WanttoCruise2015

Thanks for the info. Thats what i figured, that they may wait but with a HOHO its more like you would be on your own. The cost difference from ship booked vs private is double for same company and i say save the differense as i doubt the ship will wait if you are late

If the ship rate is higher than the private company but exactly the same otherwise I would check to see if they do a Price Match Guarantee. I have seen that Carnival does.

Soda is over $2 plus gratuity each unless you use the minifridge in the room then it is $1.99 plus gratuity, otherwise you can by the soda package (very reasonable). Drinks included in the cruise price is tea, basic coffee, iced tea and lemonade. You are also allowed to bring 1 12 pack of canned pop per person on board. They sell bottled water but heard that the basic water is fine to drink.

Gratuities are about $12.95 per person per day. You can either have that already in your cruise purchase or it will be charged to your sail n sign card. You can also adjust it up or down while you are on the cruise.

Best bet is to search in the Carnival Cruise forum as there is tons of info there regarding the cost of beverages, tip info, excursion info etc. If you want to keep low cost then see what beaches are at your ports of call or just stay on the ship and enjoy the amenities that stay open while in port otherwise look into the excursions but yes they can be pricey via carnival but when being a first time cruiser it has been suggested to stick to them (if you find an excursion the exact same as they do for cheaper they do a price match) it is safer as if there are delays getting back to port then the ship has to wait for their excursions otherwise you risk being left behind and finding your own way....Excursion info then look in your ports of call on here.

I will be cruising the first time in Jan 2017...Enjoy your cruise!

I have an early saver question. I'll call Carnival, but wanted to check here to see if others have had experience. I booked an OV cabin for myself, husband, and our 24 year old son. He is now thinking that he'd like to bring his girlfriend so they would need their own cabin. My question is, would his moving from our cabin into his own interior cabin be considered an upgrade and allowed, or would he have to cancel his cruise and re-book loosing $50?

Luckily his current fare (less port fees, taxes, and gratuities) was only $179, but would still hate to lose money if he was to move to his own cabin.

I was inquiring about something similar (hubby, myself and 14yr old son to hubby and myself in 1 room with son in a separate room) and what my PVP with carnival stated is his deposit would be transferred to the new room but it all depends on if you did reduce deposit or not. If you did reduced then the deposit amount would go up to what it is currently. You would not have to cancel and pay a fee as you are just adjusting the room type. Still double check with carnival though as who knows if it is something they can regularly do. I was told technically its an upgrade as going from 1 room to 2.

Because you have FTTF, you can show up anytime you want. I can't recall if the Breeze has staggered boarding yet, but even if it does, having FTTF means you don't have to stick to your assigned boarding time.

 

 

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I am on a Jan 2017 Breeze Cruise and I do believe we have staggered checkin. I also purchased FTTF but I also picked a 10:30am - 11am checkin time.

Did you do economy or comfort plus if you can do that or first class? Did they give you an option of times

 

 

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When I booked my Jan 1 2017 cruise back in March of this year I was able to book my flights but only in economy. I have been curious about some first class seats on UA and so got the travel desk number from my PVP and when I spoke to them I told them exactly what UA flights I was looking at. They put me on hold and when they came back the price they gave me was more than double what UA was offering online and to top it off Carnivals pricing is in USD and when I was searching UA they were giving to me in CAD as I live in British Columbia. I booked flexible fare which means I can cancel or pay off by Cruise payment deadline in October. I was able to preselect my seats with DL but not AC via Carnival. I had to wait for the booking to show up on AC side (be ticketed by Carnival) and then purchase seats with AC as they charge for seat selection.

Least to say I will stick to the economy seats I booked through Carnival on AC and DL for now until I can get the money together for the UA flights I want and hopefully book First Class through UA in a couple months if the price hasn't jumped dramatically.

Just so you know the price difference I was quoted...UA first class via Carnival was over $2500US per person whereas UA web stated $3554CAD for the 3 of us inclusive.

Had a message on my Jan 1 2017 roll call yesterday stating FTTF was available so went online in the evening and purchased but only 1 excursion other than the FTTF was listed. Just looked today because of this thread and there are 21 more excursions listed....Now to get the money together...lol

Do you think the excursions could sell out fast? Was hoping to put more money on the cruise and purchase excursions in November when the cruise was paid off, now I worry.......

