KATHY@HOME

Which dive shop is charging double?  I was able to dive with Maple Leaf in Cozumel in Oct 2021 & Dec 2021.  Since I had not been diving since March 2020 I paid for Private Dive Master as I didn’t want to be bugged about refresher.   Best decision.  Had great time.   Booked the same way in December.   Due to time change for the December dive I took cab to Paradise Beach & caught the boat after the group had already done 1 dive.  Did 2 dives and they brought me back to the marina we had used in October and I walked back to the dock.  I was cruising on Carnival both times and no scuba diving was offered.   Good Luck!  Love to hear what dive shops are working with cruisers!  Maple Leaf Scuba in Cozumel had all prices post on their website and I paid via PayPal.  The price I paid for the dive master I paid cash the day of my dive.   I went with Leo but all the divers working for them that I met were very nice and everyone on the boat had a good dives.  ♥️ 
~ Kathy

Watching the ship location, seems like they are making a return to Galveston. Valor ( heading in from progresso Mexico ?) sailing to Galveston from what I can see on the ship tracker websites. I'm on the Freedom Saturday 10/7 also...wondering if they will change port order due to any lingering high seas, winds, etc. Seems like another carnival ship was flanking the Freedom to the east when I last checked tonight. I know they like to get in early ahead of any issues if at all possible so was going to watch and see if the ship was slowing down or speeding up on the track towards Galveston. Nate has already brought damaging rain/ flooding to some countries. It's all very sad for those suffering from the bad weather. Praying Nate will leave only rain as needed and no damage as it continues into Mexico & the States.

Sailed Carnival Breeze During Tropical Storm Franklin this month. They changed our itinerary but we made all ports in a different order. I always take over the counter sea sick pills daily ( I get very seasick with out pills) & I felt great the entire trip but some people were sick( sea sick bags in hallway ;p) Definitely not the roughest sea I've ever been in. Would definitely take some type of sea sick pill "Bonnie?" We had 1200+ kids on board...school hadn't started & everyone still had fun even with the extra rain. Everyone very unhappy with internet but the storm was around Yucatán Peninsula and I think that was part of the problem. "Since the well being of my guest & crew is my top priority, please feel confident the ship is operating at a safe distance from the storm at all times." Quote from Carnival Breeze Captain Massimo Marino's letter we were given with changes to our port days. I have been on ships that left hours early, on time and a day late due to weather, follow Carnival's updates! I would park a car in parking garage at hotel with multistory parking garage. I would take a SUV or Truck vs a low car...Houston can have a foot or two of water in some areas or more during hard downpours and the big / higher vehicles do better! Allow for lots of extra time, try to come early. Keep Carnival's 800 # & call if you experience any travel delay. Houston is very flat & at sea level so flooding is a problem. Stay safe & wishing everyone a safe trip into Houston.

Just back from this trip & they still have Inside cabins for under $525 including all but tip. Balcony cost is under $680 solo tip/ tax/ port fees included. ( 8/28, 9/11, 9,25) No casino on board, no big production show, they have dance classes. Local music brought on board. If you're not into some a big production shows and gambling I'm not sure why you wouldn't love the ship.

We really liked being tied up in Amber Cove, DR & having the place to ourself multiple days. They keep Amber cove pool open till midnight. So nice to walk back to ship just down the dock. Amber cove will have approx 1 million visitors a year but pretty nice to have it exclusively 1 of the 2 full days your in port. We sailed in Tuesday before 12 noon and everyone was aboard by 11 am Friday after an early start on all volunteer activities so we could leave prior to some strong winds that were expected.

Really different but super peaceful having a ship max passenger load be 700. We sailed with 380 passengers & 350 crew for 8/14 to 8/21/16 sailing. No children under 8 on ship.

So this ship is set up for regular shore excursions, but you can also volunteer in the community and they will bus you over for each volunteer event and back. I did one ship excursion, power snorkel. One excursion on my own ( with ship nurse & other passengers) the 27 waterfalls, but would recommend just doing 12 waterfalls option $10 US without lunch. My volunteer activities was making water filters and working at the chocolate co-op.

Would read up on it if your interested as this is a new thing that Carnival Corporation that has 102 ships is doing on this one ship. Carnival Corporation consist of 10 brands including carnival ships, princess ships ... etc. and this is their 1 brand Fathom...1 baby ship in the line. CEO of Fathom meet the ship in DR during the week & sailed back with the ship. Some self reflecting activities on board. They have a nice gym open till 10 & went to simple Spanish classes on board.

