheaper.

 

Along this line, check out the spa before your first dinner. They usually offer some kind of intro special where you can save money. They will offer specials each day which you can find in your daily ship's newsletter. Also, since the spa is a separate company leasing the space on the ship, they suffer when the ship is in port because most guests are not onboard. Therefore, you can usually get spa treatments ½ price on port days. Just ask at the counter and NEVER book online before your cruise as you pay twice as much.

 

Don't push yourself on debarkation day unless you have an early flight. The officers must clear the ship by a certain time, but as soon as customs agents allow guests to leave, there is a mad rush to get off the ship (8:30am - 9:30am) I say, go to the Lido deck and enjoy a nice breakfast as your travel home could make for a long day and a good breakfast helps. You can also grab some great snacks for the trip home - boxes of honey nut cheerios work great! Then around 9:30ish, go back to your cabin, grab your luggage and walk off the ship with no lines.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

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Mocha15

Mocha15

Posted
Posted

We ask the steward to empty the mini bar into a black plastic bag (he can get one) and then store it under the bed. We have never had a problem with doing it this way. Near the end of the trip he comes and replaces it in the refrigerator.

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dotshub

dotshub

Posted
Posted
What?!! No deli??? I keep hearing folks rave about the rueben sandwiches, and I thought on the Sensation. Man, I had the whole family worked up and ready for ruebens. I would swear I have read about them in some reviews. Was I just hallucinating cornbeef?[/quotei sailed the sensation this past summer and they did have a deli it was at the back of the ship where the buffet is . It is the back of the lido deck buffet

 

Not to worry, Yes the Sensation has a deli.

:)

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highbridge5

highbridge5

Posted
Posted
Unfortunately, many people get off topic and waste pages which have nothing to do with the thread. Your best bet is to stick to the first few pages when people are more likely to post to the topic and the last few pages where new posters like me show up.

 

I suggest to people unfamiliar with cruising to NEVER buy shore excursions online. You can often make your own excursions cheaper.

 

Along this line, check out the spa before your first dinner. They usually offer some kind of intro special where you can save money. They will offer specials each day which you can find in your daily ship's newsletter. Also, since the spa is a separate company leasing the space on the ship, they suffer when the ship is in port because most guests are not onboard. Therefore, you can usually get spa treatments ½ price on port days. Just ask at the counter and NEVER book online before your cruise as you pay twice as much.

 

Don't push yourself on debarkation day unless you have an early flight. The officers must clear the ship by a certain time, but as soon as customs agents allow guests to leave, there is a mad rush to get off the ship (8:30am - 9:30am) I say, go to the Lido deck and enjoy a nice breakfast as your travel home could make for a long day and a good breakfast helps. You can also grab some great snacks for the trip home - boxes of honey nut cheerios work great! Then around 9:30ish, go back to your cabin, grab your luggage and walk off the ship with no lines.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Great advice about the spa. Each day, the spa looks at the next day's bookings and puts services on sale to fill the holes. This gets put in the capers so keep an eye on the capers - if you want "something" but don't care if it is manicure, pedicure or facial, you can get a good deal. Also, we were told that if we booked a service and that service went on sale that day, we'd get the sale price. So, if you schedule a manicure for a port day and manciures go on sale for the port day, you should get the sale price, even though you booked early. I DO NOT know if this applies to reservations made on-line ahead of the cruise. In my opinion, it should.

 

Debarking - true. Self-debark was a crazy mad rush of people. We checked our luggage and debarked with the checked luggage folks and it was much less crazed. I did not see anyone self-debarking with the checked luggage folks; not sure how that works out. But, if you self-debark and wait until the later part of self-debark - there are plenty of people who did not wait until their deck was called so the later decks seemed to take less time (which I assumed to mean they were less crowded).

 

Not sure if I agree with the shore excursion recommendation. We did one Carnival excursion and two self excursions.

 

With a ship excursion, no chance of getting lost getting to it. I could have booked the same exact excursion at Atlantis in Nassau on my own but am not sure that I would have been able to pull it off with the same level of comfort doing it myself. With carnival, the volume of people and the wait for the bus and confusion about the time we were leaving were bad but we had a bus ride and a bunch of walking to do. With the cruise, everything was arranged for and guided. On our own, we'd have been dealing with taxi's and asking directions and trying to find the venue on our own once we got to Atlantis. And, then taxi's back etc.

