havanadaydreaming

Debarkation 2 days ago in miami was easy breezy. We were off the Conquest by 830am. Took 5-10 mins. Grabbed van shuttle on street $20pp to FLL. Used Delta porters to avoid gate agent line. TSA no line. We were at gate way in advance for 1138am flight. Like 75 minutes early.

Headed out soon to drop dog at "spa" (kennel). Its her veterinarian, groomer, and boarding all in one. Then its off to the airport. Went cheapo on the flight tix so not expecting to be seated together on a discount airline. Only hope is if a Sun flight isnt fully booked. Most of ours have been past 12-18 months. At least its a direct flight! 2 podcast episodes should provide enough entertainment to pass the time nicely.

Love the Horizon. i cant quantify why we like it better than Panorama,Breeze, Magic....but we do!

The BtF is fascinating option. Ive always deferred being someone concerned it would ruin the "magic" for me. Totally illogical. Especially when i disclose i used to work at Walt Disney World entertainment and i highly recommend folks do the tour of the employee corridors(tunnels) under the park.

thanks mondello. 24 hours until flight down and i'm already jonesing for some south florida food. and cuban coffee the morning of embarkation.

we use this service every cruise. it's very nice to go home with clean clothes instead of "dirty". the only items that i, personally, do not include are shirts that i fear might shrink. my sleepy shirts i send since they are older and only worn in cabin.

the Mrs consistently buys 4-5 cartons of cigs on cruises. MOST of the time we find the best deals in port shops. sometimes prices vary, significantly, from shop to shop in same complex.

Has anyone made a large purchase when sailing CCL? my wife has a couple more decades experience cruising and has told me she has seen folks buy really nice jewelry many times. i have made two that could be considered large-ish. I've always enjoyed going to the art auctions and watching folks "win" art. of course, i know the art is almost always overpriced prints...but one voyage we came across a metal print that was hand signed by the artist that we both liked. i had just earned a decent quarterly bonus at work and decided what we would be comfortable paying for the item. it was muuuuuuch lower than the purchase price we were quoted but offer was accepted after a little while. it still hangs in our living room the other was an excursion. we were taking our three adult children and their guests on a family cruise and decided to get a hillside bungalow overlooking the pool at Amber Cove. i anticipated the kids using the unlimited zipline but none of them rode it. they were enjoying the pool/bar too much. ha!

This will be a mini travelogue for my first inside cabin cruise on the luxurious Carnival Conquest. I won't have wifi access onboard so the updates will be a bit random. It's a short 4 nt jaunt from Miami with stops in Key West and Cozumel. We had a very inexpensive fare along with free airfare (rewards points). We're off to a hot start, i forgot to prepay for luggage so i did that yesterday. $57 pp one way! i'll be sure to load up on Margaritaville swag and tequila/mezcal bottles from Mexico!!! we'll head to downtown miami hotel for night before embarkation, looking forward to getting some seafood and/or late night pizza.

The Magic felt a little worn when we sailed but still had a great time. Its a fun ship. Its itinerary wins by a large margin.

We usually tip $1 for two drinks on the drink package since we've prepaid gratuities at 18% rate. IF i'm in the casino and on a mini-roll (ie not losing rapidly) i'll tip a buck a drink. almost always get speedy service...i don't think too many others are "extra" tipping.

one of my pet peeves, on most all cruise lines. my wife will sunbathe but i just skip it. we do try to hit some resorts for a day when on land, which i enjoy. since there are so many chair hogs i'd be just fine eliminating all chairs and pools on lido and building something funtastic.

Verifly is a PITA. I agree with the delete recommendation.

casino bar, is my guess. we were on the Paradise a lil while back and i dont recall anywhere else on board that would have it.

Dive In movies are played on the big screen on Carnival's lido deck, by the pool. My apologies on green light - it means to approve/authorize,/give the go ahead.

Looking forward to the thread. We sail Spirit in Dec. Will be my 10th different Carnival ship but ive really had fun on each one.

Anyone sailing currently/recently that can report occupancy percentages? Im on the conquest next week with a fare around $25/day pp. Plus taxes and fees. (But $125 obc/day for cabin) Makes me wonder if ship will be crowded...or not. Thoughts?

I agree with the consensus. If you are going to ports in mexico they almost always have Farmacias in port shopping area. Ive found my blood pressure meds consistently in stock even in the smallest ones barely bigger than a kiosk.. That was surprising.

What do you select? Im leaning towards Die Hard, even though ive seen it dozens of times. To best of my recollection its a film everyone i know has enjoyed. Funderstruck approved!

No dive in movies, no screen. Lots of trivia. They do love and marriage and comedy. Not sure about art or tea.

Best would probably be a cruise line gift card. We buy those periodically then load them when cruising then generally use them for guilt free excursions. Or specialty dinner.

I think we were off the ship roundabouts of 9am. We were back 3 hours before that.

I think Guy Burger closes at 5pm or so. Not sure about bbq.

Who has experience with being upgraded on a CCL room? My wife is Platinum and we have never received an offer. No worries, really, as we almost always book balconies and those are tough to upgrade i imagine. But...we have my first two inside rooms booked for Oct (made yesterday) and early mid Dec.

Horizon is probably our fave Carnival ship, #2 overall. Should be tons of fun, some good ports!