Organized Chaos

Wow such negativity. To each his own- we've had so many compliments from stewards AND passengers that we bring extra to share - yes that means MORE people with decorations! [emoji3][emoji3]. We are on vacay and are happy to be on it me want to spread joy to others. Yep we proudly get gaudy and were ok with that. It's a good thing you don't live in our neighborhood - you'd hate our Christmas yard decorations! [emoji8] have a great day! Here's one more - one of our first NYE cruises.

OK, I admit it, I'm typically what you might call your classic grumpy old man (although I'm really not that old :rolleyes:). But even I, in all my grumpiness, would get a kick out of seeing these door decorations. You go right ahead and keep spreading your cruise joy. We could use more of that these days. And the next time we're on a cruise, if I see a big ole gaudy (no offense) door decoration, I'm gonna knock and ask, "Chicacruiser, is that you?" We didn't see any on our cruise, but I wish we had. I'll surely consider doing it next time. And like I said above, Carnival themselves sells cabin decorations on their website, so it's not like they discourage it.

Because this is cruise critic and EVERYTHING becomes a debate.

 

A months ago Carnival put out specific guidelines asking passengers to NOT use reg tape, NOT put things on the walls

Carnival sells cabin decorations on their website. To include, streamers & decorations that hang from the ceiling and banners for the walls. Why would they say not to put things on the walls when they sell decorations that go on the walls? And yes, it would certainly be polite & helpful if everyone cleaned up their decorations, but considering they sell decorations themselves, I'm sure they fully expect some guests not to. I doubt the stewards get too bent out of shape about it, as long as it's not a total mess.

We were on the Conquest in June. iMessages worked just fine on the Social plan. We text each other on the ship and family members back home using iMessage. If you purchase the plan on the first day for the entirety of the cruise, you'll get a discounted price. What would've normally been $25 for the Social plan on our 5-day was only $18.

So I presume MDR is waiter service?

 

Wine/beers delivered as well?

You're probably aware that you can take one bottle of wine per drinking-age adult on embarkation day. Well, there will be wine glasses in your cabin and, if you bring your own wine, you can take a glass of it with you to dinner if you'd like. Just be sure to take the glass back to your cabin.

And be sure to try to catch the "dinner show" the waiters/waitresses put on every night in the MDR. Just a little dance number they do for one song, but it's a lot of fun to watch. Get up and join them, if you're so inclined. I think they usually do it around 7:00.

Wine & can soda is packed your carry on luggage & not in your checked luggage...is this correct? :)

Yes, put it in your carry-on luggage. I put a 12-pack of soda in one carry-on and let our teenage son take that through. I even opened the case of Pepsi at home and made half of it Dr. Pepper, then taped it shut so they wouldn't fall out. I've heard some people recommend actually carrying the case of soda by hand, but ours was inside the carry-on and they never said anything.

Then, since you're allowed one bottle of wine per drinking-age adult in the cabin, we put both bottles of wine in one carry-on. I wrapped them in jackets just to give them a little extra protection and they never said a word. That might not be typical, but it's what we experienced. If they had asked to pull them out of the luggage, no big deal.

If you're cabin has a mini-fridge and it already has stuff in it, ask your steward to take that stuff out so you can put yours in. I read that Carnival might be leaving them empty now, though. Ours was full of their stuff in June aboard the Conquest. Your room will have wine glasses, too. My wife and another member of our party poured their own wine in the room's glasses and took a glass to dinner every night. Just be sure to take the glass back to your room.

I took my 8" O2 brand camping fan. It's a little bit older model, but there's still ones very similar out now. I keep it in its original box, so it looks new (just in case they had any questions before boarding). But it's in great shape, so I didn't think I'd have a problem. I packed it in a carry-on and it went right through. It runs on batteries or plug-in. I brought along a longer extension cord (6-8ft) and that allowed me to put it right by the bed. If you're looking for a smaller, portable one like this, try the camping section of just about any department store.

 

We decorate every cruise! We get poster paper from hobby lobby - it's the right width and cover the whole door. Then we open the peephole. We put all the decorations on the paper and use regular tape.

 

It's fun to have people come by and look at it!

Out of curiosity, how do you manage to get all of your supplies on board without tearing them up? Especially the full door piece. Do you fold it, put it inside something?

I'm not a decorative type of guy, but I'm sure if I saw decorated doors, I'd smile. Nice job on yours. :)

We were on the Conquest in June. I had called customer service before the cruise and the rep. pretty much quoted from the Carnival FAQ's. That there wasn't a set date for Conquest to get the Hub App and it'd be rolling out to the rest of the fleet over the next 18 months.

It doesn't have a serenity area, but deck 10 is a great place to relax. One side is the designated smoking area. The other side has a bunch of nice cushioned chairs and couches w/ coffee tables. It was always quiet and never crowded when we were there. There were a lot of kids on board, but none ever seemed to hang out in this area. All of the chairs & couches are under the overhang, so it's usually shady.

