RaiderDuck

These "upgrades" sometimes aren't. On our last Inspiration cruise, we booked a porthole cabin (for those who don't know, Carnival lists porthole cabins as "Inside Cabins"). A few weeks before the cruise, we received an email offering us an "upgrade" from our porthole cabin low on the ship to a true inside cabin in the middle of a higher deck. And they wanted to charge us more for it, to boot!

We had a good chuckle and eyeroll over that one.

On our Splendor sailing a few years ago, we were waitlisted for YTD. Since that's what we really wanted, here's how we got it:

As soon as the ship sailed, we asked around and were told a maitre'd would have to approve the switch from assigned to YTD. Since it can be ANY maitre'd, we went to the maitre'd of the assigned restaurant, figuring we'd have better luck asking the person whose workload we were reducing, as opposed to the person whose workload we'd be increasing. The switch was approved. The first time we went to the YTD dining room, we told them that the maitre'd of the other dining room had approved the switch. They verified that on their computers, and we were never hassled about it again.

Respectfully disagree with a few of the selections in this topic:

1) Faster To The Fun is great if, like us, you're traveling with expensive items you don't want checked (our iPads and her expensive-but-fragile Charlotte Tilbury makeup), but don't feel like lugging those bags around with you your first afternoon. Being able to hit our cabin immediately and drop everything off is worth $50 to us, and so are the expanded debarkation options on the last day. YMMV, of course.

2) Art auctions: Two years ago on our honeymoon cruise, we saw a painting we loved ("Te Amo" by Tomasz Rut) but didn't buy it. For the next year, we wished we'd bought the painting. When we went on our first anniversary cruise, we sought out the Park West office on the first day and asked if they had it. Turns out they didn't, BUT another ship did and they were able to have the other ship pull it and reserve it. It cost us $1,200 after discounts (appraised at $1,700) but that painting hangs above our living room couch and we both love it. Bad deal? Not for us.

On the other hand, the Duty-Free booze is ridiculously overpriced compared to what you can buy the same stuff for back home. And don't even get us started on the cruise lines charging $3 or more for a 12-ounce can of soda.

We LOVE Guy's Burgers. While we miss the Mongolian Grill it replaced on the Inspiration, we can totally see why they did it: Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana cantina (which combine to take up the same space the Mongolian Grill used to occupy) can serve a lot more people a lot faster.

On 8/4/2019 at 3:09 PM, zqvol said:

 

That is not  a Norwegian policy, but you are likely to be seated at a tablel for 2 because  most people don't want to share with strangers.

That fits me and my wife. Our jobs (technical support for me, advertising consultant for her) involve all-day contact with strangers. When we're at dinner on our vacation, we prefer to be by ourselves.

We've had great CDs, good CDs and bad CDs. A great CD like Chloe Loddo with Carnival or Iain Bagshaw with Marella (formerly with NCL) can add another level to your cruise experience. Even a bad CD (like Jeimy) doesn't really detract from the cruise. You just ignore them or think "Meh. Whatever." and then go back to enjoying your vacation.

In our experience, a bad room steward (like the one on RCI who helped herself to my wife's makeup) is much worse than a bad CD.

23 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Is Los Lobos part of the dining package?

On the Sun, it is. Yummy food too!

We booked our inside guarantee room (IX) about a month ago. Within a week or two, we'd received our room assignment.

We love both Carnival and NCL, but one of the things we prefer on NCL is the variety of the restaurants. For instance, most NCL ships have a (extra-cost) French restaurant and Brazilian steakhouse. There is NOTHING like that on any Carnival ship I've been on. Even if you don't feel like paying extra, all NCL ships have a pub serving cooked-to-order pub food in the evenings (cheeseburgers, fish & chips, etc). Again, Carnival has nothing like this.

20 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

They changed our itinerary from Puerto Vallarta to Acapulco (one of the top murder capitals in the world).

Needless to say, we weren't happy, either.

On our honeymoon cruise in late 2017, one of our stops was Acapulco. You'll be perfectly safe, as the bus only stops at approved tourist destinations far away from the actual populace (it does NOT let you off in downtown or anywhere near it). The cliff divers, BTW, are really something to behold.

