dctravel

I would suggest brining two or three of the cups he is used to. No reason to have a vacation fight over the cup, in my opinion 🙂 Have a great time!

You can likely charge almost everything. Make sure your credit card does not charge you a foreign transaction fee. Also, if a merchant asks, have them charge you in Canadian Dollars. Your credit card uses the interbank exchange rate for purchases, which is almost always better than the rate you will get from the merchant (or a money exchange place). As for cash, if you need any, just grab it from a bank ATM machine (not one of those random ones you would find at a 7-11 in the US). Your bank might charge you a fee, but that is certainly the easiest way to get cash.

Thanks for doing this! Following along for your impressions of Long Beach and Cabo specifically! As an aside, how did you get from Long Beach to Disney when you did that a few years ago? Trying to figure that one out for my family in December.

Thanks for doing this!

Thanks for doing this! We head to Alaska on the Solstice next month! Glad to hear more about Celebrity (it will be our first time on this cruise line) and Alaska!

This is not quite right. Taxis do have a fixed cost from the airport to hotels in the Central Business District (CBD) or French Quarter of $36 for up to 2 people (which would work out to $18pp, if you had two people). If you have more than 2, than it is $15 pp. For more information, see https://flymsy.com/taxis-2/.

Current onboard prices are also on this Carnival website: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1153/~/pixels-photo-gallery-and-dreams-studio

Well, the Eliza Jane is a great location in the Central Business District, which is a short walk from the French Quarter. The Saint is on Canal Street on the French Quarter side. It is also a bit high up, with more of the restaurants, etc... toward the river. I have not stayed in either, but if those were my choices, I would choose the Eliza Jane for location and amenities around it. The Eliza Jane should also be quieter because it is not directly next to the French Quarter (although the Saint is two blocks north of Bourbon, which should make it quieter).

There are several website that sell resort day passes. We have used resort for a day dot com in the Caribbean in the past. Our TA recently recommended resort pass dot com, but we haven't used them yet. Either way in Cabo, make sure the resort, if that is the way you go, has heated pools. Several people who have been there have told me that not all the resorts do, and in October, the water could be a bit chilly.

There appear to be limited ships that are visiting at this time. See: https://www.cruisetimetables.com/acapulco-mexico-cruise-ship-schedule.html.

I can also recommend their grilled chicken, if you are tired of friend chicken, or like my son is allergic to dairy (in the breading of the fried chicken). You have to ask for it, but it was flavorful and juicy. Loved the fries. Best on the ship IMO (although the tots from Street eats are darn tasty too).

If you choose to rent a golf cart, inquire with the companies sooner rather than later. We talked with the folks at Red Shirts Golf Carts shortly after we booked our March 2024 cruise and they were sold out. We ended up deciding just to taxi to a beach club.

We love the Magic and have sailed on her twice. Carnival does not have a reservation system for shows (comedy or otherwise). They are first-come first-seated. As a result, you will sometimes (often?) see lines form about 30 minutes before the doors open. That can be annoying, but we found that one person could hold the spot while others used the restroom or got a drink to carry in. As for shore excursions, I think that depends on what you want to do. If there is an excursion you really want, then reserving it online ahead of time makes a lot of sense. There is a shore excursion desk on each ship where you book. No idea if the choices are the same or different, but certainly, if something sells out, they are unlikely to be offering it onboard unless someone cancels. I hope this helps some! dctravel

Nearly all hotels in the Central Business District (CBD), near the convention center, and in the French Quarter could meet your purpose. As @Saint Greg noted, if you are driving or flying that would make a difference in terms of parking your car (if driving).

Yup! But at least in my recent experience (buying an excursion for our December cruise) the discount was on the wifi plan, not on the excursion. In that case, it was 15% off wifi when we paid full price for the excrusion.