Keep the later flight - you may be able to make the earlier flight, but maybe not...Galveston can be tricky. Layer that on top of the TSA issues... And you are better off getting there early than missing a flight.

 

JD

Thankyou for your input. I think I will agree with you and keep my original flight time unless I can eventually book UA on my own for slightly later time as currently booked flight through Carnival themselves since flexible fare and they are AC in and DL out. If I look on UA web I can get first class roundtrip for $1000CAD more for the 3 of us compared to what Carnival offered privately for UA first class (they wanted almost triple the total cost I can get directly with UA).

I have booked on the Carnival Breeze for Jan 1 - 8 2017 and booked flexible flights at that time.

The ship is due back at 8am and currently our flight is due to depart IAH at 1:52pm with a town car picking us up at 930am. I am thinking of changing our flight to leave IAH at 12:35pm.

My question is, is a 9:30am pickup reasonable if we are doing self debarking as soon as the ship ports? We will have to go through customs etc as we are from Canada but I myself are a UK citizen thats a permanent resident in Canada.

Will we have enough time from Docking to pickup time with town car? Should we push for 10am instead of 9:30am and if we push for 10am will a 12:35 departure be alright? What is the best time frame for flight waiting 1hr?...so be at airport by 11:30??

Okay charged it. But it is pending saying the cost can change. Something about tax and port charge. No clue what the tax is and the port surcharge is. I am sailing out of Galveston.

Just an fyi if you didn't know, when cruising out of Galveston you are unable to use the Cheers Package the first day due to their Liquor Laws. Which means if you are on a 7day cruise then you have purchased a 6day cheers package. I believe all drinks on day of departure you need to pay out of pocket/sail&sign. Also there is a state tax on all liquor so you will be charged tax, when purchasing the day of departure, wait until approx. 30min after the ship leaves port if you want to save on the taxes...but really how much can that be for a drink or 2 each

I haven't cruised before but have done alot of research as we are cruising out of Galveston Jan 2017 and thats what I have read on several threads.

Hey all! I am about to leave for my very first cruise on Friday and I am SOOO excited! This time it will be a grown up only quick getaway but my kids are uber jealous and I have decided I want to purchase an awesome cruise for them this year as a Christmas present, thinking like February 2017 time frame.

 

When we booked this cruise they had a deal for a $50 deposit through the TA and we paid the balance by 2 month prior to sailing.

 

I have heard people will book cruises a year or more in advance and pay as you go and that is what I was wanting to do.

 

Just tried it through the same TA and it asked for a $1000 deposit which is slightly more than half the cost of the entire cruise.

 

Any idea why? Are longer cruises higher deposit? Or is it just that they do sales from time to time? I would rather just put a small amount down now and make a payment on it every month without having to have it show up on my credit card (trying to buy a house and keep debt down.)

 

Thanks for any insider info you can give!

The longer the cruise and more people you have or more rooms you have the larger the deposit required. If you are thinking Carnival then wait for a reduced deposit sale...thats where you will get the lower deposit. I would also suggest booking an early saver rate when you do as it guarantees your rates won't go up, but if it was to go down and you noticed you would contact who you booked through and they would adjust the price unless the rate goes down after your final payment then it would be OBC.

I booked the Carnival Breeze for Jan 1 2017 for DH, DS (14yrs old) and myself when it was reduced deposit back in March for $2489 (Deck 8 midship balcony)I booked Deck 8 as it was free upgrades at the time. When I saw there was a sale then I had to add more money to make it the full deposit amount but the price went down. I have had a total of 3 price adjustments since I first booked and my cruise fare is now $2120. I am paying it off monthly until my final pay date in October.

Hope this helps;)

And I did manage to get one of of the frantic clicking - just not the cabin I would have chosen. Ended up with one that wasn't in a great spot - but better than nothing. Still strange. I just wonder if maybe there was a price drop or something and there really were that many grabbing them? Prob never know...... A mystery :)

 

 

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When I booked my Breeze for Jan 2017 I called in to a rep that had been emailing me regularly as I signed up for emails as apparently he somehow gets info every time that I am researching...anyways to the point.....

when I was ready I called him and we looked at the rooms, surprisingly the website does not show all cabins available so may be best still to try and call in, they may have a better location for your category that you want:)

Thankyou all for the info on the alcoholic purchases on the first night. At least now we have a better idea. Whether who is right and who is wrong on the exact time/distance that doesn't matter to me as long as I have a rough idea. Sounds like we may pay taxes on some drinks and we may not :D

Sorry we have never cruised before so these are questions that are coming to mind as we wait...