It was kind of amusing to hear the bus drivers talk about all the famous movie stars who vacationed in Acalpulco, as the most recent one they mentioned was John Wayne, who's been dead over 40 years.

We booked our first Sail-Away cabin (inside) ever for our upcoming cruise at an awesome price (we normally get the meal package as one of our "free" perks, but we can buy it separately this time and still save money). We've been assigned middle of the ship on Deck 4, and might put in a bid on a Balcony when bidding opens up (we have no interest in bidding for a Window cabin and ending up with a window by a walkway with people gawking in, or a window-sized view of a lifeboat or whatever).

Going on the Sun's November 12 cruise to Cuba and the Southern Caribbean. Bid $240 for an upgrade from an Oslo Deck Oceanview to a Balcony, and $290 (I think) for a Mini-Suite. Just got an email saying the Balcony bid was accepted. w00t!

Does this make anyone else think of Les Nessman and his flying turkeys?

You should probably book now or at least right when boarding, as the popular times sell out in a hurry. You don't want to be stuck eating dinner at 8:45 PM and missing the shows.

No loss. O'sheehans is the most overrated restaurant in the NCL fleet. Gross frozen food.

On the Jewel in 2016, O'Sheehan's was awesome and our nightly hangout.

On the Star in 2017, O'Sheehan's was "meh" at best.

A good Cruise Director can elevate the cruise's entertainment offerings. Iain Bagshaw on the Jewel would always tell a Joke of the Day when introducing the evening's entertainment in the theater and make some more droll comments afterwards. Chloe Loddo of the Carnival Splendor would lead the crowd out of the theater after the end of a show into the Promenade and directly run a trivia contest or dance-off or whatever that directly related to the show we just saw. Stuff like that can take a good evening's entertainment and make it great.

Awesome! Thanks!

We learned that Steve's Steakhouse/Maggie's Blue Rose in Catalina Island is an awesome place to eat. Steaks are upstairs, Mexican food and the bar are downstairs.

We learned that a lazy CD who hangs out in the Piano Bar 99% of the time doesn't wreck a cruise by any means, but does affect how enjoyable the shipboard entertainment is (she apparently no longer works for Carnival, so I won't say her name).

We learned a lot of other things... from the Behind the Fun tour. Highly recommended.

I had to go back and re-read OP’s post to see if I missed something. I didn’t. I am of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with what they are asking to do! It’s not like they are reserving a table for the entire week! It’s just why they are eating! Maybe make the sign say “IN USE”, Sheesh people, lighten up a little.

They're asking for special treatment. Everyone else either:

A) Gets their food and then looks for a table, or

B) Gets their food in shifts with one person physically reserving the table.

But the OP wants special privileges based on whatever Sob Story of the Week they're peddling.

Saffie Midgley.

For a list of current and future Carnival CD assignments, click here: https://johnhealdsblog.com/redirect/cruise-director-schedule

Worse than any sign or place savers are the folks who sit at the table playing cards or just killing time while other people can’t find an empty table to eat at. Eat and move on!

Agreed! If there are a lot of empty tables, then who cares? Sit there all you want and play cards, dink around on your laptop, read your book, or whatever. But if you're done eating and notice other people trying find an empty table in a crowded dining room, then clear out already and let them have it. There are plenty of other places on the ship to sit and relax.

If I saw a homemade Reserved sign on a Lido table and there wasn't an empty table nearby, I'd take the sign and throw it away.

What kind of incredible narcissism does it take for someone to assume they don't have to follow the same rules everyone else does?

What if these stations switched back to steak sandwiches and Mongolian Woks, would you expect Carnival to up their game elsewhere again?

We loved the Mongolian Wok but can understand why Carnival got rid of it. It took way too long to prepare the food and you ended up with a long, long line of people. Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana serve a lot more people a lot faster.

A logic class would help you. How does a disease like alcoholism happen to someone that doesn't want to pay cruise line prices on drinks?

 

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I was referring more to the idea of pouring one's booze into a glorified baggie to avoid detection. It just smacks too much of the "hiding your booze" behavior that's supposed to be one of the symptoms of problem drinking.

Use Rum Runner brand flasks and you won't get caught.

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Forums mobile app

Pouring booze into a glorified baggie and sneaking it on the ship in one's luggage seems a bit too much like alcoholism to me.