 

But, now that I have done it once, I'd have no problem booking my own the next time.

 

The two self excursions were fine because I had very detailed information (including pictures of the port and info about where to meet the transportation etc.) from a CC review of the same itinerary and ship and I just did what they did.

 

hb5

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gwinel

gwinel

Posted
Posted

We were very late getting back to the ship when we went to Chichen Itza. We were delayed by a highway accident and construction. The ship was packed up and ready to leave. Since it was a tour booked thru the ship they waited for us. If we had gone on our own we would have been left. We are now very careful about which excursions we do on our own!

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
We were very late getting back to the ship when we went to Chichen Itza. We were delayed by a highway accident and construction. The ship was packed up and ready to leave. Since it was a tour booked thru the ship they waited for us. If we had gone on our own we would have been left. We are now very careful about which excursions we do on our own!

 

I would never do any of the ruins on my own. Too much chance of missing the ship. I would do any other excrusions, but not those that far away from the ship.

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JStarbrite

JStarbrite

Posted
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My favorite anytime boating is Captain Morgan and cola. "Let the Captain do the driving!" I always say.

 

It's your preference when mixing with the juices. 24/7 drinks I remember seeing are: (one or more)

OJ

fruit punch

grapefruit

lemonade

cranberry punch

tea (I love rum & tea)

coffee (w/whiskey or Kalhua or Baileys)

 

Vodka and Rum pretty much mix with anything. I perfer rum as all the cruises I go on are Carribean. (Christopher Columbus took sugar cane to the Caribbean, rest is history.)

 

Beginning of cruise, tip your cabin steward and tell him/her you like ice refilled in your room constantly. You'll have plenty. I also put one of my "beer buckets" in the cabin and have that one filled too.

 

There is about 15 drinks in a liter of alcohol. It's about $5 a mixed drink (or beer.) I bring a 1.75 liter just for myself (usually Capt,. Morgan.) That's 26 drinks or at least $130 worth of drinks for a $35 dollar bottle. Don't forget the mandatory 15% gratuity added to each drink order.

 

Kewl cruise related website. LOTS of info:

http://cruiseclues.com/[url=http://cruiseclues.com/shipstips/carnivalglory.htm][/url]

 

Just booked another cruise for APR 2010 with friends coming! Woot! :D

 

You can also get tomato juice delivered by room service for Bloody Marys!

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Ladyevel

Ladyevel

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Regardless of when you debark (and we tried to wait out the crowds, but were afraid of our luggage being taken out of its designated area), in my experience the lines are horrible. BUT - if you want to wait in a much shorter line for a porter, they come and load up your luggage, then SKIP THE HORRENDOUS LINE and go right to a different line, where they usher you all the way through Customs. It was the best money we ever spent tipping that porter. He actually took our stuff all the way across the street (in Galveston), which meant I could drive right to our luggage without having to re-enter the terminal. Super-awesome, still some lines, but nothing like the cattle lines if you carry your own.

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michelle1836

michelle1836

Posted
Posted
Marks tips:

  • If adjoining balcony cabin has friends or family they can usually open the divider door on the balcony
  • There are coin washer and dryers available

:)

 

I was told that if you want your balcony door open, ask for this immediately as they only open a certain number of doors per cruise

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Blackchips Ahoy

Blackchips Ahoy

Posted
Posted
I was told that if you want your balcony door open, ask for this immediately as they only open a certain number of doors per cruise

 

 

EXCEPT on the aft of the Spirit class ships.

 

 

They will sell you adjoining cabins across the aft of the ship KNOWING that you would like to have the balcony doors opened yet even if you get on board first, and sign the sheet to have them opened, they will tell you 7 or 8 lies before defaulting to safety first as the reason why they won't open them.

 

Even though we had the aft balcony doors opened last Jan on the Legend and even though we had them opened on the Spirit last April in Hawaii, they refused on the Miracle last week.

 

So the Carny secret they won't tell you here is they will sell you upgrades and more cabins, but they won't deliver the product as sold. Sweet!

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