Over 240 days to go

Sorry if this has been posted before and sorry for posting in general Carnival Line section as couldn't find a new thread link for the Breeze itself.

I know that we cannot by the cheers package or alcohol to be in the room for day of departure from Galveston due to their laws but my question is once we (the ship) leaves the port are we allowed to buy alcohol for consumption that evening? How long after departure would we have to wait to be able to purchase as well as to avoid the taxes? I am certain my hubby would be extremely upset if he couldn't get a beer or 2 or even his JD and ginger on the first night. Honestly I would be a little disappointed as well if I couldn't start trying their cocktails out...

Also along the topic of alcohol and cocktails, any recommendations on a must try cocktail or must avoid at all costs cocktail? I would think I could easily sample each cocktail at one location per day....

Sure hope before our Jan 2017 cruise they will choose to adjust the bottomless bubbles and add nonalcoholic cocktails to the mix as my DS LOVES them but at over $5 each it would get quite expensive, thinking of giving a daily limit for nonalcoholic, arcade and candy that he could spend as he wishes but splurge a little that first night.

Oh and while posting does anyone know what the costs are in the arcade?

When in Jan we sail jan 22 also no excursions posted

We will be on the Jan 1 cruise. I was hoping to do something for New Years Eve but cannot get Dec 30th off of work so I choose the next best option which is to be in Galveston on Dec 31, unfortunately they don't do fireworks to bring in the New Year. :(....I have tried to convince hubby to go on a slightly later cruise (within January) but now he is excited to be elsewhere instead of home in British Columbia for New Years. It would be a nice change for us anyways as we don't go out on New Years Eve (we have a soon to be 14yr old on our hands)..lol

Is anyone having any luck with the 2017 excursions showing up? I am on Splendor in Feb 2017 and nothing is showing up.

I will be on the Breeze Jan 2017 and only have 1 excursion showing (zipline). It has been there since I booked last month.:(

It was about 10am when we started coming in.

 

 

 

I "gots prime viewing" from my loud, smelly balcony. :D

 

Sakari really wanted to know how these men got there...I told her when they didn't see any sharks around, they went for it, jumped and swam over.

 

 

 

These men were screaming and yelling at Celebrity. Like one of them was super mad about something. He would throw his hands up in the air, scream, do the "about-face" walk and then turn back to repeat.

 

 

 

I can only assume that these ropes some how got stuck somewhere because they would be pulling and not getting anywhere with them.

 

 

 

The guy finally threw his hands up one last time, slammed the rope down and walked over to our ship and tied us up instead. HA! I guess we'll be docking earlier than expected and Celebrity will have to wait to dock at 10:30 "due to the waves and wind". We were docked by 10:15am.

 

 

 

 

 

They look like miniature people like the romans and cowboys in "Night At The Museum" movies...lol

I am wondering if Atlantis Submarine is worth it, it sounds interesting and would be good for us since none of us are good at snorkeling and dont know how to scuba dive. Would be neat to see the creatures etc under the water but unsure of the cost. Anyone been and have they thought it was worth it?

Also I was thinking to add a little beach time since the Atlantis is only supposed to take 2hrs max. Would it then make sense to use resortforaday.com (seen on other posts here) and go to El Cid for the rest of the time since it is really close to Atlantis which then both are still close to the port?? Or would another beach place be best? Paradise Beach, Playa Mia Grand, Cozumel El Cozumeleno or Occidental Grand. We have a 14yr old son so would like some free or minimal cost water activities and hopefully good area for swimming or wading in the water. Mini golf would be cool but not sure we would have time.

Also would it be more beneficial to do one of the AI daypass resort or take money and buy our food and drinks?

Sorry for long winded but we are going on our very first cruise Jan 1 2017 (Carnival Breeze) and one of the ports is Cozumel. I want us to thoroughly enjoy ourselves but don't want to break the bank either...lol and I feel so lost with the beach options. Was even wondering about Mr. Sanchos...urgh:confused:

Aww, thanks for the comments and glad you are enjoying it. Your 260 days will fly by and it will be here before you know it. How amazing it would be to be on the ship bringing in the New Year!! I'm jealous! :)

 

 

 

Thank you so much for such a wonderful comment. I appreciate it.

