LaMchop31

hi all ... I have booked a cruise for November 2018. I know that's a long time away but I'm super excited and have been looking at the RCI website frequently. The prices seems to change up and down with different offers. If I do see a lower price of a cruise I have booked And not fully paid for can I call get my pricing adjusted? I assume once I make the final payment that it's a done deal at that point also.. is that actuate?

Hello Fellow Cruisers

My BF and I are very excited and looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Pride March 12th. In preparing for our cruise I have devoured some of the really great reviews posted by others. I want to be able to pay it forward and write a review about our cruise and post it and share with others here. Posting the review is for us also - what a great way to relive those memories over again.

For the review readers - what makes a good review. Is there anything missing from below?

I like ...

* pics of the room

* the food - food porn is always welcome. Especially if its something amazing or if its something that disappointed

* I could take or leave the daily - Fun Times ??

* I love the process pics - MikeyA53 posted the port parking process for Baltimore - I'm going to be studying these prior to driving to the port.

* and i never get tired of the pics around the boat. I'm hoping it gives us clues to hopefully not get losted while out exploring.

* Excursions - details - which one to take and what to skip

For the review writers - There are some folks that put in a great deal of effort into these and its very appreciated by me. As a first time cruiser, its a lot of new processes and different location all at once. So those reviews have helped to give the new kid a head start on what to do and expect potentially :)

For the review writers - how do you write a good review.

What do you do??

* journal or notes - I saw MikeyA53 taking note in one pic on a cruise review - do you do this daily?

* do you bring a pad and pen with you?

* how do you organize your pics, what tools, process do you use for this - ie make daily folders, or just upload them all, keep the date thingy on all your pics?

* Save every scrap of paper and stuff handed out? - do you write notes in the margins, do you get a duplicate Fun times and jot down details?

* do you write out you review day by day - do you write them all out and then post. or do you write a day and then post. And then repeat until the end? Do you prep them in MS Word and then copy and paste?

* do you edit after you post - fix grammar, etc or do you just let it go.

BTW - ** I have requested a name change so I will be LaMChop31 in the future - so this post writer could change names in the future.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and advise

LaMChop31 (AKA Murphlaa@gmail.com)

My BF and I have a cruise booked on the Carnival Pride leaving March 12th from Baltimore. We are almost at single digits on the count down :D and very excited. But we have a big problem, even prior to stepping foot on the boat I have been browsing other cruises to take in the future already. We tend to book our vacations in two different ways. 1. Over cocktails, :wine-glass::tropical-drink::beer-toast::beer-mug: and you know where this is heading ... An idea is floated, the laptop comes out, buttons are clicked and voila, we leaving on a trip to Cuba 48 hours later. The mutual admiration society jumps on our band wagon and we are pleased and happy in the results. Thumbs up .. no regrets. It was a good holiday.

or

2. Long conversations - lots of internet surfing, planning, air fare site date exploring, etc. and we planned a trip to Paris that we had to wait a lot of sleeps to go but it was very exciting to look forward to. Months and months of museum, castle, art galleries and metro investigation. It was an amazing holiday and the pre-planning was almost just as much fun as the holiday.

I have exhausted cruise critic and have been trying to read everything and I have not seen this information before I ask any questions but here we go.

What tips and tricks do you use to book your cruises to make them slightly more affordable?

We are driving down to Baltimore, MD from Toronto, its an easy drive to save a grand after the hotel, parking and gas is paid for. - So that's an example of a big savings, that with a little bit of a time investment is hard to resist.

Can everyone offer any tips on $$$ avoidance

Are there months to go that are a little better,?

Is there a website that you use to get good prices or is booking thru Carnival something that pays off?

Do you wait for the sales?

Do you book months in advance and pay it off in segments?

Do you book the cruise part first and wait until the last minute to add the booze.

But if there are ways to save $$ and allow for more vacation fun we are interested.I notice some folks have cruises every couple of months, and also a year or 18 months in the future. i would love to have a rolling list of holidays to research, plan and get excited about.

any advise is gratefully received :)

Thanks very much everyone for the guidance. We will be investigating a taxi or uber to the port closer to our check in time at 1:00. Appreciate all your advise.

Hello experienced Carnival cruisers

So it's our first cruise and combine that with excitements to go on vacation we are a whirlwind of confusions and anticipation.

We have a hotel and shuttle booked in in Baltimore that indicate that they will leave to deliver us to the Port at 10:00. No other shuttle times are available right now. So let's say we get there at 10:30 or 11:00. Our check in time is 1:00 in the afternoon. What do we do between 11:00 and 1:00 - will they let check in early. If not will we be cooling our heels holding up the wall for two hours outside the terminal? Is there an inside waiting area?

Alternately, what would be our experience taking an Uber or taxi to the port closer to our 1:00 check in?

Thanks

I agree completely Mummified, no Prude cruise for us either. To your question above, yes we are on the Pride also and are just on the west side of Toronto in Etobicoke, so right on the 401 for us. We booked in at the Fairfield in White Lawn for the Saturday night. Our plan is to start out early, plug the address of the hotel in the gps and just head down.

Hi Mummified. My husband I are driving down from Toronto March 11th also. Hoping for good weather and excited to start our first cruise the next day. Hopefully some advise is given on the route down, if not we will just take our chances on finding something on the way.