Bosrox

4 hours ago, Crazy4Camping said:

Yes NCL sometimes includes drinks but my understanding is that it is much more expensive?

Our recent cruise on NCL was cheaper than our last year’s cruise on Carnival.  That said, I preferred the Carnival cruise. 

As for cheers, I don’t like to plan my vacations around booze and trying to make sure I get my money’s worth. I buy a drink when I want one. If I have to figure out a spreadsheet to determine the cheapest way to drink and worry about whether or not I can afford a booze tab at the end, I likely shouldn’t be taking the cruise to begin with. 

We were on the Getaway in late October, I found it very smoky, especially the casino and areas around there. And it’s quite open so it spread and lingered. 

If you have passports (Canadians) do you even need to take birth certificates?

How is the actual wifi on the getaway? I need to be able to reach my older child who is staying home alone for the first time. I will need either iMessage (I’m from Canada if that matters) or Facebook messenger to work well. Which package is best for this and how good in connectivity?

I moved towels from chairs twice on our last cruise. Both times were just the blue carnival towels, no personal belongings. Clearly thrown on chairs to hold them, towels folded and untouched. Stood up on 11 and waited for over an hour and finally we moved 2 towels and took the chairs (both times at 10am). On one occasion nobody showed up and we were there until 5pm. The other time 2 teenage girls showed up around 1 am. We told them we had no clue where their towels were and that the chairs were empty when we took them.

And I would do it again.

I have never regretted it but my husband has a couple of times. First because of all the hangovers lol but mostly, a couple times he hasn't felt great and wasn't in a big drinking mood. FOr me, I am usually not a drinker. But when I cruise, that all changes. I like to try different cocktails and martinis and if I don't like the drink I don't feel like I have to drink it like I do if I just paid $10 for it. It sounds like a lot of drinking to get your money's worth but it really isn't. Plus it's so great to get really good coffee and tea at the coffee bar. Also fancy coffees after dinner is nice.

For me, I usually get a Kiss on the Lips which is mango puree and peach schnapps. I'll have that sometimes with breakfast, then a fancy cocktail or two with lunch, then a Tom Collins or two during the afternoon. A glass of wine with dinner. Then I get a tea from the coffee shop after dinner. Then I'll have a drink or two at the piano bar, end the night with a shot or two and that adds up to around 10 drinks which would total around $100.

But you did just pay $10 for it. Doesn’t matter if you pay upfront or at the end, the drinks aren’t free. You pay for them, end of story.

This is horrible news! Will the steakhouse on all the ships now be equally bad? I really look forward to that lobster, and would be mortified if it came out of the kitchen like that!

The lobster 2 weeks before this was perfect.

We had an amazing supper at the steakhouse on the Magic on NYE. It was packed and I worried we made the wrong choice.

It was amazing. 6 of us, all loved every aspect of our meal, the service and the experience. We had a wide range of entrees, everyone talked all week for the rest of the cruise about how much we enjoyed it. Sorry to hear you guys didn’t have the same experience.

Wow - really harsh and judgmental. Who makes your bed and cleans your bathroom at home - unless you have staff, my guess is it's you. Why don't you do that on a cruise instead of letting someone else do it?

I do make my own bed and tidy my own bathroom on our cruise. All I ask for is clean towels. Clean bedding after a week. But I’m low maintenance like that.

I am going on a 7 day cruise with my family that includes children. We are traveling on Carnival in suites. My question is does carnival offer any services to help with unpacking and setting up your cabin? I din't expect this to be free and am fine with paying, I am just the type of person that I can't relax until everything is in its place and settled. Thank you in advance for any advice/help!

This can’t be real? Who puts away your laundry into closets and drawers at home? Are we really turning into such an incapable and useless society that we can’t do this kind of stuff ourselves while teaching our kids ?

Or - if you want to eat at 2 or 3 a.m. after having fun around the ship and you don't want to take advantage of the free option (pizza), you will have to be willing to pay out $2 - $5.

 

I don't think that everyone ordering after 10:00 p.m. are a bunch of drunks - I've ordered a sandwich numerous times after midnight - but I know that in my experience, the few times I cruised with family and there were teenage boys along - OMG, they ordered Room Service every night & ordered many items each just because it was free. Considering there are many teenagers on every cruise - I guarantee you my experience wasn't unusual. Hell, if I were a teenager, I would be doing the same thing.

 

So, will charging a fee mean less waste - probably. Is this the reason behind the decision - I doubt that it was the main reason. BUT, I also don't think this decision is going to stop very many people, if any, from sailing on CCL ships.

 

Personally, if it will make room service between 10 p.m. - 6 a.m. faster because the staff is not running around all over the ship schlepping out free food - I don't mind paying extra and the expanded menu looks pretty good.

We all have to make decisions as to what is important to each of us and if a company is not providing what is important to you, choose another company. But to expect everything to stay the same is a little unrealistic. All businesses will do what they need to do to better their profits - prices go up or services go down at times to meet this need.

Exactly. Great post!

Wait a minute - it's not about being lazy. I am far from it. Thank you very much.

 

At 9 pm I am in the piano bar having a blast. So let me leave my seat (that I won't get back) and lose my momentum with my friends and walk to the lido and take that food back to my room. Or go back to my room and order, wait for it and then leave. Oh sure I'll have it when I get back at 2 am or 3 am but I lost some of my "fun time" on the ship doing something I didn't have to do before. It's vacation. I don't want to be looking at my watch to see what I time I need to leave one activity so I can plan for when I will eat later.

