Keys2Heaven

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

That is a total misunderstanding of HIPAA. It is a violation to release your medical information to anyone without your consent. It is not a violation either to ask for your information or for you to release it.

Agreed. And how is asking about a vaccination any different that the previous health questionnaire where they wanted to know if someone was pregnant or if you had been ill within the previous 72 hours prior to sailing.

Don't know if its been reported yet but Carnival is starting to call back ship employees a couple months early for training. Word is that all ship workers will be required to be vaccinated...at least for those ships sailing in July, so the 98% criteria will be met. Those being called back now are mostly European countries. India is on hold give their current situation.

We took the refund. Not interested in cruising until this is completely over.

On 2/29/2020 at 10:08 PM, crossfitmama said:

we did this catamaran https://stmaartencruiseexcursions.com/excursions/st-maarten-catamaran-tour/ . Loved this trip. I think catamarans are more spacious and more stable. We were able to layout on the front area and suntan while sailing.  It was an awesome day with great snorkeling, barbecue and drinks

Do you recall the catamaran operator by chance?

On 5/28/2020 at 5:43 PM, TNcruising02 said:

People know that some people will not wear masks.  Anyone who is concerned should stay away from all public areas as much as possible.  We are all responsible for our own health and cannot control the rest of the world.   If the ships aren't requiring masks, then people who are insistent on everyone wearing them should wait until there is a vaccine to go on cruises.

 I would have no issue signing a waiver.  

 

There may never be a vaccine.

On 5/28/2020 at 5:34 PM, MsTabbyKats said:

No mask debate here.

 

Yes...they are to protect others from the wearer.  And that's why it's important for everyone to wear their mask....to protect each other.  All you need is one asymptomatic person who "thinks" Covid happens to other people....and everyone has exposure, even if they have their masks on. 

 

As far as enforcement....unless they can "charge your account" (smoke in your room) it would be impossible to enforce wearing a mask on a ship of 3000.  The employees can be penalized; guests can't. 

 

But, OP is more concerned about being forced to wear a mask etc.   He/she doesn't have to worry.  They can't force you to wear a mask or keep social distance.  That would be "personal responsibility".

 

The more I think about it, if they do sail....Carnival needs to cover itself with waivers because they cannot protect the well intentioned passengers from the selfish ones.

Perhaps they amend the cruise contract to cover new CDC guidelines. Cruise at your own risk.

I called Carnival this afternoon and talked with a very nice woman who informed me that my refund request submitted via the online form on March 30th finally started processing on May 19th. She said it could take up to 60 days from that date to receive all refund amounts. We went over all the refund amounts and everything lines up. So, we wait some more.

No, this will not be required.

36 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

 

Each passenger can pay for their own test.  I don't see the cost of a test as a big deal.  I would much rather have that then have to wear a mask all over the ship.

I don't see that happening. And, neither you nor I know what the cost of said test would be anyway. I've seen some specialty labs charge a couple hundred dollars for an Covid antigen test. And anything done medically onboard (and let's assume pre-boarding screening as well) is often times considerably higher. So, a family of 4 should be willing to fork out > $800 just to get onboard a cruise they already paid for?

And, sure, we can play hypotheticals all we want, but we'll just have to wait and see.

No refund yet for May cruise cancelled by Carnival on March 30th. Filled form out same day. Others in our group have already received a full refund from this cancelled sailing though. Writing Carnival only results in a boiler-plate response like this:

"Well over one million Carnival guests have been impacted by this extended pause in cruising, which dwarfs any disruption we’ve experienced in even the worst hurricane season. We can confirm that refunds are being issued to those guests that requested one. We thank you for your continued patience. Although I cannot confirm a time frame, I can confirm guests have started to receive their refunds and we are continuing to process the remaining requests as soon as possible."
 

On 5/20/2020 at 5:51 PM, TNcruising02 said:

The military is developing a test that can detect the virus in people who contracted it within the last 24 hours.  So, if something like this could be available and easily administered at the time cruising begins, they might be able to test passengers before boarding.  A lot can happen in three months.

Who is paying for these tests? It's a lot cheaper for the CDC to extend the ban on cruising.

Question: Do you think the cruise lines would be willing to shell out money to test every passenger prior to boarding?

8 hours ago, Victorious8 said:

 

If you go to Instagram and follow the user quoted above you will see her pictures. I used that and some of the hashtags and geo tag to find a few more pictures but nothing worth while to post. I know that all may have sounded confusing to some so just know if I find anything worthy of posting I will do it here 😄 

Thanks. I'm following a few tags on IG to see if more photos show up. I'm in another group that is sailing in Miracle in a few months and is anxious to see work being done.

Booked the Feb 2022 15-day to Hawaii on the Miracle.

As far as the Funship Meetup, yeah might be a bit gimmicky, but it's the day before we return to port so what's the harm? It will be nice to know what that will entail.

23 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

A picture update as of 2/17/2020

Courtesy of @leneduplessis 

Is there a site to see work in progress?

