ev98

Following up from the 3/4 medallions issue. Embarked in Port Everglades this morning and chose the Green Lane. We were at a podium shortly before 10:30AM. Our agent had no concerns with the situation and advised that she would go look to see if the medallion was available for pickup at the port - otherwise we would have been directed to the back desk for a temporary cruise card as @wallyj described. Thankfully the missing medallion was located and we boarded without having to go to Guest Services as our first stop. I therefore cannot report on the OBC situation. There were about 30 people in the Blue Lane queue at the time (compared to zero wait for a Green Lane representative), so not necessarily a terrible situation if we’d been directed there instead - but it would have definitely been the worse choice. Best of luck to all on the thread with your own situations!

Yes, all 4 people including the one who is missing a medallion are in the same cabin - which makes the situation even more confusing! Appreciate the suggestion on Green Lane, we'll see if any other input shows up here. My previous experiences at Port Everglades have been with Celebrity, which was zero trouble or wait at all. If we're directed to Guest Services on Day 1 (rather than being given a medallion before boarding) then OBC will definitely be requested. I was going to judge whether $10 was worth it based on the zoo-iness of the onboard line - but if we've got to go there anyway, certainly doesn't hurt to ask.

I figure this thread might have a recommendation. We're Canadians, and only received 3 out of our 4 medallions July 31 for our August 3 sailing from Ft. Lauderdale. Canada Post tracking says they shipped July 30 - so Princess or their authorized agent are definitely cutting it close these days. We got one blue Princess bubble mailer envelope containing two boxes - there were two medallions in one box, but only one in the other box. What's more, the person who actually got the ocean.com order confirmation email was the one missing their medallion! Everyone is marked as Green Lane on their boarding passes and on the website. Should we think about going to Blue Lane preemptively or is Green Lane still the right choice? (I'd rather not go through Green and then just get sent to the back of Blue. No idea how bad the line in Port Everglades is though.) Are they still giving out $10 OBC on the ship for this mild inconvenience if we ask? (We had Plus, but I think the argument is that we missed out on a feature of that program.)

Thanks for the heads up - we’ll be on Discovery Princess in a few weeks and definitely good to know about the changes. Does O’Malley’s count as casual dining for the purpose of Princess Plus?

Wow, popular sailing! My wife and I will also be on this one, leaving for FLL early tomorrow. Also interested in comparisons to HAL, which seems to have fairly reasonable pricing for their all-inclusive package. We also got a rejection notice earlier today for our single minimum bid (standard IV to AquaClass IV) - best of luck to anyone still waiting.

Without getting too much into it, taxi/Uber/Lyft/van from the hotel direct to PortMiami are not feasible for our party on this trip - I've used those options before and would certainly prefer them. If we can assume in good faith that the Carnival transfer is already arranged, I appreciate that this is not an optimal choice - just trying to get the best information I can to make this leg of the trip as good of an experience as possible.

We're taking the Carnival-sanctioned MIA to POM transportation for our July cruise, and are flying in a day prior to the sailing. The somewhat convoluted process (which we've done before when sailing with NCL) is to stay at a hotel close to MIA with a free airport shuttle, take the hotel shuttle back to the airport on the day of sailing, then board the cruise-chartered coach bus from the airport. Complexities aside, the Carnival website indicates that guests arriving prior to their sail date, like us, must show up at MIA on the actual date of sailing no later than 11:00am and meet at either baggage claim #1 (Terminal J) or baggage claim #22 (Terminal D). My questions for this esteemed group are: If you had to pick which terminal to meet and wait for the coach bus at, which one would you pick (D or J) and why? (eg: do the buses start at one terminal, then collect guests at the other before proceeding to the port? Is there better signage or more available staff at one or the other?) And: This is our first cruise with Carnival and we will not be paying for early boarding; is it worth showing up for the coach before 10am? (This one I'm thinking "yes, be there early regardless"; as the day goes on it's possible that shuttles going back and forth experience delays, or if the coach gets stuck in traffic, etc.) Thanks for any input - I know we'll likely be fine either way, but if anyone has feedback I'm interested in hearing it. (originally posted in Florida Departures forum, but it was highly suggested I try here for Carnival-specific info)

Thanks, I'll post there as well if it's not too much of a faux pas. I debated doing just that, figuring someone would redirect me here - but you're right that this is highly specific to one cruise line and their (contracted) operations.

We're taking the Carnival-sanctioned MIA to POM transportation for our July cruise, and are flying in a day prior to the sailing. The somewhat convoluted process (which we've done before when sailing with NCL) is to stay at a hotel close to MIA with a free airport shuttle, take the hotel shuttle back to the airport on the day of sailing, then board the cruise-chartered coach bus from the airport. Complexities aside, the Carnival website indicates that guests arriving prior to their sail date, like us, must show up at MIA on the actual date of sailing no later than 11:00am and meet at either baggage claim #1 (Terminal J) or baggage claim #22 (Terminal D). My questions for this esteemed group are: If you had to pick which terminal to meet and wait for the coach bus at, which one would you pick (D or J) and why? (eg: do the buses start at one terminal, then collect guests at the other before proceeding to the port? Is there better signage or more available staff at one or the other?) And: This is our first cruise with Carnival and we will not be paying for early boarding; is it worth showing up for the coach before 10am? (This one I'm thinking "yes, be there early regardless"; as the day goes on it's possible that shuttles going back and forth experience delays, or if the coach gets stuck in traffic, etc.) Thanks for any input - I know we'll likely be fine either way, but if anyone has feedback I'm interested in hearing it.