BullDawg91

I think you want to post this on the Celebrity board.

On Consumer Reports' recommendation, I bought Walmart's Equate brand 50 spf lotion. It not only works really well, it goes a LONG way. It takes more time to apply, but it works and doesn't turn clothing that touches it yellow.

We used it on our eastern Caribbean cruise and for a week at the beach.

We just did this in February. Found out on this website that Budget has a drop off location in Miami close to port. We did this and it worked out nicely. The drop off was quick and they have constant shuttle vans running to the ships. I think it took about 15 minutes to get dropped off at the ship. The location is great. Only thing was the directions from Budget's website were a bit vague so it took us a few extra minutes to find the place, but not too bad.

Yes, finding that location was a little bit of a challenge! We could see it but not get to it!

Go for it! Life is short!

I must say my kids are very well behaved, but I have no problem with kids not being allowed in the steakhouse.

Oh, I've never seen what you posted in the MDR on Elegant night (though I did see the gym shorts that hang off the ass). The guy with the torn and stained t-shirt was on the second half of my recent B2B on the Valor. This was during the drill. He just looked....homeless. :D

We had a couple of people that I would have suspected of being homeless had they not been on a cruise. I never saw them at dinner though.

We enjoyed seeing the variety of outfits people wore to dinner, particularly on elegant night. We had a ninja and a cowboy and their ladies who were dressed straight from the 1980's.

The only outfit I had a problem with was a woman on a casual night whose denim shorts had a raw edge and barely covered her butt. With her heels, she looked rather streetwalker-ish. The shorts were not really appropriate for anywhere.

We were just gonna get a couple social media packages but if we can "text" with our phones for $5 each, I'd rather do that. We have 3 couples going and didn't want to have to plan meet ups to see what everyone wanted to do.

 

 

 

I have no idea they offered this. Do they offer this on all ships?

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm afraid the chat function is only on the Breeze. I'm sure it is planned for more.

If I'm only going to a park one day, I sure wouldn't book my room based on how long the bus ride will be.

I would also make a reservation for dinner at a resort restaurant so that I could see more of WDW. Animal Kingdom closes early with no fireworks. I'd make a reservation for dinner at the Polynesian and stay on their beach for the Magic Kingdom fireworks. They pipe in the music. You can take a water taxi or monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus back to the resort you're staying at.

See, Carnival is like the boy who cries wolf. No one know when to actually believe these. So many times people get these and don't know what to actually do. Go at their normal time or go later than usual. Some say they've gotten them and not been delayed and so many times they send them out just to spread out boarding times.

 

I really wish Carnival would only send these out when there is something actually going on so people didn't have to guess as to what to do.

 

If Carnival as a company wants to do staggered boarding, I wish they would just do it. Isn't it Disney that actually assigns you a time to show up? Not sure I know one of the companies does. But if they're going to do it, they need to fully commit to doing it. I mean, I think as it is right now, people seem to stagger themselves. There's the Plats/Diamonds, the FTTF and the early birds that get there early. The people that get there around 11, and then the people who get the email and follow it and don't show up until 1ish. Then there's the people who don't want any lines at all and show up around 2pm.

Disney has you select a Port Arrival Time when you do your online check in. They may deny your entry into the port if you come earlier and they DO check the time when you try to enter the port. The PAT affects your boarding group as in if you have a 12:30-1:00 PAT and you arrive at 11:00, you may be denied entry and if you are not, you will still be assigned a boarding group based on your 12:30-1:00 PAT. You won't get on the ship earlier.

There is no such thing as FTTF. Concierge guests board earliest or as soon as they arrive if they miss the first boarding group. Online check opens earlier for guests with previous cruise status so that's how they get to board earlier - by checking in earlier to get an early Port Arrival Time. If they don't do the online check in early, they may not get an early PAT.

It's very clear cut and works well.

On the Breeze, we used the Fun Hub chat feature which is $5 per device (by folio number) for the length of the cruise, not per day like the social Internet package.

It works great on iPhones. I heard some people had issues with Android devices.

We had the social package but shared it amongst ourselves. We only bought one package and shared it which meant only one person could be logged in at a time.

I will add that your portion of Out Of Network costs may be 30% or higher. Too high for me to risk!

Keep in mind that even if your regular health insurance will cover you out of the country, foreign medical facilities are likely to want payment in full upfront and your Aetna PPO isn't going to help you with that. It is also likely not going to pay full charges so even if you have paid 100% of charges out of pocket via your credit cards, your chances of recouping 100% from your regular health insurance is slim.

What I was told when I asked if my regular health insurance would cover me was "yes, if you can find someone to accept it." That was enough to send me to buy travel insurance.

We just cruised the CCL Breeze after two DCL cruises. Frankly, the Breeze had a lot more to do than DCL ships. We also found the food better on the Breeze than on DCL (outside of specialty restaurants).

That doesn't mean I will exclusively cruise either line. I don't want to cruise on an old CCL tub. I want the newer ships or nothing. I love the elegance of DCL ships.

We enjoyed the shows on both lines. We thought service was nearly as good on CCL.

I was a little put off at first by the initial "get your drink on" atmosphere of the Breeze but that settled down after the first sea day. The DCL cruises had a different vibe I suppose due to the much higher proportion of families.