I took my 8" camping fan that I bought years ago from the Walmart. But I've kept the box all these years, so it still looks new. Start in the camping section if you're looking for something small & portable. The one I have operates on batteries or A/C power. I put it in my carry-on and they never questioned it. I also brought a long extension cord (6-8 ft). This let me put the fan right beside the bed since there was only one outlet in the room.

Deck 10, mid-ship, has two areas of those comfy chairs and sofas that are used in the Serenity deck sections of other ships. The furniture is under the overhang and is a great place to read or take a nap. This area on the starboard side is for smoking guests but the port side is not. If you take the mid-ship elevator and walk out through the sliding glass doors, taking a right will bring you to the starboard smoking side and turning left and around the corner is the port side.

We were on the Conquest in June and even with a lot of kids on board, we found that this area was almost always nice & quiet. And never crowded at all. The couches were a great touch and there's coffee tables for food & drinks. They're under the overhang so it's shady and when the breeze blew through there, it was a perfect place to relax.

I walked out after 2 minutes. Just noise to me. Most seem to like it.

If you really only gave it 2 minutes, you should've stuck around a little longer. I don't know if they all start the same, but when we went, they had a guitarist playing at first. No vocals, just his guitar. It lasted a few songs and I almost walked about. It was good guitar playing, but I didn't want to listen to a whole show with just a guitar player. I'm so glad I stuck around. The performers came out, the light show kicked in, the songs, the singing, the costumes, everything. Outstanding show!

The first thing that comes to mind is giving them some early Halloween candy of some kind. Print out a copy of your boarding pass and hide it in the candy. You might have to help them figure out exactly what it is for, but once they know, let the excitement begin. Maybe incorporate a pirate costume to keep with the "at sea" theme.

 

Also, what time do the shows tend to start at night (generally- but especially Glory.) I have read it's not easy to get a seat at punchliners if you have late dining? We do)

We were on the Conquest in June. One night we decided to go check out the comedy show after we ate. We got there with only about 30 minutes left in the show and it was standing room only. And there was hardly any room to stand, at that. When the show was over, there was already a very long line waiting for the next one that didn't start for another 30 minutes. So if you'd like to catch one, I'd say get there as early as possible and expect to stand in line if you want a seat. Granted, that was the only comedy show we went to during our whole cruise, so I can't guarantee they're that full every night, but be prepared.

Why not write to Cruise Critic and ask the source rather than asking a bunch of people who do not work for Cruise Critic

What's wrong with asking the user base of the forum for help with the forum? There's a chance that someone might be familiar with a setting that the OP wasn't aware of. I think it's as good a place to start as any.

Just as a side note. I used Cruise Critic a little bit while researching our first cruise back in June, but never registered because I used the Carnival forums more regularly. But I recently registered here after they closed. The worst part of their forum was the ones who had been around the longest. Many of them were rude and unhelpful to newcomers. That's the biggest thing I wasn't going to miss over there.

On Rodeway's website, rooms for February 10, 2017 start around $200.

 

Regarding pricing, posters need to be cautioned that low season (May - mid-December) pricing in south Florida is always a fraction of high season pricing (Christmas - April) - sometimes 1/2 or even less. If you cannot provide a rate for the date(s) in question, citing a rate you received for a different month/different season isn't very helpful.

 

When researching hotels, in addition to doing a search on this board for reviews and comments, make sure you check out TripAdvisor.

I was simply offering the OP another option based on my recent experience. I included the link to the hotel's site so the OP could have a look for themselves and see if it's a place they'd be interested in. Since we're being frank here, whether we're helpful or not isn't up to you, it's up to the OP of the thread.

As someone who had never been to, or vacationed in, south FL before our trip to Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise, I was not aware that peak and slow seasons were the opposite of what they are in every other location we've ever vacationed. That's why I cited the rate we paid. I thought it would give the OP a jumping off point. Again, I wasn't aware that hotels in south FL peak in the winter season and I certainly wasn't aware that a 3-star hotel would double their rates during peak season. So I thought the rate I paid would at least be close to what the OP could get.

Personally, I always start with TripAdvisor. But the OP was looking for options so I offered one.

Otherwise, keep your nose to yourself, worry more about yourself and less about others.

 

Bless your heart and have a great day.

{emphasis added} I guess we're both guilty of worrying about what others say and do, huh? And by the way, the whole, "Bless your heart and have a great day" loses some of its oomph when you say it right after telling someone off.

What silly judgmental comments about what OTHER people do with their time on vacation they paid for.