 

I think those of you who are not upset are stuffy old boring people who are in bed at 9 pm on your vacation anyway. Gotcha didn't I? See....didn't that feel nice for me to stereotype ya'll like that. No....what's going on here is too many people thinking that the way you cruise is the way the rest of us cruise - and it's not. We don't come back to our cabin drunk and order 25 things. We come back to our cabin at 2 or 3 am and order A sandwich. Guess I'll pack my peanut butter and loaf bread......

Oh quit being so dramatic. You can still order your milk and sandwich. Except now it’s going to cost you a few bucks. Drink one less drink in the piano bar and it all evens out.

I hope all these people jumping ship (literally) and storming off Carnival to the other cruise lines, are all the chair hoggers. The more people who leave, the more open seats for me and my family.

Bye Felicia!

Holy. So now you might have to pay a few bucks to have a late night snack. Big deal. Most other lines charge as well. Some people are just never happy.

I’m surprised at how many people actually EAT after 10pm anyways. If you’re a typical late night snacker I guess you now have to be prepared to either 1-spend a few bucks, 2-go eat free pizza or 3- make sure you have some cereal or snacks in your room.

Not really worth whining and crying about in my opinion.

Merry Christmas from Cozumel! So far the cruise is going great, doesn’t seem as crowded as I expected even though I’m told there are 5000 on board with 1000 being kids!

 

 

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Someone on another group is saying there’s a huge flu outbreak on the magic right now with over 600 sick? True or false?

Following. On the magic next month for our very first cruise. Not this itinerary but we have a second cruise booked with this itinerary and we have already reserved Mr. Sanchos. Great review.

It is possible to reach 15 without a whole lot of trouble - how many people might have 1 mimosa with breakfast, 2 glasses of wine with lunch, 2 drinks hanging around the deck in the afternoon, 3 per dinner cocktails, 2 glasses of wine with dinner, an after dinner shot - now I only have 4 more to have in the casino at night.

Not as many as you’d think. With all that liquid in your belly, there’s no room for food. 15 drinks in your gut, not even counting bottled water or a coffee? No thanks.

Honestly, I don't get the idea of being on a huge cruise ship, and sitting in a chair all day long. I'm on vacation, and if I wanted to sit around all day I'd have saved my money and stayed home. Too much to do around the ship, but to each their own. However, I do find it selfish whether within Carnival's policy or not to hold onto a chair all day. What about others that want to pop on deck for an hour or so, but have no seats because people come out early morning and sit/sleep there all day? Again, it may be within policy, but where did common courtesy go these days? How would you feel if you wanted to attend the Comedy Show, but there were no seats because large groups of people decided to camp out there all early evening? I bet it wouldn't feel too good to have to stand for the show as a result of that.

As far as I’m concerned, if people are actually using the chair, then I don’t care how long they have it for. I certainly don’t expect anyone who is relaxing in their chair to give it to me so I can turn around and relax in said chair. If someone is willing to go out at the crack of dawn and grab themselves a lounger, then good for them. As long as they are using it, it shouldn’t matter how long they are in it. I didn’t realize there were people who get to decide how long I use my chair for? As for going to the comedy club and finding a line up? Then I guess that would be my problem for not going on time to insure myself a spot. If it’s something I really want to see or do, I know I better be prepared to get there early. I live in Canada, we will have snow and freezing weather for 5 months. I plan on plunking my ass in a lounger all bloody day on our sea days. I’m going nap in the sun, read in the sun, play some Cribbage in the sun, have some swims in the sun, play on my iPad in the sun, eat my lunch in the sun, drinks my drinks in the sun. Don’t like it? Too bad.

Are there other clamshells on the other decks or just on Serenity? (On the Magic). I’m willing to get up early to grab one but I need one not in serenity, my kid isn’t 21yet.

Drinking age in my province is 18. I will be allowing my son

(18) to have a drink in our room or on our balcony while we are on board, as well as on the islands.

I appreciate all your responses they've really helped me decide and I don't think I'll be purchasing. I'm not into energy drinks coffee or any of that and can't see myself drinking all day long anyway. I wouldn't probably have a drink until after 2 pm and I don't know that I plan on having more than 6 drinks Each night anyway I'm a light weight....my bf likes to drink but it just doesn't seem worth it money wise because we both would have to purchase the package so I think we'll be better off la carte! Thanks all😁

Probably a good idea to skip it. There’s no way I could keep up that schedule of 6-8 drinks a day, for a week. Especially with the port days, we don’t do coffee or shakes.

LOL. You seriously think they aren’t smart enough to clue in that you’re not actually playing the chips?

Also, it takes a lot more than one single $100 hand to get free food and room comps in Vegas.

who is actually BUYING the UBP anyway? 99% are probably getting it as a pick 1/2/all promo.

 

even tho that means the weekly charge on the "free" package goes up, that's still a great value when drinks are $10+ a pop. in 2 days its paid for itself.

Exactly..we are booked on a group cruise on NCL so our service charges are all waived. We do have to pay the tips, so about $220 total for the week. With that added to the cost of our cruise, it is only $70 more TOTAL for the 2 of us, than our upcoming CCL Magic cruise. That $70 is easily worth the booze and the 3 free specialty dining meals. By the time I add booze and a supper at the steakhouse to my Magic cruise, it's going to be at least $1000 more than my NCL.

First timer question,

We have a check in time of 11 am and we also have FTTF? We scored the FTTF on a nearly sold out cruise (NYE) and then got the 11 am check in.

So, what time should we check in? 11 with everyone else without FTTF? It's so confusing.

John Heald posted a correction today that Grand Turk needs more time to be ready for guests

 

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I'm betting GT will be up and running within a few weeks. I'd give St Thomas 2 months, then they will be back to normal.