Organized Chaos

Has anyone on Allstate had any luck winning a gift card from scratch & win? Not me. I'm curious what they're giving out.

7 hours ago, cocomango said:

Can I still add it? If yes, how do I do that? (I see the website is down today so I can't access anything)

 

If not, can you recommend other insurance companies I can go through?

If you want to go with Carnival's insurance, you can call customer service, or your PVP if you have one.

In the case of Insure My Trip, policies often get more expensive as the cruise gets closer, so keep that in mind. Some have a deadline to be purchased by a certain date before the cruise.

7 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Clark Howard, who is a local financial guru in the Atlanta area, recommended this.  It's a pretty comprehensive policy.

Holy cow, I used to listen to Clark Howard 20 years ago when he was syndicated on our local talk radio station, but we lost him after a while. He's still going, huh?

3 hours ago, travelingtink said:

The Allstate app pushed an update today and I can no longer access my rewards. Can’t log in to the site either. Weren’t we supposed to be able t9 use the points thru the end of the month? 

Until October 31st. Try this URL: https://myaccountrwd.allstate.com/anon/account/login?campaign=145

You used to be able to request a box fan from Guest Services. They had a limited supply to hand out on a first come, first serve basis. I don't know if they still do this. On a couple occasions, I've actually seen people bring on their own full-size box fans. 😄

I didn't understand why Allstate was letting us play scratch & win since we can't earn points, but I just read the description. We can with gift cards with it now. That's cool. 🙂 I haven't won yet. That's not cool. 😔

On 9/13/2023 at 2:49 PM, sharon&family said:

I'm worried that people are saying the Horizon is warm in some of the rooms.  I want to buy a fan.  Which one should I get?  Does it work on batteries or do I get one that charges or plugs in?

11 hours ago, John Bull said:

I've not come across any comments that Horizon cabins are warm, and searching the 'web I've found nothing about it.

When you say  "people are saying the Horizon is warm in some of the rooms" is that a number of people who say they've experienced it - or just one or two second-hand rumours? Air-con can be fickle on any ship, and some folk don't even know that it can be adjusted.

 

It'd be a waste if you bought a fan just for your cruise and found that there'd never been a problem

 

JB 🙂

We were on Horizon 3 years ago. There were 9 of us in 5 cabins. Our cabin was the warmest we've ever experienced. I remember thinking that was nuts for a new ship. Our son and his friend were in the adjoining cabin and theirs was warm, too. As was another member of our party 2 doors down from us. These were all interior cabins. As for the other 2 cabins in our group, they were in balconies, so they couldn't really tell if it was warming than usual since they'd go in & out of the balcony door a lot.

@sharon&family I'd say if you can find a fan that suits your needs as far as air flow and being portable enough for you, and you don't mind carrying it, then go for it. Even if we don't use the fan for air flow, we like it for white noise, so it benefits us no matter what. My personal packing philosophy is, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me.

10 minutes ago, audcc77 said:

I have this O2Cool fan from Amazon as well.  Mine is 10”.   I just checked my purchase history on Amazon and I bought it in 2015!  It still works great.  It uses 8 D batteries.  However I just plug it in on the cruise.  Folds flat to store in my suitcase.  
 

I take it to outdoor concerts and picnics.  

Yep, 8 D's and folds up. Amazingly, I still have the box, so I checked and mine's the 8". I got it from Walmart's camping section way back when. I take it on all our vacations, it's been a trooper.

9 hours ago, KKB said:

I just read that we cannot use these to pay onboard expenses on Australian cruises due to the different currency.

Can anyone confirm?

This is from Carnival's gift card website. Hope it helps. (https://carnival.ourgiftcards.com/terms)

The Carnival Gift Card is only available in USD. Gift Cards are not accepted on ships that sail with a functional onboard currency other than USD.

Gift Cards can be redeemed for or on any cruise sold or operated by Carnival Cruise Line®, except onboard those sailings operating in a non-USD functional currency onboard.

I have an OG 8 inch O2Cool fan that's over 10 years old and still spinning. Good air flow and just the right amount of white noise.

Since it's served me so well, I'll probably go with an updated version of that same brand when the time comes. Mine can work off batteries, but also plugs in, which I've always done. I also take a long extension cord (9-10 ft.) to be able to set the fan anywhere.

6 hours ago, john91498 said:

It feels surreal that I'm not going on Carnival next year...

A couple we know are leaving on their first NCL cruise this week and it's also their first non-Carnival cruise. I'm very eager to hear all about it when they get back. I'm thinking I'd like to try a different one, too. In the last few years, Carnival has implemented some cost-cutting measures that have, in my opinion, hurt the quality of the experience in certain areas, and it seems like they continue to do it. So I'm curious what else is out there.

26 minutes ago, Drew B 58 said:

On eleven of my twelve previous Carnival sailings, they offered unlimited entrees.  Never once did I have any desire to order a third entree.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have even ordered TWO.  I’m always pretty darned full just on one/two appetizers, an entree, and a dessert.

 

In the past, the dinners were broken down into four courses - appetizers, soup/salad, entree, dessert.  Back then, just one of each course was more than enough for me.

For us, the unlimited entrees were always a good opportunity for multiple people to try new things. We'd each get the entree of our choice, then share extra entrees of things we wanted to try. One person wasn't stuffing themselves with multiple entrees. With that said, $5 for a third is reasonable, but only if I knew I liked the entree. I doubt I'd spend extra $ just to try something I may not eat.