On 2/11/2020 at 2:59 PM, RollTide73 said:

Is there anywhere I can go to see if I can use magnets on the cabin door of the Valor or if I should bring Command Hooks? I’m not a huge door decorator, but I like to hang a small dry erase board on the door.  We use it to leave messages for each other and it’s fun to read the messages from other cruisers.  Yes, I’m sure at some point there will be bad messages left; however, so far they have all been fun.  🙂
Thanks in advance!!

Magnets will work. Something light you'll have no issues with. We used a small command hook to hang up a door banner.

9 minutes ago, minniegidget said:

Just looked and it does not say she is getting dive in movies. That’s sad still going to have. Blast going to Hawaii in November 

Someone else in this thread posted that the current cruise director, Adam Cornes, indicated that they will get all the cabling in place for the dive-in movies but that there isn't enough time in dry dock to actually install the screen, etc. This will have to be done during future cruises.

1 hour ago, Jamericannn said:

Great idea. I’ll try this 

Well, if it's for a family, I don't see an issue and I wouldn't think you'd need to purchase again.

FTTF is dealt out according to some wacky algorithm regarding booked cabins and how many diamond and platinum guests are on a particular sailing.

6 hours ago, thenexus2k said:

 

Great! You will have fun! Spoiler alert: Miracle is my current favorite boat!

She'll be our home next May and she was our first cruise ever back in 2005!

1 hour ago, Jamericannn said:

Here is the situation....

 

I have 2 side by side rooms booked since January for my cruise coming up in just 19 days. I have been trying to grab two FTTFs ever since but could not find any until one day in September I saw one opened up. I bought that one for my room but still cannot find another. I check daily/nightly and afternoonly (new word). My PVP also regularly checks for me but nothing. I thought maybe I would have found one on final payment day but even then nothing opened up. I call the carnival reps a few different times to see if anything opened up that they are seeing and I am not. still nothing. I always ask them if they think they will allow the people in the other cabins to board with me.  I got mixed answers. Most reps say they will not. I have a couple reps who told me that Carnival would not want me to start off my vacation on a bad note so they would allow  the people from the other room to board with me. The reason why I cannot leave the people in the other room is because I have my children in it and I definitely would not want to go on the ship unless they are coming on too.

 

Question.....

Do you think I should take a chance and keep the FTTF and hope they let them come in with me or do you think they absolutely won't so I should cancel it and get reimbursed? I have up to 2 days before the cruise to do this.

 

If I know for sure they will not get to come in with me I will give up the FTTF. Has anyone else here ever had this experience or know about this dilemma?

If the second cabin is all adult (i.e. not children), then they will not be allowed to board with you using FTTF.

P.S. FTTF is one of those subjective upcharges. We had it once...it was o.k. Not sure it was worth the money for us. Even without it, we still get on the ship quickly. We're not huge "rush to the buffet after boarding" people, so trying to be first to grab lunch is no big deal. We'd rather check out the ship. And we try to only have a small backpack as our carry-on to the ship, as we know we might have to lug it around for a bit. No problem there.

Where we did find "value" in FTTF was guest services. It was nice to have a dedicated number and use the D/P line if we had to go down there. It still didn't prevent those D/P folks from giving me a snooty look when they saw my lowly "gold" card status though. Ahhh, got to love elitist attitudes on a cruise. I digress.

My advice...can FTTF and walk on together. Take that money and spend it on a nice steakhouse dinner instead!

Love Uber. We used it a couple of time in Honolulu to get back and forth to PH and the ship. Very reasonable prices and great conversation with the driver.

I believe you can do that at check in. They want your money, lol.

We spent more time in the piano bar on our last cruise than any prior. Patrick Duffy was the piano bar entertainer and can only recall only one other Carnival employee who made us feel so welcome and a part of the group right off the bat.

The piano bar was one of the highlights and most memorable part of our cruise.

4 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Just know that a "table for 2" means that a table for 4 has been split up and the 2 tables will be about 3 to 6 inches apart.

Not necessarily. Some ships have dedicated 2 tops.

On 10/24/2019 at 5:29 PM, sunonfire said:

From our Miracle Cruise, I told my son about Happy Hour at the Red Frog Pub. He went to buy beer and this was the dialogue. My son asked to buy a bucket of beer and was told the buckets of beer were not a part of Happy Hour pricing. My son was told he could buy individual bottles of beer at half price. He ordered 4 bottles. The bartender sold him the bottles and then asked my son if he would like a bucket and some ice to carry his beers in. YES! His wife and their friends all ordered the individual beers and received buckets and ice to carry the bottles. Also the same brand of beer was cheaper than at the pool even before the Happy Hour pricing.

 

Sounds like something the government would make up.

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

 

Urban legend.

 

If you are FLYING on a Tuesday, your pricing may well be better than on other days, as there is significantly less business flying that day of the week.

 

But...if you want to  believe that.  Or the chestnut that 54 days out is the best.  Or the other myths out there.

I didn't say I believed it, only that I heard it, but here's a link that talks about buying on Tuesday. So, I wouldn't just blanketdly state that this an urban myth.

https://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/tips-from-air-travel-insiders/