Me76

If you do or don't park at port, if it's possible, go drop your luggage off with the porters at port, then drive back to your parking. We've used Park and Cruise and a few others, it will make your life easier to get on and off the shuttle, specially if you have kids!

Question -

(forgive me if it's already been asked/answered, I have not read thru all 79 pages yet)

Right now, I have a reservation with myself and my youngest daughter in a room (she's only 13, but already Gold on Carnival). I'm interested in buying the Cheers package. But, my older daughter (who is 23 and pregnant) may join us.

If I buy the Cheers package now, while I am the only adult in the room, if I add her later, will I still need to buy the Cheers package for her?

*I understand by Carnival rules that I will, but I'm asking more if anyone has experience and done this, what actually happened, as obviously, my daughter doesn't need/want the Cheers.*

Thanks in advance!

Just wondering if there is some financial benefit to getting gift cards?? They seem to be a hot topic here!

Around here, we can get Carnival Gift Cards at Kroger and you get 2x (or many times 4x) fuel rewards promotions. I knew I was going to use $200 for buying excursions on my next cruise, so I bought gift cards at Kroger, and it gave me $.40/gal of gas (it was only a 2x reward). It's not the great savings of the 10% off, but since I am right next to a Kroger, and gas there is $1.99/gal right now, it made sense to run in (took less than 5 mins) and pay $1.59/gal for my fill-up.

Depending on how you look at it, I skimp on almost everything to be able to cruise, things I do "splurge" on, I almost never pay full price for.

Skimp:

Airfare or Drive Down - We are 8 hours from Port Canaveral or Tampa. But, being close to Atlanta, if it's 1 or 2 of us, we will sometimes fly. My DS and I are leaving Sunday morning for a cruise and I paid $64 total round-trip for both of us (yes, that's $32 each round-trip) on Spirit. (Tip: If you live relatively close to an airport Spirit services, you can go to the airport and book your flights and save the $17.99 p/p each way "Usage Fee" they charge you online. Of course, we have to pay for anything over a "personal item" bag, but it's a short cruise, and we are flying in early enough that I plan on stopping at a Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree to pick up toiletry and other small items on the way to port. )

Parking - We usually park at the $4.95 or $5.95 lots, never had an issue with the shuttles. (Tip: stop by the port first and drop your checked bags with the porters. This will save you a lot of time and hassle!) Also use Groupon for Airport Parking if we are flying.

Room - Whatever is cheapest, been in Balconies, been in OV, been in Insides.. don't really spend much time in the rooms, so it's not an issue.

Cruise - We usually cruise during Hurricane Season or in early or late spring (not Spring Break week) for the best prices.

Casino / Bingo - Never go in it, unless we are required to walk thru it.

Photos - Never buy them, usually avoid taking them at all

Alcohol - Never have bought a drink on a ship

Spa - I have never been in it

Steakhouse - MDR is good enough for us, we did it once on the Dream, it was ok, but not worth the extra $$ for us.

Food in Port - We are not seafood eaters (except DH), so unless we are in port all day without access to the ship, or it's inclusive, we don't eat in port. Also question some of the sanitary practices on some of the islands.

Souvenirs in Port - When the kids were little, they would haggle for a couple of the $1 or $2 souvenirs, but since they have realized what we did long ago, it's mostly all the same "made in china" crap with just a different island (or Panama City Beach, Branson, MO, Myrtle Beach, ect..) name on it. Now it's almost a game to see how many times we can see the same trinket in different places. As for t-shirts, it's what I do for my extra money, so they don't excite me much, lol.

Fun Shops - I browse thru them when I'm really bored, but never buy anything.

Splurges (if you can call them that) -

Soda Pass - It's my one bad habit, and the only thing I pay full-price for. Plus, I always get it for my kids. It gives them the ability to get juice and more importantly, if they leave their drink unattended, go get a new one with no issues. To me, that piece of mind is more than worth it!

New Clothes - As I said, we cruise during Fall or Spring. This is also when all the Summer and "Cruise Season" (in clothing retail, that's Dec-Jan, when people are giving Cruises for Christmas. Ever wonder why Target puts out swimsuits in Dec.. that's why) are 75% off. Just spent less than $70 on 4 swimsuits each for me and DS, outfits for each day, and outfits for dinner.

Excursions - We take them. My favorite thing to do during a cruise is snorkel, but other than that, we are not "beach" people. Usually, I look around and find really good deals from 3rd party vendors (though we did end up with a "Captain Ron" experience on our last Cruise going to The Baths in Tortola. This next cruise is very last minute, so I booked thru Carnival when I booked our cruise and used the 20% off that gave me.

FTTF - This upcoming cruise will be our first time using it. Our flight leaves Atlanta at 6am (this means leaving our house at 3:30am), so the thought of going to our room right away made this a (hopefully) worth while splurge.

Rental Car (for this trip) - Still booked thru Hotwire, but since our flight in is so early (6am), and our flight out is late (6pm), instead of using a shuttle, I booked a rental car. Between the car and parking, it wasn't much more than a shuttle to and from the airport for 2 people. But this gives us the luxury of stopping by a store and picking up toiletries (Tip: Dollar store is my fav place, I don't feel bad about throwing away $1 toothbrushes and stuff on the last day, and they have a little bit of everything, including batteries). This will also give us a chance to go explore Downtown Disney before our flight out. Much better than sitting at the airport all day long.

*I am not forgetting the tolls, we spent a week in Orlando over 4th of July for a dance competition nationals and still have plenty of money on my Sun Pass I bought, thinking we would go thru a lot of tolls, we didn't.

Quest is played on Royal Carib. Lines.

I am also on the 9/20 cruise. We have sailed on the Sensation a few times. A great get away.

As far as I know, The Quest is played on all lines, or at least the ones I have been on. I've played it (and won) on Carnival, RCCL, NCL, and even Disney has it! I'm a little competitive when it comes to that game ;)

I'm also on the 9/20 Sensation Cruise. Unfortunately, it's just me and my 14yo son, so I don't think I will be playing it this next time, unless I can find some friends quickly on the cruise.

Does the Sensation have a Talent Show? My son is a tap dancer and he wants to bring his shoes and compete if they have one.

TIA

First - "Hi Neighbors" to the Dacula folks! I'm on the other side of Winder toward Athens, about 20 mins away from you.

Second - One thing to consider with for kids and the soda card... if your kids spend a lot of time going in the pools/waterslides or going from activity to activity, I would recommend buying them the soda card if they would even be close to breaking even. <Overprotective Mom Hat on here> If my kids leave their drink unattended at all, I tell them to go get a new one. It may take them a few minutes to get noticed at the bar for a new soda, but I'd rather them be safe than sorry. Ultimately, there are thousands of "strangers" on the ship, and while the chances are low someone may drop something into their drink (whether it be accidental, something spilled/splashed, or purposeful), there's not enough justification for them to take that chance.

I am one of the most frugal people you will find when cruising. I budget and pre-pay everything I can, and for all of my cruises, my final tab for our family of 4 has been less than $20, most times we get a refund. The soda pass is something I consider an expense of the cruise, for safety purposes alone. But, they can also use it to get juices too, not just soda (unless that has changed in the past year).

It's been almost 5 years since we went, but everyone was pronouncing CoCoCay as "kay".

The comedian board made a joke about it, asking for Pepsi, the waiter replied "CoCoCay" (CokeOK)? Has stuck with me and my husband to this day.