I have a question. Under what circumstances do people think that it would cost $150,000 to transport one person back to the U.S or home country? Or are you talking about medical costs and transportation celings?

I would think if you were injured or fell sick out of the country and needed a medical transport to the USA, could not fly commercial and needed medical personnel accompanying you, you could easily rack up $150,000 in expense.

Just off the Breeze and found the decor notable for its simplicity particularly compared to the Farcus ships which I avoided. The cabins basically have no decor.

BullDawg91: I have always wanted to try Disney Cruises. They look like they would be so much fun!! But the prices have always held us back... So for the time now, all I can do is 'dream' of cruising with the Disney Princesses! :)

 

 

 

anamarieus: I carry a battery fan with me on board for excursions, etc. but I never thought of using it for the muster drills. What a GREAT idea!! Maybe before my next cruise, I'll hit the Dollar store and purchase several... Did you mean that you get claustrophobic while standing in the Muster lines? I can certainly understand that! :( )

I sure can't do DCL every time unless I don't want to go often, but I did love it.

We have always done self assist. Only once did we go to the main dining room for breakfast. The charm is gone by then. We prefer to walk off with our luggage and find breakfast on the road or at the airport.

Only once were we trapped in a room for a long period of time waiting to be dismissed. Disney lets you go whenever you want. One Carnival we were stuck waiting and waiting, and the other Carnival, we had an early flight so we queued up with the other early birds at 7:30 and were off by 8:00.

Keep in mind you may be required by the insurance to try to catch up to the cruise, as in, you miss the ship because your flight was late and you can't just call it a day and go home. They won't necessarily reimburse you for the missed cruise in that case.

I remember reading a thread on here where the people were having trouble getting reimbursed for a missed cruise this winter when their flight got cancelled for weather. They were told they should have tried to catch up with he cruise later.

Another thing I like about Disney is there really aren't a lot of extras you can buy - no Faster To The Fun, no need for a Bottomless Bubbles (soda fountains on deck and available free in MDR), no $5 for chat app (it's free on DCL although not sure all ships have it yet), no need to pay for the luggage service to take your luggage straight to the airport, no need to worry about a mini bar in your room and two robes you might get charged for. Best of all, no worry about being charged for beach towels. They aren't as nice on DCL, but they are FREE. I didn't like having to keep an eye on towels all the time on Carnival.

I wish they would just up the price on Carnival and include some of those things.

The room service menu was better on DCL and also generally free.

Also, debarking was effortless on our DCL cruises. Walk off when you're ready (by a certain time of course). On Carnival, they want to phase you off which is a pain. We were herded into a theater to wait our turn.

I think that's it!

Where can I download the app? I've searched for it in the App Store can not locate it.

If you're talking Apple Store, make sure you're looking at iPhone apps. It won't come up in iPad apps. Just type in Carnival Hub.

You can use it as a fun countdown timer until you get there.

We just cruised on the CCL Breeze after 2 DCL cruises. I admit that for the first day and a half, I was saying to myself and my family, this sure isn't Disney.

Nothing holds a candle to Disney's ships. They are beautiful. The staterooms are more like a hotel. The Breeze stateroom was very plain. The clientele on the Breeze was different, as snobby as that sounds. I suppose it was the much higher proportion of adults to kids, many adults who were determined to get their drink on. Maybe that crowd and I both settled down and that gap seemed to narrow after a few days.

That said, we really enjoyed ourselves and will cruise Carnival again! We found way more activities for adults on Carnival. My kids liked the ropes course and water park too. It seriously beats anything DCL has. They don't go to the kids clubs on any ship. Can't make them.

We found the food on Carnival just as good or better than Disney and we aren't counting any specialty restaurants. FYI, no kids in Disney specialty restaurants. We love the rotational dining on Disney even though the food was ho hum. It's that Disney magic that makes a difference.

We missed the Disney movie theater but enjoyed having non-Disney trivia and other entertainment.

Will I cruise Disney again? I sure hope so but it might have to be in the off season. I totally love the Disney magic/pixie dust and the Ritz Carlton vs Comfort Inn perks.

You will have to try it for yourself to see whether you think it's worth it. No one can really judge it for you.

I can't remember, I hate to say. I think I got the 300mb package which might have been $39. I was just burning it by then end of a 5 day cruise. It was plenty. I didn't get on Facebook or anything until we got close to the end.

Each time you log out, you can see how much data you have left and I was pleasantly surprised at how little a 20-30 video call used, much less a voice call.

We video called from our cabin balcony to show the Cozumel, we video called from deck 10 to show them Castaway Cay and we video called from instead our cabin for the 20-30 minute call just because we could.

They were supposed to go with us, but health problems forced them to cancel n

Disney checks your Key to the World/Sign and Sail card at muster. Muster on Breeze a few weeks took more than an hour. Why I don't know, but it was an annoying start. Dr. E made it entertaining once he finally started.

DebJ14, you are right. After a somewhat similar experience with my father, I now think that you should change doctors every few years. Both patient and doctor get complacent.

I forgot printouts of $800 Broadway tickets once. I reprinted for free from the hotel business center, thank goodness.