dropbackandpunt

20 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

What does Carnival call it?  If they call it a 7-day cruise, you get 7 days of credit.  If they call it an 8-day cruise, you get 8 days of credit.

That was my understanding but someone had commented earlier that it would not count if the final day was the debarkation day.  Just seeking some clarification.

On 3/8/2024 at 9:39 AM, salty dingo said:

Here's a cool fact I just observed on this topic. I just turned 70 points as of the last cruise, and I have a 5 night previously booked, which will be my next cruise.

...

The next day I check the Carnival site again. My points were now at 70, and my next cruise showed a check in date 16 days prior to the cruise!

 

So I'm receiving Platinum perks like early check-in now!

So the debarkation day does count then?  I will have 67 day after our cruise in a couple of weeks so I booked an 8-day next year so we could hit 75 by the last day.  I was really hoping this would be our last time to board with the rest of the unwashed masses.

I will be doing this in 3 weeks with my kids.  I have a 13 year old in a similar situation so I will try and remember to come back and give an update if you don't get an answer.

I just really wish they would add some tortilla chips to the salsa bar at Blue Iguana.  It seems like such a shame to have all those salsas and no chips to dip in them.  

On 2/6/2024 at 5:39 AM, audcc77 said:

 

I looked at the menu in the morning and knew what I wanted hours ago.  

I recognize that I am the weirdo because I have mostly determined what I am going to eat every night weeks before I even step on the boat while the rest of my family don't even bother until they are seated.  I am pleased to see my people are out there.  

8 minutes ago, babsinpbg said:

Thank you so much for posting this. We took the pasta making class on the Celebration recently and really enjoyed it. Couldn't find a lot of info on the Latin dinner so we skipped it, but I'm def booking it next time. I think the Carnival Kitchen is a great addition to the new ships and well worth the $$.

We are doing the pasta class in March on the Jubilee. I've heard a lot of positive feedback on it so we are really looming forward to it.

5 minutes ago, carohs said:

Ooh this sounds interesting. How did you sign up ahead of time, was it under excursions?

It is under Specialty Dining with the Steakhouse, Rudi's, etc.

8 minutes ago, ldubs said:

Sounds like fun.  I don't understand the use of the word "incident" in the description of the class. What does it mean?  

No clue at all.  That got churned out of whatever focus group was spitballing name ideas for the class.  

I was recently on the Mardi Gras for the week of December 16-23 and my wife and I signed up for the evening dinner class, "El Fuego - A Latin Incident class with dinner."  We booked prior to the cruise but space was not an issue for this particular class as there were only two other couples there.  The class started at 6 pm on a port night.  We had already taken a couple of the day classes so the staff was familiar with us and welcomed us warmly as we arrived in order to fill out the quick health survey (checking boxes that you don't have a fever, the runs, etc.).

  For the class we made Peruvian ceviche, Colombian Arroz con Pollo, cheese empanadas, tortilla soup, and Lomo Saltado.  All ingredients were neatly organized for us at our work station and instruction from the chef was pretty easy to follow.  As we prepared each dish we were able to scoop some out on little dishes in order to sample and all of us there made the mistake of believing that this was when we should get our fill of what we were making.  They would take away the dish after you finished it in order to make more room so we all kept trying to pile a little more on the little plates to eat.  At the conclusion of our cooking they indicated we could sit down at the tables with the place settings (our big obvious clue that we were getting food later, duh) so that they could feed us a fully prepared feast of the dishes that we had just prepared. 

Comparing what we personally prepared vs what they whipped up was nice as in all cases but one (the soup) I felt like my wife and I did just as good if not a little better.  I'm not sure what they did different with their soup but all of us there were blown away by how different the prepared soup tasted compared to what we made (we all thought we did pretty good but the one they brought out was out of this world good).  They brought out a selection of wines to have with dinner but as my wife and I do not drink I can't speak to what they had or if it was any good.  The other couples seemed to enjoy them for what that's worth.  The classes was scheduled from 6-8 but it was about 8:15 when we left.  We left our email addresses and received an email later that night that included all the recipes for the dishes we made including the dessert that they served us that we did not make in the class.  We had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and food.  I love cooking and it sounded like at least one person from each of those couples shared the same passion.  If a cooking class sounds like a good time for you I'm pretty sure you would enjoy this one.  