One of the biggest problems with the Carnival forums were the people with high post counts and high cruise counts who looked down their noses at everyone else. They were rude, ganged up on others, and felt like their way of cruising was the only way. It made for a very unwelcoming environment and it chased people away. I wasn't intimidated by the "holier than thou" crowd there and I won't be here. I'm willing to bet you've been judgemental a time or two on here as well. And you know what, I'd probably call you out on it as well. So I don't fault you for doing it.

Now that that's been said, allow me to elaborate. With access to gorgeous, clear blue tropical waters, I simply find it amusing that so many people want to swim in a pool instead. That's my opinion, that's all it is. I know everyone's likes are different. But I have just as much right to converse on here as you. No one's telling you or anyone else how to spend your vacation time.

Just want to add my recommendation for Epic Rock. The music (mostly classic rock), the costumes, the light show, the overall performance. Holy cow! When they performed Bohemian Rhapsody, anyone who knows about the headbanging scene from Wayne's World knows that it's proper etiquette to take part in said headbanging at just the right time during the song. I got some funny looks, but I didn't care.

I think a lot of people use Half Moon Cay as primarily a beach day. We took the island tram tour, which was nice and we found it interesting, but it's not the most exciting thing in the world. Very small island and not much to it, so there honestly isn't a whole heck of a lot to tour. But it was fun talking to our guide about their lives working on the island. For instance, our guide rides a bus from her home to a boat on her home island. She then takes a 2 hour boat ride to HMC every day. In the evening, she has to do it all over again. We did see a lot of people on the horseback riding expedition, so that seems like a popular one.

Have a look at the Rodeway Inn and Suites, Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed there in June. Great rates (we paid around $100/night), they have long-term parking (for a fee), and provide a shuttle to the cruise port and back to the hotel when you return. Compared to some of the hotels people are listing here, it's definitely nothing fancy, but our room was clean and it provided everything we needed. It's only about a 10 minute drive to the cruise port.

But Jimmy and the Cruise Lines have roped most of them in.

To each their own, I know, but I personally find it a little odd that so many people flock to Margaritaville. They arrive at a tropical island with a gorgeous beach and crystal clear water, then go sit around a pool at a bar. :confused:

We were in Grand Turk in June. Never snorkeled before that cruise. We first tried at Half Moon Cay, but there wasn't much to see other than a lot of white sand bottom and a few fish. We decided last minute to try again in Grand Turk and so glad we did. While everyone else went to the main beach (out in front of Margaritaville, that area) we went on the opposite side of the dock (right side if you're on the dock facing the island). It's a smaller area that doesn't have as many beach chairs and there were less than 10 people in that area. We saw fish, small coral, a live conch, a crab, & more. Great for us beginners and didn't have to fight the crowd.

Granted, when we were there in June, we were the only ship. Even so, the beach was packed. But we chose to go to the other side of the dock. As you're walking down the dock off the ship towards shore, we went to the smaller area on the right side of the dock. There are far fewer beach chairs and less than 10 people hanging out on that side when we were there. We just wanted to do a little snorkeling and it was perfect.

You'll need the Premium plan if you want to video chat. Not sure if FaceTime will be supported, but it should be since Skype is. Check carnivalwifi.com on your first day. We were offered a discounted price if we purchased a plan on the first day for the entirety of the cruise. For instance, we got the Social plan, which should've been $25 on our 5 day cruise, but since we got it on day 1 for the whole cruise, it was discounted to $18 per device.

Be sure to put your phone in Airplane Mode first, then turn Wifi on. This will keep you from incurring any roaming charges.

As others have said, the cabin safes are of the card swipe variety. We used an old, spent gift card then hid it in the cabin so any of us could get in the safe if need be.

Our interior cabin slept 4, but we only had 2 adults and a teenage. But there was only 2 robes. We didn't use them anyway, but if you run into this and need more, I'm sure your steward can take care of that.

We were on the Conquest in early June, so I guess the info about mini-fridges being empty is quite recent. Ours was full of Carnival drinks (not free) and our steward just told us to set them aside if we wanted to put our own drinks in there and he'd get them the next day. He never did come get their drinks, but that was ok, they weren't in the way.

We bought waterproof cases/lanyards with the intention of putting things in them on beach days (S&S cards, maybe a cellphone, cash). The ones we bought turned out to be a little bigger & more cumbersome than expected, so we didn't use them for their intended purpose. But we found what we thought was a much better use for them. First off, these are the ones we bought (Amazon)...

We ended up taking the lanyard off of the case itself. The clip at the bottom of the neck strap is a quick-release clip. We threaded the lanyard through the hole in the S&S card (already punched when we got it, Port Everglades) and it became the perfect lanyard because with a quick and easy squeeze of the release clip, the S&S card was free to do whatever we needed to do with it. Then back on the lanyard for safe keeping. Lightweight and barely noticed it was there. You might be able to find similar lanyards without buying the entire waterproof case, but I highly recommend one with that quick-release clip.