Unfortunately I could not book a cruise to ring in the New Year as I could not get the evening of Dec 30th off (I am a Community Health Worker and work from 3pm - 11pm). We will be overnighting in Galveston for New Years Eve. Still it will be fun and exciting, sulking that Galveston doesnt do fireworks though....:(

Also thankyou for responding to each and everyone of us.

I have booked my hubby, very soon to be 14yr old (May 15th) son and I on our very first cruise. I choose the BREEZE and it will be for New Years Day 2017 out of Galveston.I have us going the day before and planning at staying at the Holiday Inn - On the beach ...

I am so excited I have been coming onto CC alot and saw your post the other day so have been reading and enjoying the pictures. Thankyou so much for doing this review and in great detail too. Makes me want to be on the ship NOW...LOL

Still got over 260 days to go...ugh!

BTW your daughter is a real cutie pie

IMHO, cruise insurance depends on how you get your air. Carnival insurance is based on cruise value, and covers air at no additional cost. If you get your own air, you cannot use CCL insurance for it.

I booked the air through them as well because they had flexible fare where it could be added into the cruise cost.

This is our very first cruise and I thought booking everything through them would be easier. Only thing Carnival doesn't do is hotels....

We are cruising Jan 1 2017 out of Galveston on Carnival Breeze but travelling from Vancouver British Columbia. I am trying to figure if it is best to get the insurance through the cruise line or another way? Currently I have the Carnival Insurance added for our trip but was told by family its too expensive and can get cheaper insurance and that carnivals is not worth the cost.

The reason I bought insurance is they say they have to help us make sure we get to the cruise ship (flying in day early anyways and have personally booked at the HI on the beach) and I booked the flight through them as flexible fare. Plus they stated if we cancelled for valid reason we would get bulk refunded and if any other reason then it would be future cruise credit ? (Sorry dont remember exactly it was either that or certain portion back depending on how far out cancelled).

I would want the insurance to cover for any reason and cover our butts with everything so is Carnivals truly the best option or does any inclusive insurance work? None of us have pre-exist medical conditions....

I believe I also have insurance with my credit card as well as through my work plan.

Just FYI. I have noticed people posting of their disappointment that the only car rental service here in Galveston, Enterprise, is not open on Sundays. That was also my understanding. Today, I learned they have different hours than what I knew of. Weekdays 7:30 am-6pm, weekends 8am-1pm. When I told the guy that I was talking to at Enterprise, about this, he said, it wasn't just a problem of people not knowing their hours, it is a BIG problem that people don't book in advance. If they have X amount of cars that they have reserved, fine, but, said some cruisers seem to wait until the last minute and then, of course, they don't have enough extra cars to fill the requests.

 

I promise that I don't work for the local Chamber of Commerce or anything like that. I just know that I have read posts from people that say they would like to come here earlier than the cruise and have a day or two here in Galveston, but the car rental was a problem. Also, people that of course come from the airport down Harborside Drive, where they only see industrial things claim, Nothing to do here.. If you were standing, looking towards your ship and look to your right there are several restaurants there, and several things to do in the Bay.. One block, behind you, is Strand Street. Many shops, places to eat and gift shops. Runs for about 5 blocks, both sides of the street. If history or old homes, with history is a thing, we have that. And of course, the beach. Galveston is very diversified. I have traveled most of my life and never saw a place like this. One block is awesome historical mansions, the next slums.

 

Anyway, if anyone would like info of things to do, I would be happy to help. I can direct you from things that are kid friendly, to happy hours, or just local lunch specials. Have a great cruise, wherever you leave from!!!:)

Does anything happen on New Years Eve? We are flying in to IAH Dec 31st 2016 in the late afternoon and were hoping that there would be fireworks or something. Any suggestions on where to stay (currently reserved HI on the beach) and where to eat (2 adults and a 14yr old). We cruise out on the Breeze New Years Day.

O I am loving this thread...lol

I have been wanting to cruise since I was a travel agent over 6yrs ago. No longer a travel agent but finally booked our first cruise. Sad its not until Jan 2017 tho.

From what I've read on this forum, it seems that if you have a 2017 cruise - they are still negotiating contracts with tour operators until April 2016. Most, if not all, excursions should be listed for 2016 cruises already.

 

Also to answer your questions...

1) FTTF is available through shore excursions as an excursion at your embarkation port.

2) You pay for all excursions in total at the time of booking.

Thankyou very much Bumbles!