Can't wait to see what winter brings on for solo prices for all the ships! :D

August 14, going to try the Fathom's ship Adonia. Multiple night's in Dominican Republic and you can do regular pay activities off ship or do the "mission" type community assistant activities :) I read all the reviews. I'm aware of the small amount of entertainment etc. This line is under the carnival deal if you have the 100 carnival shares you get a $100 on board credit for those that have that. Booking agent had done some of the activities etc so was nice to chat with someone who had been in June :D

Caribbean Princess 10 day cruise is under $100 a day for 10 days, inside cabin. I booked it since this moves me to Elite :D and Princess will not have any scheduled ships sailing from Houston for next 12 months or more. Ship leaves March 20, 2016. My total price was $943 tax & port charges. 5 stops~ Montego Bay, Grand Caymen, Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel. Maybe beter deal with travel agent, I was concerned I didn't want to miss the price since it is during spring break for many schools. Good luck finding some great trips & Happy Early Easter

I believe Princess is hosting a single 40+ cruise from Houston port. Think it's in April, 2014 with a host & special activities for those that book it. I would check the princess website or call Princess about it. It's not an entire ship of singles, just singles that will have the ability to go to a lot of private single events on ship & possibly share cabin cost with other single travelers if they choose.

Hi, just did Atlantis ? August 20? Booked pre cruise with Carnival to get our group of 6 together. I would try for the first or second time offered, not later in the day. We had a 9:40 am. Get off ship EARLY so you can get to Atlantis. Long line to get your wrist band, and fill up the bus. The water park was not open early but we got some nice photos, took a little tour.

Dolphin area has small waiting area that overlooks all the groups interacting with dolphin's. They called our group, got lockers, the snorkel & mask are yours to take home or donate to a school program in the area. They have plenty of towels, don't bother with the ships towels. Wetsuits in every size! Safety was stressed and included info about the dolphins eyes and the problems if you touched its eye. All of our photos turned out nice but this can suck up lots of time so try to get everyone organized and paying attention. We had "shorty" the shortest trainer guy there. You spend time on a area that is not deep. If you don't feel comfortable in deep water take the other plan. We swam out and had our little motorized things that are easy to run. Mine was a little funky, had to shake underwater back and forth to get it running. Dolphin swam around us in the open water. They take individual and group photos with you and the dolphin, the part where the dolphin pushes your foot is fun, but can't really see the dolphin in that photo.

The refreshment is water with orange in the container. You can hang out there and watch others do their dolphin stuff. There were lines at all photo areas so we had one person hike back to lockers and were able to meet them in the water park. They offer one small photo package at $70- no disk! The next package is $149.00 you get a disk of 100 photos, then some different sizes printed and this is what we got, plenty of photos, you really could get the other people in your group to give you $70, give them all the printed photos and keep the disk with all the great photos:D They put on a few photos that were professional ones of the property that area a bonus for you.

Lazy river is only that we're you get in and out, it has some rapids, drops, etc. we did the big slides first with out our float/tube. If you can't find a tube, ask workers were to go. Some areas had lots, others everyone was using them.

We made the last shuttle 4:00 back to the ship. Others that missed it had to do the taxi back. We had a nice day, atlantis credit card holder worked great. Kids not 48 inches tall were measured, and watched some crying kids and parents turned away when they got to the front of the line. Water shoes worked great, had to hold flip flops on some rides, watches off and had to hold on rides. Think if you had the strap on sunglasses you could keep them on, not for sure on that. Construction like others said so one area closed. Lots of lifeguards. No floating on river without float. We had a nice day and loved our time and photos with the dolphin. We had a girl dolphin that was in her 20's, she is a mommy and has one of her kids there:).

Hi, we traveled on Carnivals ship the Pride? It was a non smoking ship then! It was going from Miami, Florida to Long Beach, California via the Panama Canal. These ships will NEVER miss their time for the Canal portion- lots of money to get their time slot! The ship kept their passengers from the previous cruise an extra night in Mexico ( well away from Huricane action) then booked it back to Florida, shoved off the passengers who were in a day late (missed all there flights). Our cruise left one day late. Yes it was hard to get to since Miami airport was closed for huge chunks of time. Airlines wonderful and let us change flights since it was do to the airport being closed. I was to be the third person in a ocean view cabin. We had been trying to up grade to a balcony/ suite? prior to hurricane and they never got back to us(Miami office closed due to hurricane)...so fast talking by family and they gave me my own ocean view cabin near all our family, no change in price. My guess is that the ship sailed 2/3 full, and they didn't upgrade people to those great cabins.:eek: Think many factors = my free cabin for the 3rd person rate! When we sailed the canal everyone was out to see the view, we can't imangion it if the ship had been full. On board account credited with $ for day late sailing, and more for missed port so they could get to the canal on time. Amazing trip:)