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to cruise since they came back from shutdown, but even prior to covid, we felt the quality of food and overall dining experience was beginning to slip. We hope to get back to cruising soon so it's disappointing to hear that it may have gotten worse.

4 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

The combination of COVID, three cruises cancelled by Carnival, and galloping deeper daily into old age has resulted into accepting I won't cruise again.

 

Good news is three grandchildren with significant others have enjoyed gift cards refunded from my cancelled cruises.

 

I miss you all.

 

Happy Sailing!

Same here, I could play scratch off, but didn't win. Now they're just toying with us.

51 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Just logged in to get my last 50  points on Allstate. It was a bittersweet sentimental moment 😉 . 

Maybe that's why it didn't let me spin the wheel. I got an error first, then when I tried again, it told me I already played. Oh well, I hadn't gotten any points from it in a couple weeks. The good news is, I'll finally be able to delete my dumb Yahoo email address next month. Allstate was the only thing left on it...they could never get it changed for me. That'll be the end of an era itself. I've had it for 20 years at least.

46 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Hey OC!. Long time no talk to! Hope you and yours are doing well. Not to much to report except trying to stay out of the heat!  It got up to 108F today. I'm so sick of the heat I could eat a bug. 

 

I haven't been on at all, as nothing to report. But...but...but, we are FINALLY going on a cruise next February. On a 5 day out of Galveston, on the Breeze. Really looking forward to it.

 

Take care my friend. 

Great to hear from you again, Joe. I took a LONG break from the forum, but have been easing back into it. Unfortunately, we haven't cruised since they came back from the shutdown. We didn't get the poke in the arm, so had to wait for that policy to end, then life kinda got in the way. But I did win a $500 Carnival card from AARP, so I hope I get to use it in the near future.

If you haven't noticed the change, we're the AARP gift card thread now because Allstate Rewards is closing down. We have until this Sunday night to earn Allstate points (codes are rare these days) and until Oct. 31 to redeem points. They changed their cards to 8% and raised their shipping fee, so it's not really worth it anymore anyway, but you can use up points to enter some of their sweepstakes. Now AARP is the place to be for Carnival cards. They're still 10% off and they're all e-gift cards, so no shipping fee. The downside is, you have to be a paying member of AARP to buy Carnival cards, but the membership fee is very reasonable and the discount on gift cards (and other things) more than pays for the membership.

Good to see you again, my friend. Pop in once in a while to say hi.

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

no other option, wifi calling never works at sea

They used to allow it, I've used it a number of times. Just straight wifi calls from an iPhone without an app. For whatever reason, they block it now.

2 hours ago, Tiger0613 said:

Power hours don't exist anymore.  They got rid of them, likely as a pandemic precaution with a hidden motive of cost cutting.  There were no power hours on the Valor 11/29/21, Valor 12/23/21, Freedom 1/15/22, Radiance 8/29/22, Valor 11/28/22, and Glory 2/5/23.

Well that stinks. We haven't been able to cruise since the shutdown, so I knew I'd discover some changes, but that wasn't one I would've expected. So more than likely cost cutting, especially given that crowds aren't a concern in other areas. I've never seen the arcades too terribly busy, even during power hours. Maybe on the last night or two when kids are burning through some remaining S&S funds. OK, who am I kidding, I do that too.

I'd say $1-2 on average. Sometimes more or less depending on the game. Watch your Fun Times for "power hours," games will be half off.

I've been doing some of the crossword puzzles on AARP, but the last 2-3 days it wouldn't give me points. The first time it happened, it said there was an error. Then a couple other times it said it couldn't award points because I had already completed that task, even though I hadn't. I'm hoping it's a temporary glitch.

13 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Does Carnival offer an AARP OBC?

I'm pretty sure Carnival themselves don't offer it. Out of curiosity, I looked at a few cruises on AARP's Travel Center and didn't see OBC as an offering, but that's not to say it never happens.

4 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I am a Carnival gift card user. There. I said it. 

then on the AARP thread, I think it was @Organized Chaos, said he purchased the same gift cards through AllState and his order was canceled.

That was someone else, Megan, but I'm flattered you thought of me. 😊 LOL  Hope you have a great cruise! Toast a drink or two for the gift card crew. 🍻

1,000 points on the wheel today. It's definitely broken.

13 hours ago, canes20 said:

I always thought it was R-Kansas??????????????????

I'm pretty sure it's Arkansauce.

Got 1,500 pts. from the Allstate wheel again. That's 2 times in less than a week. They're being awful generous as it nears the end.

On 8/27/2023 at 10:22 PM, ski_mom said:

Same - we are in Illinois about 45 minutes north of St Louis, so I usually say in Illinois, near St Louis.  We are about 5 hours from Chicago.

We're not far from one another. 😉 Here's a trick we like to do. We always take St.L Cardinals shirts on vacation. If someone else is from the area and sees a Cardinals shirt, 9 times out of 10 they'll ask if we're from St. Louis. We were on the Horizon and ran into a couple from our hometown that way. What are the odds? On a ship with almost 4k passengers, out in the middle of the Caribbean sea, and run into people from the same small town.

13 hours ago, ski_mom said:

Oh, no - many pronounce it with the "s" at the end lol!

And they usually pronounce it as a Z. Illinoiz. What the heck, I've never heard anyone pronounce the S on Arkansas. 😒

5 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

They ship here. Fancy ain’t it. Like a big city. 

Don't feel bad. Every time we go on vacation...and I mean every time...when someone asks where we're from and I tell them Illinois, they always say, "Oh, Chicago?" No, amazingly enough, the state has more places than just Chicago.