I was on the Mardi Gras in December 2021 and my team was playing in the Independence Bowl on the day of embarkation.  They had another bowl game or 2 on the TV's around the ship but mine was not one of them and even with the premium Wi-Fi I was unable to pull it up on my phone with the ESPN app or Youtube TV.  So count on games being shown but no guarantee on watching a particular game.  Maybe you will get better results with the Wi-Fi than I did though.

When it does become available on other ships where is it listed online?  Under shore excursions?  As a separate category in the cruise manager? 

On our Christmas cruise we ordered room service and did our gift exchange.  We had all 6 of us in an interior room with what seemed like a gazillion plates and bowls. It was a hot mess and we loved every minute of it.  So, fill out your room service request the night before like a letter to Santa, have your little breakfast and gifts in your state room, and then let everyone get dressed and head out for a more formal breakfast if anyone is still hungry.

For Android users you can use Messages by Google with RCS chats turned on (just go into the settings in the app).  On the Horizon earlier this year I was able to send texts to my wife and daughter to their Android phones as well without a wifi plan.  I do not believe you would be able to communicate with Iphone folks that way but if your group all uses Androids then this is the way.

The past few cruises we started booking a room for the kids and one for my wife and I.  In order to get better rates the rooms got booked with her in one and me and a kid in the other so when we got on board we went to guest services and had them swap people there.  Normally we could do it first thing but this last time we were told they couldn't do it until our Sail & Sign cards got delivered to our rooms so of course we had to deal with a longer line then.  The option to just get extra cards to open the door is good to know in case they say they can't do it first thing.

Is that below Parque de los Gatos?  We were planning on going there in December on our way to the Castillo San Felipe Del Morro but now I wonder if we will see more cats below on the trail or up in the park?  I guess it wouldn't be too hard to walk one way going and the other way coming back.  Anyone been up in the park before?

Strawberry bisque on the first night and Baked Alaska on the final night.  The perfect way to start and end a cruise!

2 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

How did you get this to work?  My family and I all have android devices.

Use Google Messages as your texting app with RCS chat enabled on everyone's device.  If it is going to work then that's all you should need.

25 minutes ago, five. said:

@dropbackandpunt I have a friend wanting to do Zoom calls on Horizon this coming week. Curious if you were able to tell if Starlink had been implemented yet and Zoom calls might be an actual possibility. I told her that if it had not, it would probably be a no-go.

I do not have an answer for that.  I speed tested the internet a couple of times and it was between 40-50 mbps.  I was able to do a video Messenger call with my son with mostly no issues so maybe.

On 4/7/2023 at 7:04 AM, mz-s said:

 

Only with a paid wifi plan. iMessage is sometimes working for iPhone users just by connecting to Wifi - not paying for a plan at all.

And yet it worked just fine without a paid wifi plan for our Android devices.  YMMV but neither my wife nor daughter had a paid wifi plan and could text and send pictures in Google Messages with no issue at all.  

On 3/29/2023 at 9:06 AM, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

So this only works on Apple devices?  No workaround for Android? 

I'm currently on the Horizon and can confirm this works on Android. Using Google Messages I have been able to text both my wife and daughter without the WiFi plan with no issue (we all use Android devices).

We stumbled into this without knowing what it was in 2019 as well but ended up being pleasantly surprised.  Our kids ranged from ages 5 to 16 at the time and the pictures were really good.  We were floored by the price quote for everything but ending up settling on a package that included our favorites at a price that we found acceptable.  The pictures were definitely better than all the others we had done previously while walking around the ship on any other cruise we've done but YMMV.  We have talked about doing it again in the future at a port to take advantage of a tropical background so for us it was a positive experience. 

I was on this tour this past December and they gave the impression that we should leave cameras and pretty much all items behind at the start of the tour.  There were a number of people who carried their phones and cameras with them though and took pictures without any comment from the guides.  So, feel free to bring yours along.

The Carnival website says Hub will be available on the Dream starting March 19th.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1152